Identity in “the Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”

Identity in â€Å"The Autobiography of an ex-colored man† The Autobiography of an ex-colored man is a fiction novel dealing with acceptance and fitting in. The narrator of the story, who is considered both black and white, is struggling in his quest to find his true identity. The book is tragic and ironic in a way, since the main character spends a huge part of his life pretending to be white, while the author, James Johnson, is an active fighter for the rights of colored people. The novel itself is one of the first texts ever written, showing the difficulties which people of colour were facing. The hero goes back and forth while exploring the world and his roots. That is why, probably seeking redemption, he goes back to his childhood dream†¦show more content†¦This once again underestimates Shiny’s success. The author hints that his abilities have nothing to do with his successful speech, because after all Shiny is â€Å"what is common in his race, a natural orator.† The author also paints the picture of how the â₠¬Å"boy gallantly waging with puny, black arms so unequal† managed to touch the â€Å"deep springs in the hearts of his audience†. The perceived weakness of the African-American people is notably present in the description of the scene, and it provokes deep sympathy in the readers. This particular memory of the narrator is crucial for understanding his motives. It may seem like he is running away from his race and living the life of a white man because it is easier, but considering the fact that he observes this scene through his â€Å"coloured eyes†, we can assume that this is probably in the bottom of his decision not to pursue his dream and to end up choosing the â€Å"easy† path ofShow MoreRelated Racial Identity in The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man Essay1327 Words   |  6 Pagescommunity in his novel â€Å"The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.† One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own. In Johnsons novel, the young mulatto boy is at first completely unaware of his unique circumstance, and lives life comfortably and oblivious to the oppression of the black race outside of his home in Connecticut. He is characterized as a bright, quick learning young man whose talents do not ceaseRead MoreAmerican Architecture : Constructing An Identity1434 Words   |  6 PagesAmerican Architecture: Constructing an Identity Throughout American history, people have been categorized based on what gender they are, and what their race is. In order to explore these ideas and come to terms with their importances many musicians, film makers, and authors have described the inner-workings of this societal construct. Indeed, both racial and female identities have been at the epicenter of many works of art throughout American culture as can be seen in: Maggie: A Girl of the StreetsRead MorePassing in James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man1105 Words   |  5 PagesIn 1912, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was anonymously published by James Weldon Johnson. It is the narrative of a light-skinned man wedged between two racial categories; the offspring of a white father and a black mother, The Ex-Colored man is visibly white but legally classified as black. Wedged between these two racial categories, the man chooses to â€Å"pass† to the white society. In Passing: When Peopl e Can’t Be Who They Are, Brooke Kroeger describes â€Å"passing† as an act when â€Å"people effectivelyRead MoreThe Autobiography Of An Former Colored Man Essay2265 Words   |  10 Pages Identity communicates a strong characteristic that cannot naturally be expressed in terms of a social category. Social and personal identity enable the formation of an individual, reflecting the idea that social categories are assured with the bases of an individual’s self esteem. â€Å"Race and racial identity are identifiable as a social constriction culture† (Little and McGivern, 328). However, issuing social categories based on race or ethnicity links to biased regulations and practices. Johnson’sRead MoreThe Autobiography of the Ex-Colored Man: The Ability to Pass Essay1120 Words   |  5 Pages The Autobiography of the Ex-Colored Man: The Ability to Pass The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of â€Å"white† and â€Å"black† and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a â€Å"white† and â€Å"black† male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiographyRead MoreEssay about Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Jews Without Money877 Words   |  4 PagesAutobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Jews Without Money To be a minority is a very difficult task. Fighting daily prejudices and trying to establish a unique identity that fits into society at the same time is often one of the hardest things for a â€Å"different† person to do. Deciding one’s daily activities and then watching the repercussions of those activities can be discouraging at times. In the novels, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and Jews Without Money, two characters, theRead MoreThe American Dream in And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and America is in the Heart873 Words   |  4 Pagesare depicted in literary works such as The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, America is in the Heart, and ...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him. Through the protagonist of the novels, the authors convey the dispiriting side of the America that the immigrants unknowingly fell into. In The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored, the author James Weldon Johnson, constructs an oppressive and judgmental image of America through the experiences of an unnamed man of mixed ethnic background. The main characterRead MoreThe narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a â€Å"colored† mother and white1200 Words   |  5 PagesThe narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a â€Å"colored† mother and white father. This combination of his identity led him to encounter many internal and external challenges. Physically he appeared white, so he experienced being able to â€Å"pass† as both â€Å"colored† or white whenever he wished. Being able do such a thing, the narrator struggled with racial boundaries. He embodied almost every permutation, intentional or unintentional, of the experience when encountering various racialRead MoreRacial Segregation And Jim Crow Essay2143 Words   |  9 PagesMemory and Identity i n Black America since 1940†). The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man takes place during the Jim Crow era displaying the challenges and obstacles African Americans faced during this time. â€Å"Johnson devotes much of his attention to the black middle and upper classes, their constant struggles to hang onto their respective social standing, and their almost obsessive need to perform rituals of proper behavior and decorum† (Holloway, â€Å"Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black AmericaRead MoreThe Autobiography Of An Former Colored Man By James Weldon Johnson Essay2267 Words   |  10 PagesThe Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was first published in 1912. This novel is one of the highly celebrated works during the Harlem Renaissance although it was published prior in 1912. Johnson graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1894. He was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as United States consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He also was highly involved in the Harlem Renaissance with his

