Twelve Angry Men pt. 3

In the end of the play, Twelve Angry Men, all of the men are starting to change their verdict to not guilty and saying things like, "I'm sorry. I'm convinced." and "...there is reasonable doubt". Juror 8 becomes the majority instead of the minority like he started out. If an element were to change in this book such as gender of the jurors, (I'm aware the book can also go by Twelve Angry Women, but I am speaking hypothetically based off of stereotypes.) I feel like the conversation would be much more emotional, stereotypically. A lot more of the jurors would feel bad for the boy and vote not guilty or at least want to discuss the case further. The story would also be different if the plot happened today. The case would be close to open and shut with all of the technology advancements like DNA, security cameras, and other things that help investigators solve crimes in today's society. Another element that would drastically change the story is if the boy had died. The jurors would probably be arguing over whether it was a murder-suicidr, or if both the father and boy had been murdered together. So many aspects could change the story drastically. I feel the story is best the way it is.

Twelve Angry Men Pt. 2

     Throughout the middle of the play, Twelve Angry Men, room for an untold story is evident. The play can represent the untold story of a jury. It shows how deciding whether a man is guilty or not is not always as simple as some may think. Most people think juries go into a room, all vote together, and leave the room and say the man is guilty. But in reality, juries go in and vote only to find out one person disagrees, just as juror 8 did in this play by saying, "...it's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die...". Once one disagrees, they all must talk to find a unanimous vote. Most would think that The one juror who disagrees would come to their senses and change their mind, but Twelve Angry Men proves that wrong by convincing 11 other jurors that his point of view on this crime is correct and all 11 of them are wrong. People would also think this process happens quickly but in reality, it takes hours, upon hours. The whole play displays the untold story of a jury. If this play hadn’t been made, people wouldn’t have a realistic picture of how a jury actually concludes their verdict of guilty or not guilty. I think this is an important story to be told because many people blame jurors when a friend or loved one is convicted of a crime, when in reality, they more than likely went to extreme lengths to find a verdict.

Twelve Angry Men Pt. 1

In the play, Twelve Angry Men, 12 jurors are forced to decide if a 19 year old boy is guilty or not guilty of killing his father. The vote must be unanimous. In the beginning of the book, 11 of the jurors vote guilty. They're all so sure that the boy is guilty but juror 8 refuses to vote guilty due to his reasonable doubt. We know juror 8 is against voting guilty when he said to the other jurors, "I don't believe that." Juror 8 tries to get other on board and realize the reasonable doubt in the murder case by using logic and having the jurors react the details of the murder to prove that the witnesses' stories cause reasonable doubt. Juror 8 is able to get juror 9 on board and the vote turns into 2 against 10 in favor of guilty. But juror 8 doesn't give up. This play connects to Oedipus because they both include a murder. The difference between the two is that throughout Oedipus, they look for the killer and need to be convinced that Oedipus is guilty, but in Twelve Angry Men, they're all convincing each other the boy is not guilty. Oedipus and Twelve Angry Men are similar in performing the same analysis process but only different due to the processes being in reverse of each other. Murders were preformed in both plays but the guilt is debatable and the outcome is different. I feel that the right actions were taken in both cases. I think Oedipus is guilty, while the boy is not guilty of killing his father.

The Danger of a Single Story

The Danger of a Single Story is a short speech explaining the dangers and valid examples of people who stereotype others. The speaker talks about how she grew up in a wealthy family in Nigeria. Most people alone stereotype Nigerians as poor Africans living in the third world. Although expected to be stereotyped, she also has formed a single story of the help her family had. She automatically felt as if she needed to pity the house boy and his family and as if they were capable of nothing. So when the house boy’s mother showed her a basket she had made, she was instantly surprised because she had thought they were useless. The tables had been turned when she had gone away to college in the US and her roommate had instantly formed a single story of her for being from Nigeria. Her roommate thought she was poor and unintelligent. Before going to the US, she hadn’t even realized she classified as an African. Most of her life, people looked at her with a formed single story out look of her and had expectations for her and her kind. She pushes limits to try and prove everyone wrong. But when she visits Mexico, she catches herself forming her own single story of Mexicans and how they should live their lives. She had felt embarrassed. Another day, when she was speaking at a University, a student felt sorry for her, thinking all Nigerian men were rapists. So she told the boy, “ I had just read a novel called American Psycho, and it is such a shame that young Americans were serial killers.” She knew this wasn’t true but she definitely made listeners reconsider their thoughts. Every side to a person is what makes them who they are and looking at the single story is degrading and being blind to reality.
    The theme of this speech is single stories and stereotyping. The speaker explains to the listeners how single stories affect the victims of this action. She shows how it is to be on both sides of the single story. There is only one theme to this story and it is an important one. The author expresses single stories as the main theme very well.

