Thursday, July 26, 2007
July 26 Readings
I really liked these two excerpts. Maybe it's because I myself am a mixed race (including 1/4 Apache), but I really identified with these texts. I felt that "The Schooldays of an Indian Girl" and "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" both touched on the topic of being different in their everyday lives. Both texts addressed the speakers' triumphs over the closed-minded people who surrounded them. I thought, however, that "The Schooldays of an Indian Girl" addressed prejudice from a helpless standpoint. I felt like the speaker was more passive about maintaining her identity than was the speaker in "Eurasian". I thought the "Eurasian" speaker was mroe forthcoming about her identity. She was stronger-willed and did not keep silent about herself. She was proud, starting at a young age, to tell people her mother was Chinese and to seek out those who would accept her for who she was, even if it meant changing their prejudice. I thought both of these texts touched on a very difficult subject that is still prevalent today (i.e. our class discussion the other day about "Crash" and racism today). No matter what race somebody is, as long as it's different from white, there can be something 'wrong' with it.
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3 comments:
I do agree with what you said about the how other "nonwhite" races will be seen as something wrong with it. I think that this is true with the evidence of stereotypes. Stereotypes in this country are held so high and people are ignorant to the fact that everyone is not like that. For me being African American I have to go through personal triumphs to get to where I am going because of my race.
That's funny that you said that the "Schoolgirl" main character was more passive, because I was thinking the opposite. To me, it seemed like she really faught to maintain who she was. For example, in the situation with her hair. She really struggled and even hid from the paleface womean who was supposed to cut it. Why? Because in her culture, shingled hair meant that person was a coward. She put up a fight for sure.
Let me first say that I think it is awesome that you are 1/4 Apache. I have many relatives who are part indian, Cherokee, and even though you can't tell it I am 1/8. Not much but anyways...haha ok so after I just rambled I will talk about your blog.
I totally agree with you about the two different roles that the girls took when responding to how they were being treated. The girl in the "Schooldays of an Indian Girl" was in a more helpless sort of role. It seemed, like you said, that she was more passive about maintaining her identity while the Euroasian girl was a total opposite. Good job about pulling those two comparisons out of the story! You made a lot of great points.
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