The introduction to Culture and IdentityPreview the document implies that culture creates tensions and conflicts within and among us. We have discussed how those tensions and conflicts become normalized as cultural practices, and how those cultural practices become part of our identities. In the three stories we have read for this section--Going to Meet the Man, White Trash Primer, and The Bridegroom--I would like you to explore how cultural practices that are presented as normal are, on further analysis, worth examining as strange, or even grotesque or monstrous. Use as many of the texts as you like to expand on this topic, but remember that the goal is to look at examples of culture as the environment the promotes and justifies actions/attitudes that shape controversial elements of identity in individuals and community.
The culture was created a long time ago by people's ancestors. It passed down from generation to generation. Such as family members learned their parents' lifestyles or life concepts are passed down from parents to children and then to grandchildren when they live together. In other words, culture is continued by kinship. Each small group of people, who have the origin at the same place or area with common backgrounds or language, have their own cultures. Most people action depends on their culture, which their parents taught and orient them to follow. Hence, after a long time, they follow these requests. Their brains accept these customs and make them become instincts or habits that are quite firm and hard to change. People prove their belief in culture every day by daily activities, meals, attitudes, and how they face social problems. When the world starts to develop, and people have more chance to learn about new things. To bring their cultures to as much as people they can, they use food, music, costumes, arts, or movie to show their cultures to the world with the hope that the world will accept and understand their culture. Suppose culture unifying some people and bring them closer. It can also be a tool that encourages tribalism and racism at extreme levels since it is tough for them to accept any other cultures or beliefs, which is the opposite of their belief. While everyone wants others to respect their cultural identity, some people are in fierce opposition to other ethnic groups' cultures. These contradictions are always a concern and became the focus of discussions today.
In the first place, people can change their minds and become more open after seeing the flip side of their culture. Then, they can accept other cultures easier. In the brief personal memoir, "White Trash Primer," Lacy M. Johnson tells the story of a girl's life from childhood to adulthood. Johnson begins by talking about the childhood of a girl whose life seemed to be a normal child growing up in the countryside. This girl grew up in a family where her family is constantly working hard on a farm to make a living. As time passed, life's circumstances changed. The child begins to mature, and the family is forced to move due to financial problems. After moving, the family went from owning a farm and selling corn and soybeans to a family forced to work at Wal-Mart. "You try really hard to get good grades in college cause you know exactly how much it costs, but you work forty hours a week at Wal-Mart, and sometimes you're so damn tired." This explains how much stress she has to face money problems, but she always tries to show that she is fine. Include her friend and the boyfriend have sex in the bed right next to her, and he raped you. The bad is not to stop there. Her mother's sister notified her that her mother has cancer. "Your hand sweat and your knees tremble together," "your sisters in your mama's hospital room holding hands around her bed while your daddy asks the good Lord for STRENGTH. You don't even breathe until she's waking up from surgery." Her world was fallen when she knew that and must-see her mother getting weaker every day. She decided to drop out of school to save money and help her father find the money. However, she does not allow herself to appear poor or difficult. After all, everything becomes better, and she can come back to school "take classes with black folks and brown folks and yellow folks and make friends with who you like." and her parents also feel proud of her. Hence, she is willing to contact people of color, more open with different kinds of people and culture, and cherish what she gets after the hardships.
