Raising Our Native Sons Essay

During the modern era, there was an overwhelming sense of optimism due to the nation’s booming economy. There was a generalization that any citizen could work hard and become successful. However, this was not always the case in American society. Not everyone was given equal opportunity to thrive and succeed. This struggle was expressed in various literary works. In is novel Native Son, Richard Wright uses symbolism and irony to attack race issues and oppression in order to suggest that African Americans should have equal opportunity as whites. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Bigger Thomas faces persecution and mistreatment simply because of the color of his skin. This racism appears early in the novel when a rat is encountered in his apartment. Bigger’s mother is disgusted by the gross creature she finds wandering in the family’s apartment. She proclaims her disgust and fear of the rat by saying, â€Å"Lord, Lord, have mercy†¦ that sonofabitch could cut your throat† (10). Through this duologue, the readers realize the harsh treatment and attitude the rat is receiving from Bigger’s family. They are scared and afraid of the rat, even though it means no harm and is merely trying to surviving with the living conditions it has been given. This demonstrates the overall racism towards blacks throughout the book as they are treated poorly and set up to fail. Like the rat, they are considered the lowest of the low who scavenge off others to survive. They are treated as a threat that only causes harm and need to be rid of. Also, Bigger faces racism head on at home. When playing with his friends, they â€Å"play white†. This game attempts to imitate the way whites act in society. During this game, Bigger and his friends unknowingly play out the white people has having superior power over the whites. This demonstrates that the racism is engraved into their heads, even at a young age. This sets them up to fail from a young age by starting them off as knowing that they are considered inferior to the white people. As the book continues, Bigger’s story becomes a point of attention in the south side of Chicago. The newspaper reporters are gathered around preparing to write an article on Bigger’s recent crime. They are collaborating with  each other in order to create the best story possible. One of the reporters says, â€Å"I’m slanting to the primitive negro who doesn’t want to be disturbed by white civilization.† The conversation continues with another reporter saying, â€Å"mention his foreign sounding name† (201). The reporters are bouncing ideas off each other in order to write the best story for the readers. They mention how they are going to purposely define Bigger as a member of the African American community. This simple dialogue represents a much larger meaning within the novel. The reporters immediately turn to race in order to demonize Bigger. They call him â€Å"primitive† and point out his name in an attempt to dissociate him from white society. This display of racism conveys the treatment of African Americans as outcasts of mainstream society. In addition to this, the media is only aiding in the continued validity of this stereotype. The more the media portrays blacks as animals and creatures, the more they are attacked by mainstream white society. As a result of this, the blacks are suppressed more and more, causing them to become more and more desperate. This vicious cycle of racism and oppression is ongoing as society feeds off the harsh portrayal of African Americans by the news outlets. Wright brings attention to the overwhelming effect that oppression can have on an individual or group. Bigger is continuously oppressed throughout his life. After attempting to escape from the police, Bigger is captured and brought down to the street from a rooftop. He was dragged down the stairs with his head banging on every step. He found himself lying on his back in the snow, pinned down by his wrists and surrounded by a circle of this faces. The angry crowd shouts at Bigger. Roars from the crowd include, â€Å"Kill ‘im†¦ Lynch ‘im†¦ Kill that ape!† (253). The crowd is angry at the black man who has caused so much trouble to the white folk. When they finally capture him, they all seem to unite as one when shouting insults as if they have has a triumph by holding down this young black man. This unity represented the overpowering superiority of white society over that of the blacks. Although each individual is their own person and saying their own comments, all Bigger sees and hears is an overbearing common force. To Bigger, he does not see the individuality in each white person; he sees them as all members of the same group all with a common goal of suppressing his dreams. In addition to seeing all whites as a blanket of oppression, he is almost shameful of himself when around them.  While sitting in an interview, he sits in Mr. Dalton’s office with him. Bigger enters the room and does not make eye contact. He stands in a corner with his head down, being careful not to make eye contact with Mr. Dalton. Bigger knows the role that he has in society as well as the room. He is careful to not do anything to upset the white man for fear of potential punishment. This shame is built off the fact that he has been repetitively told and taught that he is inferior. This repeated oppression leads Bigger to act differently around white people, further placing him in to the mold of a non-productive member of society. Bigger feels as if he has been able to make very few decisions for himself his entire life. This suppression was put on him right from the start. Once he realizes his fate and is sitting on his cot, he thinks back on his life. He had always lived with the premonition that he would be sentenced to the electric chair. Once this becomes a reality, Bigger feels a sense of freedom that he has never felt before. He wonders to himself why he â€Å"put himself into the shadow of the electric chair only to find out this? Had he been blind all along? But there was no way to tell now. It was too late†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (335). He realizes that he lived his entire life under the shadow of fear of the electric chair. Once he realizes that he is actually doomed for the chair, he assumes that he should live his live with complete freedom with the remaining days he has left. He concludes, however, that it is too late to live with freedom since he wasted all of his previous days under the shadow. This shadow of oppression holds him back from living freely because he knows that his skin color limits his chances to succeed in life. Furthermore, Bigger can make choices that will only dig him deeper into a hole he cannot escape from. After lashing out and committing a murder, Bigger expresses his feelings that he has a sense of power for the first time in his life. By committing this murder, he has broken away from the limitations being placed on him. Although it was negative, he could not be stopped because he was not assumed to be capable of such a crime. This demonstrates that the oppressed are subject to hostility and more likely to lash out due to the poor treatment and lack of individual freedoms. By using irony and symbolism, Richard Wright brings light to the issue of race and oppression in America. He attempts to convey that blacks and white  should be given equal opportunity to succeed. Wright believes that African Americans are placed into a mold of failure, one that they cannot escape. The title â€Å"Native Son† suggests something about the treatment of the generation of young men we are raising in our country. All of our â€Å"Native Sons†, no matter what race, should be treated equally and be given ample opportunity to succeed.

