Innonecnt Until Proven Guilty

In this text, it is so much more than just a story. This is the reality in the world; that whites are treated so much better than blacks, and whites have more money, etc. Of course it is not always the case, though. I feel that even if a black family had more money than their white neighbors, they still would be mistreated. But for this story lets stick with the sterotype it portrays; that blacks are poor, and white own nicer things. In the text Kaffir Boy Mark Mathabane, he writes, "...milky-white arm had a wristwatch  on it. It suddenly struck me that we didn't even own a clock; we had to rely on roosters for time." That clearly shows how the whites in this story have it way better than the blacks. In this story it is clear the whites are seen as being above the blacks, and that is such a sad reality we still have going on today. But for me, I just don't understand. What does skin color have to do with who the person is on the inside? Why does skin color mean they weren't capable of doing that job you didn't hire them for? Why does skin color mean they must be criminals, and not have a job, a family, and things they enjoy doing? Why isn't skin color just as simple as it really is; color of our skin. We are all so beautifully different, and our skin color has nothing to do with what we become on the inside. A lot of the times what we become on the inside has so much to do with how people think we are suppposed to be. Blacks and other minorities deserves just as much peace, appreciation, happiness, and love as whites do. As a young white person, of course I don't undertand how blacks feel, but as a girl, I understand the pressure of living up to societies standards. Blacks, I feel have a lot of pressure to prove that they're good, but what happened to the saying 'innoncent until proven guilty?'

Stolen Self-esteem

In "The Stolen Party" by Liliana Heker we see something we don't often think about. A lot of the time when we hear a Spanish name, or think about Spanish people, we think about maids, or people who work outside. That's a big sterotype that I think most of us are guilty of. In this story that's not the case. A woman named Senora Ines, which is clearly a very Spanish name, is actually the opposite of what the sterotype is for Spanish people; she's very rich. Rich enough to "invite" Rosaura to the party to have her work, and pay her afterwards. It's not so obvious at first, but towards the end when the author writes, "In her hand appeared two bills... 'Thank you for all your help, my pet.'" Which is very obviousy indicating that, just like her mother, Ro was working for Senora Ines. This shows social class because Senora Ines is obviously on a higher level than Ro and her mother, probably thinking she's better than them as well. In this text we see a pretty popular sterotype which is that all rich people are snotty. In the text the author writes, "...'I'm her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don't know you.'" Kind of indicating that Ro and Luciana aren't really friends, and she's just there. I feel like in this text the author shows loss of self. Thinking you are friends with someone and being invited to their party, only to find out you are working for them has to hurt, and cause self esteem to drop. Thinking you ust aren't good enough because of the amount of money you have, clothes you where, or something as simple as your last name has to be very distructive to a person.

Gender Roles

For as long as we can all remember, women, men, and children have all had roles in this world. Children were made to go to school, help around the house, men were made to go to work and make money to pay the bills for the house, and women were meant to cook, clean, and please their men. The text "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid shows the gender roles situation of woman. It explains all the things girls should do in order to be the perfect woman, and then men will want to make them their wives. In the text, it says "...you mean to say that after all that you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?" This is showing how once you do everything to be the perfect women, men will be bound to wife a woman. But do why do women need to work towards becoming a wife, and pleasing her man? Why do women have to do all the stuff around the house; cook, clean, etc. Why can't women be the ones to work, and bring home the money, and the men be the ones to cook and clean? Or best of all, why can't both parties take part in both? Women have always been expected to be the perfect mother, and house wife for men. They have always been expected to settle down, and wear nice long dresses that go pasted their knees. But some women just aren't about that. Some women want to go out and party, and don't ever want kids, or to even be married. So why are gender roles a thing? We only have one life, and it would be wasted going by what other people expect people to be.