Paper

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Christina DeFilippo

Wendy Sumner- Winter

Textual Analysis Paper

09-22-07

I chose to analyze Audre Lorde’s essay called The Fourth of July. I liked this essay very much. I believe that her theme throughout this was the silence at which a young girl sees, through her family and people, in general, about racism. The author is very descriptive in how she explains things and describes things. She uses many describing words so that you can almost see yourself in that place and time. Her choice of words is very important in this article. I will try and show you how the writer wants you to understand that even now when you are silent you are going along with things even when you may not agree with them. You should be able to see how smart young children are. How they can pick up on things even when they are not necessarily told them. I hope that when you are done reading this you will see just how much your voice matters. I hope that you see the strength of a young girl who fights for what she knows is wrong. You should come away with a feeling of obligation to speak up when you see something that is wrong.

From the beginning of this essay, you can see that the writer wants you to see this through a child’s eyes. She tells you that she is on a graduation trip. She has just graduated from the eight grade and she is now to stop being a child. When the trip begins in the railroad cars she cannot eat in the dining car because she is black. Her mom says that main reason is it is too much money but also

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she is black. She also says “ whatever mother did not like and could not change, she ignored”. (Lorde, pg.568) This tells you right here her mother has a problem with the racism. She believes this is wrong, but believes she cannot do anything so she is silent.

The real reason they are in Washington is because her older sister Phyllis had just graduated from high school and could not go on her senior trip. They told her Dad that she would not be comfortable in the hotel they would be staying in. So their father decided he would take his family on their own graduation trip. Now why did he not say anything to the faculty? He was silent also. Her parents believed if they did not address the racism problem they could better protect their children. If they only knew that that would hurt them more. The funny thing is children notice things. The young girl knew about the racism that was going on. She knew that the color of her skin mattered. That is one reason why I believe the author is so descriptive. She is very detailed about the color of things. From the brown bread, the green pepper, violently yellow iced cakes, to the bright mother and brown father. She wants you to see that color does matter and that the young girl picked up on that. On another occasion she shows us a lady she knew was not able to sing because she was black. They were at church and still was refused too.

I love how this girl sees all the colors so vibrantly. All the white is hurting her eyes but yet her parents will not let her wear sunglasses. Maybe that is because they want her to get used to the color issues and this is one way to do it.

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At the end of the story we see that they stopped in a store to cool off a bit and have some refreshing ice cream. They all went inside and sat down like a normal family would. But then they were told that they could get their food to go

but were not allowed to stay and eat. Can you guess why? They were black. This enraged the young girl, rightly so. But her parents and sisters did not say a word. They all got up and left. The silence of her family confused her. The writer is trying to show through all these examples of silence you are getting nothing accomplished and in the long run, the child is being hurt more. She does not understand why they chose to be silent, when she does not. She takes action and writes the President. Did that help anything? No. But she was not silent she stood up for what she knew was right and what was wrong. If an 8^th grader can do this, why can’t we?

As I conclude this paper, I hope you see that your own silence says something about yourself. You should see that you should always speak your voice and tell what is being done is wrong.

Like this young girl, you should see what is happening and not stand for it and try to make a difference. I hope you saw how through the words she used she was trying to show you something. Color is very important. Everybody sees colors in different ways. The color of your skin some people see as making you different and not in a good way. This is not true; the color of your skin is just pigment. It does not show the person you are or will become. I hope you see that through silence nothing can be fixed or even acknowledged. If you do not

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speak up; everyone will think you think what they do. Your opinion and your voice matter, I believe that is what she wants you to see out of this story. She wants you to realize no matter your color, religion, anything you have a voice. If you do not choose to use it, you are doing an injustice to the people that are being wronged because of this racism.

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Citations

Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa and Virginia Clark. Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers, 9th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.

