Assignments

Super Hero Story 

     The superhero begins off as a character that is seen as a bad person in his community. Damian has been robbing stores, people and anything else he can get his hands into because his living conditions aren’t ones you want to live in. He lives with his mother and grandma, his mother works at a supermarket but gets paid very little and she is the only one that provides for all three of them. Damian gets frustrated that he isn’t able to help his mom or pitch into the rent money, which is quite expensive for the conditions they’re living in. Aside from his house problems, he has more at school, he is bullied! He doesn’t have expensive clothes or expensive shoes so students make fun of him because he can’t afford much. Damian goes through problems physically and mentally throughout his childhood which has a huge impact on his actions. The actions he makes when starting to rob aren’t quite the right action and he knows it himself but he can’t find a better way to help his situation so he goes finds the easy way out. While Damian is robbing stores, he meets a group of men that tell him they have a better way of gaining money fast and Damian falls for it because he’s desperate to help out his mom and get out of poverty. These groups of men ask Damian to sell drugs and he agrees with the plan while selling these drugs he gets curious about trying one. He takes a pill out of the bag and swallows it, a few days later he begins to feel different, his body starts hurting, he starts to turn red and flames start to come out of his body. Damian is now on fire but he isn’t dead, he’s alive, it’s like he has superpowers now. He uses this as an advantage to scare away all the robbers that come near anyone or anywhere because he realizes that there are other ways of helping people and the way he was trying to help his mom wasn’t the correct way. Damian is now the flaming guy who scares off the robbers and protects his community, he feels with power and more important than anybody now, no one can bully him or tell him what to do.

Rhetorical Situation Reflection of Super Hero Story 

    The text revolves around a superhero that changes his ways of thinking. He starts as a regular person who simply wants to live a life without getting into any trouble. Although there are many obstacles and things he goes through that prevents him from simply just living a normal life like a young kid. This origin story doesn’t have a background specifically, instead, I gathered ideas from different superheroes` such as “the lizard” from the movie amazing spider-man, in this movie he is Dr. Curt Connors and he experiments with a lot of chemicals in his lab which gives you an idea of how he possibly became the lizard. This chemical made him an evil villain. Going back to the text Damian is influenced by some type of drug but we don’t exactly know what drug it could be or how it was even made, all we know is that it came from a group of men just simply selling drugs.

       The reading is somewhat a reflection of the author’s life or background, some make it up and others use their life experiences to make up the story. In this case, I did not use any of my life experiences expect there was one detail in there that I could relate to when Damian felt like had to find a way to help his mom because they barely had any money, though I didn’t find or do anything to help my mom I always had that thought in my head so I have a sort of connection with him but other than that the story is made up and the story was randomly thought of. If someone were to ask me why I chose to write my origin story I wouldn’t have an answer to that.

       The audience doesn’t necessarily have to people that are into comic or superhero movies, it can be opened to anyone at any age. The purpose of this origin story is not only to show that there are superheroes in this world but to understand where someone is coming from and to give a life lesson because as much as you’d like to help, sometimes there isn’t much you can do then just give them your shoulder and be there for them. The audience everyone and everyone can read this origin story without just thinking its a superhero origin story and that it’s not just simply about superheroes and villains.

       The purpose of this origin story as mentioned in the previous paragraph is to send out a message, not just to young kids because sometimes they don’t think of what they’re doing and they think it’s the right thing but to older people as well. Everyone learns something new everyday believe it or not. This origin story is based on someone’s life and how his daily life influenced him into doing what he did, but it did not have to go through the bad path he could have talked it out with his mom and maybe try to find an actual job. People are quick to go for the easy way but don’t realize there are always consequences to everything.

         The time is in 2010, it is presented in the very modern days. Damian lives in the term where most kids call it “the hood”. A lot is happening in this environment most people live in these areas because they can’t afford their rent so they move to affordable places but where everything is dangerous and just the environment is not healthy and safe. This affected Damian’s thinking because of his surroundings and he allowed himself to get influenced by people that make them think what they are doing is correct. The place someone lives in can have a huge impact on someone’s life if they don’t let themselves get manipulated. Damian lives in Brooklyn in Knickerbocker. This setting and certain places can have a big impact on someone’s life.

