Wright's Writing

In Chapter four Wright is pressured by his family to become more religious and accept Christ as his savior. However, Richard has a different idea about religion and how much it should affect his life. His grandmother and Aunt Addie are very harsh with him about his choices with religion. He is also resisting the punishments that they choose to inflict upon him. However, the main issue of this blog is about Richard and his writing. While killing time during a prayed, Wright decided to write a story on an Indian girl. The girl died in the story. The writing had no real plot or anything, but yet Wright was still amazed and proud. It was his own and he had created it. His gratification came from the fact he had expressed himself, and there was nothing the woman could really do to him. It was his right to be creative and create whatever story he wanted. That sense of owning something made him feel happy beyond a reasonable cause.

Mother's Stroke

The trauma that Wright suffers from the sudden stroke his mother suffers was quite painful. However, Richard responds to the tragedy in way that I believe most children would. This becomes the point in his life where he is forced to mature and grow up almost immediately. After his mother’s first stroke, Richard tends to his mother and acts like an adult until his grandmother and family arrive. His courage here shows that he is a strong man and he now has a sense of what life really is. The second stroke that his mother has brings things more clearly into reality. The events of his mother show him what his life is really all about. At the age of twelve his future life is shaped and molded by the issues he faces with his mom’s life. From that moment on he has decided to ask questions constantly, and then take those questions and find the core of them that explains all the answers.

Wright and the Jews

Richard Wright’s has been very complicated and troublesome up to this point. He is learning many things about his culture and the reasons why he has the life that he does. Wright is very curious, and he asks a lot of questions. His hatred towards Jews is not learned. It is taught. Jews killed Jesus and that makes all Jews today evil. His religious upbringing forces this upon him. Wright mocks the Jews in his neighborhood by yelling racial chants. Experiences that Richard is accustomed to are the different places that are designated for whites and blacks. For example at the train station there are different lines for blacks and whites. He also feels the same hatred as the Jews. Whites look down on him and treat him differently. He is pushed down in society as well because of the past (slavery). Life treats him unfair, but he is not doing any good by degrading others.

Wright's hunger

Wright is a child that is dealing with the struggles that life in poverty will give you. Moving to Memphis after burning down his own house made life even worse for Wright. His dad had a night job and could barely make enough money to support his family. Then, Wright’s father walked out on his family. His mother was left to take care of his brother and him with no job. She does find work, but it doesn’t pay much and the children begin to starve. The main reason for Richard’s hunger is the poverty inflicted on him by racism he lives in. Richard’s mother cooks for a white family. He goes with her sometimes and he becomes angry because the food she is preparing can not be eaten by him. Wright doesn’t quite understand the differences in whites and blacks yet, but he is on his way to comprehending them. Until this point he has not seen why people cared about skin color, and how it changes things when different races are involved with eachother.

Against School

Mr. Gatto has some great points on the school system that we have today. His position is quite clear. He feels that the education is good and necessary, but the school in general has a bad affect on the children. School does mature us. It allows for us to grow up, but we turn out to be old “children”. I agree that we don’t need school to tell us how we should think or how we should live our lives. I think that schools need to teach us the necessities we need to achieve the profession we choose. I know that my work ethic, attitude, and way of life were taught to me by my parents. Schools did not teach me any of those. The “un-educational” aspects of school don’t have any real baring on my life, because I know who I am and the school can’t really change that.

nonacademic education

Yes, I do value my nonacademic education that I am receiving. The two types that I felt were very intriguing were moral and political education. The moral education aspect is not necessarily academic, but it is very useful. People need to be socially well off. Moral education is the core of all social existence. Our parents raised us to know what is wrong and what is right. From there we have developed the acceptances of society and how to act around different groups of people. Your upbringing decides how you will fit into the community around you and the rest of the World. The other main part of nonacademic education is the political side. We must know how the government is ran and why it is ran that way. The candidates who run also have a background that needs to be revealed. This education allows for you to recognize who you are politically and from that you can choose who is the best person to be in control of the government.
Not all education needs to be book bound. To me the best education is the education you get just from living.

Rhetoric Presentations II

Today was again filled with some great presentations of rhetoric on the town. Everyone I think did a great job in finding their pictures and explaining them. The picture I liked the most came from Alex today. I liked the one of Anne Coulter. Now it has nothing to do with her Republican background nor is it directly related to the meaning of the title. However, it was that title that caught my eye as well as the way she dressed. If the cover had said, “Republicans are stupid” I still would have noticed it. The cover has that “shock” appeal, and it should make everyone double take. I really like the shock factor with rhetoric. I think it does the most to appeal to the audience, and it has great influence in rhetoric.