My Black Beauty

“Black Is My Favorite Color”, written by Bernhard Malamud is about a man, whose name is Nathan. He writes about his environment and experiences with people who have colored skin. At the beginning of the short story he writes about a guy whose name was Buster and that Buster’s father was put into prison because he committed a crime, which is a typical situation for the part of New York where he lives. After Buster’s father was put into prison Nathan invited him to the movies, buys sweets for him and other stuff and wants to be a friend of him, but Buster still disregardes all of this.

Nathan further writes about a situation in which he picks up gloves for a woman, whose name is Ornita, but she does not want his help because he has white colored skin and she is black. But one day she goes into Nathan’s liquor store and buys something and he gave her a discount. From now on Ornita visits the store every two weeks and they start to talk to each other. Ornita and Nathan now often meet and even fall in love after some time. But one day when he brought her home they get robbed near to her apartment and she does not want to see Nathan anymore.

The short story sets in New York. Nathan is the protagonist and the person who narrates the short story.

The first time I read this story, it was quite difficult for me to understand, especially the beginning of the short story. If you read it more than once you will be able to understand more details. I would not recommend it to teenagers who like to read in order to relax. After I read the short story I had a lot to think about it a lot because it includes a lot of difficult themes like racism. If somebody does not want to read shallow stories it is a quite good story and I would really recommend it.

 

 

Different countries, different experiences.

Julia Alvarez’s “How the García girls lost their accents” is a short story about a young girl called Carla who lives with her family in America. Before they decided to live in this country Carla was a happy teenager in Spain. She loves her country and didn’t know how to handle with this strange language and habits of the Americans. The second problem is that she hates that her body is changing and if wouldn’t that be enough her classmates are kidding her because of that. On her way back home from school happened something mysterious to Carla.

Carla is the main character in this story. It seems like she is a very dissatisfied girl who didn’t want to accept that she and her family moved to America. She isn’t really changing in this story, I think she is a bit boring and shy. Her mother is a typical mother who wants the best for his child. She is changing her opinion in this story in that way that she accept that just because the school in which she wants Carla to go is a catholic school, it isn’t safer. At the end she accepted Carla to go in a public school.

The short story is told by the perspective of an omniscient narrator. But I think I would have been better if the story was written in the view of the first person because I could have put me better in her position.

The plot is quite chronologically sequenced, because there aren’t much flash-forwards or flashbacks.

The setting doesn’t seem to play a big role in this story, may for the way to school but also there it doesn’t attract attention to me.

The biggest problem for me was to feel about the characters, the main character was not sympathetic to me because her thoughts are mostly negative. All in all I didn’t feel something for the characters or their actions.

Julia Alvarez wanted to attract attention to an important theme in our society: sexual discrimination. I think the basic idea of her is good but the transformation wasn’t really that what I expected from this short story. I also didn’t know what to do with the title of the story because it didn’t rudimentary has anything to do with the plot. I wouldn’t recommend that story for teenagers older than fourteen, for the rest it may be interesting to read about this theme.

The journey

Short story review: The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez
10.10.2013 by Maxi Schoeppl

 

Story title: “The Circuit”

Briefly: A 12-year-old boy moves with his family to a labor camp, to earn some money. After the grape harvest he is allowed to go to school.
Afterthoughts: The reader can see the things in the perspective of a young boy. The boy really tries to get cope with everything that happens.

The story is presented in first person perspective, which makes it easy for the reader to engage with it. Because of that it is not difficult to understand what the young boy feels in this story.
The author doesn´t give much information about the setting, but we know that it takes place in the middle of the 20^th century, because the boy sais that his father bought the car in 1949.
The main character is the 12-year-old boy and he is really shy (for example: When he went to school and the teacher asked him to read out, he coulnd´t, because he was scared). The other characters are Papá and Mamá, who are the parents of the boy. The plot is chronologically sequenced and therefore really easy to understand.

Notable quote: In my opinion “The Circuit” isn´t anything special. It is a nice story about the life of a young boy whose family travels from one farm to another to earn enough money to survive.

About Victims and Offenders

About Victims and Offenders

The short story “The Kind Of Light That Shines On Texas”, written by Reginald McKnight,

tells the story of  twelve-year-old Clint, a black boy who goes to school in Texas.

He is one of only three black children in class, who all but him have given up defending themselves against the constant bullying. One day he gets into a real fight with Oakley, a white boy. One day, the situation gets really tight as he insults the second black boy, Marvin, in his class. But in the end, Marvin surprisingly helps Clint defending himself against Oakley.

The story is told from a first person perspective, meaning that the reader knows Clint’s thoughts, but nobody else’s. Clint doesn’t change throughout the story, but the settings do.