Response to the Essay

After I read this article I can honestly say that I do not agree with him on his ideas of the war and of the American soldiers. When he says that the soldiers who were in the photos were “hicks from the sticks” that is a stereotype that I believe is completely wrong. How dare you classify a group of people based on your opinion? You are exactly the type of person who I would not want to represent America. You are too stuck up your butt to see what is really going on. While you sit at your home, the soldiers are out there keeping you safe and sound. My father fought in the Vietnam War and he is no “hick from the sticks”. He and the other soldiers are far braver than any of you so called educated, metropolitan people. You say that you are so good because you respect other people’s differences. Respect was not what was shown to the United States when they came over here and kill thousands of Americans. You may not believe war is the answer, but how do you deal with a people who will never respect you and who will do whatever they can to destroy America. You sure as heck do not have a talk with them.

Another problem I have is this idea that we have a moral code not to interfere with other countries. Well, that is true unless they interfere with us first. We cannot just sit back and let them do and say whatever they want. The terrorist groups over there are killing millions of innocent people in the name of Allah and who knows what other crazy ideas. When they came over here and did what they did on September the 11th, they cut all peace ties.
I love how he makes himself out to be so much smarter than everyone else. I love how he thinks he is the only one who notices his friend and how he is dressed. This comes from the guy who took the pictures with him and participated in this disrespect of these so called poor detainees. So smart, right.

Theme Paper

We would like to start out by saying that this is not going to be a standard paper. This will be a paper in which three different people ‘s lives are compared and come together under a unified theme. Our theme is Family Traditions or get Togethers, which consists of Jacob Connell’s beach trip, Christina DeFilippo’s Christmas party, and Kemishia Williams Family Reunion. As you will be able to see from our personal experiences that our families make up whom we really are. All these events show love, happiness, and a great time with our families.

My name is Jacob and my most favorite time of the summer and the year, besides football season, is the week or two I get to spend at the beach with my family. Not only is it just my Dad, Mom, and sisters but my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all at the beach together.

I have 3 sisters, so I am the only boy and I get stuck not being able to do guy things a lot so when I go to the beach I meet up with my cousins (three boys) and have a great time. The cousin closest to me is Caleb, he is the same age as me and if you didn't know us, you would think we were brothers, not because of our appearance but because of how we act just a like. We both love sports to death and we are both very athletic and active.

Most of our trips to the beach are very similar. The past 3 years we have stayed in a large beach house in Fort Morgan, Alabama but before that we always stayed in condos in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My family likes the beach house because the beach is never crowded and we are pretty much by ourselves, but Caleb and I of course would much rather be in a place where there are a lot of people and there for more girls, but besides the lack of girls on the beach everything is perfect.

The typical beach trip with my family starts with everyone meeting down on the coast (we don't all live around here so we just meet down there) and checking out the nice house that we get to stay in for the next week or two. The week we go is always during the TSSAA dead week for high school sports because we all play sports and that's the only time we get off. The days at the beach always start late for me because I sleep till Caleb gets tired of being up by himself and finally decides to wake me up. We always start our day by going down to the beach and riding the waves for a couple of hours or if the jellyfish are bad till we get fed up with getting stung. After we are all tired of the ocean beating us into the sand we go up and eat lunch, normally sandwiches, and rest a little bit. After eating lunch Caleb and I normally decided to take a walk on the beach to see if we can meet any girls, but where we are at we both know our odds are not very good. Since we will probably not see a single girl our age we take a football or frisbee and have fun throwing it up and down the beach as we keep an eye out for the girls that is never there. Once we have walked for five mile we both decided there are no girls our age anywhere in the state of Alabama we decide to walk back.

It is now late afternoon and we are all somewhat burnt from being out in the sun all day. Around this time Caleb and me grab our skim boards, which we have mastered with years and years of experience, and find a perfect spot to skim until the sun goes down. Even though I said we master it will still find our selves bleeding at the knees and elbows and washing sand out of our pants from busting and rolling across the beach. Once day light is gone we decide to go up and eat dinner. Now dinner on our family vacations is something you do not want to miss. I am talking steak, boiled shrimp, barbecued shrimp, tilapia, huge baked potatoes, and amazing sides that are better than any restaurant I have ever been to. And then there is sweet tea and you can’t beat good sweet tea. Once our bellies are full Caleb and me normally take my younger cousin out to hunt for grabs. Because there are not that many people around where we stay at the crabs are everywhere and that makes a lot of fun while hunting them. Just a little side note we even got to see a giant sea turtle coming up on the beach to lay its eggs this past year. After we are done with our hunt Caleb and me normally go and relax in the hot tub before hitting the sack and starting the cycle all over again.