What Value The Traditional Database Projects Helps Run A...

Mindset changes in data modeling â€Å"NoSQL practitioners focus on physical data model design rather than the traditional conceptual / logical data model process† (Hsieh, 2014). The mindset of the data modelers have changed in recent years. The flexibility, scalability and the ability to handle variety of structured to unstructured data of the NoSQL data bases have made the data modelers to think more in business –centric notion. It is always better to choose a NoSQL databases based on the business requirement rather than use a polished technology, which would bring out the best results. Some questions that traditional database projects answer are why, when and where relating to the business. Who is responsible and what value does it bring in†¦show more content†¦Volume is the high amount of data that comes in.Variety is the data is a combination of structured, Un-Structured, Quasi-structured and semi-structured data. Velocity is the need to stream in the data in real time to analyze them and provide best reports. Veracity is an additional challenge which is dealing with authenticity of the data in one way to the other (Langit, 2015). NoSQL databases do address these challenges. These challenges have made the companies to change their view on how they look at the questions they ask their businesses. Those questions are more about the future than the past which provide a base for predictive analytics. Predictive analytics do focus on data there are different than the transactional data and more of behavioral data. They do predict the pattern based on running algorithms and statistics on supervised and unsupervised data. By statistics we mean regression, classification and clustering. And the results of predictive analytic are best understood by applying visualizations which play a major role in making the companies understand what is happening their business. There are four different choices of data storage. They are Files, Hadoop, NoSQL and relational databases (Langit, 2015). NoSQL vs RDBMS The RDMS(Relational databases sytems) involves two classifications OLTP(Online Transactional Processing) and OLAP(Online Analytical Processing).As the name suggests

