Prejudice and Racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A smal

The Literary Response to Racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A small place   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Racism and prejudice can be regarded as both societal and individual phenomena, developed and manifested at all levels of society; from government policy through organizational structures, inter-group and interpersonal interactions to intra-personal attitudes and feelings. Media and literature react to these perceptions and have taken part in shaping the attitudes and feelings of society. The novels "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, "A Grain of Wheat" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Jamaica Kincaid's essay "A small place" represent a literary response to the insidious tool of racism in colonial and postcolonial history.    Racism has typically been reflected by structural inequalities rooted in history and been perpetuated over time. The belief that one group was inferior to another was essential in order to justify the process of dispossessing indigenous groups of their land during colonization. The colonial powers instituted and maintained differentials between different ethnic and cultural groups by parceling out admission to education or employment, and by restricting access to law and medical care. These inequalities consequently served to emphasize difference rather than similarity among the colonized and the colonizer, thus reinforcing stereotypes of superiority or inferiority. The policies and practices were aimed to reflect a belief that the dominant culture is the "normal" one, which served as a standard by which all else could be judged.    Ngugi wa Thiong'o is an African post-colonialist writer who portrays his experience of colonial racism from a native's view. In his novel A Grain of Wheat, he picture... ...o. 7 The Post Colonial Studies Reader: Editors Bill Ashcroft; Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin. Publisher: Routledge New York, 1999 DiBeta, Karen: A Grain of Wheat: Dispelling the Great Myth http://www.tcnj.edu~lmccaule/emposit.htm   Accessed June 29, 2001 Human Rights Watch: Leave No One to Tell the Story. Genocide in Ruanda.Doc.# 171-1 http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno1   Ã‚  Accessed June 19, 2001 Eurofic: European Forum for International Cooperation. Platform of the European Commission on Development and Cooperation, 115 Rue Stepin, Brussels, Belgium http://www.oneworld.org/eurostep   Accessed June 21, 2001 Omoregie, F.K: Rodney, Cabral and Ngugi as Guides to African Postcolonial Literature English Department, University of Botswana http://landow.stg.brown.edu/post/africa/omoregie11.html#mungoshi1   Accessed June 28, 2001   

Reflection on Concussions

I learned many things from the completion of my senior exit project. My research has taught me the most because it furthered my thesis statement. The research proved that if the padding was reorganized and strategically placed into the helmet, that more protection would be offered to players and the severity of the injuries would be significantly less. When I discuss this topic with my teammates, they strongly agree with my new placement of the padding because they themselves have suffered concussions and other serious injuries due to the poor choice of padding placement in helmets.I have also suffered many injuries myself due to the lack of properly placed padding, but I have never had a concussion. I learned many things about myself throughout this project. I learned that I can manage my time a lot better than I thought and stick to scheduling in order to complete this project without getting distracted. I demonstrated that I am able to do extensive research on a topic that I am in terested in as well as being involved with by being an athlete, without getting bored.Lastly, I learned I can push myself to strive to be my best. In the past I have struggled with staying on task and battled Attention Deficit Disorder which I thought would have hindered my progress, but to my surprise, I was able to finish this project with confidence. I feel that I possess the qualities needed to succeed later in life because my confidence has risen. The research developed, gathered, analyzed, and studied from this project has helped me to gain a new perspective of myself when it comes to studying and working hard.