How to Test for Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives

How to Test for Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives How to Test for Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives How to Test for Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives By Mark Nichol One of the ways adjectives can be categorized is to determine whether they are coordinate or noncoordinate adjectives. This distinction is important, because it dictates whether two or more consecutive adjectives are separated by punctuation. For many writers, however, deciding which category an adjective belongs to can be a challenge. Fortunately, two simple tests are available to help writers know how to treat strings of adjectives. First, if two or more adjectives are separated by commas, can and substitute for each comma? Because each of the three adjectives in the sentence â€Å"The pale, gaunt, sepulchral figure seemed to float above the floor† independently describe the figure, the sentence can be revised to read â€Å"The pale and gaunt and sepulchral figure seemed to float above the floor.† And though English observes a natural sequence of types of descriptive words called the royal order of adjectives, these words are all visually descriptive, so the sequence can be reversed without affecting comprehension: â€Å"The sepulchral, gaunt, and pale figure seemed to float above the floor.† These adjectives are coordinate, and they should be separated by commas. However, in the sentence â€Å"Her thin green cashmere sweater did little to keep her from shivering,† each adjective builds on the next: â€Å"cashmere sweater,† â€Å"green cashmere sweater,† â€Å"thin green cashmere sweater.† In addition, one would not write, â€Å"Her cashmere green thin sweater did little to keep her from shivering,† because that sequence violates the royal order of adjectives. Therefore, the adjectives are noncoordinate, and no punctuation should intervene. Use these tests to determine which of the following sentences include coordinate adjectives and which contain noncoordinate adjectives: 1. The object is a small, platinum and iridium cylinder weighing exactly one kilogram. Small describes the nature of a cylinder made of platinum and iridium, so that word is not equivalent to the other adjectives, nor would the sentence be written, â€Å"The object is a platinum and iridium small cylinder weighing exactly one kilogram†: â€Å"The object is a small platinum and iridium cylinder weighing exactly one kilogram.† 2. Uber has been dogged by controversy on the road to becoming one of the most valuable, privately funded companies in the world. The modifiers â€Å"valuable† and â€Å"privately funded† are not equivalent- one would not write that the company is â€Å"valuable and privately funded† or that it is â€Å"privately funded and valuable.† A privately funded company is being described as one of the most valuable such companies in the world, so no punctuation should intervene between the adjective valuable and the descriptive phrase â€Å"privately funded companies†: â€Å"Uber has been dogged by controversy on the road to becoming one of the most valuable privately funded companies in the world.† 3. The battered, clanking, smoking vehicle lumbered along the road. The three adjectives preceding vehicle are all sensory and are thus coordinate, so punctuation is correctly employed in this sentence: â€Å"The battered, clanking, smoking vehicle lumbered along the road.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Punctuate References to Dates and Times"Have" vs "Having" in Certain ExpressionsWhat’s the Best Way to Refer to a Romantic Partner?

