Summary: Tommy realizes that many people know what to do, and soon he believed he would recover the good things, the happy things, the easy tranquil things of life. He knew he had made mistakes but it was time to overlook them. Dr. Tamkin and Tommy begin to talk about the investments, even though the lard has gone down, their investment on the rye is rising. The stock on the Rye keeps rising and rising, Tommy thinks they should stop their investment on this since they are already ahead. However, Tamkin tells Tommy he needs to learn to take risks, and to stay in. Tommy then wonders about Tamkin and his personal life, he has some doubts. Whether Tamkin might be creating a fraud with his patients, Dr. Tamkin did not seem the least bit fit to be in an office, and he did not bathe quite as much. While Tamkin wants Tommy to stay in this business, Tommy cannot help but think about Margaret. He begins to remember the times when he was sick and she would care for him.
Next, Tommy and Tamkin go out for breakfast, Tommy wants to eat quickly and get back to the market to handle business. Tamkin tries to persuade Tommy by telling him he thinks too much about his father, and his father's impression on him. However, Tommy goes on to tell Tamkin that he dearly cares about his father and mother. Even though his father may put a lot of pressure on him, he does not want his father to die. Tamkin then began to fabricate his own lie of his father. Tommy begins to think that Tamkin is lying, specially after the story about his alcoholic wife who drowned in Cape Cod. Though Tamkin manages to talk his way through everything, trying to get Tommy's mind off certain things he might be thinking about. Finally, when Tommy manages to leave to the market he notices the drop of numbers in his investments. As he entered the room Mr. Rappaport was putting away his cigars. Mr. Rappaport is not the best looking, but he has quite a lot of money, and Tommy considers that he does not give any of it to his children, who must be in their fifties. Wilhem made agitated calculations, he thought he had even made some mistakes from the difference in numbers. Tamkin along with the money is missing, and the only thing Tommy can think of is it could of been worse.
Tommy goes to his dad once again to ask for help, but he refuses, and Margaret does not make the situation any easier. Tommy becomes very angry, and goes outside. He thinks he sees Tamkin, but he ends up at the funeral of a stranger, where he cries and cries, while everyone wonders who he is, whether he might be a brother, the guest from New Orleans that they were expecting, but they all thought he must be someone close. From this Tommy thought of everything he needed to fix in his life.
Quote: "I can't seem to I'm stupid, Dad, I just can't breathe" (Bellow 105).
Reaction: This is when Wilhem goes to his dad, begging for his help, but his dad does not help and gets inpatient by Wilhem. He tells his dad he feels like his choking inside, that he can't catch his breath. It's the same mistakes over and over again that catch on to him. However, he is not only asking his father for money, he just needs to hear one word from his father, he wants to feel something from his father that his father had not ever given him. Not even his wife had showed him love, love wasn't supposed to come in the form of torture.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Seize the Day (1-57)
Summary: Tommy Wilhem is the protagonist, he stays at Gloria Hotel with a vast population of old people. Wilhem feels out of place here, he was comparatively young, in his middle forties, large and blond, with big shoulders. When Wilhem worried about his appearance it was mainly because of his father. Wilhem liked to wear good clothes, but when he wore them, it piece of clothing seemed to go its own way. However, this morning, as he went to meet with his father for breakfast Wilhem received a compliment on his clothes, and he could not believe it. He took a second look at himself from the glass cupboard. Early in his life, Tommy has been considered star material because of his looks, he even tried to get on the big screen for seven years. However, his pride and laziness must of gotten to him because he stopped trying to pursuit that career. From Tommy's talk with Rubin the man at the newsstand, he reveals his financial status, and how he couldn't join the game the night before. Perhaps, Tommy needs help from his father since Dr. Tamkin, Tommy's psychologists who claims to know about sales doesn't quite know it. Now all Tommy wants is a better life, to no longer be a disappointment to his family.
