Other Americas 3299

      Derek Walcott was one of the first writers I had heard of prior to this class as he won a Nobel Peace Price for his work. Walcott is best known for this works about Caribbean lifestyle and its effects of post colonialism. He has an interesting way of relating things as he related a fisherman to the Trojan War in his piece, "From Omeros". The interview part really showcased where he is coming from in his works and provides a helpful insight into his life making his pieces more meaningful when you read them. As a writer Walcott seems to possess this ability to make his pieces meaningful to such a large audience. It is interesting when he talks about how he had always wanted to be a writer, this seems out of the ordinary as this was probably not a popular profession in the Caribbean due to the typical level of poverty in these places. As he talks about in the interview his family had always been involved in the arts and literature and the passing of...

           This story talks about peoples commitment to their religion and how people follow it so blindly and will do what the head of the faith says. The story showcases this as a man with no specific background comes into town promising he is able to offer people "ins" into the afterlife and without any hesitation people from the local clergy start lining up for entrance into the afterlife when they die. This is an interesting topic of how people are so willing to follow their religious beliefs and do what they think is necessary to achieve the main goal of the religion. This is going to be a little off topic but I'd like to look at how this has been happening throughout all of history and it's affects. The catholic church is one of the main religions known for doing this. They at one point solid indulgences which was basically paying for confession, therefore allowing you to do whatever you wanted and for a small sum of money your si...

      This story deals with the struggle of being biracial and how people are not very accepting of this. A quote in a story lays the foundation for the rest of the piece, " After that night I began to think about everything, who my parents were, about my mother, where my father is from." Throughout the piece the main character struggles with the idea that her mom and dad come from different racial background. She is able to see the mistreatment of people like her father for being a person of color, while on the other hand her mom has not had to face any hardship as she is white. Since she was biracial she would be made fun of at school and other places as during these times people didn't accept people of color they would even refer to her as a "half-breed". Since her parents are from two different races she is also tasked with having to deal with being looked down upon on her moms side as they are not very approving of her. Meanwhile she has to deal with not co...

          This story is an interesting one as it deals with jealousy between two brothers after the death of their father. The older brother is jealous of the younger brothers athletic ability and how fast his new family accepts him and likes him. This is a change of pace compared to the other stories we've read this semester which typically have to deal with race. This story can relate to most people as in most families if not all there is some sort of sibling rivalry. Although this story does not deal with race it still deals with the idea of wealth as the younger brother is more spoiled while the older brother gets in trouble just trying to get by. A quote from the story showcases this, " I don't like hating people, but when him step in through the door with him new bag, new shoes, new shirt, and new pants, and me sitting there in the living room with no shoes tear up, tear up, I hate him even more." This shows how the younger brother gets spoiled while ...

      This piece is something we see over and over again the theme of two complete opposite background people wanting to be together. This piece is a little bit more complex than the typical love story as there are two women that had been in love with the same guy who passed away. One thing that was interesting was that they both had the same name and both liked the same man but were complete opposites. Isabel Luberza was a white woman who was the wife of Ambrosio, and because of the times was held at a higher standard and more of a "perfect" woman since she was white and of wealth. On the other hand we have Isabel la Negra who was a black woman and the mistress of Ambrosio and like most people of color at this time was looked down upon and was thought poorly of since she was the mistress. This piece wasn't very quite about the fact of how race was a big part of the culture and how people of the minority group, i.e not white were looked down upon and not treated equal. It...

      This film was one of the more interesting ones we've watched this semester as the story behind the film is very intricate. Throughout the piece there is many symbols and themes that make the movie so enjoyable. Elza the main character tracking down her father is the main plot of the movie and makes the person watching the movie want him to be exactly what Elza is looking for. Once she finally finds him he is not what Elza was hoping which was a curve ball in the film. Elza's father doesn't even realize that Elza is his daughter and it doesn't even really phase him. I feel like her mother foreshadowed the entire piece as she did not want her daughter going to find her father. I feel like she know that Elza's father wouldn't want anything to do with her. Elza needing the closure made her curious and went on the mission to find her father. To make matters worth her father doesn't even have a good reasoning for why Elza can't be his daughter and that i...