In “This Is What it Means…” by Sherman Alexie, he describes the type of government that exists on reservations, such as the one that Victor and Thomas live in. Victor goes to see the counsel in order to receive financial assistance to go to his Dad who recently passed away in Phoenix. During this interaction, Alexie shows elements of this type of government. The first is that they are a tight-knit community of appointed individuals. They were selected by the community to assist the community. The other aspect of this government that is shown is that they are very poor. Victor asked for only $100 dollars and the counsel was not able to assist him, and they suggested that he seek help from someone else in the community, which did in fact end up working. As for Thomas’s experience within this community/government, he had been treated as an outcast. This is shown when Victor described him as the kid with a bunch of stories that no one wanted to listen to. This is also evident when they recall the story of Thomas falling and breaking his arm while the boys laughed at him and teased him.
Category Archives: Fiction
Chopin
In my opinion, this question can only be answered depending on the context. Realistically, a white person will never understand the troubles that a black person deals with when it comes to racism. No matter who it is, the only way to understand would be to deal with the same circumstances, which is almost impossible. In this story, to elaborate, Kate Chopin gives the right perspective, as it is easy to tell through her writing that it is from the perspective of a white person. The facts that come down to experience are not elaborated on too much, and we only see emotions from the characters that anyone could explain to a degree. It is a basic concept to have your race revealed to you and would shock anyone to find out they aren’t who they thought they were. However, life after would require someone who understands the situation to write about. How her environment changes, etc.
Armand
Armand was taken aback. The hatred that burrowed itself within him was at a crossroads. His own hatred, was towards himself all this time. He thought of his wife, his child. The impact he wanted to give all along was all about himself. He wanted to give Desiree a better life, although his negative views were wiped of reason. Who was he really? Why did he try to wipe away Desiree’s past, when he shared the same heritage? Was he the one who truly wanted to switch his identity?
As he gazed upon the flames in front of him, he reached his hand out, an ember encasing his cloth.
Alexie
The rulership that takes place within “This is what it means…” is known as a tribal government or sovereignty. These governments are ruled by the culture or tribe that exists in the space. In this case, the Native American tribes would choose their own people to be in charge, as seen when Victor visits the council. The council offers him money for his trip to pick up his father’s ashes, most likely funded by the outside government. The problem is that this enforces a culture only seen on the reservation. The Native Americans become accustomed to living under these conditions of colonization and make decisions that help them collectively, such as the small funding they provided to Victor, showing that they themselves are forced into their current living conditions because of a lack of money. These issues present themselves to Thomas, and his life on the reservation exists as the “Lone Storyteller”. He is separated from most of the group and lives his life trying to express his true identity relating to his culture.
Chopin
Kate Chopin was a white Creole writer from Louisiana. While her race may not have been a factor in her writing, it is possible that it influenced her view of race in America. Chopin grew up in a time when America was still struggling to come to terms with its racial past. The Civil War had only ended a few decades earlier, and the country was still struggling with issues of reconstruction and race relations. Chopin’s story, “Desiree’s Baby,” deals with the issue of adoption and the feelings of a white woman who adopts a black child. While the story is fictional, it is based on real-life events and may reflect Chopin’s own views on race (Chopin, 345). It is possible that her experience as a white Creole woman influenced her view of race in America, which may have contributed to the complicated and often contradictory attitudes towards race that are found throughout her writing. However, it is also possible that Chopin’s experiences simply reflected the attitudes of 19th century America, which were complex and evolving. It is impossible to say for certain what role race played in Chopin’s writing, but it is an important consideration when reading her work.
Feminism in Ichiyo
In this short story, The Thirteenth Night, Oseki’s female character represents the status of women in the 19th century and the centuries before. Just like Ichiyo tried to get into a romantic relationship with her mentor, Nakarai Tōsui, hoping to get more connections to editors, the female character in the Thirteenth Night had to depend on what her father decided about her marriage, the financial power of her husband, and the need to protect her brother’s job.
Oseki’s experiences reflect what Ichiyo went through while growing up in Japan in the 19th century. Born and raised in a relatively poor family that was once relatively wealthy before things took a new turn, she experienced gender stereotypes from her mother. According to her mother, education was unnecessary for girls, and as a result, she made her stop attending school at the age of 11 despite her strong motivation to continue school. However, she did not have a say in this matter, just like Oseki does not have a say in ending the abusive marriage she is in.
