Sharing Writing

After sharing his story, Wright feels gratified, despite the fact that in his family's world, there was "nothing more alien than writing or the desire to express one's self in writing." In fact, I would say that that's one of the reasons he feels so gratified. Through his entire life, especially in the period of life he's in in chapters 4 and 5, he has been prevented from expressing himself. When he is in an environment where he's allowed to, hunger and poverty prevents him from doing so. At the times where physical demands have been met for the most part, he has been forced to succumb to Granny's will. Under her roof, the only written words that aren't blasphemous are found in the Bible. By jotting down his story, Wright is finally able to do something that is strictly for himself.

However, sharing it is what makes it so valuable to him. For his entire life, Wright has not been encouraged to develop his intellectual skills. He is either uprooted too quickly or is in an environment not conducive to learning. When Wright finally shares a piece of work that he made and sees that his audience is impressed, iit is the first time that he is able to really take pride in something that he has done.

Paralysis

When Wright initially learns of his mother's paralysis, he reacts coldly. He immediately understands that he can no longer be as a child anymore, and he also feels a need to distance himself from her in the event of her death. Additionally, her illness exposes to him the dependancy that he resented so much. I think that he subconsciously realized how much of a child he was at the moment that he had to surrender his childhood.

After staying at his Uncle's house for a while, Richard begs to return to his mother. However, when he gets there, he writes, "I ached to be of an age to take care of myself." It's as if longs to be free, but on a deeper level feels the bonds of family and childhood.

When treatment failed, Richard began to emotionally cut himself off from his mother. If this were of an historical account, that would likely be because he was taking protective measures for himself in case he lost her. However, he then writes that his "mother's suffering gew into a symbol...[for] all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness, the...hunger-ridden days...the uncertainty, the fear, the dread; the meaningless pain and the endless suffering." By removing himself from he mother, he emotionally detached himself from both his suffering and the suffering of his race that had no cause. There was no way to deny its existence, but hardening himself to it could help him bear the pain.

"Cultural Heritage"

Richard Wright describes his prejudice against Jews as his "cultural heritage." In Sunday School he was taught that the Jews were "Christ killers," and therefore the children were justified, sometimes even encouraged, to persecute them.

At the end of chapter 2, Wright has just begun to grasp the concept and consequences of the racial struggle. However, at the time he was learning to hate Jews, he did not yet comprehend what was really happening. The adults in his life did. Black people always saw their race being discriminated against in every aspect of life. They could find only menial jobs, and the pay was significantly less than a white person in the same position. Poverty was everywhere, as was danger. The Jew was a white man who could rank below the black man. He was hated by others, just as others hated the black man. A persecuted population will often seek out a lesser population to persecute because it will feel like things are being evened out. Wright's Granny was an extremely religious Christian, and so calling the Jews "Christ killers" could sound justified.

Hunger

Wright is hungry for attention. From the first chapter, it appears that he has never had a truly constructive relationship. On page 16, he writes that he associated his hunger with his father. This was directly after his father abandoned him. The hunger persisted as his mother worked long hours and could not care for her children. His need for human interaction is expressed in his exploration of saloons and bars. At first he resisted the men, knowing that he was breaking the rules, but as he drank, even as a 6-year-old, he was able to find release and affection by doing as the drunkards asked. When he learned obscene phrases from the older students at school, Wright lashed out and wrote them across the windows of the buildings around his house. Actions like these are common among children who do not get the attention they need at home;negative attention is better than none at all. It is reflected again when he associates "hunger and fear" with the orphanage. The orphanage was where he was again abandoned by his mother. Wright's hunger for a caring figure manifests itself as physical hunger. No matter how much he eats, he would be unable to quiet his gargling stomach, unless the food was given to him out of love by a trusted person.

Against School

I believe that school is a necessity for childhood development in the modern world. Gatto discusses only the factory-like mongo schools, and I found it hard to even take his argument seriously after his first couple of paragraphs. When a teacher is engaging, the students automatically become engaged. Regardless of how interested they are in a particular subject, the teacher can draw them into the lesson. If the teachers are just as bored as the students, they either need to change their curriculum or find a different job.

The historic examples of unschooled individuals may seem like a good foundation from his argument, but these were extraordinary people. Many of those whose names are now extremely well-known came from wealthy families who had time to teach their kids how to read and write. The majority of uneducated people, both then and now, spend their entire lives doing labor only to disappear from history forever.

Today, I would expect a leader to have had elementary school, high school, college, and hopefully graduate school. School is needed to provide basic understanding of basic concepts, like math and history, but also it provides a social foundation. Where would a future political leader practice his or her executive skills if he did not have an environment to work off of? A school gives him or her access to resources and presents issues that he would be able to try to solve. Even if we're talking about artists, this is true. On page 155, the quotes says that the educational system is designed to "put down dissent and originality." An artist or a writer would have resources that he or she might otherwise not be able to obtain without the school. He would not only have materials, but also influences to inspire his ideas. Peers, teachers, and books provide a constant flow of information with which a student can develop more sound opinions about issues, including dissenting theories.

Lastly, without a basic knowledge of things, nothing can ever progress. Students need to learn first year biology so that they may build upon it until they reach the intellectual glass ceiling. Until that point of knowledge is reached, a person cannot hope to discover something further. That applies to any subject, but particularly science. School gives kids a place to discover what they truly want to learn more about, helping them to make educated decisions of what they want to do with their lives.

Extracurricular Education

I chose my high school based on the value of its extracurricular education programs. Yes, academics played a minor role, but I selected based on the assumption that I would be able to find a rigorous program at almost any high school. I believe that the majority of learning in grades 9-12 occurs outside of the conventional classrooms. Precalculus is important, but I think that while you're just sitting watching a teacher write stuff of the white board, you're not learning much that will be useful when you reach the real world. Even if you're an engineer and need to know a lot about math, you won't be very successful if you can't work with others or express your ideas. P.E. helps teens learn to support each other; those that are good at soccer often stop to help those that aren't. If you have to do pull-ups assisted, you really have to trust the person spotting you, and you have to communicate about how you're feeling. Art allows you to explore your creativity. Not only do you have to learn what you're feeling, but also you have to learn how to express that feeling to any stranger who walks by your painting. Clubs are valuable because they encourage learning after school hours and help in building intimate relationships and self-esteem. I value my extracurricular education because there is so much in the world outside of UHS that doesn't relate to things you can learn in a text book.

Rhetoric Presentations

Many of the pieces of rhetoric people found were interesting, but a few stood out to me. The photo of the two boys on the basketball team was something that I wouldn't have even thought to take a picture of. I guess I'm just used to seeing them wearing ties on game days because it never occurred to me that that it was a form of rhetoric. I also liked Annalee's interpretation of the window sill at our school.

Something that this project showed me was how often we are exposed to rhetoric that we don't even register as being rhetoric. The window sill is just something I sit on to do my homework, and I see the basketball team wearing ties all the time. If I'm in Carmel and I drive by a brick McDonalds, I might think, "Huh, that McDonalds is posing as a friendly place to hang out," but nothing much more.