Discharging a Debt

According to Cose, official investigation, apology, and restitution for atrocious events are essential to the furthering of a community. In the last paragraph on page 502, he writes, "The problem is...that so much was taken and so little given that impoverishment and despair became self-perpetuating." In Psychology we learned about how once a person feels trapped in a hopeless or horrible situation, he or she will remain there, even if there is a clear path out. This idea is passed through the generations. Therefore, if your ancestors were those who were freed from slavery and then deprived of their promised four acres, you are far more likely to live most of your life in poverty, regardless of whether or not there is a clear opportunity. Cose believes that the only way to break this cycle is to acknowledge the wrong-doing and to intervene with the cycle of learned hopelessness, whether it's through monetary reparations or by improving the educational system, giving those trapped in poverty greater opportunity to escape.

It is also important to the society that reparations are made because as Thornburgh stated, "By finally admitting a wrong, a nation does not destroy its integrity, but rather reinforces the sincerity of its commitment to the Constitution, and hence to its people. In forcing us to reexamine our history, you have made us only stronger and more proud." Cose agrees with this concept, as he implies in his descriptions of Tulsa's continued failure to acknowledge the race riots. Several would disagree with Thornburgh's statement, arguing that by looking at our country's past atrocities, we only deepen the wounds they caused, but this is not true. It's similar to what teachers tell us when we learn how to not cheat at the beginning of the year; it's better to fail a test and admit that you didn't study than to ace it because you looked at your neighbor's paper. Obviously it's best not to take either path, but if it comes down to it, reviewing your errors is the only way that you'll be able to grow.

Cose believes that we have to look at our history, both good and bad, in order to advance society. Making amends to them is the only way to ensure that the injured party can continue to have faith in the system, and to ensure that the mistakes will not happen again. As a community, we have to pull up everyone, especially those we have directly oppressed, in order to improve.

Cora Tucker v. Willy Loman

Neither Cora Tucker nor Willy Loman are wealthy individuals, however, one made choices that allowed her to succeed, where the other never did. The primary difference between the two was their interperatation of success. Cora Tucker saw it as personal fulfillment, where Willy Loman saw it as fulfillment in the eyes of others. This is interesting because Tucker lived her life serving society.

Cora Tucker succeeded because she was doing what she wanted to do, regardless of how it would effect her financial status. To her, serving others and fighting for a cause she believed in was her path to happiness. She got the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of her work, for she worked very hard. Being a black woman, who was described as being not particularly attractive or well-spoken, she could not rely on being "well-liked." In fact, she accepted the fact that she was absolutely hated by some, and continued to work forward anyway.

Where Willy Loman failed was his pressure on himself to beat the best man. Instead of working to help society, he worked to advace himself soley in the materialistic sense. He didn't do what he wanted to do; he did what he though would bring in enough money to live as he thought he wanted to. Whether or not Cora Tucker was helping people, she was still doing exactly what she wanted to do. Willy describes Biff as lost, but Willy is as well because he doesn't know what he wants. By sacrificing his desires to the apparent desires of others, he became emotionally bankrupt and lost.

Cora Tucker did what she wanted without caring whether or not society disapproved. Willy Loman did only what society expected him to do, so although he worked hard, he was never able to achieve success. Had Willy wanted to be a traveling salesman with no salary, his monetary lack of success would have been irrelevant to him.

Death of a Salesman and Individual Opportunity

Willy Loman belives that the only thing you need to achieve success is to be well-liked. He says on page 33, "Bernard can get the best marks in school...but when he gets out in the business world...you're going to be five times ahead of him...[T]he man who creates personal interest is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want." In this scene, he continuously cuts off Bernard, seeing him as an irritant, rather than someone determined to help his son. Willy argues that the teacher could never flunk Biff becuase from Willy's perspective, Biff is a stapping, well-liked young man. In the end of the book, when Willy gets fired, he simply can't wrap his head around the expendable nature of his possition. Willy still values the past, but old history is irrelevant in capitalistic business, so in one swoop, his entire view of the American Dream is shattered. Watching people like Charley and Bernard-the people Willy sees as people who should not succeed in business-reach success, while Willy struggles to pay his bills, finally pushes him over the edge. Death of a Salesman depicts the unraveling of Willy's view of individual opportunity.

Arthur Miller believes that you must reach the American Dream through your merits. Though Willy saw Bernard as a weasily dweeb, it was Bernard who presented a case to the Supreme Court in the end. Charley, also a weasily dweeb, doles out the ultimate humiliation to Willy by not only offering him a job, but by also lending him money so that Linda can think that Willy is still bringing in income. Willy is so proud that he cannot bare to acknowledge Charley knew all along the real definition of individual opportunity. Biff had the opportunity to not fail out of school. He easily could have taken tutoring from Bernard or attended summer school, but he passed it up. Miller believes that everyone has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, but if you do not sieze it, you will be left behind.

Death of a Salesman Question

How does Willy Loman's insanity and eventually suicide relate to our unit on The American Dream and individual opportunity?

Speeches Oct 14

Today, I was most impressed by the speech on the Julian Center. She did a great job at delivering the speech, and had a nice balance between the appeals to pathos and ethos.

The speech on Big Brothers Big Sisters also made me want to learn more about the organization. Connecting the speech to someone we know made it very strong.

One thing that I have noticed about "successful" speeches are that they have some things in common. The ones that I remember most clearly are those that connected their organization to something that relates to their audience. Things like personal stories or tales of people our age and younger seem to have had the most impact.