Personal Narrative Essay 

         A lot of people are afraid to die, and others aren’t because they have this mentality that you live life, but you eventually die and that you aren’t afraid to die because you are satisfied with everything life has given you or sometimes others are tired of life itself because life has negatively impacted them and they don’t seem to find happiness. Many people are afraid of losing their mother because of course who would want to lose someone as precious as their mother, but I have many reasons besides loving her more than in anything in this world.

         My mom and dad divorced when I was just about 1 and a few months. My dad was an alcoholic, so things got complicated for my mom at that point and she decided to leave him because it was too toxic for her and she didn’t want my brothers and me to grow up in that environment. My mom had no job, or any money saved up, so she had to get up one day to another and think about her children and how she was going to handle this whole situation. It was at that moment when decided to put our happiness before hers. Although I was so little to realize everything, she was doing for us I feel like a part of me will always try and remember the littlest things because I can’t believe she handled everything on her own without anyone’s help, not even her family. She started working from 7 am to 5 or 6 pm every day since my dad left but she always managed to dedicate time to us, always gave us the best and filled us with love despite all the obstacles that she faced as a child and not having the love of her mother because I think that must be the hardest thing to accept that you don’t have the love of someone that brought you into this world. My mom once said she never wanted to be like her mom and that she wanted everything but the opposite for us. She didn’t know what the love of a mother felt like, but she still gave us unconditional love and gave us everything she wished her mom gave her. At the time I lived in Knickerbocker, Brooklyn and it wasn’t a good neighborhood from hearing gunshots to seeing people do or sell drugs. My mom did not want us to grow up in that environment she wanted something better for us she didn’t want us to go through the wrong path. We moved to Queens where I have lived for almost my whole life now.

         The dedication from my mother hasn’t stopped and I don’t think it will ever stop because her goal is to see as professionals, she wants us to do everything she couldn’t do. But most importantly she wants us to do what makes us happy she wants us to do everything for ourselves but how could we? We think about ourselves but our biggest goal is to bring her happiness and make her proud because most of the things we do are to put a smile on her face so she can be happy that all her sacrifices lead to something good. We do and think a lot of things that she doesn’t know she’s the reason why we even do or think about them. For instance, for me everything I want to be in life it’s because my mom is my biggest motivation, she might not be a doctor or a lawyer, but she has a big heart and she’s very humble. I want to achieve so much in life because I want to make my mom proud of the daughter she has. So many kids nowadays consider their friends to be their best friends and someone they can talk about with anything, but I don’t think that besides my mom is my mom she is also my best friend because she’s someone I know I can tell anything to and I know that she won’t judge me and will be straight up with me and not tell me lies like most people you’ll meet in life.

            The happiness my mom deserves can’t even be described in words. I can think about giving her a big house and a fancy car, but I don’t think that is the real happiness she needs. She needs to know that she is an amazing woman and mother for not giving up even when she wanted to for not letting anything get in the way of her making her kids having and giving them everything she could have and for not thinking about her happiness rather ours.

            For the most part now, you know why I’m afraid of losing my mom and how important she is to me.

Exploratory Essay  

          The author Claudia Rankine demonstrates real-life experiences about race and racism through the use of images, poetry, and anecdotes in the book Citizen: An American Lyric. Rankine not only mentions her life experience when going through racism, but she includes famous/ ordinary people as well such as Serena Williams, a random guy on the train and she also includes images that readers can see racism through it specifically the author Claudia Rankine demonstrates real-life experiences about race and racism through the use of images, poetry, and anecdotes in the book Citizen: An American Lyric. Rankine not only mentions her life experience when going through racism, but she includes famous/ ordinary people as well such as Serena Williams, a random guy on the train and she also includes images that readers can see racism through it specifically the image on the last page. The author focuses on situations to show the struggles of an African American because of his or her race and that it doesn’t matter if they’re famous or not it can happen to just anyone.

