Nutella is Yum

Satire #3

Whilst researching my position for the essay on ‘Huckleberry Finn’, i found new perspectives on the type of satire implemented into the novel. A point that i had not thought of yet was that Mark Twain was not only satirizing the American society of 1800, but more specifically the Southern societies.

Stuck in their ways with no desire to change, Twain explores the societies along the Mississippi River. The common need to civilize young children and to educate them on the Bible but most importantly to secure slavery within the South for as long as it would last. These people see themselves as upstanding townsfolk with good morals and intentions yet at every bend in the river, the reader encounters another slave owning person. This is the constant piece of satire presented throughout the book. That upstanding Christian people could be so barbaric as to own and work slaves. People who have the right to their own lives, to their own freedom. This piece of satire is ironically only recognized by Huck, the boy who is helping an escaped slave and who is seen as needing to be ’sivilized’.   

Racism #3

When thinking of topics to expand on this subject, Mr. W gave me a helpful comment. In it he mentioned two terms, both of which i was unaware of their meaning before i further reaserched each word. ‘Redlining’ and ‘White Flight’. Both of these terms refer to acts of racism in our modern day society.

‘Redlining’ as defined by dictionary.com is, “A discriminatory practice by which banks, insurance companies, etc., refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance, etc., within specific geographic areas, esp. inner-city neighborhoods.” Racism seems to be a downplayed issue within society today but this defintion brings into sharp perspective the harsh realities of real practices today.

‘White Flight’ as defined by dictionary.com is, “The movement of whites, esp. middle-class whites, from neighborhoods undergoing racial integration.” This is a very real form of racial segregation that still occurs presently. Many neighbourhoods become ethnicaly diverse over time and often, sadly this means the repositioning of many white people in their own area to form some of the higher class neighbourhoods we have today.

Before i learnt the meanings of these words, i was not able to pick an aspect out of our society that limits people of different races and ethnicities in what they can and cannot do. Although America as a nation has progressed alot since the time of slavery, we still have a way to go before we obtain a society where all people are treated equally.    

Racism #2

It seems to me that a good deal of racism occurs as a second hand experience. Often our values and views are formed at a young age from what we hear at home and from our friends rather than from personal experience where more often than not we find that people are not so very different. Our parents and friends have a major influence on our lives and the opinions we form particularly when we are quite young and often impressionable. If these people whose approval we seek express views that are racist chances are that we too may initially form similar views or even carry those views into adulthood. This experience can be magnified if we are isolated from the people being denigrated. It seems to me that it is easy to believe the worst about people from a distance and generalize about their “faults” or “inferiority” when you have little knowledge of how they really think and live or any contact with them as individuals. It seems to me that it is easy to demonize people at a distance or regard them as inferior especially if you are part of a system that has institutionalized such a view as much of the South had towards African Americans prior to the Civil War.    

Slave Narratives Post Reading Blog

When reading the biographies of the featured slaves, i was surprised to find the number of the slaves who were helped by their masters. I expected to find the survival stories of these slaves through harsh and oppressive situations. Although parts of the slave narratives focused on the brutal treatment of the imprisoned slaves, i focused on the way some white owners helped their slaves.

“After this Mis’ Mary kept on with my studies, and taught me to write. As I grew older, she taught me to cook and how to do housework.” (Annie L. Burton)

Although this kind of treatment toward slves was uncommon, it occasionally occurred. However it strikes me as odd that although the white people grew up alongside their black slaves children, they still see them in the same condescending light present at that time. A quote that struck me as thought provoking was,

“I had to remain a poor sufferer - the victim of a woman’s spite and hatred for a poor despised race. What I had done to deserve all this treatment I knew not.” (Isaac Mason)

It made me think that although there are no justifications for slavery, what made this race prone to the treatment inflicted upon them by the white American nation? It was just accepted by this race for a period of time that there was no freedom from the white oppression, that the black population would continue to be the property of the white man. Those brave slaves who challenged the status quo to fight slavery, changed the future for the black man everywhere. It was interesting to read the accounts referring to the freedom of slaves and the effect it had on not only the black but white population.