The beach trip wouldn't be half as fun as it is without my cousin and family there and they are why I have such a great time every year we go.

As you go from the first story to the next you will start to see the similarities between us. You will see how we love our families and how we interact with one another.

I will start by saying I have a big, wonderful, funny, and loving family. I have three aunts, three uncles, and there are fourteen cousins. We love to get together and have a great time. This is my story of our yearly get together at Christmas.

When I first get there I feel excited and happy. I feel nervous and jumpy almost at the sight of seeing people I do not get to see a lot. The atmosphere is great. We are all happy to see each other and it is really like a homecoming, because everyone is together for the only time that year. All the little kids are excited and wanting to open their presents, the big kids too, but not as much. All my uncles and aunts are talking and helping with the food. All the young adults (who used to be the kids) are just hanging out and having fun.

The next scenes are interacting and mingling before dinner is ready. Everyone is running around and talking. We are all laughing and having a good time. We are all getting caught up about everyone’s business. This is a fun time because we are all just sitting around, helping Ma, and having a great time.

Dinner is served. Boy, are we all ready to eat by then. By that time the smell of the food cooking has made us all so hunger we don’t know what to do. Ma and Pa always make the same thing too. Spaghetti and Lasagna with salad and rolls is the standard. Yum Yum. Of course there are deserts too. I love the deserts. We always look forward to this part.

Presents are next. Now who doesn't like presents?? Nobody I know. Anyway, we all assemble in the den and Pa hands out all the gifts. The excitement is in the air. "What did we get?" that is all we can think about. The little ones especially you want to watch. They are so funny. When I was younger I was the one they were all laughing at, but now that I am older I see how much fun it is to be the observer. I have a younger sister so I have more fun watching her than I do opening my stuff.

Afterwards we all sit around chatting and us older ones are making plans about what or where to go next. We always have so much fun at the party. We all look forward to this one event every year. We never get to see everybody together at the same time and this is our only time. My Uncle Chuck lives in Ohio so they only get to come down once a year and that is at Christmas. We all look forward to getting to know one another again and just taking time to talk and laugh. Because when everything is said and done our heart is in our family.

Family reunions are when each side of your family gets together and have valuable time. At family reunion your relative show you love and support you through difficult situations. The most important part is the you get to see long Lot relatives that you were dying to see. Most family reunions stitch up break-ups between one another and the can prevent separation time. Reunions keep down the drama from each household. Many times when families plan them it shows that the members of your family have a positive outlook on life, like sticking together at all times. When people attend family reunions' emotions flow throughout the whole day till everyone is gone their separate ways. If a family reunion is something new to you: you will really enjoy moments like those of a family reunion. Reunions are based n a family's communication among each grandparent, sister, brother, and cousins. These people are the unity of everyone. Then location is the biggest part because everyone needs a nice convenient place that is reasonable for everyone. Out-of-town trips are fun for a family reunion but not fun like being at hone giving your family coming to you. Money is a big component that is involve in being a family. If u know it or not their are dues to be paid. Dues should be no more than twenty-dollars. When you can't pay dues your other fellow family members that happily love you will come out their pockets and make sure you com out to attend this gathering. My family reunions are always fun. I just attended an family reunion Saturday the 8th at tan clubhouse. It was exciting, especially for me because I'm like the star of the family. People actually jump up running to me to give me hugs and to speak. All my baby cousin run all around me as a whole and it swam me. Always there is little kids all around me. Yes, I just love the attention because it makes me feel special. When I arrive I feel the vibe of a good time with my family. My family consists off plenty of characters so i never know whom I'm going to run into. The food is always good so if you have good cooks there should not be a problem with nasty food. We had dishes from green beans which I hat spaghetti, ham (to let you in on a secret I don't eat pork). We had plenty of chicken and hamburgers. Lots of cakes and drinks, most people thinks that's the best part of getting together with family is "the food", which is kind of true, but it not important. An older person from the family always selects the music because if someone young picked the music the elders would be upset. The music that is played is good enough to make both parties satisfied. When i go to my reunions i always like to bring my boyfriend at the time to show him off, but i also bring friends of mines too. When all these fun things end it just spoil your night but there is always next year. The next year probably would be more exciting than he previous time.