Spanish Adjectives of Quantity

Spanish Adjectives of Quantity Unless you can answer with numbers, to respond to questions like how many? youll probably need to use one of the Spanish adjectives of quantity. An example of an adjective of quantity in English is many in the phrase many dogs. The adjective comes before the noun and tells how many. It is the same in Spanish, muchos perros where muchos is the adjective of quantity. Like most other non-descriptive adjectives, adjectives of quantity usually come before the noun they refer to (just as in English), or they can come after a copulative verb. And like other adjectives, they must match the nouns they refer to in number and gender. Here are the most common adjectives of quantity with examples of how they are used: algà ºn, alguna, algunos, algunas- some, any- Alguna vez, voy al centro. (Some time, I will go downtown.) Pasaron algunos coches de policà ­a. (Some police cars passed.)  ¿Tienes algunos zapatos? (Do you have any shoes?) Nearly all the time, the English any in sentences such as the example is left untranslated into Spanish. For example, Are there any watermelons? becomes  ¿Hay sandà ­as?ambos, ambas- both- Ambas compaà ±Ãƒ ­as crearn una empresa internacional. (Both companies will create an international enterprise.)bastante, bastantes- enough, sufficient- En mi ciudad hay bastantes iglesias. (In my city there are enough churches.)mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas- much, many- Los medios de comunicacià ³n tienen mucho poder. (Communications media have much power.) Ella tiene muchos gatos. (She has many cats.)- Typically, this word is translated as much when singular and many when plural. In informal usage, you also can translate as a lot of.ningà ºn, ninguna- no- Ninguna persona ser atacada or ridiculizada. (No person will be attacked or ridiculed.) In Spanish, it is far less common to use ninguno or ninguna as an adjective than to use no as an adverb with the main verb, thus negating the entire sentence. Thus, I have no shoes would typically be stated as no tengo zapatos. poco, poca, pocos, pocas- small, little or slight; few- Hay poco pan. (There is little bread.) Hay pocas uvas. (There are a few grapes.)suficiente- enough, sufficient- Tenemos equipos suficientes para las inspecciones. (We have enough teams for the inspections.) Bastante is more frequently used than suficiente. Suficiente frequently follows the noun.tanto, tanta, tantos, tantas- so much, so many- Jams habà ­a comido tanto queso. (He had never eaten so much cheese.) En Amà ©rica Latina nunca han existido tantos pobres como ahora. (In Latin America there never have existed so many poor people as now.)todo, toda, todos, todas- each, every, all- Todo americano lo sabe. (Every American knows it.) Todos los perros van al cielo. (All dogs go to heaven.) Use of todo or toda in singular form as an adjective isnt particularly common. Todos or todas is quite often used in plural form before the definite article, as in the example.unos, unas- some- Unos gatos son mejores cazadores que otros. ( Some cats are better hunters than others.) varios, varias- several- Javier tenà ­a varios coches. (Javier had several cars.) Note that many of these adjectives are frequently used as other parts of speech, especially pronouns and adverbs. For example, poco can also function as an adverb meaning not. For example: Es poco inteligente. (Shes unintelligent.) Sample Sentences Using Adjectives of Quantity Hemos reunido muchas firmas, pero no son bastantes para hacer la peticià ³n. (We have gathered many signatures, but they arent enough to make the petition valid.) Necesitamos observe lo que ningà ºn ojo puede ver. (We need to observe what no eye can see.)  ¿Tiene este hombre tantos amigos como enemigos? (Does this man have as many friends as enemies?) Los padres nuevos suelen preguntar si sus bebà ©s dormirn toda la noche alguna vez. (New parents keep on asking if their babies will sleep all night some time.)

