Let me ask you a question what do you believe is the best race in the world ? Okay let me follow that up with what sex is superior ? Why do we base each other on the color of our skin rather than on one’s character that we are. How come people believe that one sex is superior to the the other. Who decided that Jesus was White or not could he not be Spanish or Asian. Why stop there why couldn’t Santa Claus be a women. We seem to separate each other when it should be the opposite because only together can we survive. For what reason do we have to put our background on a exam paper in high school shouldn’t it just be our name and id number. Were too focused on separating each other to see the big picture. A world in which our children won’t pretend to be a different background to be accepted. Where it’s not a dream but a reality that a woman became president. Being White should not make you feel superior and being Black should not make you feel inferior and vise versa. The people of this country have just elected a man who believes that believes in that sort of thing and I quote “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”  First off how he won is clear the United States are full of people who think or in other words don’t think that believe that based on someone background they are terrible and judge the actions and results of some against an entire group which is just plain wrong. Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference is a perfect example in which it writes “The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions.” Donald Trump and other like him are able to get away with saying stuff like this due to their status as not only being White but as being a male too. So I leave you with this what is the greatest race, I say the human race. It’s the only race that will hopefully be here in the next 100 years if we’re lucky enough to survive the next 4.

In the current novel that we are reading called “Americanah” the main character is called  Ifemelu. Her first time happens with her ex named Obinze who she has know for most of her life. While in the novel “The Bell Jar” the main character is named Esther and she decides to have sex for the first time with this math professor named Irwin who she knew for less than a week. With the character of Esther her love life is tragic the man she thought was inexperienced was just playing a character and the man that was her date was trying to pull a “Trump” on her. The person she finally decides to have sex with is experience and during the sex in the novel it writes “I lay, rapt and naked, on Irwin’s rough blanket, waiting for the miraculous change to make itself felt. But all I felt was a sharp, startlingly bad pain.” After this she wonder if she is no longer a virgin and notice that she is bleeding which must confirm it.

When Ifemelu does it with Obinze they don’t use a condom due to Obinze stated they will marry so it does not matter. What should of been a magically moment turn into a dissapointment. After they had sex it states in the novel “ She and Obinze should have planned it better; that way, she would know how to tell his mother. The unplannedness of it all had left her a little shaken, and also a little disappointed. It seemed somehow as though it had not been worth it after all.” What this means is that it was a let down and unpleasant. It was suppose to be this amazing planned experience that she would discuss later with Obinze mom. Later she started to feel pain and believe that she was now pregnant which it turns out not to be true.

Both of these ladies had this idea in their heads that the first time would be magically and they both ended disappointingly. They don’t want to discuss it with anyone after it’s done or are in any rush to go for round two. Esther gets something that will make sure that she wouldn’t get pregnant while with Ifemelu her partner used the oldest trick in the book that it does not matter when they have sex because they are going to get married anyway. Their first time they expected to feel transformed instead they have a moment of crisis in which they thought of what is about to happen next instead of living in the moment. They thought something was wrong with them afterward and the thought of being pregnant after having sex once if a lot of pressure to put on someone.

In the book we are currently reading called “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie we see that hair is a symbol in the novel. It shows an abstract meaning to us the reader. At first I did not see the big picture until we later discussed it class. I can see much clearly now due to fact that so far most of what we read has taken place in a salon as Ifemelu is getting her hair braided. On page 34 in my version of the book it stated that when Ifemelu was ten, her mother came home looking a bit different and cuts off all of her hair. She then asks for a bag and puts all the Catholic objects in their home in it and then burns it. She comes back inside and tells Ifemelu on page 35 “I am saved,” and they will start going to a new church the following Sunday. By doing this her mother is feeling reborn in a sense with that of a new religion. With her aunt Uju she had to have her hair a certain way to get a job.

However for Ifemelu her hair represents her not only as a Nigerian immigrant but now also also as a black American. Back in Nigeria she always braided her hair, but not that she has come to America she learns that she is supposed to straighten her hair or else people will look at her funny. When she does this it feels that she is losing a part of herself that makes her stand out against the rest.