At first glance, we appeared to be very different people but as you can see from our stories and experiences we share similar qualities and values. We hope that you can take away from our experiences the love and joy that we receive from our families and apply them to your own family lives.

Christmas Party

I will start by saying I have a big, wonderful, funny, and loving family. We love to get together and have a great time. This is my story of our yearly get together at Christmas.

When I first get there I feel excited and happy. I feel nervous and jumpy almost at the sight of seeing people I do not get to see a lot. The atmosphere is great. We are all happy to see each other and it is really like a homecoming, because everyone is together for the only time that year. All the little kids are excited and wanting to open their presents, the big kids too, but not as much.

The next scenes are interacting and mingling before dinner is ready. Everyone is running around and talking. We are all laughing and having a good time. We are all getting caught up about everyone’s business. This is a fun time because we are all just sitting around, helping Ma, and having a great time.

Dinner is served. Boy, are we all ready to eat by then. Ma and Pa always make the same thing too. Spaghetti and Lasagna with salad and rolls is the standard. Yum Yum. Of course there are deserts too. And there is always my favorite desert, Strawberry Truffle. :) Thanks to my Aunt Leah.

Presents are next. Now who doesn't like presents?? Nobody I know. Anyway, we all assemble in the den and Pa hands out all the gifts. The excitement is in the air. "What did we get?" that is all we can think about. The little ones especially you want to watch. They are so funny. This is also picture time. We all get together and pose with each other and our gifts. It's great.

Afterwards everyone sits around chatting and us older ones are making plans about what or where to go next. Usually one of us girls always spends the night with one of the other ones, so we have to decide on that matter too. We always have so much fun at the party. We all look forward to this one event every year. We never get to see everybody together at the same time and this is our only time. My Uncle Chuck lives in Ohio so they only get to come down once a year and that is at Christmas. We all look forward to getting to know one another again and just taking time to talk and laugh. Because when everything is said and done our heart is in our family.

Theme and Team Members

Team Members: Jacob Connell, Kameshia Williams, and myself. Our Theme is Family Traditions and Family Get Togethers.

• Christmas party with everyone at g-parents
• Memorial day cookout
• Birthday parties
• 4th of July cookout at g-parents
• Mother's Day and Father's Day
• Easter get together
  
• Thanksgiving meal at someone's house
• vacations at H. Springs and Dollywood with g-parents
• Halloween party at Aunt Leah's house
• Labor day cookout
• New Year's Eve party at Aunt Cindy's

Article

My article I found was in Esquire magazine. It was on fatherhood and learning to lower your expectations. As I sat there reading it, I could hear this guy talking and his tone was not a happy one. He sounded very upset with dads and especially new ones. I could tell the tone of this article or mood of it was not going to be a ha ha laughing one. I could tell he took this very seriously. He kept making the point that you have to listen and observe and really be a role model for them.
You could tell he was not happy by his diction, the words he was using, . He started off by saying "I hate new fathers". He called them arrogant and smug. I thought it was kind of funny to be honest. But as the article went on I could tell just how serious he was. He sounded almost regretful and sad in a way. He talks about looking back at pictures and thinking what a dope he was. He said he'd kept thinking it would get easier or he would have more time for himself as they got older, but now he realizes just how much he missed out on. His words come out so that he sounds like he is trying to teach you a lesson.
The structure of this article is very important. He starts out by saying what he thinks when he sees new fathers and what he thinks they are thinking. Then he shows you that he isn't perfect either. That actually he is trying to show you how he did what they are doing and is trying to give them a heads up. They need to take time to enjoy life and not keep waiting for things to speed up. It is funny because Wendy was saying in class about how sometimes you can hear the person talking to you or reading the article to you. I could definitely hear this guy. Even though I am not the group he was talking to, I still learned a lesson or two myself.