Tommy's father Dr. Adler, wants him to go back to the five figures type of money he made, and to attend his wife and children, instead of being a pill popper. Margaret, Tommy's wife asks him for money, and refuses to grant him a divorce. Tommy would give Margaret everything, if only she could give him back the dog Scissors, which she refuses to give him as well. Tommy is in love with another woman, and he cannot marry her until he is fully divorced from Margaret. Tommy tries to explain this all to his father, but his father does not seem to understand and tries to compare his own successes to that of his sons failures, and refuses to help Tommy financially. In fact Mr. Adler had told Tommy to stay away from Dr. Tamkin, and now that Tommy has questions about the money he was invested in Dr. Tamkin, Dr. Tamkin tries to change the topic. Tommy begins to think if he should trust this man or not, but either way he had already signed he last one thousand dollars over to him. During Tommy's visit to his psychologist, he receives a poem. This poem gets him to thinking about money, and his obligations.
Quote: "Ass! Idiot! Wild boar! Dumb mule! Slave! Lousy, wallowing hippopotamus" (Bellow 52).
Reaction: This was Wilhem's reaction after speaking with his father, after the discussion they had, insulting one another. Whether Tommy was running his life the wrong way and that he should get a job, and meet his financial needs as well get back with his wife. While Tommy is telling his father that in fact he shouldn't be one to judge when he probably doesn't even remember that day of his mother's death. From this conversation Wilhem had been totally worked up, from this he realizes that he has to carry his peculiar burden, to feel shame, to taste the tears, and to finally think of the importance of business.
Tommy's father Dr. Adler, wants him to go back to the five figures type of money he made, and to attend his wife and children, instead of being a pill popper. Margaret, Tommy's wife asks him for money, and refuses to grant him a divorce. Tommy would give Margaret everything, if only she could give him back the dog Scissors, which she refuses to give him as well. Tommy is in love with another woman, and he cannot marry her until he is fully divorced from Margaret. Tommy tries to explain this all to his father, but his father does not seem to understand and tries to compare his own successes to that of his sons failures, and refuses to help Tommy financially. In fact Mr. Adler had told Tommy to stay away from Dr. Tamkin, and now that Tommy has questions about the money he was invested in Dr. Tamkin, Dr. Tamkin tries to change the topic. Tommy begins to think if he should trust this man or not, but either way he had already signed he last one thousand dollars over to him. During Tommy's visit to his psychologist, he receives a poem. This poem gets him to thinking about money, and his obligations.
Quote: "Ass! Idiot! Wild boar! Dumb mule! Slave! Lousy, wallowing hippopotamus" (Bellow 52).
Reaction: This was Wilhem's reaction after speaking with his father, after the discussion they had, insulting one another. Whether Tommy was running his life the wrong way and that he should get a job, and meet his financial needs as well get back with his wife. While Tommy is telling his father that in fact he shouldn't be one to judge when he probably doesn't even remember that day of his mother's death. From this conversation Wilhem had been totally worked up, from this he realizes that he has to carry his peculiar burden, to feel shame, to taste the tears, and to finally think of the importance of business.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Racism (160-200)
Summary: Racism has never been a unique term to anyone, it has been around for so long. It is mentioned that the whites believe to have a supremacy upon other colored races, in the fears of yellow Asia, and the belief of pure from the contamination of Negro blood. Race in Germany served as a means of restoring their self-respect after the national humiliation of Versailles. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 declared racism as an official policy. World War II had brought German racial enemy, before the U.S. had became part of the war. There is a difference between racial and religious hatred. Racism remains in the hands of history, based on religious bigotry and on physical characteristics, dating well back to their ancestry.
The U.S. tried giving the African Americans a better deal, setting them free. However, the social conditions kept them impoverished and ignorant. The Holocaust provided a great amount of history on antisemitism, dealing with religious roots. In the 1960's historians produced plenty of works on racism, labeling it as a belief system, theory, or ideology. This was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, and the decolonization of Africa. There still exists the belief that differences between ethnic groups involved are permanent. There can be intolerance towards religious or culture, but not racism.
Quote: "Such group-centeredness may engender prejudice and discrimination against those outside the group, but two additional elements would seem to be required before the categorization of racism is justified" (Fredrickson 169).
