The Rez & my Rez?

The Rez is a place where opportunities are closed and unsettled. Alcoholism roams the streets as tribe members get into brawls. There is a large number of tribe members settled in one single area living together--bonding. Everyone knows each other. Traditional parties take place and are enjoyed. In my neighborhood down on the South side, opportunities are also blocked. You have to go through obstacles if you want to get out. You have gangsters running the streets, labeling what territory belongs to who. Poverty controls the neighbors as everyone would rather buy cheap fast foods than whole expensive foods, thus leading to health issues. Drugs getting sold at nearby corners secretly before the COPS come cruising by. Houses that are abandoned have broken windows and gang-related graffiti , marking the vandalism. Girls that are sixteen and younger being pregnant?--yeah, I know a couple. Fights starting up in the neighborhood's high school, blood. Everyone is isolated in their house. No one steps out in the streets. Fear throws a blanket on top of everyone. All you see through the streets are - strangers. You need to fight in order to break the cycle to get out of a neighborhood that's trash, seek your way out to open a door into your future, but maybe that's just my neighborhood. I guess that's my Rez.

Native sons

'Native Son' from the beginning was quite a surprising book. In Book one we get an introduction onto the main character's life- Bigger Thomas. Living in a small crowded apartment with rats and what not, being in pure poverty during the times of the The Great Depression. We see a common threat come out from poverty- gangs, and how Thomas is a part of one. We are then introduced to his hatred for white people- their superiority to that of Negroes. Then we see Bigger progress and get a job working for the Daltons taking the job of being a chauffeur for Mary Dalton. After the first day of work Bigger ends up killing Mary by accidentally suffocating her, then ends up burning her up in the furnace. Due to his actions Bigger has to face a lot of consequences. Bigger has been making himself seem suspicious with certain actions that he does. Like when he runs away from the scene where two men end up finding Mary's bones in the furnace. All evidence is against him during the trial that later decides that he will have the death penalty. I honestly believe that Bigger does deserve the end of having the Death Penalty due to the fact that he has not only taken away Mary and Bessie's life, but as stated I the book- others as well. I believe that even if he faced these hardships of being poor and black during the time, that shouldn't be reason enough to let him "off the hook". I believe that it was a strong decision for a strong event: indeed. The thing is that nothing gave him the right to take a human life away. When he was doing the actions he didn't quite think of Mercy, so it would be hypocritical of him to think of mercy for himself. Therefore I can say that the death penalty is a punishment well deserved by Bigger Thomas. It's just that I still don't believe that those two main factors should be enough to justify him as innocent, if he really wanted to live without the influences he could have done something for his life and wouldn't have been too radical about certain things that he did.

Green Light, Yellow car and a church steeple

What is there not to say in this blog in relation to "The Great Gatsby"?
All the three items listed on the Blog name are related to the one and only-- Jay Gatsby, aka James Gatz.
Green light refers to his one unreacheable dream, always looking forward to the day of tomorrow for a chance to gain it. A dream so forbidden to be grasped, but a symbol that gives out hope for another night to go by. In this case Gatsby's dream of being able to get Daisy to be his one and only. As he always tries to reach certain standards that will please her, like that of having money. He tries and tries always having a glance at the green light- figuring that he has some type of chance of winning her. Little does he know that his dream of reaching her is hollow-- hollow enough to send echoining sound waves at high frequencies.
The yellow car-- ah yes, a way to symbolize his wealth and ironically his death.
One of the latest models that he bought, and rode with his lover. "A clown car" as Tom refered to. A materialistic object that didn't give him a superiority, but made him a fool. After Daisy accidentally kills Myrtle using the car, Wilson shortly wants to find the owner of the yellow car-- and bamm, he finds Gatsby is the owner assuming that he must be killed in revenge for the killing of his wife- Myrtle. It was an object Fitzgerald surely fit into the novel so that Gatsby could be seen as a character who was a fool in love capable of so many things to only make himself suffer in the end.
She wasn't worth it; something he realized too late.
Last and most importantly the church steeple- the greatest symbolism for Gatsby's wealth.
Having Nick view the Church Steeple and figure out some of the pieces of the puzzle himself. An ironic way since Nick is very self-preserved. Nick notices that a lot of the times Gatsby uses his own wealth to cover for his real intentions. The real intention to gain Daisy for himself- due to the love he has for her. That's exactly when he starts realizing that there must have been a connection between Daisy and Gatsby from far back - a great connection. A connection strong enough to only be paid by death (as in Gatsby's).