         Claudia Rankine discusses the racism faced by black people every day. The author uses different scenarios to emphasize that racism still exists in our society and that even if you are famous you will still get the same hate just as much as a person without fame or money. Her focus is showing that blacks are constantly faced with challenges in life and that it doesn’t matter if a person doesn’t know you once they see you are a certain color; they will start to treat you differently. As the stories are being told they continue to develop because readers can understand Rankine’s central message that whether we want to believe it or not people are viewed differently because of their race. The author uses an image on page 146 to end the story to depict racism and at first, it is hard to tell what it is in the image but if you look closely, you’ll see a leg cuffed by the ankle surrounded by dead fish. Although the most important thing with this image is that the leg is the dark skin. You can imagine what that means now. This image is a representation of a black life because blacks are constantly chained up in a way because they aren’t respected or given the same rights as most do for example whites. The leg being chained up is how black life is represented as they don’t know what freedom is, they are controlled, and they don’t know what it’s like being seen as just a regular person living their daily life. Although this image does not have any text to explain what the picture is showing it is clear that African Americans are all chained up in the ground. This is what an African American life looks like in a picture.

        Another example the author uses to express her message is speaking about a random guy on the train. This guy is casually on the train like every other person and you don’t expect to feel less even on a train because everyone is always running or usually always looking for a seat because they don’t want to stand. The guy is African American and as you can guess people are racist even when dealing with a seat and having to sit to an African American. The lady being racist towards the guy isn’t so discreet because she makes it obvious, she does not want to sit next to him just because of his skin color. The lady expresses herself differently, in this case, she doesn’t speak but she shows it by her actions that she doesn’t want to sit next to someone with dark skin. She avoids sitting next to him and the guy notices it. This guy gets off the train and the lady immediately sits down next to the seat where the guy was sitting, and it doesn’t end there the guy looks through the window of the train and watches the lady sit down in the sear where she did not want to sit next to him. This part was probably the worst part of this story because the guy had to see with his eyes how he was being discriminated against. His feelings were worse now because of what he had to see and seeing that he just witnessed racism from his own experience. The author puts this example because this shows how just anyone can go through racism and it doesn’t matter the situation, place, or person it can happen anywhere and to anyone.

         Serena Williams is a famous tennis player and you would think that she doesn’t get any hate or anything that could make her feel down. But she could have a lot of money and fame but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t receive any hate. She experienced racism during one of her games and this person was her opponent which probably made it worse for her. Her opponent was making fun of Serena’s appearance and the way she was mocking her was so disrespectful she used tissue paper and stuffed it in her breast and stuck out her waist more because she was mocking Serena’s body. This situation at the time made Serena more distracted at the time and it was a loss for her because she couldn’t concentrate during her game anymore. The effect that this situation brought to Serena was impacting because not only did she have to see someone being racist toward her during her game, but she had to deal with it in court and outside of it because it was all over social media. This experience is different from others because most people see famous people as untouchable and like they don’t go through things on a daily just like any other human but Serena experienced racism and had to simply deal with it because racism will always exist, and people don’t see it. 

“It wasn’t a match. It was a lesson.” Has a lot to do with the thematic concerns of the book overall because this is the main focus. The concern that whites are racist towards black and that blacks are a target towards society because everyone automatically thinks they are a harm to the community. The last few sentences include the line above which is learning that some situations have not been a match but a lesson to her because she has seen how her race is treated and she learns to see people disrespect her face when she knows they do nothing bad. The author mentions major situations from famous people to random people just casually on the train. You would think famous people would be better respected because a lot of people look up to them, but no people will offend people even with money and fame. White people see all blacks the same and this book speaks for itself because we have an example like Serena Williams that is a very well-known tennis player with a lot of fame and money, yet people disrespect her even when on the court. Some people will just sit on a train and not do anything wrong, but people will still manage to disrespect that person, mistreat and act racist towards them because they simply are ignorant and have that mentality that all blacks are harmful and they cannot interact with them for whatever reason or situation. For the most part, people that go through a situation like Serena Williams or like the guy on the train learn something out of it they learn to see how people in this world can be so closed-minded and ignorant towards other people because at the end of the day they are the ones bringing hate and instead of bringing peace to themselves and the world they make it worse for others. It is thematically important that Rankine mentions beginnings and endings on the last page because for readers to see what society is like they must read experiences that happen to real people and that it negatively affects them but in the end, people must learn from their experiences and be at “truce” like the author mentions because it’s important for the people that go through this to be at peace with themselves.