In the end, there seems to be some kind of camaraderie between Clint and Ah-so, the black girl in his class: (…) For some reason, I turned to look at Ah-so, and just this once I let my eyes linger on her face. She had a very gentle looking face, really. That surprised me. She must have felt my eyes on her because she glanced up to me for a second and smiled, white teeth, downcast eyes. Such a pretty smile.”

Although Clint doesn’t always behave right, the reader still feels sympathetic towards for him. He regrets his mistakes as can be seen in the following scene, when Clint is at home and reflects the day and his mistake of dragging Marvin into his fight: “I kept trying to tell myself that I hadn’t meant it that way. That way.” In the end he has learned something about companionship from Marvin, something one wouldn’t expect to happen at all.

The story really makes you think about racism and, although I don’t think people have to face similar situations in today’s US (if you know better, just leave a comment!), it is still a great opportunity for everybody to get familiar with the topic. It’s just perfect for teenagers like me as it is quite easy to understand and everybody can follow Clint’s thoughts.

The Lesson

The short story "The Lesson", written by Tomi Cade Bambara, is about a young girl  named Sylvia, who lives in Harlem, in poor conditions. In the beginning an educated, smartly dressed woman, Miss Moore moves to the block, where Sylvia and her friends live. She takes up the responsibility of their education. One day Miss Moore organizes a trip to Fifth Avenue, an expensive shopping street in New York, where the children only see items they will never be able to buy. She tries to teach Sylvia and her friends something about money, how much things costs and what their parents have to spend their salary for. But the children are not interested in learning something, their just want to hang around and have fun.

The story is written from a first person perspective. It is told by Sylivia, who is the protagonist.She is presented as a flat character, like each other character in the story. The story takes place in Harlem, in America, but we do not know when. It is easily written and in colloquial language, so everybody should be able to understand the plot.

The story shows the difference between rich and poor people  and between black and white people. It tells about neglected children and a socially committed woman. I like the story and I think other teenager might also like it, because it is written in a way that might appeal to young people and serious problems are described in a humorous way.

What would you do in his case?

The short story "Becoming Henry Lee", written by David Yoo, is about a guy called Henry Lee. He moves from southern California to Renham Connencticut. In his new school he is the only Asian kid, thus his classmates don't want to accept him. So he tries to get their attention and impresses them by changing his look. He tries to hide his Asian origin so he dyes his hair blond and covers his Asiatic looking eyes with a big cap. In general, the story shows the problems you might face if you switch schools and you have a different background than the other children, which have adopted a racist approach.

The story is written from a third person narrative perspective. I  think the protagonist is discribed as an indirect character. The whole story takes place at Renham Middle School in Renham. The plot is easy to understand even if you don't know all the words.

I like the story because it helps you to realize how people might feel if they are different than others. In my opinion, the story is rather sad. This book can indeed be helpful to learn how to support a person who is oppressed because of his or her origin. From my point of view this book encourages reflection and stimulate debate. Racism is cruel and it mustn't be accepted. We have to fight against racism! All human beings are equal regardless of where they were born or what nationality they are.

I'm looking forward to reading your comments and answering your questions.

A White Woman of Color

Story Title: A White Woman of Color by Julia Àlvarez

Briefly: Julia Àlvarez’s short story “A White Woman of Color” tells the personal history of herself. The author and her Dominican family immigrate to America in the 1960s, a time of racism. They have a very pale skin color, so it is very important for her and her family to keep their “Latino-ness” to add color to their complexion. It proves not to be that easy for them to integrate into the new culture. The reader gets introduced to the terrible time of racism in America in which it is very difficult for immigrants to assimilate.

Afterthought: The story is told by a first person narrator. As it is a kind of autobiography, the narrator is also a character in the story and at the same time the author. This makes the whole story very emotional because the narrator influences the story with his feelings and thoughts. The plot is chronologically sequenced: It starts when she is a child and immigrates with her family and then it goes all the way through her life, until she gets old. There is a climax quite at the end of the short story when she starts to get in contact with Latino- communities and begins to hear the” language in color”. Through her own stories and poems she is called as a writer and teacher of color. She becomes a spokesperson for Dominicans in America.

The protagonist of the story is Julia, the author. This is a round character, because she developes throughout the story.  As race is a very important topic in this story, the characters are described in great detail.
Supporting and also stock characters are all the sisters of the main character and also her parents. There is just a short direct description of them at the beginning of the story.