The Rape of the Lock as a Mock-Heroic Poem - 943 Words

According to Childs and Fowler, (2006:144) in heroic epic, things that are not ordinary and things that are trivial can exist together and be a part of each other. But in mock-epic the author puts less emphasis on concern in broad discourse, the slowly developing balance of epic narration bonds with the awareness of individual satire. As far as mock-epic is concerned, within the plot the representatives of the ritualistic become given to bouts of ill temper, poise and self-respect transforms into vanity and the state of being esteemed is disguised yet visible and known. Mock-epic makes a parody of whole social classes hence their negative experience of certain lack of maturity, which derives from the feeling of false self-fulfilment which†¦show more content†¦In conclusion, The Rape of the Lock visibly unites both mock-heroic poem and comedy. Despite the comedy is not a parody of tragedy it fulfils the purpose similar to the comic discourse. The gap it creates between the fo rm and the main matter is an artistic way of indicating the significant difference between the looks and the reality. It is the main accusation to the social group depicted in the poem. And so, â€Å"if we take Pope’s intention to be the exposure of this contrast, we can see that the parodic discrepancy between apparent subject and form actually brings about the harmonisation of the real subject with its form, in similar manner to the comedy of the time† (Broich 1990: 115). It means a huge progress, as states Broich (1990: 113) â€Å"from the parodic to the truly independent comic epic†, in which comedy is present in the way the author presents the plot as well as in the plot itself. References: Childs, Peter and Fowler, Roger. 2006. The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms, p. 144 (entry: mock-epic). New York: Routledge. Broich, Ulrich. 1990. The Eighteenth-Century Mock-Heroic Poem,Show MoreRelatedDiscuss Alexander Popes The Rape Of The Lock as a Mock Heroic Poem.2174 Words   |  9 Pagesof mock heroic poetry in the English language was composed after John Caryll, a friend of Popes, informed the poet of an incident regarding two land owning, Catholic families, the Petres the Fermors. The young lord Petre had cut off a lock of hair from the fashionable society lady Arabella Fermor, and both she and her family had taken offence. Caryll suggested that Pope should write a poem to to make a jest of it, and laugh them together again. The result was the publication of The Rape of theRead MorePope, Swift, and Aristocratic Women Essay1652 Words   |  7 PagesAlexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock and Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"The Lady’s Dressing Room†. In Pope’s mock-heroic verse The Rape of the Lock (1717) what is criticised is a moral fault: mainly, immoderate female moral pride. There are several versions of the poem. However, we have preferred the last one which consists of 794 lines in five cantos, as it was revised to be included in Pope’s Works (1717) and is the one which stands now. Written in heroic couplets, this work tells the rape of Belinda’s (theRead MoreRape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Essay596 Words   |  3 PagesRape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock is not studied and admired only because of its style and form, but also for its base content and underlying themes. Popes ability to manipulate text into mock-heroic form, constructing a flow of satirical description is what makes this poem one of such quality. The piece was first published in 1712 by the request of Popes friend, John Caryll. It was to make peace between the Fermors and Petres, two prominent RomanRead MoreTrivial Matters Make A Good Satire1292 Words   |  6 PagesTrivial matters make a good satire. A satire, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a poem ridiculing prevalent vices or follies by means of elevated language and other poetic devices. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock poem is a mock-epic, a subgenre of the satire. Pope’s poem follows a pattern that resembles epic poetry – It is relatively long, divided in cantos, developed in heroic couplets in Iambic Pentameter. Also, the action of the story takes place in a single day, in a singleRead MoreAlexander Pope s The Rape Of The Lock1340 Words   |  6 PagesIn the world of literature and poetry, it’s typically not hard to find something written about a hero, or something heroic, like an epic. Epics are long poems, typically told orally in ancient times, about the adventures of a hero or heroine and their deeds. The Iliad should immediately come to the mind of any student proficient in western literature. Nonetheless, the themes and archetypes of these works known as epics are so well-known, that they are even parodied, take completely out of contextRead MoreRape Of The Lock And Paradise Lost1308 Words   |  6 PagesRape of the lock vs Paradise lost The Rape of the Lock employs many of the traditional epic conventions used in Paradise Lost, but instead of recounting a story of a hero whose actions are of great importance or of national significance, The Rape of the Lock tells one of a timid character that makes an adventure out of the attainment of a fair damsel’s lock of hair. It uses the conventions of an epic poem on a miniature scale and the meaning of the subject is very much trivial. Since epics areRead MoreAnalysis Of John Milton s Paradise Lost 1253 Words   |  6 Pagesepic not to tell an important tale, but to question much of the life of aristocracy in his time. In his mock epic, Rape of the Lock, Pope alludes to Paradise Lost in order to point out the trivialities of the aristocracy in his life. Pope employs many of the same elements of epic poetry that Milton does in Paradise Lost. One such element is the calling of a Muse; Pope first states in his mock epic: â€Å"What dire offense from amorous causes springs. What mighty contests rise from trivial things, IRead MoreJohn Milton s Paradise Lost And Alexander Pope s The Rape Of The Lock1220 Words   |  5 PagesEpic conventions are things that most epic poems have in common. They are not always identical, but they have common characteristics. Examples of epic conventions are a hero or individual that is beneficial in some way to a community, a journey in which the narrative takes the reader to different regions, and supernatural forces. The most common epic conventions are a long narrative poem about the great deeds of a human hero, recounting past events, elevated language, invoking a muse, the hero’sRead More Comparison of Popes The rape of the Lock and Swifts A Modest Proposal765 Words   |  4 Pages Although Alexander Popes, The Rape of the Lock, and Jonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal are both witty satires, they differ on their style, intention, and mood. To begin, in The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope uses satire to invoke a capricious, melancholy mood to illustrate the absurdity of fighting over the cutting of ones hair. Hidden inside this poem is a crafty criticism of the society that helps create the crisis over the stolen lock. A Society in which appearances ere more importantRead MoreCritical Analysis of the Rape of the Lock by Pope1633 Words   |  7 PagesThe destruction of the grand style of the epic is just what Pope was after in his mock epic, The Rape of the Lock. Pope had no such universal goal, or moral pronouncements to make as did Milton. His purpose was merely to expose the life of the nobility of his time. While Milton chose blank verse to express the immensity of the landscape of his epic, Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize this grandeur. Popes quick wit bounces the reader along his detailed description of his parlor-room