         The themes/concerns of this book connect to the theme of The Self and the Other in Literature because the author mentions on page 120 “A woman stands on the subway, even though there is a seat available next to a man. You take this seat. As soon as a different passenger gets off, the woman sits down. Your body has spoken for you, attempting to fill in this silence where the empty seat once was. You look at the man’s reflection in the window, which is shrouded in darkness from the subway tunnel.” as mentioned before the author experiences racism through this example on the train and how the woman did not want to take a seat simply because a black person was sitting next to a space. Another thing the author mentions on page 31 “Serena not playing well and loses the first set. In response, she smashes her racket on the court.” all these examples connect to the theme of self and others because they all show how people can be ignorant and not think about how others feel when something like racism is done to the people think they aren’t humans and aren’t affected by one’s actions.

         Overall the author sends out a strong message to the readers on how society judges you off your race, appearance or anything in general with assumptions. Specifically, in this book, the message is directed more to African Americans and how they struggle daily with racism.

 Rhetorical Situation Reflection of Exploratory Essay

Text

The text includes 8 paragraphs that focus on speaking about Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen. This book central problem is racism which is more elaborated in the 8 paragraphs that talk about Claudia’s examples about racism and how racism affects people daily but teaches them a lesson. The paper uses examples that the author mentions such as Serena Williams, a man on the train, and a powerful image that speaks for itself. All of these examples express racism and some of the focuses the author tries to put out there by using these examples are that you could be the most famous person ever that doesn’t mean people won’t be racism towards you, and the littlest things can be racism like a simple seat. 

Author

The author for this paper is an 18-year-old female, majoring in Biology at City College of New York and is very adventurous. 

Audience 

The audience of this paper could be to everyone because it goes both ways to the people that go through racism and to the racist people. The text opens up to the readers about situations that many haven’t heard of and how individuals have to go through racism and whether it affects them or not, people still don’t watch their actions or words. The point of the text is to let the audience know that racism still exists and that you could be affecting someone by being racist or just not being aware. 

Purpose 

The purpose of writing this paper was to not only get the assignment done but also express more about the examples that Claudia Rankine mentions in her book and how the examples are from real-life people and affect them daily. Another purpose is to show how the theme of self and other connects with Rankine’s examples. 

Setting

The setting in which this paper was written was half at the school library and the other half at Hoffman’s student lounge mostly because it’s where I felt comfortable typing it up and it was somewhat quiet. 

Researched Critical Analysis Essay

      Throughout the texts, we have read during this course were all based on the theme “Self and Other.” In these texts, there is a connection between society and people. Chloe Bass displays an art exhibit called Wayfinding in which she expresses the way some people might reflect themselves with certain things or feel through the use of questions and quotes. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera discusses the use of self and others which connects to Chloe Bass’s questions and quotes and relates to each other as well as The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas which also mentions the main message of self and other.