Reaction: This quote refers to culture, and if culture can actually be a factor for racism. It may cover the pride and loyalty that may result from a strong sense of ethnic identity. This quote reminds me of a conversation in Spanish class, on the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is being said that the Dominicans are racist, because they have been kicking out all Haitians from D.R. no matter how long they have been living in the D.R. they are still being kicked out. Similar to the immigration problems in the United States, and the way once blacks were treated in the U.S. Meaning there is always going to be a problem with different ethnic groups depending on the wealth status of a country, their laws, and ethnic group differences, not racism. Unless, one group is trying to dominate or eliminate the other.
The U.S. tried giving the African Americans a better deal, setting them free. However, the social conditions kept them impoverished and ignorant. The Holocaust provided a great amount of history on antisemitism, dealing with religious roots. In the 1960's historians produced plenty of works on racism, labeling it as a belief system, theory, or ideology. This was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, and the decolonization of Africa. There still exists the belief that differences between ethnic groups involved are permanent. There can be intolerance towards religious or culture, but not racism.
Quote: "Such group-centeredness may engender prejudice and discrimination against those outside the group, but two additional elements would seem to be required before the categorization of racism is justified" (Fredrickson 169).
Reaction: This quote refers to culture, and if culture can actually be a factor for racism. It may cover the pride and loyalty that may result from a strong sense of ethnic identity. This quote reminds me of a conversation in Spanish class, on the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is being said that the Dominicans are racist, because they have been kicking out all Haitians from D.R. no matter how long they have been living in the D.R. they are still being kicked out. Similar to the immigration problems in the United States, and the way once blacks were treated in the U.S. Meaning there is always going to be a problem with different ethnic groups depending on the wealth status of a country, their laws, and ethnic group differences, not racism. Unless, one group is trying to dominate or eliminate the other.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Racism (120-160)
Summary: In the twenty first century, racism is still a problem. To some countries , racism is used to describe discrimination directed towards a group. Racializing people usually refers to an individuals ethnicity. A person's ethnicity is based upon a myth, a myth of collective ancestry, that usually carries its traits. Language, religion, customs, and physical characteristics is what is usually related with ethnicity. Difference or diverseness of a person can cause, hatred, discrimination, and violence. Xenophobia is literally the fear of stranger, it is an ancient phenomenon. While racism is a historical construction covering the time from the fourteenth century to the twenty first.
What has been called a new racism in the United Stated, Britain, and France relates to culture rather than genetics. The arrival of numerous amounts of immigrants has changed the way France thinks of racism. It is more of a way to distinguish their culture as welcome or unwelcome. In Britain skin color and culture remain close to one another. While in France the color is not as important, in fact dark skinned may be acceptable or welcome. However, many of the most bloody and bitter ethnic conflicts have not been completely racialization. Most minorities are discriminated by cultural or religious belief, rather than genetics. There is temptation to expand the term racism, and even add xenophobia and persecution based on religious and cultural differences. Even though, it is not time to give in to that, specially since racism in a sense refers to the enslavement and colonial domination. Society might also fail to realize that religion and genetics are not similar.
Quote: "As has been suggested, religion easily becomes race in the twisted minds of racist skinheads in eastern Germany or the United States" (Fredrickson 150).
Reaction: Racism has become a struggle for many to try and get rid of the term all together, however the term has been becoming broader as society reaches the future. Referring to historical events in the United States, Africans were discriminated against and enslaved not for their beliefs but for their color, and the thought of them being of lower rank. In Germany, the Jewish were discriminated against for their beliefs, they were made to be thought of as inhumane. Now the term of racism is not only trying to be based upon physical characteristics or beliefs, but it has become a fear of people, or a certain type of person.
What has been called a new racism in the United Stated, Britain, and France relates to culture rather than genetics. The arrival of numerous amounts of immigrants has changed the way France thinks of racism. It is more of a way to distinguish their culture as welcome or unwelcome. In Britain skin color and culture remain close to one another. While in France the color is not as important, in fact dark skinned may be acceptable or welcome. However, many of the most bloody and bitter ethnic conflicts have not been completely racialization. Most minorities are discriminated by cultural or religious belief, rather than genetics. There is temptation to expand the term racism, and even add xenophobia and persecution based on religious and cultural differences. Even though, it is not time to give in to that, specially since racism in a sense refers to the enslavement and colonial domination. Society might also fail to realize that religion and genetics are not similar.