In the second place, humans' attitudes toward cultural exchanges and learning the lifestyle between regions and peoples from the past to present are different, depending on their culture and live environment. There is no chance to share or exchange between cultures in the past. According to Culture & ID intro, the only thing people are concerned about is "behavioral rules, traditions, skills, mores, religion, and art that define the civilization." After a long time living in these rules, these habits become their instinct, and their brain starts to build thoughts and logic that match that instinct. They do not know that somewhere out there are others with different cultures until social development becomes more developed. When people's knowledge also increases, they are more interested in new knowledge to explore the world where they have various lifestyles and beliefs. Some people can accept and create new habits easily after contacting new cultures after screening and weighing its benefits. Even if they cannot accept, they also do not show aversion or disrespect to other cultures. These people are usually more open-minded and tolerant. They study and accept other cultures to maintain and develop their culture. For example, the author of the book "Culture & ID intro" wrote that in China, "there are numerous well-defined cultures: the Uighurs of the northwest, the coastal Chinese of Shanghai, the Tibetan mountain people, the Szechuanese of the southwest. They eat different foods; they practice different religions; they speak different dialects." On the other way, people continue to develop and affirm the good of their culture while accepting other cultures. However, every person has different logic to solve social problems to fit their thinks and acts. Some people are willing to open their knowledge to study other cultures. Still, it does not mean that they can accept it. Some guys denounce, rebuttal, and offend others in special cases, especially with sensitive and controversial cultures are always a hot discussion in life, such as transgender or people of color, and so on. Suppose with modern communications, and transport people to know more about other cultures. This issue is also where many debates or conflicts have exploded on social sites between cultures with social situations. These conflicts will never stop since no one easily accepts that what they believed in for a long time is wrong. Such as George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" examines the devastating consequences of cultural imperialism. Others, such as Louise Erdrich's "Dear John Wayne" focus on how dominant cultural stereotypes distort and undermine the sense of self." The author insists that "The works in this section demonstrate how powerfully culture shapes identity." This fact means that culture is a part of human life. It has a huge effect on people's thinking and deciding on a job, friends, and relationships. It as if a signal to know who you are and where you come from. Therefore, a person who has a strong belief in their culture cannot accept other cultures, which stay on the opposite side or deny what they believe in for a long time.
Especially in America, which is known as a "Land of freedom" where people have conditions to show their thoughts or opinions. However, it never stops rising discrimination or ruckus problems between white people and people of color. When people have more good conflicts, they become fiercer and more thrilling than ever. Many white people maintain a disrespectful attitude toward people of color, assume black people are inferior people with impolite behavior. In contrast, many black people have an aversion to people of white. The story "Going to Meet the Man" by James Baldwin is the best testament to this. It clearly explains the risk and dangers they encounter when showing their identities or habits to the outside and explores racism's interweaving with the sexual violence against African Americans. This story is around Jesse as the main character. He is a white deputy southern sheriff and has an extreme aversion to black people. He believes that Black's identity is threats to destroying the country's civilization in which he lives. White people build "walls" between them and black people simply because their skin color symbolizes evil. However, when society is more developed, people also open their minds and gradually accept wrong beliefs. They should change it to make life better. Although discrimination cannot go away, it is reduced and is reducing. More and more people believe in their better life in the future without war, unfair treatment, and full of love. Story Going to Meet the Man is an excellent article. It shows off the difference between many different people's thinking and belief, from young to older, white people and people of color, in their daily lives at a complicated time for blacks to exist in America. And it also explains why white people always try to attack people of color. They feared that the black man's perceived sexual superiority could cost them their dominant role in society of the white race's presumed purity. Since then, racism and unfair treatment happened between the whites and blacks, so the quarrels between them never ended.
Last but not least, The short story collection by Ha Jin named “The Bridegroom” describes stories of various people with a different position set in society through 12 individual short situations about how their lives change in Chinese social life in Muji, which is a fictional city after they accept American culture. Since then, the waves intersecting between two independent cultures (American and Chinese) about economic, customs, individual, fashion, and authority appeared. The collection shows off the irony and insight into the human condition in different social problems besides love. The Bridegroom embodied the love between humans and humans, the love of the same sex and the love of their family with them, and so on. The author describes his experiences about how it is impossible to protect one's privacy or individual rights in Chinese society and unravel the backside of policies and societal deficiencies. For example, the first story, “Saboteur,” tells the story involves railroad police harass and requiring a university professor to confess to sabotaging crime while he is not doing that. The second is "Alive," a story of an amnesia man after an earthquake; then, he has to face disruptions in life. The story “The Bridegroom” refers to the most sensitive issue. The author pushes the main character, Baowen, into a situation of being jailed t treat for mental illness for being gay. The reader easily realizes the tolerance and generosity of Uncle Cheng to treat others to protect Baowen, and he is a person who has enough kind to understand for his child, even that he is just a nominal father. Therefore, the reader can extract many analyses from this book, but all ideas boil down to one concept that no matter the purpose of social form designed, the distinction will still occur between classes. And if you are unusual in China at that time, you have to pay a high price for that and become an outcast if you lose to prove that you are special, not unusual. In other words, it is super challenging for those at the start point or those who are pioneers in the fight for the right for their differences. However, after all, China is increasing acceptance of Western values' unconscious, and it creates more chances for the Chinese to show off their thinking and personal identity nowadays. Finally, Each short story has its own meaning and the message it wants to convey about the treatment of people with people in China or the changing of people life, logic thinking, or belief after events which happened to them. Then humans can accept other cultures easily and practice them in their life with all their respect.
Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
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2020-11-08 | Nhinguyen00 | 56 | view |
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 216, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , &apos
...ersonal memoir, 'White Trash Primer,' Lacy M. Johnson tells the story of a g...
^^^^^^
Line 2, column 261, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'girls'' or 'girl's'?
Suggestion: girls'; girl's
...s; Lacy M. Johnson tells the story of a girls life from childhood to adulthood. Johns...
^^^^^
Line 2, column 938, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: you're
...hours a week at Wal-Mart, and sometimes youre so damn tired.' This explains how ...
^^^^^
Line 2, column 1311, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , &apos
...nd sweat and your knees tremble together,' 'your sisters in your mamas hospi...
^^^^^^
Line 2, column 1449, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...dy asks the good Lord for STRENGTH. You dont even breathe until shes waking up from ...
^^^^
Line 2, column 1473, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: she's
...r STRENGTH. You dont even breathe until shes waking up from surgery.' Her world...
^^^^
Line 4, column 42, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...specially in America, which is known as a 'Land of freedom' where peopl...
^
Line 4, column 1603, Rule ID: NUMEROUS_DIFFERENT[1]
Message: Use simply 'many'.
Suggestion: many
...le. It shows off the difference between many different peoples thinking and belief, from young...
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Line 5, column 729, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...e of their family with them, and so on. The author describes his experiences about ...
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Line 5, column 804, Rule ID: ONES[1]
Message: Did you mean 'one's'?
Suggestion: one's
...s about how it is impossible to protect ones privacy or individual rights in Chinese...
^^^^
Line 5, column 1132, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , &apos
...ot doing that. The second is 'Alive,' a story of an amnesia man after an ear...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 1292, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...om” refers to the most sensitive issue. The author pushes the main character, Baowe...
^^^
Line 5, column 1413, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...treat for mental illness for being gay. The reader easily realizes the tolerance an...
^^^
Line 5, column 2071, Rule ID: WHO_NOUN[1]
Message: A noun should not follow "who". Try changing to a verb or maybe to 'who is a are'.
Suggestion: who is a are
...g for those at the start point or those who are pioneers in the fight for the right for...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, besides, but, finally, first, hence, however, if, really, second, so, still, then, therefore, well, while, after all, as to, for example, in contrast, such as, talking about, you know, in other words, in the first place, in the second place
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 53.0 13.1623246493 403% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 18.0 7.85571142285 229% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 104.0 10.4138276553 999% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 49.0 7.30460921844 671% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 176.0 24.0651302605 731% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 263.0 41.998997996 626% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 24.0 8.3376753507 288% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 9804.0 1615.20841683 607% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 1939.0 315.596192385 614% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.05621454358 5.12529762239 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 6.63581778778 4.20363070211 158% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.6367707673 2.80592935109 94% => OK
Unique words: 802.0 176.041082164 456% => Less unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.413615265601 0.561755894193 74% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 3005.1 506.74238477 593% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.60771543086 93% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 46.0 5.43587174349 846% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 27.0 2.52805611222 1068% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 15.0 2.10420841683 713% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 26.0 0.809619238477 3211% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 21.0 4.76152304609 441% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 93.0 16.0721442886 579% => Too many sentences.
Sentence length: 20.0 20.2975951904 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 65.8962929492 49.4020404114 133% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.419354839 106.682146367 99% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.8494623656 20.7667163134 100% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.64516129032 7.06120827912 37% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.38176352705 114% => OK
Language errors: 14.0 5.01903807615 279% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 35.0 8.67935871743 403% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 34.0 3.9879759519 853% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 24.0 3.4128256513 703% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.140183140435 0.244688304435 57% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0311628459442 0.084324248473 37% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0461782668936 0.0667982634062 69% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0922407456688 0.151304729494 61% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0704394417301 0.056905535591 124% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.8 13.0946893788 98% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 59.64 50.2224549098 119% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.44779559118 42% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.9 11.3001002004 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.07 12.4159519038 97% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.08 8.58950901804 94% => OK
difficult_words: 424.0 78.4519038076 540% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 6.5 9.78957915832 66% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 10.1190380762 99% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 10.7795591182 93% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 56.1797752809 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.33 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.