In both The Bluest Eye and The American Born Chinese cultural identity is the main themes. Pecola and Jin are both trying to find themselves along with take pride in their race. Pecola sees herself as ugly and just wants to wake up one morning with blue eyes and white skin because to her, white is beautiful. Pecola is made fun of by her peers and looked at differently, just like Jin. Jin even went as far as altering his appearance to look more like Greg so Amelia will like him. Both of these characters wish they were something that their not and do not see their own individual beauty.

Unit 2

In class we were assigned to watch two videos, A Class Divided and Mirrors of Privilege. Both of these videos related to the novels and text assigned in Unit 2. The videos mainly dealt with racism along with white privilege and this also is the main issue in the book The Bluest Eye. This novel provides us with the issue of whites being superior to blacks, and this is shown in many different ways. Pecola often wishes for blue eyes and to look like the other girls, the “white girls”. She feels like the only way to be considered beautiful is to be white. In A Class Divided, the third grade teacher taught her young elementary students about segregation in a very interesting and different way. This teacher separated her students by blue eyes and brown eyes, and had one of the groups superior over the other. In my eyes, this really gave the kids at a young age the true understanding of racism in the world.

The Book Thief

After all the hardships Liesel has faced already, at such young age, trust is something very hard to come by. Out of everyone in Liesel’s life Hans Hubermann was that one person who provided stability and fatherly love in her life. Hans and his wife, Rosa, became Liesel’s foster parents after her mother decided she could not finically provide a stable home for her two children.  Liesel refers to Hans as “Papa” and he treats her like she was his own blood daughter. He comforts her night after night after suffering from endless nightmares of her younger brother who died on the trip to Molching. To keep her mind off the nightmares Hans began reading the grave diggers handbook with Liesel. From this point on it was a nightly tradition late at night to secretly read together. Hans is against the Nazi Party however does not admit it in public so his family can stay protected. One of the biggest conflicts Hans faces is the fact that he decides not to join the Nazi party even though his son is in it. On Hitler’s birthday Hans and his son get into a heated argument over him not joining. I commend Hans because he was fighting for what he believed in with not joining the Nazi party.

Maus

The relationship between Vladik and Artie is not very father-son. I felt as if their relationship was confusing throughout the novel and Artie was just recording and taking in everything about his father’s past as a reporter. In my eyes, the more Vladik tells Artie, the closer they become. Maybe if Artie knew the physical and emotion struggle his father went through for him and his family then he would have a better understanding of why his father is the way he is. I feel as if Vladik’s tormenting past is the main reason he is as protective as he is in the novel. Art deals with a lot of guilt in this novel. He has feelings of guilt over not being a good son, guilt over his mother’s suicide, and after hearing what his parents and relatives went through guilt over the holocaust. We see right from the gecko that Art and his father do not get along well and even though they live pretty close to one another they still do not see each other as much as family should. Even when Vladik is asked to talk about his past and the holocaust Art starts arguments. In my eyes I feel as if Art’s mother’s death is the main reason Art does not come around as much as he should. He is filled with guilt.

Intro

Hi everyone- My names Gabby Schurr and I am a sophomore here at Shippensburg. I finally declared my major this semester. I decided on human communications hoping to work in human resources in the pharmaceutical field. I’m from Pottstown, Pa which is about 2 1/2 hours from Ship. In high school I played three sports; soccer, lacrosse, and basketball so they are all a few of my hobbies. I also like to hang with friends, go to the beach, and to shop. I had Professor Shannon last year in WYFS and really enjoyed her class, so I decided to take her again to complete some more of my gen-eds. I am not a big reader but the last book I read was the tear-jerker Dear John, and after seeing the movie I defiantly preferred the book. In this class I hope to find some diversity in literature and read stories on other people's life along with the struggles they overcome due to cultural difference. I feel like this class will be a real eye opener in how other societies live. When I think of the term cultural diversity I think of the differences people share when it comes to their way of life and customs. A lot of cultures do not have the freedoms that we do, and I hope reading novels based on cultural diversity will give me a better understanding of this topic.