How People Make Economic Decisions Free Essays

The individuals have to make decisions all the time and there is always something to take some time to make sure that the choice will benefit the individual. The same individual has to decide if the decision will cause a monetary burden. Principles of individual decision-making are people make tradeoffs, when people choose one thing they give up something else, rational people think at the margin, and people respond to incentive. We will write a custom essay sample on How People Make Economic Decisions or any similar topic only for you Order Now People make tradeoffs express by what would choose between items the one that best meets their requirements (Mankiw, 2011). Margin thinking by rational people consists of making a decision is just over the acceptable choice. Possibilities are that individuals are motivated to a decision by monetary profits (Fox, 2010). In 2005, I had to make a decision about staying at Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) or seek another job. I had a problem with the supervisor of the department. The benefit at IDEM was adequate health insurance, sick leave, earned vacation time, and days for funerals (immediate family). This was a hard decision because of the need to rationalize the change. In regard to the marginal cost and benefit because there needed to a stressful transfer from the old job to a new job. I believed that the marginal cost was not an issue because money was not a concern. The marginal benefit was to do have a job that made me happy and relaxed. The principles of economics affect decision-making individuals to evaluate purchases, where to live, what to do with their lives, what to do with their lives, where to work and how many children to have, any other decision that needs to make. All companies have to decide on good to purchase, project the deficient and profits, make sure that they have employed sufficient staff to produce a product or to provide a service, and to having sufficient vendors to meet the needs of the company. The principles of economy do interact with all lives always by every decision that was thought about and every choice made. References Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. (2005). Decision-making. Retrieved from http://www. credoreference. com/entry/wileycs/decision-making Fox, J. (2011, October 19). Economists respond to incentives. Retrieved from http://www. blogs. reuters. com/justinfox/2011/10/19/economists-respond-to-incentives Hubbard, R. G. , O’Brian, A. P. (2010, 2009, 2008, 2006). Economics (3rd Ed. ). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. None listed. (2011). Not titled. Retrieved from http://www. investopial. com/study-guide How to cite How People Make Economic Decisions, Essays

First Love, Last Rites free essay sample

He described involved experiments outside his own stables to determine the compressibility of horse dung, which he managed to express mathematically. It was all pure theory, of course. His results rested on the assumption that no dung would be shovelled aside in the fifty years to come. Very likely it was M who talked my great-grandfather out of the project. One morning, after a long dark night of Maisies nightmares, we were lying side by side in bed and I said, What is it you really want? Why dont you go back to your job? These long walks, all this analysis, sitting around the house, lying in bed all morning, the Tarot pack, the nightmares .. . what is it you want? And she said, I want to get my head straight, which she had said many times before.I said, Your head, your mind, its not like a hotel kitchen, you know, you cant throw stuff out like old tin cans. We will write a custom essay sample on First Love, Last Rites or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Its more like a river than a place, moving and changing all the time. You cant make rivers flow straight. Dont go through all that again, she said. Im not trying to make rivers flow straight, Im trying to get my head straight. Youve got to do something, I told her. You cant do nothing. Why not go back to your job? You didnt have nightmares when you were working. You were never so unhappy when you were working. Ive got to stand back from all that, she said. Im not sure what any of it means. Fashion, I said, its all fashion. Fashionable metaphors, fashionable reading, fashionable malaise. What do you care about Jung, for example? Youve read twelve pages in a month. Dont go on, she pleaded, you know it leads nowhere. But I went on. Youve never been anywhere, I told her, youve never done anything. Youre a nice girl without even the blessing of an unhappy childhood. Your sentimental Buddhism, this junk-shop mysticism, joss-stick therapy, magazine astrology . .. none of it is yours, youve worked none of it out for yourself. You fell into it, you fell into a swamp of respectable intuitions. You havent the originality or passion to intuit anything yourself beyond your own unhappiness.Why are you filling your mind with other peoples mystic banalities and giving your self nightmares? I got out of bed, opened the curtains and began to get dressed. You talk like this was a fiction seminar, Maisie said. Why are you trying to make things worse for me? Selfpity began to well up from inside her, but she fought it down. When you are talking, she went on, I can feel myself, you know, being screwed up like a piece of paper. Perhaps we are in a fiction seminar, I said grimly. Maisie sat up in bed staring at her lap.