I also best remember speeches presented by fairly dynamic speakers. This is probably why the Julian Center speech caught my attention: the speaker used vocal inflections and even body movements to help her make her point. Part of this may have been that I had trouble paying attention to the people who kept their eyes strictly to the paper. Even though I knew that their words may have been eloquent, the presentation of the content was half of the persuasive argument.

Speeches Oct 13

Overall, I think the speeches today were pretty good. I was a lot more nervous that I expected I would be because usually I'm fine talking in front of people. I fumbled around with my words; the ideas sounded fine in my head, but coming out, they didn't quite make it. This taught me to reherse more and to better organize my thoughts more thoughroughly (spelling?) before presenting.

Of all the speeches today, Amy's sticks out in my head the most. She described Heifer International beautifully, and the fact that she made it so personal caught my attention. I felt like she really took into consideration her audience how to appeal to them. There was an excellent balance of pathos and ethos. The emphasis on the fact that the animals' offspring are shared with others was the piece of the organization that really touched me.

Speech Outline

Because someone already claimed Goodwill before I got to class, I had to change my charity to United Way. This is actually a good thing because in 8th grade I worked with my school's community service group to obtain a grant from United Way. We used the money from the grant to have three parties for children (I think kindergardeners, but I don't remember) who were from very low-income families. We provided meals for them because for many the only meal they recieved was the one provided for them by their school. We did crafts and even had a carnival once where the kids one prizes like stuffed animals.

Claim: United Way is a good organization to donate to

Reasons: Because they fund mentoring programs and after-school activities to discourage dropping out, run the Imagination Library to give children access to books, provide training and tools to low-income families so they can get a better job and improve their living conditions, and support local health care that services low-income families, particularly pregnant women, infants, and young children.

Warrent: There is a problem with the amount of poverty in the United States, and it directly relates to development in early childood
Backing: statistics and studies

Rebuttal: It is better to focus on the adults because they are already in undesirable situations. If you help them, you'll also help their children

Qualifier: Because most development occurs during early childhood, it is important to work with young children while they're still impresionable.

Individual Opportunity Speech

For this speech, I want to write about Goodwill Industries International. I have a stronger connection with their store than anything else, but recently I discovered that they do a lot more that sell used clothes.

In 2002, Goodwill started a project created to put millions of people in jobs by 2020. They not only provide for training of the individual for the job, but also they have options for child care services for people who can't work because they have to take care of the kids and have no money for day care. They also work to find careers for people with disabilities. Goodwill provides tutoring services for children who are homeless or disabled. They collect books for these children as well. This gives those chldren better opportunities in their younger years, which may give them the edge they need to find a career in adulthood.

Goodwill is also enviornmentally friendly. By selling used items, they keep them from becoming waste. What can't be made into selling condition is recycled in creative ways. For example, old clothes are cut into cleaning cloths for industrial buyers. I think it's pretty cool to think that that shirt you wore in your 8th grade school photo may be an industrial wipe.

Self-Reliance

Emerson writes that the only way to succeed is to reject society's traditions and work only for yourself. He says that consistancy is unimportant if the change is how you really feel, because to worry about consistancy is to put another's opinion before your own. Even if family disagrees with your beliefs, it doesn't matter because technically everyone is family if you go back far enough. In describing travel, he says that there is no use in travelling if it is only for pleasure because you will get nothing out of it that you didn't already have.

I disagree with what her writes. Success is far more complex than working for yourself to get ahead. Because we live in a social society, there is no way to succeed without respecting the beliefs and traditions of others. You can still disagree with them, but if you want to advance in society, you have to be able to see the basis for their opinions. In a work enviornment, if you offend the boss, you will soon be out of work. If you are unreasonable in social situations, no one will take you seriously, and you will be regarded as a fool.

By putting yourself first in every situation, you lose contacts and relationships, which are essential to getting ahead. Regardless of your knowledge in a subject, there will always be someone who knows more. You have to allow yourself to listen and take their advice or condemn yourself to ignorance and risk losing all that you have built. You can never fully reject the wisdom of your ancestors because without their contributions, the next innovations would be impossible.

Class in America

Although Mantsios mentions mentions the idea of the rich exploiting the poor, I don't think that that concept influences much of his essay. He acknwoledges that the lower class must be poor in order for there to be such wealth in the upper classes, but that may not be necessarily because of exploitation, consciously anyway. The comfort and luxury of being part of the upper class is enough for the rich to justify a willful ignorance of what is really happening, but I think Mantsios implies more that the rich are choosing bot to help, rather than intentionally taking advantage of the poor.

One reason that the rich tend to get richer and the poor stay generally the same is that industry is designed to generate maximum profit. As incomming capital increases, the top (wo)men get hearty raises, while those who actually did the labor get the same pay check they had been getting. Now that nation's wealth has increased, prices on goods also increase. Now the big business is putting even more into the pockets of its CEOs, and the working people can't afford to buy the products they built.

Wow, now that I wrote that out it does sound an awful lot like exploitation.

Mantsios also discusses the issues with internal bias and what people are born as, race and gender in particular. For most, to discriminate against people because of race or gender is an unconscious exploitation. The person isn't necessarily aware of why they treat some people differently, or even aware of their change in behavior. Because there is no way to completely avoid stereotypes and snap-judgements based on people's appearance, there will never be a world in which all people have perfectly equal opportunity.