The Stolen Party

     The Stolen Party by Liliana Hecker is a short story that shows the perspective of a little girl that isn't aware of the way ascribed status works. Rosaura is a little girl who is the daughter of a woman who is the help of a high end family. When the high end family's daughter, Luciana has a birthday party at the house, Rosaura takes her invite very seriously and thinks she is going as a guest. Rosaura's mother tries to talk her out of wanting to attend the party but Rosara is extremely dead set on going to the party because she had been told  monkey and magician would be there as well. Her mother had given in and allowed her to go to the party. At the party, Rosaura was having the time of her life. She was the only one allowed into the kitchen to see the monkey and she felt very special. When the magician brought the monkey out for his magic tricks, Roaura was asked to help the magician out with the trick and she felt so special. By the end of the party, Rosaura decided she had an amazing time. She watched as every boy leaving the party got a yo-yo and all the girls leaving received a bracelet. She stood waiting for her gift when the mother of the birthday girl, Senora Ines, came over to Rosaura and her mother and instead of giving her a bracelet, she gave her two bills and said, " You really and truely earned this." Rosaura stood in shock. It turns out that Rosaura had been invited to the party as help. Senora Ines invited her to entertain all the real party guests. The monkey in the story represented the help stuck in their ascribed status position, including Rosaura and her mother. At the end of the party, Rosaura was paid instead of given a gift because she was not a real guest.
     The purpose of this text is to show the other point of view to those of the lower or less fortunate class, like Rosaura. That makes this text informative and also entertaining. In the text, it was very ironic for Rosaura to walk into the kitchen to see the monkey stuck in the cage because in reality, the monkey represents Rosaura and her mother, stuck in their class. They cannot progress any higher than where they are now. Rosaura is very unfortunate and hasn't yet learned the full effect of her problem. 

Girl

The short story Girl by Jamaica Kincaid is about a mother telling her daughter how to be a lady. As the story goes on, the directions progress and get more harsh. The advice progresses as the daughter ages through time. The mother in this story uses references to take the place of sensitive topics that women deal with. For example, the mother refers to cleavage and how the daughter dresses as eating fruit in the street. She also refers to abortion as making a child go away before it is a child and she refers to male parts as bread. This mother tells her daughter how to survive while being a classic lady, the way people expect her to be. She tells her daughter how to be fake to people she doesn't like and let them think she likes them. She also touched base on how to get men and get rid of them if she doesn't like them without seeming like a slut. This story outlines basic gender roles set by society. The most important role set though out the story is how a woman must find a guy to sleep with to get their financial support. At the end of all the advice, the daughter asks, 'what if I can't get a guy to have sex with me?' in the form of "what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?" The mother then asks her back, 'you're really going to be a woman men won't sleep with after all of my advice?' in the form of "you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?"
The tone of this short story is very serious and informative. By making the mother badger the daughter with advice, the writer accomplished the serious, informative effect. If someone tried to give me this advice, I would be offended and I would definitely not listen to such shallow advice. I am comfortable being who I am. If people don't like me, then I think that's okay because being superficial is nothing to be proud of.

A Long Way Gone: Theme

     Throughout this memoir, there is one major thing that is repeated throughout. Ishmael cheats death time after time and continues to survive. A Major theme in this book is death and rebirth. On Ishmael’s journey to survival, and to look for his family, he faces death with every turn. Almost every village, aside from two or three, attempt to kill him and his friends upon entry. Almost every village saw the young boys as rebel recruits. Each time the boys were lucky enough to be released alive. Entering villages wasn't the only way Ishmael almost got killed, he also had to deal with the elements. At one point in the journey, one chief had taken away his shoes, so Ishmael was forced to walk barefoot on the hot ground when Ishmael said on page 60 that "it was over 120 degrees." He also ran into a heard of wild pigs that chased him for miles. Eventually, Ishmael was recruited by the rebels and forced to take drugs that made him kill innocent people. This was also a near death experience. In the end, Ishmael starts to experience rebirth once he reaches the hospital. Rebirth didn't come as soon as he reached the hospital, since when he first got there, he still said, "it was infuriating to be told what to do by civilians." (page 138) With time and care, Ishmael was weaned off of the drugs he was taking and was on his way to recovery. At one point in time, a nurse even gives him a cassette tape, which triggers all of his childhood thoughts. Ishmael’s uncle then brings Ishmael into his home to provide love and shelter for him. 

     I feel as if death and rebirth define the whole outline and story line of this memoir. Do you feel death and rebirth were important to the story? If not, what other theme was more prominent?