Frederick Douglass: 4th of July

Frederick Douglass, being asked to speak at a Fourth of July celebration, feels it is somewhat of a mockery to him and the blacks of America. Fourth of July doesn’t have the same meaning to slaves and blacks as it does to white Americans. While the white people see this as a celebration, the blacks see it as the start of the terrible injustices they have faced. The day does not represent freedom to the blacks; rather it represents the beginnings of enslavement and torture. The declaration of Independence did not give freedom to the black man; it gave freedom to only the white man. Douglass wonders how he is so supposed to be joyous on this day and speak to the people when this is the day he lost his freedom. Frederick appeals to logos in his speech. He tries to reason with his audience to show them why he does not believe his is the right person to speak at the Fourth of July Celebration. Douglass states, “There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour (Fourth of July).” Our day of celebration is their day of enslavement.

Socialization Process

Parrillo states some very obvious things in his writings about prejudice in America. However, he does make good points on the topic. His description of the socialization process is how “individuals acquire the values, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of their culture or subculture, including religion, nationality, and social class”. Parrillo believes that people obtain these from their parents’ expectations, economic competition, and the social norm of a group. I do believe that a lot of prejudices and beliefs are formed in these manners. As a child, you are brought up to be a certain way and you believe that way is right, because your parents have said it is. Also, being threatened in your position at work in a group can make you try and find the worst in your opponent. As for the social norm, people do tend to side with their peers or what the majority view. People get a lot of their views from what is instilled in them at an early age. Their positions may change, but it usually unlikely.

Thomas Jefferson and Slavery

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, was no doubt a great man of his time and he helped in the shaping of America today. As far as the issue of slavery goes, Jefferson wasn’t quite sure where his position was at. Jefferson owned slaves for many years and yet he was always trying to abolish slavery in his political positions. To me that sounds ridiculous that he wanted to get rid of slavery, but he owned slaves. Another thing about him was that he fathered children with on of his slaves, Sally. As shown in our book on page 82, you can see the black descendants of Jefferson. Of course Jefferson denied all claims of this considering that for one having children out of wedlock was morally wrong and second Jefferson’s entire campaign about releasing the slaves also stated that they should not be able to “mix” with the whites. My explanations of these differences are all because of politics. Jefferson felt one way about slavery when he was by himself, but when he was in the public eye he had to act a certain way to gain approval. I do not disagree that Jefferson was one of the greatest men to lead our nation to greatness, but I believe when it came to slavery Jefferson didn’t know what he wanted.

Cora Tucker vs. Willy Loman

Cora Tucker has traits that Willy Loman needs to acquire. When you look at Willy, you see how he collapses and can not go on when he is not “well liked” by clients any more. He loses hope and feels he can’t succeed any more. Cora does not do this and this is where she succeeds and Willy fails. Cora does not care what the people think about her and she pushes forward to accomplish her goals. She gains her reputation and “well likeness” from accomplishing the tasks she is after. Her successes gain that respect from both her fans and her enemies. They respect her for her knowledge of political issues. Cora Tucker is an example of the American Dream. Her success from being a poor, black woman to a major factor in politics shows that it is possible to achieve your goals no matter your status. Willy should take notes on how Cora lives her life.

Willy's idea of success

Willy Loman is an older man that is losing his ability to comprehend the present. He lives his life in flashbacks and is “lost” through most of the play. However, he does seem to know what he wants in his life and how he is supposed to achieve it. Willy believes that individual opportunity is not based on others. Your success comes from being “well liked”. Willy talks about this thing of being well liked through the play. He believed that Charley, who was successful, was not well like and the same went for Bernard. This puzzled him, because it went against what he had believed his entire life. However, his son, Biff, was the person Willy wanted him to be. He had been well liked and was successful, in the beginning. Willy based success of this and tried to put it into his life. Willy wanted nothing more than to be well liked. If this became true about him, then success would come.

Wednesday's Speeches

The speeches today varied in quality, but much like yesterday they were good. I give kudos to Nick Martin and his appeal to emotion and evidence. His involvement in the Big Brothers and Sisters organization helped his speech greatly. His introduction was good and he was very knowledgeable about his facts. I do not remember any other major points in today’s speeches that well. However, I do think that everyone did a nice job and this is a skill that you will need in the future. I personally believe that it should be necessary for everyone to take a speech class in high school. You can really benefit from it. Businesses will expect you to be able to give presentations in that specific work field. Again, nice job to those people who went today. You all were knew what you wanted to get across to the class to persuade them and you accomplished that.

Tuesday's Speeches

Today’s speeches were quite good today. For the most part everyone was clear and knowledgeable about his or her topics. I felt that the introductions were strong and caught the audience’s attention. Kudos to Kendal on her introduction. I was hooked right away on her speech when she started out by talking about the abuse that goes in on homes around the world. Good job. Visual aids are also a great thing. They can however, hinder your speech. Ieysha used her aids very well in her speech. They added immensely to your already wondrous speech. Again, Good job. Eli, Alex, and Mei-Mei related their topics to the audience quite well and it showed through their use of success stories. These are great ways to express emotion into your speech and you guys did this greatly. Everyone did a nice job and the only complaint I have is posture. To me leaning on the podium or sitting down are good practices of giving speeches. Other than that, great job to everybody.

Emerson Essay

Ralph Waldo Emerson believes that a man’s success is dependent upon how hard he is willing to work at it. It is up to him and no one else. He must not rely on the people around him to achieve his goal. I completely agree with Mr. Emerson. People need to realize that they can not just ride the “coat tails” of someone and expect for them to lead them to success. Hard work and determination can get you anywhere. Of course this is not going to be easy. Most things in life are not. However, the concept that you must gain success on your own is that simple. If achieving success was simple, then people would not be in the terrible situations they are in today. Poverty would be non-existent and everyone who live happy, enjoyable lives. If people cared enough about themselves and wanted to get out of their situations they would have everything they need to do so.

Horatios Alger

I agree with Dalton that the Alger myth should be interred. However, it would not be easy at all to accomplish this task. The Alger myth is very old and has been around for generations. Myths are spread throughout the world and most likely people everywhere have heard of them in some sort of form. The best ways to denounce myths are by using experiments that show it is not possible and broadcasting it to everyone. This would express that the American Dream is completely false. Most people would not need this, because they would come to terms in their own lives what the American Dream really is. To challenge a myth you would basically do the same thing. Mythbusters, the show, is a great example of how they disprove myths. They use reliable experiments and can easily disprove or confirm the myth. By making it a TV show, it then meets that world wide broadcasting medium. The only thing left is for people to believe the results. Stubbornness could be the death of proving or disproving myths.