Rating: Julia Àlvarez’s short story “A white woman of color” is very emotional. The reader is able to share her pain and misery in every single sentence.  The topic of the story is very gripping and makes you very musing. It is a work that echoes in the heart as well as the mind.
 I think teenager would like this autobiography because it is a topic, which concerns many of them these days and purely it’s also a current topic in our society.

Feel free to comment!

An Alien in America

An Alien in America

The story “Life as an Alien” is about a coloured woman. She tells how she grew up and felt as an African in America, how she found friends and what is different between her culture and the American one. She also narrates how she gets confronted with her own culture, when she is an adult.

The story is written from a first-person perspective. The narrator tells the story of his point-of-view. An example for this is: “Do they want to know where I was born, where I grew up, where I have lived as an adult, where I live now?” The story is chronically sequenced. She begins to talk about her moving to America when she was young and ends when she is an adult. The story is set in America. The story contains many flashbacks. In one flashback she remembers her childhood and what meant love to her in this time.

I think you understand the main plot even if you don’t know every word. The many flashbacks could be confusing. They are quite long and often you first need to think about their meaning to the story, before reading on. I didn’t find the story very exciting, therefore I would say that it is ok. Through the story you learn many things about the life of the African girl in America and you could maybe empathize better with her and imagine how aliens  feel. Because of this I think that teenagers would like the story.

Feel free to leave a comment!                 

Voila

Blog Entry-“Voila”, by Debbie Rigaud

Briefly: The short story takes place in a local hospital, where a teenager called Simone is waiting with her aunt for her consultation. They have to wait for a very long time. In the meantime they meet different people. The girl has to translate, because her aunt doesn’t speak English so well.

Character: Simone, a 15 years old girl, loves to spend time with her grandaunt, who doesn’t speak English, just Creole. In the story both characters are static.

Point of view: The story is presented in first-person perspective. It is based on the 'we' and 'I' point of view and in this case it is the protagonist, Simone. You know every detail, every feeling and every action of the main character.

Plot: The story begins with a flashback. The protagonist thinks back about the time with her great-aunt. At breakfast she got distracted by tiny particles floating in the beam of light entering the window. For her this was the most magical thing she has ever seen. But her aunt told her to warn for the tiny, everyday miracles in progress. “Ma Tante” was really like a mother to her.

Setting: The time doesn’t play an important role. Season, weather or any other setting are not relevant in understanding the author’s intent. However, the pivotal point is that we know the location. The story takes place in a local hospital for most of the time.

Tone: The two completely different characters affect the tone of the story.

My first impression was it will be very difficult to read an English text with some words in French and Creole. But later I realized that I can understand the story, also when you don’t speak these languages. Debbie Rigaud has developed her own style of speech and hence this text seems authentic and unique. I also love to explore relationship dynamics between the young and elderly. The teenager has a close bond with her old “Ma Tante”. And, if you ask me, I'm sure other teenagers can learn of elder people who gained experiences in their life.

Marie-Estelle Gastberger 7B

Who deserves it?

"Everyday Use" is a story written by Alice Walker. The story is about the relationship between a mother and her two daughters, but the main theme deals with if it is worth being considered in somebody's will, especially who deserves it and who doesn't.

The mother and the younger daughter, Maggie, are waiting for Dee, the older daughter, to visit them. She comes with her boyfriend, Asalamalakim. They eat together and afterwars Dee begins to look throughthings in the house she would like to have. She finds a quilt and would like to have it too, but the mother gives it to Maggie. Therefore Dee gets mad and departs with her boyfriend.

The story takes place in the house and the yard. The  mother seems to care about the appearance of the house because they cleared the yard and the house before Dee arrives. Inside the house, there are a lot of significant objects which have a personal meaning to the main characters. For example, the benches that the father made for them when they could not afford any money to buy chairs, or the quilt that later gets the point of contention between mother and daughter.

The characters are indirectly described and the main characters are the mother, Maggie and Dee. However, the mother is the first-person narrator of the story. The story is written in past tense and there are some flashbacks.

The mother is very unfeminine and uneducated; she says about herself, "I am a large big-boned woman, with rough, man-working hands." Moreover, there is Maggie. She is the youngest and seems to be very conservative and scared of her bigger sister, but also envious. Dee is the complete opposite of both. She is big-headed, bullish and gets everything she wants. The reader gets the impression that she doesn't really like her family because she left them, and she even changed her name. Dee is the only one in her family who had the privileg to attend school.

The story of Alice Walker is really sweeping because you can easily put yourself in the mother's shoes. At the beginnig, it is a little bit difficult for the reader to understand, but if you read it twice you get fascinated of the story. I would recommend the story to everyone because i think it is very nice to read. Although it seems a little bit sad, it has a lovely ending.

Feel free to leave a comment!