Based on this story, women during this era had little power and also played limited roles in society, then. For instance, Oseki’s father reprimands her, mentioning that it is her responsibility, as a wife, to take care of her abusive husband. He states that her situation is not one of a kind and that many other women are leading unsatisfactory lives with their husbands, “your only responsibility is to Isamu—to make him happy and to manage his household” (Ichiyo 3). In her conversation with her father and mother, Oseki realizes that it is selfish for her to think of a divorce at a time when her own family belongs to a low social class, which also makes them more vulnerable to the potential demands of such a rich husband as Isamu.
In summary, to navigate the systems of power during this historical era, women had to compromise their feelings and thoughts for the sake of men and their children. Oseki, for instance, knows that divorcing Isamu would be the last time she would see her son, Taro, again. She vows to go back and watch over him like a ghost for his sake.
Marxism in The Thirteenth Night
In the short story, The Thirteenth Night, by Higuchi Ichiyo, a young woman, Oseki, is troubled in her marriage to an abusive husband named Isamu. However, she does not have the power to decide whether or not to divorce him independently. Her parents are concerned about the well-being of her brother, who is now employed by Isamu, which means that a divorce would affect his job and supplement the family income.
One of the things that Oseki learns from her run-in with Roku is that every person has their share of sadness or grief, based on their context or circumstances. Not everyone gets to fulfill their original wishes in life. Nevertheless, she discovers that Roku has always been in love with her, which is also the primary reason for his financial downfall since he discovered that Oseki was never going to marry him.
Through the lens of a Marxist theory, Oseki pities Roku, her former love, who is now in a lower social class than she is. According to Marxist theory, society is made up of different social classes, the middle, upper, and lower classes, which are in a constant state of conflict. In the current context, Oseki is now in the upper social class, while Roku is in the lower social class. This means that she takes her time to consider her marriage with Isamu as a better choice compared to how things would have been with Roku. In other words, she learns that she is probably lucky to have married Isamu, not Roku.
Parents
Parents should be mindful of how they communicate with their children to ensure they are on a path that continues to protect, care for, and promote their overall well-being. Therefore, you need to actively listen to your children in order to show them care and understand them better. Lack of good communication can lead to disharmony and misunderstandings within the family. More importantly, parents should be brutally honest with their children. This is because it helps children improve their communication skills and lays a good foundation for them to become decent adults. For example, in the book Gorilla, My Love, Bambara explains why parents feel untrustworthy when they are unfaithful and unfaithful to their children. Therefore, parents should speak only the truth, no matter how brutal, and not protect their children by saying only good things. Parents must teach their children reality and always match their words with their actions. Finally, parents should avoid making fun of their children.
Parents
When it comes to the weight that an adults words carry with children, every situation is different. Not everybody has to watch themselves, but that comes with a certain amount of self accountability in the relationship. Some parents or elders want to frank and matter of fact about the disappointments of life, but then dislike that when they’re often the prime example of those disappointments that it quickly makes the younger person less likely to respect their seniority. A big problem adults have is that, consciously or not, they tend to have a different set of standards for holding themselves accountable with kids as opposed to adults. They fail to realize that they’re not treating those kids in a way that will help them be functioning adults one day, either because they’ll lack a sense of responsibility, or they won’t trust others will have it either. Sadly, often times it could be both. At the end of the day, kids don’t need their every whim catered to, but some adults take that too far and don’t allow their words or actions to be questioned because they’ve grown comfortable with a certain order of things that they can continue to enforce unless they themselves choose to self reflect.
Writing as Activism
The way people are exposed to information and ideas has changed a lot over the years, especially with the rise of smartphones, social media, and just the Internet as a whole. However, this doesn't eliminate the viability of writing as a means of activism. Writing will always be useful, especially for marginalized groups for the simple fact that it costs virtually nothing. Video content viewers and creators can easily get too distracted by production value, or lack thereof. Sometimes the people who have the most to share can have little resources to put it out there, so writing is sometimes the only critical content that they consistently put out. Furthermore,there will always be like minded or just curious people who are interested enough to read up on a topic with a compelling or bold take. Sometimes these are the people who feel inspired enough to go out and make social media posts, or the ones involved in organizing marches. Writings role in activism may have changed but it still exists, and it's an important one. 