In “The Color Purple” the two characters that we are introduced to is that of Celie and Sofia. They both have similarities and differences. They are both young black girls living in Georgia with husband who “beat” them. Sofia is a fighter unlike Celie, she doesn’t let anyone push her around regardless of who you are. She rejects the position she was dealt which is that of the black woman during this time when they were not equal to whites and were not treated on the same level as their husbands. She is also fierce and daring by not living under the rule of her husband. She fights back multiple times when Harpo tries to get her to do something like stay home instead of going to her sister. While compared to Celie who let’s not only her husband beat her his kids walk all over her. Sofia is a devoted mother and follows Mr. word for word while Celie does whatever she wants with no remorse. While Celie may not be as strong as her she continues to hold on despite all the struggles she faces which shows that they both won’t give up until the bitter end.

Celie feels worthless and has low self-esteem while Sofia self esteem is through the roof. An example of this is when she when to go meet her baby father dad. It writes on page 27 “Young womens no good these days, he say. Got they legs open to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Harpo look at his daddy like he never seen him before. But he don’t say nothing. Mr. _____ say, No need to think I’m gon let my boy marry you just cause you in the family way. He young and limited. Pretty gal like you could put anything over on him. This shows that even though Mr. is looking down on Celie for getting pregnant by his son she is still standing up for herself and does not care what he says as she is brave and outspoken. She laughs off his comments and even asks for water instead of being in a hurry after her future father in law didn’t give her his full  blessings. Also in the novel it writes on page 29 in my version “I like Sofia, but she don’t act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. _____ come in the room, she keep right on.If they ast her where something at, she say she don’t know. Keep talking.”. This shows us that whatever the men have going on does not affect her in anyway. While if they were to ask Celie a question or ask where something was she would jump up and get right to it due to her fear and being unable to stand up for herself.

Celie is tame due to all the abuse she has faced in her life so far by getting rape by her step father and having her two children taken from her to now she is willing to accept the abuse. Sofia is the opposite she is combative and proud. She doesn’t let anyone abuse her or feel lower then anyone regardless of gender. Sofia is a leader who does not compromise herself for others.

Paper Topic:  An interpretation and analysis of The Bell Jar

1. Introduction- The Bell jar Is a book by Sylvia Plath in which we follow the journey of a young woman named Esther. A woman who seems like has a lot going on for herself. We soon see how far off the edge she really is. Most of her relationships with men usually go south and causes her to go into deep depression and think of suicide as her only way out. Males in Esther Greenwood life have a real affect on her even if she knew them for a day. She has mental breakdowns throughout the story and thinks and discuss with others ways to kill himself.

1. EVALUATE the actions that she took when something happen
2. VISIT the pages that highlight what she was thinking in this exact moment
   1. Note the way they treated her and how they could affect anyone
   2. Look for interesting facts to show how after then happen it lead to this event next

1. Describe the men in her life
   1. Buddy the one that everyone wants her to be with.
   2. Marco the one who tries to have his way with her
   3. DR. GORDON the one who she sees for help
   4. Lenny Shepherd a guy who payed someone to talk to Esther so he can talk to Doreen

1. What they did to her
   1. Talk about how everyone sees this man for who he really is not
   2. Talk abou the last night in NY
   3. List her experience with the doctor
   4. She felt inferior to Doreen

We deal with her struggles as a woman in America during the 1950s.  The restricted role of women of that time was not pleasant. We see that her relationship with the men she meets in her life usually ends badly. They either try to get with her friend or try and have their way with her. The men she ends up with affects her mindset each and everytime. They try and have play a role but she just won’t.

