Wk 11 Readings Discussion Board: Submission Preview

The submissions for this assignment are posts in the assignment's discussion. Below are the discussion posts for Augustus Johnson, or you can view the full discussion.

Augustus Johnson

The main idea is in Zora Neale Hurston’s essay is identity and how her identity and the effect of her identity on others. She mentions at home her identity is Zara, a little girl who enthusiastically greeted and entertained passerbys of all colors. Once she went away to school she was viewed by others as a little colored girl. She states “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background” (178) to emphasize how others see her.Despite how others viewed her, she is Zora. She describes how whites view her situation as tragic. She, however has no time to feel sorry about herself, she is “too busy sharpening her oyster knife” (178). She describes the discomfort whites feel about the past. She doesn’t have to worry about a “brown specter” (179) seated next to her. She states, “The game of keeping what one has is never so exciting as the game of getting.” (178) She describes how she felt jazz music while the the white gentleman seated next to her just heard it. She concludes by stating we are all made up of the same stuff, we’re just placed in different colored bags.

Richard Rodriguez In his essay Achievement of Desire discussed how the process of education changed him and how that process alienated him from his family. He describes home as being loud, raucous and a loving place and school as a quite, cold place. He talks about the ambivalence he has toward home and school, when he discusses Hoggart’s “scholarship boy” (317). He mention’s how he aspired to be more like his teachers than his father.

The only similarities between Hurston’s and Rodríguez is that they both had to traverse between two different cultures. Education had little to do with how Hurston viewed herself but it was a major influence on Rodriguez’s identity. Zora was Zara no matter what the environment. Richard identity changed. He was no longer Richard the fun loving little boy, he was now Richard the intellectual. He later laments the loss of his culture after graduate school and realizes he can never really go back to the way it was. Huston seem only concerned about how she views herself while Rodriguez seems concerned about how others view his parents.

The main idea is in Zora Neale Hurston’s essay is identity and how her identity and the effect of her identity on others. She mentions at home her identity is Zara, a little girl who enthusiastically greeted and entertained passerbys of all colors. Once she went away to school she was viewed by others as a little colored girl. She states “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background” (178) to emphasize how others see her.Despite how others viewed her, she is Zora. She describes how whites view her situation as tragic. She, however has no time to feel sorry about herself, she is “too busy sharpening her oyster knife” (178). She describes the discomfort whites feel about the past. She doesn’t have to worry about a “brown specter” (179) seated next to her. She states, “The game of keeping what one has is never so exciting as the game of getting.” (178) She describes how she felt jazz music while the the white gentleman seated next to her just heard it. She concludes by stating we are all made up of the same stuff, we’re just placed in different colored bags.
     Richard Rodriguez In his essay Achievement of Desire discussed how the process of education changed him and how that process alienated him from his family. He describes home as being loud, raucous and a loving place and school as a quite, cold place. He talks about the ambivalence he has toward home and school, when he discusses Hoggart’s “scholarship boy” (317). He mention’s how he aspired to be more like his teachers than his father.
     The only similarities between Hurston’s and Rodríguez is that they both had to traverse between two different cultures. Education had little to do with how Hurston viewed herself but it was a major influence on Rodriguez’s identity. Zora was Zara no matter what the environment. Richard identity changed. He was no longer Richard the fun loving little boy, he was now Richard the intellectual. He later laments the loss of his culture after graduate school and realizes he can never really go back to the way it was. Huston seem only concerned about how she views herself while Rodriguez seems concerned about how others view his parents.