      The following quotes are from Chloe Bass’s installation “There are times when I have agreed with you only to go to sleep.” and “Some days you call out to the world and all that echoes back is your emptiness.” The first installation can be explained in many different ways. One of the meanings of this quote could be that a person does not want to argue with someone even if they think the other person is wrong simply because they just want to sleep. The other possible meaning is that a person doesn’t have the energy to argue because they know they could win the argument. The other installation is more in-depth because it is stating that sometimes you reach from help in this case the author uses the word “world” to expand on the thought and not just include one situation but everything in general and the best way to describe everything is mentioning the world overall. When a person calls out for help but they get no help or any responses back is what this installation is trying to say. Also, when you call out for help or anything in general and you end up getting nothing back all you are left with is the echoes of your emptiness which is just showing how lonely you possibly are and no one wants to reach out to you. These signs say a lot about interaction. For example, the two previous quotes that were mentioned talk about interaction in a negative way because they both try to avoid interacting with people. One of them will agree with someone to sleep and the other one will make you feel alone because the world seems to turn their back on you and all you are left with is your emptiness. What the signs say about the negotiation of interaction is that for people to feel like they fit in the environment or make someone happy they must put aside their selfishness in a way because when someone isn’t listening to their thoughts or decisions that means they are putting someone else’s before their own. Some of the signs are explained well that you can see that people will choose not to do something for their benefit or someone else’s depending on the situation. The negotiation of interaction has to do with self and others because a lot of people can relate to these signs and you are to question yourself on whether you are doing the right thing for yourself or others as well. Bass might be asking these questions because it’s something everything can relate to in a way and most people have been through that situation stated and she could also be asking them because she wants people to think about it deeply. For example, when I first read these signs I right away felt connected to them because everything stated on them I have been through or I just simply agree with them because they sound so true. Significantly, Bass felt compelled to ask these questions in a big and public way because a lot of people pass through this park which means a lot of people will see them and Bass wanted to put up something that everyone can relate to and feel the need to express themselves through these signs with other people which will make people interact with others and speak more about the signs, even if it’s just a back and forth discussion on agreeing with each other based on the signs.

          The author of Signs Preceding The End of The World discusses how an individual has to adapt to a new environment one day to another. Although some things aren’t the same the protagonist finds herself stuck at the moment with memories back from her hometown. This is stated at the beginning of Chapter 5 in which the author talks about language in this passage and talks about it positively at the beginning because Makina is interacting with others using language and shes connecting with people something she never thought would happen because she’s on a whole other country and it will not be the same as her hometown but turns out she was able to find people to connect with. The nature of identity is very important throughout the novel because Makina remembers where she comes from but knows she will soon have to adapt to new things in her environment for her to feel happy where she is. Her identity will remain the same because you can’t change everything about yourself but you should be able to open up to new things. Even though you move to places you have never been to you will always find people that you can connect to and people that might know the things you know about. Change is a huge impact on people it can either be positive or negative depending on how the person takes. Sometimes change can negatively impact a person because they might feel like they don’t fit in the environment and can’t seem to adapt to new things. It might be positive for others because you get to experience/learn new things that you never knew existed. Change can lead to more people interacting with each other. All these ideas are important to our theme of self and others because people can sometimes be timid or scared to interact with others just because they don’t know what they know. Society separates you and other people into thinking you need to be stuck in a certain environment to feel happy or just fit in. Another passage from Chapter 5 is “They celebrate here, too, but they don’t dance or pray, it’s not in honor of anyone. The only real big celebration is the turkey feast, which is a good one because all you do eat and eat.” (Herrera, 103) The author once again is showing the theme of self and other because although Makina does not fully accept her environment and the traditions there are different from hers back home but she still tries to accept them and speaks good about their culture and seems to enjoy the way they handle things. The importance of this passage is to get readers to think about the theme of self and other because the author’s purpose is to send out a message of identity and just adapting to new environments. The readers need to know that the protagonist goes through self-identity conflicts to try to fit in but later learns that she can fit in just the way she is and that she doesn’t necessarily have to change to interact with people. 

          The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is another example that represents self and other. Racism is a big problem in society and the protagonist is faced with a problem that changes her life forever. She witnesses her friend go through racism which leads to the death of her friend. These two are African Americans who are just trying to get home but are stopped by a police officer and this officer assumes they are bad people because of their skin color. Starrs friend is shot and dies killed by the police officer. On page 223 it states “That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?” The author is trying to get the readers to realize that speaking up is important and letting yourself get treated poorly or however someone wants to treat you will lead to nothing good and you will not be respected. This connects to the theme of self and other because it shows how one can be selfish to themselves just because they don’t want to get into any trouble so they lower their standards and let people treat them however they want. The readers should know its important to think about this theme because a lot of people in society are constantly being judged by their race or appearance. This allows readers to gain more knowledge and never stay quiet because it makes it worse for everybody else. Another passage that connects to the theme self and other is “My voice is changing already. It always happens around “other” people, whether I’m at Williamson or not. I don’t talk like me or sound like me. I choose every word carefully and make sure I pronounce them well. I can never, ever let anyone think I’m ghetto.” (Thomas, 95) This also connects to the theme because this is an example of self-identity. The character is not allowing herself to be herself because she’s afraid of what others will think of her. She’s hiding her identity to fit in. this is important for the readers based on the theme because will give up their own identity just not get made fun of and interact with them. A book reviewer named Mina Jones from Your Teen Magazine speaks about the book mentioned previously and mostly speaks about brutality and racism. The reviewer reflects on the theme of self and other by discussing we live in a modern world in which people still don’t speak up for themselves, which makes it easier for people to take advantage of them. Cynthia-Marie Marmo O’Brien writes a review on Signs Preceding the End of the World from The Literary Review in which she discusses how the author displays Makina as the character with the most powerful because she’s able to see the underworld and get through the obstacles she faced. The reviewer mentions that Makina surprised by all the new things she’s seeing when she gets to the US. This connects to the theme because back to identity Makina is trying to get used to everything around her that she hasn’t seen before but they help her learn new cultures and not be so close-minded. 

