The Welcome Table Summary

The book goes through Jeannette’s life exposing the mistakes she, her siblings, and her parents made to become the family they were. As her life grows older, Jeannette finds herself in more responsible positions in the world, with editing school newspapers, to writing columns in a small New York newspaper outlet. Her troubles have raised the issue of stereotyping, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Due to her status in her childhood, it was not hard for her to fit in with the other members of the poor community. “Dinitia explained that I was with her and that I was good people. The women looked at one another and shrugged.” (Walls 191) The quote talks about how members of the black community in Welch accepted Jeannette to go swimming with them in the morning hours before the white people went in the afternoon. The people who knew Dinita, Jeannette’s friend, knew that Dinita was trustworthy, and let Jeannette pass. This relates to the thesis because it shows how she was accepted amongst the people who were

To show first hand to the whites the inequality’s and hardships that the blacks face, the entire first section is in a narrative and a descriptive format. The use of these types of essays lets the readers feel more involved in the story and feel things for themselves. Split into two sections within itself, this first paragraph juxtaposes two stories — one about a “young Negro boy” living in Harlem, and the other about a “young Negro girl” living in Birmingham. The parallelism in the sentence structures of introducing the children likens them even more — despite the differences between them — whether it be their far away location, or their differing, yet still awful, situations. Since this section is focused more towards his white audience, King goes into a description of what it was like living as an African American in those times— a situation the black audience knew all too well. His intense word choice of describing the boy’s house as “vermin-infested” provokes a very negative reaction due to the bad

Segregation had had many effects on the black nation, to the point that it started building up ones character, “See the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people”, King shows readers that segregation is even affecting little children, that it is starting to build up a young girls character and is contributing to the child developing hatred “bitterness” towards the white Americans. King makes readers imagine a black cloud settling in a young girls brain mentally, when instead she should have an image of a colorful blue sky with a rainbow, isn’t that suppose to be part of a 6 year-old’s imagination? King gives readers an image of destruction civil disobedience had created in the black community, especially in the young innocent little children.

There are many more examples of un-equality as you near the end of the book. The three main characters spend the whole book trying to get to a “Refugee Camp” for survivors and those who are scared and need the safety it promises. Once there it becomes apparent that it is no safer or nicer in the Camp as it is anywhere else. In my opinion, reading this back from cover to cover will definitely change you, the main idea and several other smaller themes of this story are… surprising. You will never know the unfairity of living like that until you have either been put through it (something I would not want to do) or read about it, it shows how horrible the world can be if you are different and how terrible it can be, even to those whose innocence is greater than most others.

There were also different problems in the 1900’s such as Discrimination and prejudice. Prejudice in this novel is expressed or presented by disgust and misinterpretation because of the difference of people skin color. People of different skin color were the majorities that were treated unjustly. Throughout this period in America, the southern states, black people had to exercise and use separate bathrooms from whites, as well as drinking fountains, section in restaurants, and even go to separate schools. Furthermore, a great deal of the discrimination was aimed towards black people; there were abundance of explanation towards poor families by individuals that have the riches. Discrimination is rampant when groups’ of people that are different are called names.

Considerably the most dominant theme in the novel is one of feminism and the struggle of women, both in America and in Africa, to be free of oppression and discrimination based on their gender. Although the suffragette movement in the US was active from 1848 , it was only in 1920 that women were given national voting rights votes in America. Women clearly had little political voice and black women less so. Primarily through Celie and Shug, Walker represents the inner struggles black women faced in order to free themselves from the dominance of men, additionally conveying how Christian views on the position of women in society strengthened the oppression they faced.

In the reading, Jones explores the relationship between class, race, and gender. She states that African Americans, in general, are oppressed, however, black women

The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and

We saw prejudice and discrimination throughout the book. For example, when Lafayette’s was charged with a crime due to hi, been associated with who did it. When LaJoe lost her benefits from the state due to her on and off husband using her home address and when collecting unemployment benefits which LaJoe did not claim as income coming into the home. In both instances, the Rivers were treated as if they were liars and criminals. Because of Lafayette being from the inner city, there was this predetermine thought about any youth that lived in the inner city from the court system. LaJoe was treated with disrespect by the welfare office because of the prejudgment they had formed about people that lived in the inner city. Due to the location in which they stayed, the importance of healthy living condition was not a priority to the city. They were forced to live in the vicinity of garbage, broken sewer systems, dead animals, etc. Also, the children were forced to either stay in their apartments or play on the railroad tracks because the city had only a few areas for them to play. These areas had become run down and it was unsafe for kids to play in. It is unsure why the was such neglect for those areas of the inner city, but one could only think that it had to do with how this race has been treated for years.

Janie and her grandmother represent a culture of women that were stereotyped into a specific gender role, putting them as the last class in society. They received no compensation or respect for their services. Their work specifically benefited only those they worked for, and supported. Through compromising themselves in this way these women were subjected to even more maltreatment.

The book Coming of Age in Mississippi goes into detail about a very prominent time in United States history. The book takes us back to a time where the issue of civil rights began to rise eventually reaching its peak marking this an unforgettable time in history for that generation and for generations to come. During this time the south in general was already a tough place to be in, but the in the Deep South things were even worse, which is where the story takes place. Not only was race a huge issue other things factored into these trying times such as huge levels of poverty, and various acts of violence. Although all of these factors played a crucial part to the make-up of the Civil Rights Movement, the one that stands out the most is prejudice with the other factors such as unfair gender roles and poverty falling suit behind.

Everything the characters do is rooted in racism. By 1790, 293,000 slaves lived in Virginia alone--where the novel takes place--making up 42% of all slaves in the US at that time (Statistics on Slavery). About half of the characters are slaves. They are treated terribly and are forced to live under harsh conditions. Prejudice is shown towards them every day. The novel focuses particularly on Belle, who is pushed around by the master’s family in the big house because they think she is his mistress instead of his daughter. On page 154, Rankin, the

The story shows a little bit about the thought difference between a Native man, and a White women, or at least the difference between people who are more use to the environment than the other. In history, we do not learn as much about life for lower-class people in school, more middle-class to higher-class, so this story was a useful insight into that. I believe this story kind of shows the innocence and also the dark side of humans. Of their arrogance and wishfulness, this story embodies many parts of being a human. With John’s simple niceness, to Anns complex unhappiness, to Stevens guilt free selfishness, this story shows many

The theme of Everyday Use is not immediately apparent, although Alice Walker begins the story by creating a familiar setting in the comfort of home that lead to the spirit of heritage and its importance in our lives. The protagonist, a single mother of two daughters, sees herself as ."..large...rough... slow-witted" and not fitting into the social strata of her oldest daughter, Dee, who ."..has held life always in the palm of her hand." The story begins with the mother preparing the yard to be ."..more comfortable than most people know....like an extended living room" for Dee's homecoming. This line early in the story also shows the mother placing a high value on comfort.

In my understanding, the poem pre-dominates the theme “horrors of slavery”. The poet, in a clear tone, illustrates the lives of slaves and the challenges they go through. “And the mother’s shriek of wild despair”, “And I saw her babes torn from her breast” and “If I saw young girls from their mother’s arms” are some examples of indignities that the poet describes. The persona states that she could not rest in a place where people were forcefully subjected to any form of indignities. She uses statements such as; “I could not rest if I heard the tread”, “Of a coffle gang to the shambles led” and much more to elaborate her dislike against slavery; the abuse and terror.