Quote: "As has been suggested, religion easily becomes race in the twisted minds of racist skinheads in eastern Germany or the United States" (Fredrickson 150).
Reaction: Racism has become a struggle for many to try and get rid of the term all together, however the term has been becoming broader as society reaches the future. Referring to historical events in the United States, Africans were discriminated against and enslaved not for their beliefs but for their color, and the thought of them being of lower rank. In Germany, the Jewish were discriminated against for their beliefs, they were made to be thought of as inhumane. Now the term of racism is not only trying to be based upon physical characteristics or beliefs, but it has become a fear of people, or a certain type of person.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Racism (80-120)
Summary: When one comes to consider racism as an inevitable encounter with strangers and aliens, it completely takes the subject outside of history. If racism is thought of as a historical construction associated with the rise of modernity and with specific national contexts, then it can have an end to it. Plenty of historians, have made comparisons with whites and the Nazis, Jews. All of those racist regimes have been overthrown. Racism has existed long before the nineteenth century.
Many societies have been plural in racial prejudice and its tributes. They authorize the differences between dominant groups and the group being subjugated. The sense of racial difference and alienation is expressed in the laws a state is able to pass. Social segregation is mandated by law, and not merely the custom of product or private acts of discrimination. The state's goal is simply to bar all types of contact and equality with the segregators and the segregated. Also, such groups are excluded from being able to hold public office. The access they have to the resources around them are diminished, thus making them impoverished. This all well applied to the Jim Crow Laws of the South. Even though the blacks were free, laws were being placed on them which pretty much put them back under white control.
Societies have been made racist, they can be described as racialized societies. Even then they still fall in the same range of hatred with those who have already been introduced to racism. Whites among these, occupied an advantage position at the hands of indigenous populations. Common citizenship could long turn strong prejudices into exclusions of a kind that would be justified.
Quote: "The Negro is not bound by any treaty but only by brute force" (Fredrickson 112).
Reaction: Groups in South west Africa like the Nama were also targeted, they are the only surviving pure blooded descendants of the Khoikhoi which occupied most of southern Africa. The Germans intended to wipe out their entire race. They believed the Name were completely useless, and that they should not preserve the race. The Negroes were trying to be forced out of everything.
Many societies have been plural in racial prejudice and its tributes. They authorize the differences between dominant groups and the group being subjugated. The sense of racial difference and alienation is expressed in the laws a state is able to pass. Social segregation is mandated by law, and not merely the custom of product or private acts of discrimination. The state's goal is simply to bar all types of contact and equality with the segregators and the segregated. Also, such groups are excluded from being able to hold public office. The access they have to the resources around them are diminished, thus making them impoverished. This all well applied to the Jim Crow Laws of the South. Even though the blacks were free, laws were being placed on them which pretty much put them back under white control.
Societies have been made racist, they can be described as racialized societies. Even then they still fall in the same range of hatred with those who have already been introduced to racism. Whites among these, occupied an advantage position at the hands of indigenous populations. Common citizenship could long turn strong prejudices into exclusions of a kind that would be justified.
Quote: "The Negro is not bound by any treaty but only by brute force" (Fredrickson 112).
Reaction: Groups in South west Africa like the Nama were also targeted, they are the only surviving pure blooded descendants of the Khoikhoi which occupied most of southern Africa. The Germans intended to wipe out their entire race. They believed the Name were completely useless, and that they should not preserve the race. The Negroes were trying to be forced out of everything.
Racism (40-80)
Summary: The Europeans of the early and medieval times figured out that they could not completely get rid of other religions that did not refer to their God. Therefore, racism became the new policy to comply with. However, the highest religious authorities prohibited such form of ethnic predestination. The different beliefs, would create a distance between the slave traders and those who killed Jews. Unlike the Jews being blamed for everything that went wrong, the blacks were not considered cursed.