“But as weeks went by, I began to understand. I saw all the slaves one by one disappearing from the plantation (for night and day they kept going) until there was not one to be seen.” (Annie L. Burton)

When reading ‘Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain, i found myself wondering why was slavery not seen as a sin? Why was cursing unacceptable when slavery was not? How could the act of owning and punishing another human like a wild animal not be seen as a crime against the lord and all the religious beliefs? It seems strange to me that at the time slavery was abolished, it was finally recognized as a sin.

“But it was a sad, sad change on the old plantation, and the beautiful, proud Sunny South, with its masters and mistresses, was bowed beneath the sin brought about by slavery. It was a terrible blow to the owners of plantations and slaves, and their children would feel it more than they, for they had been reared to be waited upon by willing or unwilling slaves.” (Annie L. Burton)

Reading these slave narratives really opened my eyes as to the treatment bestowed upon the black slave. Although there were few acts of generosity, the majority of slaves recieved whippings and lashings from their masters. To understand the quality of lifestyle present in American society today, we have to understand what happened in the past.

Slave Narratives Pre - Reading Blog

To me slavery is a concept, one we are taught in school to believe it was wrong. As I have never experienced slavery first hand, i only have thoughts or notions as to what it is like. A harsh form of labor inflicted upon a group of people without their consent. It caused this group of people great pain and suffering. They were unrecognized as the backbone of society providing inexpensive labor for food and other handmade goods. 

From reading Mark Twain’s, ‘Huckleberry Finn’, i am exposed to a world i could have never imagined, to live in the time of slavery. Wealthy landowners owned hundreds of slaves at a time to work their land. These people were given the bare neccessities to survive and most went unpaid. This concept reminds me of a herd of cattle. You feed them to keep them healthy enough, they provide you with milk and meat and with money when they are sold. All these cows are viewed alike, and replcing them is no hardship.

Slavery was an industry, one that lasted for hundreds of years and existed in many countries. American slavery largely supported the agarian industry during the years prior to the civil war in 1861.

When reading these slave narratives, i expect to be exposed to the lives of slaves during the slave era. Lives that were full of pain, oppression and hardship. Before redaing their stories, i will have to clear my mind of all pre-conceptions i have about slavery and attempt to put myself into that era to fully understand what they went through.  

Satire #2

When reading the novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, we are exposed to many different types of satire.

Hypocrisy is a constant theme throughout the book and is certainly evident in the early chapters. In  Chapter 1, Huck describes his life with his caretaker the widow as very proper. The widow Douglas is constantly pushing Huck “to do the right thing.” This idea of trying to ‘civilize’ Huck is played on throughout the book. ”The widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me;…” (Pg. 1). The satire here of course is that the widow tries to “civilize” Huck into polite Christian society, a society that tolerates both slavery and discrimination on a daily basis. Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson both want to reach the “good place” as represented by heaven but never consider that slave owning could be an impediment to that goal.  During the time in which this book was set, slavery and racism was very much a part of what some people practiced. Although Huck is less “educated” in polite society than the Widow Douglas or her sister would desire, Huck has more awarenes than either of them. The escaped slave Jim becomes more than just the “nigger” Jim to Huck who starts to relate to Jim as a person. Huck has the self-awareness to begin to question the status quo of slavery and his attitude towards it. This seems to be a central irony and satire that the author develops throughout the book.

Iraq Update

The Report on Iraq seems to have divided many people but most people seem to agree that it doesn’t really offer any new ideas about how to solve the problem. It was always going to be hard to keep Iraqi’s of different factions such as Sunni, Shiite and Kurd together. The only way Sadaam Hussein could do it was by oppression which is not an option for coalition forces. To keep Iraq together seems to be a very difficult proposition for which no one has the answer. Maybe it is inevitable that Iraq will be divided into different autonomous regions or even countries much as happened in the former Yugoslavia.

