B-Day Students -
As a reminder, I will not be here next class. All of you have important work to accomplish with the substitute teacher, please make sure to do your best with him/her. If you have any questions, come see me on Friday to discuss those. Here are your reminders for tonight.
Russian I
Look at yesterday's post to see your assignment as well as links to several online resources for studying and learning your letter sounds.
English II Honors
For tonight since I won't be here to collect your assignment I would like for you to use the website to turn in your work. Any assignment e-mailed to me (daniel.miller@dpsnc.net) will also be accepted for credit. Please respond to the following prompt using clear details from the story and a solid paragraph to explain yourself.
The story "The Train from Rhodesia" contains two contrasting settings - the train and the village. How does Gordimer's use of the two contrasting settings emphasize the larger injustice and flaw of the society in which the characters live?
You may use the website to post a comment with your response or you may e-mail it. As a last ditch, you can also turn it in to me on Monday. Continue to review your vocabulary and add to your vocabulary lists in your notebooks.
English III ESL
After all of the work we've done on writing, you should be able to finish your "Defining an Immigrant" paragraphs. Please continue to review and study your writing notes as you will want to be able to apply those notes almost without thinking.
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9 comments:
Ben K. B2
Gordimer’s use of the two settings (the train and the village) emphasizes the larger injustice and flaw of the society in which the characters live by showing that the villagers depend on the people on the train, which goes to the idea that African Americans depend on white people, which goes to the idea that whites are superior to African Americans (aka racism). The villagers depend on the train because it’s where they go to make money. The older people, like the old man who was selling the lion, go to the train to sell goods. But sometimes, like in the old man’s case when he had to sell his lion for one and six instead of three and six, they get tricked into selling their goods for a lower price. Gordimer is stressing the idea that racism is a flaw in the society of these characters because of the fact that the natives depend on the white people on the train to make money.
Gordimer successfully uses the two settings of the train and the village in contrast with one another. The people on the train stay on the train while the people in the village are on the ground. This would put the white people on the train physically above the villagers, representing the hierarchy of whites and natives in society. The village is described as poor and the train is described as rich, yet very dreary. Gordimer uses the train as a way to separate the lives of the white people from the lives of the natives. It is a physical and social barrier between the two groups. It symbolizes the inequality between them.
- Rachel Sauls
The two settings in the story are quite different. We have the train, a fleeting place of luxury, and the village, a hardened place of survival. We know this through the author's own descriptions of the village, and the descriptions of the train's passengers. Just the fact that there are only white people on the train suggests the idea that the whites are superior to the black people in the village. This is reinforced through the actions of the train; using the natives, the local resources if you will, and leaving once having exausted that resource. This shows the whites feeding off of the natives, who eke their existence out of the refuse of the whites.
Gordimer uses the two contrasting settings to emphasize the time period and how different races/social classes were treated. She emphasizes that the Injustice and Flaw of Society is Racism. She is able to emphasize the social culture, which states Whites are superior or over the Villagers and Native Americans. Gordimer makes it a point to make desribe the lifestyle of each character and state the condition of their living environment, so you can see the racism. An example would be how the Old Man. The Old Man lived in a poor village where their is a famine and nothing grows. Most villagers, like the Old Man make a living by selling their goods to the Whites. In some cases thing receive nothing or accept a lower prive than the original. Gordimer wants you to see the injustice and flaws of society during that particular time period.
Gordimer uses the train and the village to show a larger theme of injustice. By describing the luxury of the train, and the poverty in the village Gordimer shows us the racial hierarchy in the area. She also shows the financial dependency between the village and the train by showing the Old Man selling the lion and the begging children.
Excellent comments everyone! Remember to also consider all of the small details from the text - include those implicitly or explicitly in order to incorporate more of Gordimer's writing in your responses.
How Would You Like Us To Type Our Culture Essays?
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