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Within everyone, whether it is realized or not, there lies a dream. This dream is the American dream. It includes having a huge flamboyant home, a job with a hefty salary, the perfect husband or wife, and the perfect body. Oh, and don’t forget true love and happiness at its best. When we become so concerned with reaching the status of achieving the “All-American Dream”, we fail to realize what we have right in front of us. Having goals is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but there is a point to where being obsessed with fantasy takes over individuals’ lives. It is great to hope to make a lot of money, be in love with your beautiful spouse, have a great home, and look great as well, but if you are healthy, satisfied with your appearance while upholding a healthy lifestyle, in a successful relationship, and have a home that you can pay the bills for, what more do you need? If an individual’s life is full, and that individual is content, life should be complete. The media often confuses us by the images we see and hear. But, in truth, how often is what we see and hear reality? Reality and perception rarely matches up, and this is why so many people feel as if they are falling short of happiness. We are making ourselves unhappy. Appreciate what you have and try not to seek a path of fantasy and dissapointment.
Check out this page for more insight on the “American Dream”
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-american-dream.htm
Media’s affect on boys and girls:
Realistically, every where we turn we see touched up images of men and women, exploiting a certain body type. I believe that we all know good and well that few people obtain these self images we see day to day. Sure there are a handful of people that try to exercise and try to keep their fit, tight body looking that way, but, we all know how many people actually look like the pictures we see on television and in magazines. In my opinion, it does not have a drastic effect on any particular people. Anyone with a brain in their skull and eyes that can see, know that these images do not portray reality. As mentioned in the previous paragraph regarding the “American Dream”, reality rarely matches perception. Children realize that their parents and friends do not resemble the media that they are so often hoarded with. Just like anything else in life, we must sift through the good and bad and leave the bad behind. When we are overwhelmed with media, let’s take a step back and ask ourselves, does it really have an influence over what I think? In reality, the answer is no.
Facts:
The average height and weight for a model is 5’10″ and 110 lbs
The average height and weight for a woman is 5’4″ and 145 lbs
*These statistics should lead everyone to believe that because the media is exploiting a completely different body type from the average woman, we should definitely overlook these ads and prevent our minds from believing in any form or fashion that we should resemble these advertisement models.
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/bodyimage/f/media_bodyimage.htm
Shock enters me when I submit my answers and two factiods appear. I would have never imagined that in 1960, census enumerators assumed what ethnicity a person was simply by a photo! This is prejudice in my point of view. It is like judging a book by its cover. It is true that you can sometimes tell by facial features, what ethinicity a person is, but this is not always true. This quiz is a prime example of why we should not assume. Perception rarely matches reality.
Although I got ten of the faces matched correctly with their ethnicity, I am still astonished at those that I missed. I found the exercise moderately easy. I gathered the information I currently knew about facial structures of different races and did the activity from that. This exercise gives me the idea of, well, what does it really matter? We all have different roots but they all connect. All of these different roots lead up to the same tree. We are all human beings with lives, consisting of people and ideas that we care about. What more is there to it? I am not tossing appearance in the trash, because when it comes to certain circumstances, ethnicities do matter; although, when it comes to equality and how we are treated by one another, the cover of our book should not obtain great pertinence.
Beloved is a whirlwind featuring the brutality of slavery and its effects on the human’s emotions and mental well-being. Sethe struggles with a battle between what she knows she must do and what society’s opinion of that may be. I stand with Sethe when it comes to protecting her children; Beloved, Denver, Howard, and Buglar. Would it be ethical of her to let her children suffer and unbearable future? Sethe knew what the children would face if she did not do what she did. She had to make a decision that would protect her children from the atrocity of enslavement.
As Denver copes with her mother’s past, she battles day to day with growing up and moving past the terrors of I24. With the peculiar companionship of Beloved, she climbs the mountain that is her family history. Denver is faced with the challenge of excepting the haunted childhood and allowing it to carry over into her womanhood, or developing into a young woman and moving forwardwith her life.
Beloved, not being one character alone, symbolizes the anguish and somewhat regret of Sethe’s previous actions that could, in a sense, seem heroic. If Sethe had not done what she had to do, she may still have the security of knowing everyone is still on this earth, but her emotions would be tested, knowing of the horrid things her children will face in this life. The ghost of Beloved represents the past for Sethe, an obstacle for Denver, and yet and umbrage for everyone else. The physical form of Beloved seems to be doing the same things for the characters as the previous form did, yet is more real and brings the situation to reality.
I found that the theme of the book was a variety of topics including the way humans were treated. All slavery books seem to present this idea. The originality of this book lies within the question that Sethe’s actions present. Will we do what society sees as correct, or will we do what we know in our hearts is right? Sethe’s instinctive course in the novel shows that she is a caring, loving mother who has experienced a lot of pain. This pain is what she tried to avoid for others. Sethe did not care what the consequences would be for her actions, she just did them knowing that they were what she had to do, what she should do. When humanity splits and treats their own kind as beasts, it brings others to fatal decisions. It causes horrid emotions for all. Equality is a step toward inward and outward peace of mind.
I do not believe that this book would be good for any specific person to take interest into. The theme presented is important for anyone to read. I feel like the fiction and nonfiction charicteristics of this book are a combination for aroused curiosity. I could not put the book down when I started reading it. If I had to suggest it to one group of people it would be history buffs. I think people who enjoy knowing about the past may enjoy the novel slightly more than others.
There are a few things I would change about the way the book was written. In my journal responses that are chapter by chapter, I recollect stating various things that I would have done differently that applied to characters and their motives. The book was somewhat scattered. In the first chapter I was very confused. It was very hard to begin without having any idea of what was going on. The idea of a spirit was what threw me off in the beginning and I believe it would do the same for anyone else. When expecting a realistic book the idea of fictional appearances might catch someone off guard. I would suggest removing the spirit from the novel in order to create a more realistic or rational story, but that would leave the book with nothing. Without Beloved, there is no Beloved.
Toni Morrison is a very unique author. I do have not read a book that had the substance that Beloved did. It was definitely unique in the way it combined reality and fantasy into one world. She did it so gracefully that looking back, the novel does seem real. In some creative way, Toni Morrison created a very realistic book with the use of fictional creatures. I have not known of any other writers to do this. With the majority of authors, the book is on one side of the fence or the other. Toni Morrison’s novel straddles this fence with elegance and beauty. The novel is simply moving. Although I have not read any of her other novels, I am definitely going to consider is. Her other books are also related to teaching a lesson about history and morals. These books would include: The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Tar Baby. I would be interested to read her other works so I could compare them to Beloved. I would like to know the answers such as; does she always use the same scattered writing style? Are they fiction, nonfiction, or an imbetween state such as Beloved? Are they all directly related to the suffering of one race? I guess I will have to read them to find out more!
This will be the first time I have ever blogged. I am dreadful about it because it’s another thing on my list of things to keep up with; although, it is another thing to learn how to do. It will be interesting! I look forward to taking honors english this year. I’m looking even more forward to completing the summer assignments! That’s all for now.
Brandi