      Each text mentioned is similar because they all connect to the theme of self and other. Both authors are focused on getting the readers to understand that society has many problems to it and that it isn’t just one problem there’s many going around but they all relate to self and other. In both texts, there is a mention of self-identity in which the main characters go through a rough time because they can’t seem to adapt to the new environment even if they have been there for years. Some may hide their identity and how they are because they don’t want to be judged or others to fit in and both of the characters can relate to this.

       There is quite a difference between both texts only because their subject is different. In Signs Preceding the End of the World, we are only really faced with identity and the main character trying to adapt. The author speaks a lot about society and how you can always find someone you can match the same ideas within this case Makina manages to realize that not everything is bad in the new place she arrives to because she has a moment of interaction with people. The Hate U Give situation is different because although it is connected to the theme it is talking about racism and how this affects not only Starr but others because they don’t speak up and let others treat them, however. Racism impacts Starr and makes her realize that what happened to her friend is real and that it can happen to anyone so to make a change she needs to change herself by never staying quiet and encouraging others to do the same. 

These similarities and differences are important because it helps readers like me gain more information. Even though these are stories that may not have happened in real life. Other exact situations have occurred in today’s world. Self and other is something people should be more aware of because a lot of bad things have happened based on this theme. It is also interesting to see how both authors manage to talk about two different stories but readers can obtain the same message but worded differently which is self and other. 

      Both authors send the same message of self and other. They use different situations because they want readers to see all the examples that relate to this theme. Chloe Bass’s art exhibit is quotes that can relate to the characters and what they go through daily. The exhibit are examples of how a person can feel based on society or the things they go through.

Rhetorical Situation Essay on Critical Researched Essay

Text

     The text is a 7 page researched paper in which is based on many different examples to make up the paper as a whole. Some examples that explain the theme of self and other are Chloe Bass’s art exhibit which includes many phrases that make you think deeper and connect to them. Other examples used in this text are Signs Preceding The End of The World and That Hate U Give. These examples were very important to elaborate on the theme because it gave us many examples of how people are treated and how society reacts to the way people act or see things happening around them and don’t say anything. Some examples discussed a lot about self-identity which is important to the theme because a lot of people go through changes in their life in which they need to adapt to or else there could be negative consequences or they’ll just feel out of place.

Author

The author for this research paper is an 18-year-old female that attends City College of New York and she is currently a freshman majoring in biology and wishes to go to medical school after being fully prepared to attend. She loves to write about herself although she isn’t an expert at writing and struggles at times.

Audience

The audience for this paper is society. Everyone should know what happens around them and how some people might feel when you do or say certain things. A lot of people are aware of the things that happen around them but choose to ignore them because they either think nothing will change or they just don’t care. But bringing awareness is always a good start. 

Purpose

The author’s purpose for writing this research paper is bringing awareness to society as mentioned before. People need to know that the stories discussed in a novel are a reality and are actually happening around them and they aren’t just told for entertainment. 

Setting

The setting for this paper was divided into two. Half of the paper was written in the library in which was not completely silent and all that was heard was snores. The other half was written at home in complete darkness in a bedroom laying down.

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