Snap Decisions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Snap Decisions - Essay Example This was done without any conscious analysis of the benefits that I would get from the friendship. The other snap decision that I have made is the choice of courses to attempt in any semester year. The choice of courses is usually done after a careful analysis of the options before the final decision is made. However, I have usually made snap decisions concerning the best course before getting any other information on the course. My emotions at the moment of making these snap decisions can be best described as emotional and based on hunches. For example, the choice of friends is usually based on first impressions, and if a person looks to be of a different character from mine, I would immediately dislike them, and changing this attitude would be hard. This also applies to the choice of courses, where the snap decisions are based on a liking of the lecturers, teachers, or other students taking the same course. The snap decisions that I have made usually turn out to be the best decisions I have made, since they turn out to be positive. This means that I do not regret the decisions later, and given the information before I made the decisions, I would still make the same

Nursing staffing ratio policy for the ICU department Assignment

Nursing staffing ratio policy for the ICU department - Assignment Example The policy was first implemented in the California legislature through the passage of the Bill 394. Stakeholders such as the Institute of Medicine, California Hospital Association, California Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union combined efforts and contributed jointly to development and implementation of the nursing policy. These associations contributed significantly in the policy formation process to address a number of factors. Factors addressed comprised of inadequacy of nurses in hospitals, registration of nurses, poor results from nurses and poor patient care services (Tevington, 2011). Health care stakeholders believed that the policy would solve problems experienced in the healthcare sector. In addition, they believed the policy would increase desired patient outcomes, increase recruitment of nurses, decrease shortages of nurses and increase job satisfaction (Unruh, 2008). Currently, many legislatures in the world have adopted the nursing policy a nd others are still adopting the policy. Mandatory Nurse-Patient Ratios Policy was developed for several purposes. The nursing policy was developed in order to develop an appropriate and specific ratio of nurses to patients that would be adopted by hospital to ensure that there are adequate nurses. In addition, the policy focused on improving the patient results in hospital through employment of registered and licensed nurses in different units in hospitals (Tevington, 2011). The Mandatory Nurse-Patient Ratios Policy has a wide range of users and participants. According to Douglas (2010), users of the Mandatory Nurse-Patient Ratios Policy consist of patients, physicians, nurses, healthcare unions, medical researchers, nursing organizations and associations and state governments. The policy affects nurses, patients and hospitals directly and physicians, health unions, medical researchers and

Project report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Project report - Essay Example I reached the reception counter of the school 15 minutes before the scheduled time of opening of the school. More on my observations are recorded in the following report: The school is situated in the outskirts of the city. It is about 3 kilometers from the borders of the city. Since school buses are provided from majority of the housing colonies of the city, no problem is encountered on this account. The school is housed in a 12 acre plot of land. The lawns and the garden are well maintained. Tree plantation is carried out within and outside the compound walls of the school in a planned manner. The school works for six days in a week. It is closed on Sundays, but a skeleton management and maintenance staff is always available. Residential quarters are provided for such personnel, within the school compound. The hours of operations are between 8 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. A lunch break is provided between 11.a.m. to 11.30 a.m. The program is in line with the Bush Administration’s early childhood initiative, â€Å"Good Start, Grow Smart.† It includes efforts to strengthen Head Start, partner with States to improve childhood education and provide necessary information to teachers, caregivers and parents. The school commenced its activities from 1-1-1997, which means it was founded about 10 years ago. A registration certificate issued by the State Education Department is prominently displayed in the Office as well as in the cabin of the Principal. The School goes by the standards prescribed by the Education Department of the State Government for various categories of staff in the school. Most of the teachers are post graduates and have done special diploma courses in Montessori system of education. The School has many experienced staff on their rolls as well. Each staff member has to produce two testimonials from gazette officers, or prominent personalities of the area in which they reside. Their original