Racism

Whilst reading the book, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, we are exposed to a time that sees racism as non existant. It is not that society does not embrace racism, only it uses it as a method for control and is viewed as something completely normal for a functioning, prosperous society.

Racsim is defined in so many ways but to me it seems like it was and still is a tool used to offend people of different races and colours and a way to make them feel inferior. When looking back at the history of a nation, most likely you will find a struggle between two races for ruling power. In many instances racism was imployed as a tactic to justify why the imperial nation is taking over the already inhabited ’unchartered territory’. The natives were viewed as a lesser group and were but an obatcle in the path of the conquering nation.  

In the novel, Jim, the black slave of an upstanding towns lady, refers to others of his race using the derogatory ’N’ word. This is something i cannot understand as to whether the word held the meaning it does today or was simply used to describe a black person. Jim does not appear to mind saying the word however other white men used it as a way to describe the inferiority of the black man in an offensive way.

Satire

In a society where almost every newspaper headline brings about more bad news, satirical pieces are designed to be a comic relif whilst still adressing the issue. In “The Modest Proposal” by Johnathan Swift, he makes reference to the problem of poverty in Ireland but uses this serious issue to add a comic twist. He is still maing people aware of the issue, yet they are not bogged down by the politics of it.

People enjoy satirical works such as “Borat” as they seem to confirm or broaden our pre - conceptions of certain people, places or things. It pokes fun at some things that are deemed as serious issues within society but shows a new perspective on them and presents them in a way that appeals to an audience not willing to accept the real weight of the issues. ’Scary Movie’ is not viewed as satire as it makes fun of certain things that are not necessarily present within society. Elements such as Aliens landing on earth or zombie girls that emerge from televison sets. In many ways, this movie is of poorer comic value than a piece such as ‘Borat’ and most of the jokes are slapstick humor. Satire forces the audience to broaden their minds and think about the jokes. Much of the humor is linked with real life scenarios and if you are not aware of the issues, then satire does not seem funny. People like how they can realte the jokes from the works of satire to real life issues and see some truths and lies within them. 

I enjoy satire most of the time especially when there is truth beneath the humor. In one aspect it teaches you not to take yourself to seriously and be open to interpretation. On the other hand, if the satire is designed to offend people or places it can become unfunny and seem distasteful.

I enjoy certain types of satire that are not too heavy in the weight of their content. Television shows such as ‘Family Guy’ and ‘The Simpsons’ are a couple of my favourites. They present their satirical jokes in a somewhat tasteful way and if you are too young to understand it just goes over your head without making the viewer think twice about what that meant. One of the more controversial pieces of satire is ‘Team America’. Although many comedic elements were included, some of them are offensive to certain groups or people.

I am interested to read Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and to discover what type of satire is involved in his novel.  

Jim Crow Era

At the time the novel, ‘A Lesson Before Dying’ by Ernest J. Gaines, was written and published (1940’s), Jim Crow laws were strictly enforced and segregation between blacks and whited was prominent. To succeed in society proved to be much harder to do if your skin color was dark.

When reading first hand accounts of people who lived in the time of Jim Crow laws, I was able to make many connections to charcters in the book. In one account by Roceal Duke, he describes his teacher as someone who encourages his students to achieve their personal best, failing was not an option. “Our teachers’ mission was clear–to make sure that we were capable of competing with anybody, anywhere…”. This is in contrast to Grant Wiggins, a respected teacher within his society in the novel. When he looks at his students, he sees what they will become as they grow older. Almost all will be driven into simple labor and other menial jobs. It seems he finds no reason to motivate them. He succeeded in his educatuion and was fortunate enough to go to college. Yet it seems he is right back wehere he started. This is just one of the cycles present in this book.