Deforestation Essays (952 words) - Ecosystems,

Deforestation Deforestation When the Portuguese landed in Brazil 500 years ago the sight that greeted them was of a huge rain forest, which then ran along much of Brazils Atlantic coast. In more recent times, there has been an outcry over the destruction of the much larger Amazon forest. But its devastation is nothing compared to Brazils Atlantic forest. About 86% of Brazils Amazon forest is still intact but only about 7% of the Atlantic forest remains. In this paper, I will explain why the Atlantic forest was destroyed, why deforestation happens, and the effects of rain forest destruction and the effect it is having on the Earth. Much of the Atlantic forest was destroyed to make way for farmers to plant sugar, coffee, and other crops, and later for growing cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Between 1990 and 1995, 1.2 million acres were destroyed (Reid, 2000). Clearance for living space, commercial logging, for farming, roads and railways, forest fires, and mining and drilling are all connected with deforestation. People have been living in and around tropical rain forests for tens of thousands of years, taking what they needed from the wealth of natural resources available without compromising their environment. However, in the last 200 years populations have expanded, requiring more and more space for housing and farming. For example, Costa Rica has a population of over 3 million people, heavily concentrated in the Central Valley. Well over one-half of the national population lives in this area, which represents only 5% of the countrys land area, and almost one-half of the population is considered to live in urban areas. The population growth rate is relatively high and if it continues at the present rate, the population will double in only 28 years (Hecht, 1989). Commercial logging can occur selectively, where only the economically valu able species are cut or by clear cutting, where all the trees are cut. Commercial logging uses heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, road graders, and log skidders, to remove cut trees and build roads. Another cause of deforestation is known as shifting cultivating. Indigenous people have farmed the rain forest, cutting down trees to allow cultivation of crops and grazing space for animals, and moving on when the soil becomes less fertile. This is no threat to the forests; provided that used areas are left to regenerate for long periods before repeating the process. Problems arise when the land is not allowed time to recover, and intensive farming results in irreversible soil degradation. This is what is happening now due to the needs of growing population. Some sources identify shifting cultivation as the cause of 70 % of the deforestation in Africa. As with shifting cultivation, if logging is carried out in a controlled way it can be implemented with only minor disturbances to the environment. It is when the cutting of trees exceeds tree production that logging becomes a problem. Before mechanical logging took over from the use of handsaws, axes, and animal power, it could be argued that the timber trade posed little threat to tropical rain forests, but with the arrival of chainsaws, tractors, roads and railways had a much greater impact. Previously inaccessible areas have now become prime targets for commercial logging companies, and poor management has led to major losses. Other factors such as cutting trees for charcoal, and clearance for mining and the extraction of oil are considered less damaging than shifting cultivation and commercial logging, but still pose a threat the rain forests. Once cleared of trees, the rain forest topsoil, which can take thousands of years to accumulate, can be eroded in a relatively short amount of time. This makes the land unstable, and can lead to disastrous flooding since there is no soil to soak up the rain. Forest clearance also leaves humans without food and shelter, and leads to the disappearance of ways of life, which have been unchanged for thousands of years. However, the most damaging effect of forest clearance is its impact on the climate of the planet. We have all heard of global warming and the greenhouse effect, which is caused by carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere. Trees and other green plants absorb carbon dioxide