Girl Child Education Essay Example for Free

Girl Child Education Essay Girl Guides are organised into units/troops averaging 20-30 girls under guidance of a team of leaders. Units subdivide into patrols of about six Guides and engage in outdoor and special interest activities. Units may affiliate with national and international organisations. Some units, especially in Europe, have been co-educational since the 1970s, allowing boys and girls to work together as Scouts. There are other programme sections for older and younger girls. Contents 1 Naming 2 Key points 3 Unit affiliation 4 Uniforms 5 Lones 6 See also 7 References Naming Robert Baden-Powell was a famous soldier who fought in the Boer War in South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. During the Siege of Mafeking, when the town and British soldiers were besieged by Boer soldiers, B-P noticed how the young boys made themselves useful by carrying messages for the soldiers. When he came home, he decided to put some of his Scouting ideas into practice to see if they would be any good for young boys and took 21 boys camping on Brownsea Island, near Poole in Dorset. The camp was a success, and B-P wrote his book Scouting for Boys, covering tracking, signaling, cooking etc. Soon boys began to organize themselves into Patrols and Troops and called themselves Boy Scouts. Girls bought the book as well and formed themselves into Patrols of Girl Scouts. In 1909 there was a Boy Scout Rally at Crystal Palace in London. Among all the thousands of Boy Scouts there was also a group of girls from Pinkneys Green, in Berkshire, who spoke to B-P and asked him to let girls be Scouts. B-P decided to take action. Eerste Nederlandsche Meisjes Gezellen Vereeniging (First Dutch Girls Companions Society), 1911, first Dutch Girl Guides In those days, for girls to camp and hike was not common, as this extract from the Scout newspaper shows: If a girl is not allowed to run, or even hurry, to swim, ride a bike, or raise her arms above her head, how can she become a Scout?[1] B-Ps career had been in the British Army. There was an Indian regiment called the Khyber Guides who served on the north-west frontier of India. B-P persuaded the girl Scouts that Guides was a very special name of which they could be proud. So, in 1910 the first Girl Guides began. Since 1910 Guides have spread and there are now millions of Guides worldwide. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) was formed to link together Guides. In some countries the girls preferred to call themselves ‘Girl Scouts’. (Reference: The Guide Handbook, London: The Guide Association, 1996) The first Guide Company was 1st Pinkneys Green Guides (Miss Baden Powells Own), who still exist in Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.[2] Polish Girl Guides by the monument to Small Partisan in Warsaw Key points Things that are shared amongst all Guide Units are:[3] The Guide Promise Girls become Guides by making their Promise. Each country has its own Promise but all have the same 3 parts: duty to God or to your religion; duty to your country; keeping the Guide Law. The Good Turn each Guide tries to do a kind thing for someone else, without payment and without being asked, every day. The World Badge this can be worn on uniform or ordinary clothes. The three leaves of the trefoil stand for the threefold Promise. The vein in the centre is a compass needle, pointing the way and the two stars stand for the Promise and the Law. The colours stand for the golden sun shining over all the children of the world, from a blue sky. This badge is a guiding symbol that can be recognized all over the world. The World Flag this is in the same colours as the World Badge and can be carried or flown by any member of the movement. It is often used as the Unit Flag. The three yellow blocks represent the threefold Promise and the white corner represents the commitment to peace of all WAGGGs members. The Guide Sign the three fingers stand for the three parts of the Promise. The Guide sign is used when making or renewing the Promise and can be used when meeting other Guides. It may also be used when receiving a badge or at the end of meetings. The Motto Be Prepared This means that Guides are ready to cope with anything that might come their way.