The role that race play in this text to me is that it really did not play a big part in this story. I only recall race playing a part and even then it was a small one. We had Esther in the private hospital where she encounter an African American staff member who she refers to as “the Negro.” During this scene we do not see any political correctness from Esther part. She describes the helper as “Negro” instead of “African American” or “Black” which is understandable due the time the story is told is from the 1950’s. This text does not ignore race it’s just that it’s not that big of concern in this story. Though the story we follow Esther and we see characters the way she see them and her life though her eyes. In the text she does exhibit her any awareness of her privileged racial status. She does this by her way of living we see that compare to the way most people would live she and the other girls in the home were spoiled. She is not that wealth compared to those in the home but to the outside world it would look like that with all the free stuff she received over time. During her time in the asylum she had encounter non-white people and there and we saw how she reacted to it. In her time at the asylum we see her privileged racial status. When it is time to eat Esther decides to rise from the table, passing round to the side where the nurse couldn’t see her below the waist, and behind the Negro who was at the time doing his job which is clearing the dirty plates and draw her foot back and gave him a sharp, hard kick on the calf of the leg. His response was naturally which was leaping away with a yelp and rolling his eyes at her. He told Esther “You shouldn’t of done that, you shouldn’t, you really shouldn’t.”( Pg. 96) but her response was that of someone who knew the difference in power “That’s what you get,”( Pg. 96) . That shows us that in her mind set she had to go through all that trouble of hiding from the nurse just to kick someone because she knew nothing would happen from it she is of a higher class than high therefore she is above him and acts like it. In the article “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” Lorde writes “Refusing to recognize difference make it impossible to see the different problems and pitfalls facing us as women”. If everyone does not look at other people’s perspective then we will forever be in an endless cycle that will keep going. Esther is many things but she is also someone like others during this time look down on people. Esther is not only white but also woman and for her to use her status to hurt someone doing their job is wrong. Though the story she had mostly keep her dislike to herself but this time she decide to get physical and that is just wrong.

While I was reading fear by Laura Franks in the sidebar on page 51 of “Components of Gender” I saw that the way Laura decide to face her problem was by facing them straight forward. Laura is someone who has “refused to play gender games what I think that means is she is not going to follow the norm about how she should react to different stuff. What it has to do with fear is that she won’t let it control her she will overcome. You know when you go to amusement parks and you get on a ride and the first time your freak out but the more you ride it the less scary it becomes the fear you once had decreases each time you face it until it disappears completely. In Esther experience I believe that She faces discomfort when she does not properly perform the gender role that is expected of her by society. In the group of girls she feels like the odd one out the needle in the haystack. Esther has changed though the story from the past and present and has perform gender roles properly out of fear. In a flashback in my book on page 31 where we get a girl telling Esther she has a “male”visitor and when we get that she decides to comb her hair and put on some lipstick even take a book to make it look that she on my way to the library if it turned out to be somebody awful. In those lines we see how as a women she is expected to keep herself nice and neat even when meeting an unknown man. Esther cared what the unidentified man thought of her so she made herself presentable. Now in the present we have her saying “I hadn’t washed my hair for three weeks, either.”. Her reason being that is was silly to her to wash one day when she would only have to wash again the next day. Her past self is gone she doesn’t care about what society sets for her anymore she is going to do her and not care about anyone opinions any more.

One of the other female characters in the novel that is not Esther is her “friend” Doreen. The reason why I put quotation marks around that word is I not so sure if they are really true friends. In the book “The Bell Jar”, she is a character that is introduced as this attractive 10 out 10 female that can make any guy fall for her with a glance. She is from a society girls’ college down south and is described to me as someone who is only interests in her appearance and having a good time with whoever is available at the moment. She values going out and and turning up. During my reading we see that she hooks up with this guy that she just met named Lenny and one moment they are all over each other kissing and taking a long drink and the next we see her hanging on to his left earlobe with her teeth.The way Esther see Doreen can be viewed as someone who has the best friend who everyone loves and every time they walk in a room everyone turns to catch a glimpse while she is just the sidekick to her hero. During the reading so far the represent of the positive role of a woman, a negative role, or something else shows me that Doreen is a negative role. The reason being is that she hooks up with people she has know for less then a day and comes home a mess just shows me that she is unfit to lead the next generation. I understand that she is young and she should go and have fun but there’s a limit to that and she went over it. She is a character that doesn’t care about her job at the magazine like Esther and being on time she is one that goes to out and parties with strangers. She is full of confidence and doesn’t have her mind set on a real goal at the moment she is living for the moment and that is fine.