The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay Essays

The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay Essays The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay Paper The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay Paper Essay Topic: The Things They Carried The Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis Essay In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien uses many short stories to describe his experience in Vietnam. The story that captured many aspects of writing was â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† because it acts as a guide to writing a true story. O’Brien uses many different rhetorical strategies, narrative techniques, and establishes a theme in this story to help develop his characters and story line. Tim O’Brien uses several rhetorical strategies in this story. A strategy that is easily found in the story is imagery. He uses a lot of sensory details to help the reader know what it feels like in a certain situation. â€Å"Except for the laughter things were quiet,† (67) and â€Å"You hear stuff nobody should ever hear,† (69) are some quotes that describes the sounds the soldiers are hearing. O’Brien uses sight as a big component for setting up the setting and describing what the soldiers saw. â€Å"A handsome kid, really. Sharp grey eyes, lean and narrow-waisted†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (67), â€Å"A deep pinkish red spilled out on the river, which moved with no sound†¦(68). Another rhetorical strategy that O’Brien uses is motif. The motif that he uses is â€Å"†¦true war story†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He uses this phrase throughout the story to help the reader understand how to write a story. â€Å"A true war story is never moral. †(65). This quote is basically saying that a true war story tells it how it is; it doesn’t try to make things easier for the reader to digest. â€Å"You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you. (65) This quote is saying if you don’t want the offensive words or phrases then you don’t want the truth of the story. â€Å"In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. †(68) The last strategy that O’Brien uses in this story is irony. There are many places in this story when O’Brien’s ideas contradict themselves. Whe n Curt Lemon dies, O’Brien describes it as beautiful. â€Å"†¦when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (67) Most people wouldn’t associate death with beauty, especially the way the Curt Lemon died. Another place where he displays irony is in the beginning of the story he says that Curt Lemon died when he was playing a game with Rat Kiley but later on, after he’s given some advice on how to write a true war story, he tells the reader how Curt Lemon actually died. This is ironic because he is giving advice on how to write a story but he didn’t take his own advice. The last place of irony is when O’Brien says that this story was actually a love story. When most people think of death and war they think of sadness and tragedy. And these war stories, according to O’Brien, were love stories. Tim O’Brien uses two narrative techniques in â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story†. First he splits the story into three different sections. The first part being Rat Kiley writing his letter to Curt Lemon’s sister about the relationship they had. The next section is describing the correct way of writing a â€Å"true war story†. And the last is O’Brien looking back on stories and his story telling techniques. O’Brien separates the story into three different parts to give the reader an example of a story that is â€Å"true†. The next section would about the truth about writing a true story and the last section is his personal reflection on the whole situation. The other narrative technique is that O’Brien retells certain events. He retells how Curt Lemon died, he retells Mitchell Sanders telling a story, and he retells how women react when you tell them stories about the war. Tim O’Brien retells stories and events to make his own story more believable. O’Brien gives the main character his own name and naming all of the other soldiers which makes it difficult to label the book as fact or fiction. The theme of â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† is that everything is not what it seems. The truth is often ugly. When most people want to tell a story about war they will try to sugar coat it so the reader or listener will understand it better. But to truly understand something you need to get the full aspect of it. O’Brien gives many ideas as to ways to tell whether a story is true but most people don’t want to hear it or even understand. That is why some storytellers don’t tell the whole truth when writing, to make their work more appealing. The real purpose of stories is to relate the truth of experience, not to create false emotions in their audiences. â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† has aspects that help the story become more connect. O’Brien uses many rhetorical strategies like irony, imagery, and motifs that get the reader thinking. Imagery helps develop the setting and the characters. Motifs helped tie the whole story together, and irony brings an unexpected twist to the story. He also retells events and splits the story into three sections. And he reveals the overall theme of the story which is the truth may be ugly but it needs to be known.

Ethical sourcing in retail industries and the problem of sweat shop Essay

Ethical sourcing in retail industries and the problem of sweat shop labour - Essay Example Only with the consumer’s strong convictions can this movement be taken ahead and for this communication of ethical issues including their damaging contribution to environment needs to be highlighted. The expansion of civilizations has been largely based on trading practices. Trade and Commerce have been drivers of extension of territorial forays in the past and, in modern days, with the royalty become defunct, even extinct in some cases, the role has been ably taken over by large companies, the Multinationals. The twin objectives of war for territorial gains of the former kingdoms and the present day Multinational remain the same; expansion of markets to cater to larger populations and obtaining cheap labour for work from the new territories. Whereas formerly they made use of slave labour, often not caring about their survival, today they pay subsistence or even less for running their factories and establishments. All the high talk of Human Rights is meant for conference tables and for the populations of the victors and not the vanquished. In the present context the Multinational need to expand their markets and in search for consumers globally they are attracted by the huge populations of the developing or the under-developed world. They take advantage by offering them the goods that they have developed for their own affluent populations. However where they face the possibility of lower sales due to the high prices they tend to manufacture their products locally for local sales at lower prices compared to their home markets. The other angle to the story is that when they face competition from their rivals who are as big and as powerful, they need to lower prices to face such competition. The obvious way out is again to manufacture their products in the underdeveloped or developing markets at lesser cost and consequently be able to lower prices to their home markets. With the demise of colonialism democracy became the chosen form of governance, barring