There was more controversy placed on Christian belief, as to how they believed that Adam and Eve were the progenitors of all humans. In the sixteenth century Giordano Bruno and Christopher Marlowe brought forth the belief that mankind had three ancestors, and that Adam was the forefather of the Jews only. This theory brought a racist fashion that all humans are not that single blood they believed to be. The modern concept of races has been classified by physical characteristics, primarily skin color. In western European the recognition of superior horses and dogs foreshadowed the ranking of human being with different characteristics.
By 1611, the Spanish dictionary included the word "raza" which would mean a caste or quality of authentic horses. This would refer to an amalgamation of Jewish or Moorish ancestors. It also believed around this time, that blood would have magical properties. That the blood of the Christians and that of the Jewish was clearly different. Whenever that word race was used, it mean that such races has an unchangeable characteristic.
Quote: "If they had asked men of science. they would have learned that the Negro in accordance with his formation, is not susceptible under equal conditions of education being raised to the same level of intelligence as the European" (Fredrickson 67).
Reaction: The age of democratic revolution began in the United States, with it they brought the doctrine of "all men are created equal". However, this reason would be hard to refer to the blacks and the Jewish, because they were considered less than human. That was until, the United States abolished slavery, and after the Constitution decided to reside with the Jews.
There was more controversy placed on Christian belief, as to how they believed that Adam and Eve were the progenitors of all humans. In the sixteenth century Giordano Bruno and Christopher Marlowe brought forth the belief that mankind had three ancestors, and that Adam was the forefather of the Jews only. This theory brought a racist fashion that all humans are not that single blood they believed to be. The modern concept of races has been classified by physical characteristics, primarily skin color. In western European the recognition of superior horses and dogs foreshadowed the ranking of human being with different characteristics.
By 1611, the Spanish dictionary included the word "raza" which would mean a caste or quality of authentic horses. This would refer to an amalgamation of Jewish or Moorish ancestors. It also believed around this time, that blood would have magical properties. That the blood of the Christians and that of the Jewish was clearly different. Whenever that word race was used, it mean that such races has an unchangeable characteristic.
Quote: "If they had asked men of science. they would have learned that the Negro in accordance with his formation, is not susceptible under equal conditions of education being raised to the same level of intelligence as the European" (Fredrickson 67).
Reaction: The age of democratic revolution began in the United States, with it they brought the doctrine of "all men are created equal". However, this reason would be hard to refer to the blacks and the Jewish, because they were considered less than human. That was until, the United States abolished slavery, and after the Constitution decided to reside with the Jews.
Racism (1-40)
Summary: Racism has been used in a way that does not describe the negative effects it has on ethnic groups or people. Hitler made up racist theories as an excuse for his treatment of the Jews. Same as the South did with Blacks, and the Jim Crow laws. Racism reached its highest point in the 20th century. Throughout history there has been a rise, and decline in the use of racism, however it is not yet wiped out from the world.
Now, it has been noted that religion has been one of the factors contributing to the invention of racism. The Greeks, Romans and early Christians placed people in either civilized or barbarous categories. These categories depended on the place in which an individual lived. The Romans had slaves, which represented all the colors and nationalities found on frontiers. As of their time, it is not exact as to whether what they did was a form of hatred towards dark skin color.
There was definitely prejudice among religions, for example the Jews. The Jews became unpopular with the Christians, because they had a different belief, that the New Testament overruled the old. They refused to recognize Christ, as it prevented the accomplishment of the gospel. The Christians could not judge the Jews for what they practiced, however they were criticized for not converting to Christianity as it was among them. The Jews were blamed for the worst possible human crime. Anti-Judaism became so strong a hatred, that it was rather better to eradicate the Jews than to try converting them. The Jews were thought to be evil, instead of having been thought of as having false beliefs. Attacks towards the Jews, began as early as 1096 during the First Crusade. Even though the Jews seemed to be quite useful, and harmless they were still viewed as a military and political threat.
Quote: "His blood be upon us and our Children" (Fredrickson 18).
Reaction: As of the organization of Christianity for the Jews, they were seen as guilty people for not following that belief. In Matthew 27:25 it is mentioned that the Jews cried out for the death of god. Therefore, anything wrong that was to happen would be fault of the Jews.
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