Chapter 1: If He Hollers Let Him Go

In the Novel If He Hollers Let Him Go, by Chester Himes, Himes starts the novel with a setting in which many people can relate to. He uses this scene to introduce a topic, racism, which is very important, in a casual tone to show how frequent and accustomed the main character is to it. In this opening scene Bob (the main character) wakes up from a dream he had with a very unpleasant and lazy attitude toward his day. I found this introduction to the novel interesting because racism is a sensitive topic and by incorporating this tone to the scene. Himes creates a sufficient level of comfort with the topic since the beginning of the book. Also with this scene he also helps the audience connect with how the character feels by making Bob’s reaction t in not wanting to face racism similar to those of the everyday Joe not wanting to go to work.

Throughout this whole chapter, Bob constantly shows that he is a proud and aware colored man. In the dream his response to the lieutenant’s unfair assumptions:”’Oh, you gonna keep ‘em running upstairs until you find out what one’s crippled. ‘Suddenly it struck me as funny, and I began laughing” (Himes 5), shows that Bob has accepted his racial background and is comfortable with expressing it. I don’t think that the racism based dream was a sign of self discomfort but instead discomfort with the society that has been created because of the war. Bob explains that he felt confidence before the war but then during the war the racism got worse. I believe that Bob is like everyone else because he sees that what causes his problems is his social position but he still decides to stay in the occupation he has. He talks about his girlfriend and explains that she is successful and pushes him to improve but he doesn’t try to.  This chapter was interesting and important to me because many the people that live near me have this same feeling. They are treated as inferior and less experienced just because they are minorities.

 

Works Cited

Himes, Chester B. If He Hollers Let Him Go. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2002. Print.

Consumerism At its Best

The article The More Factor, by Laurence, Shames explains the idea that we live in a society where people tend to have the common addiction to buy and buy more goods. Sadly this tradition has spread to our younger generations. Being a youngster myself, I have witnessed teenagers wanting to buy items just because they have the money to. Many of my friends have a hard time distinguishing what items are necessities and what items aren’t. For example, when the new Iphone 6 came out, many of my friends thought that just because it was the lastest model they had to have it.

The idea of wanting more and more has caused many people to lose value for what they have. When wanting more and more you yearn items for the simple idea of wanting them which means that people buy things without having a reason to. Having this mentality of constantly changing their items like a phone or a car, creates a society that is very materialistic.

But why is this mentality so important in our society? I live in a neighborhood filled mainly with Latinos. I have made an observation that many of the people that live around me like to “show off” all the things they have by buying what they can at the most expensive prices. Ben Franklin said it at best, “America offered new chances to those ‘who, in their own countries, where all the lands [were] fully occupied...could never [emerge] from the poor condition wherein they were born’” (Shames 10).  This means that people from countries that are poor come to the United States to get away from living in those poor conditions. When they arrive here they want to buy a lot of things because what they weren’t able to afford back in their own countries, they are here. As time progresses, they continue to buy more and more items to display to the world the progress they have made in their lives. The idea of the “more factor” has lead society to an addiction that passes from generation to generation. This addiction can originate from wanting to display success but can later lead an impulsive mentality to want to buy things.

 

 

Works Cited

Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Signs of Life in the U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2015. Print. Shames, Laurence. “The More Factor”.

Response to Signs Of Life In the U.S.A (pages 21-28)

In the book Signs of Life in the USA, Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon emphasize the potential in a person’s everyday experiences in serving as evidence in a college leveled essay. They also explain what it is to be an active reader and the benefits it has in writing.  By using these techniques you can improve the quality of your writing, but how can you determine what experiences are considered important and which aren’t? Also, how can you incorporate evidence from a text to support your personal evidence without diminishing the strength in your essay’s quality?

Maasik and Solomon explain that when responding to prompts about topics such as popular culture, a person’s experiences or observations can serve as evidence or support regarding the author’s position toward the subject matter. Maasik and Solomon state that, “You should certainly draw on your own knowledge, but to write a strong essay, you need to do more than just go with the “flow” of your subject as you live it; instead, you need to consider it from a critical distance” (Maasik and Solomon 21).  Given that a person goes through many experiences through his/ her life that can pertain to the topic, how can the author decide which experiences are the most useful in answering the assigned prompt? Maasik and Solomon do an outstanding job in explain why a personal experience can serve as evidence but they don’t elaborate on how o determine which experiences, out of numerous, are more useful. For example, in responding to a prompt regarding popular culture in the USA which angle would be more effective to attack the prompt, would it be music, art, food, or economy. Also, once you find your angle, how do you know which experiences will support your angle more effectively? In my opinion, an author should utilize an experience that pertains to the topic and reduces the possibilities of going out of topic. By doing so the author will be able to address the topic and, also, prevent him/ her from going off topic.

                According to Massik and Solomon, in order to become a better writer, one has to be an active reader. Active reading is “to get more than just the “drift” of a passage” (Maasik and Solomon 22). They explain that by active reading a writer improves his/ her comprehension and also prepares to respond to a given prompt before prewriting. They give examples of active reading such as double reading, writing annotations, asking the five W’s and the H(what, when, where, who, why, and how), or highlighting. Although, once you pull out the important details of a text, how can you use them along with your personal experiences in topics like popular culture? In using evidence from a text along with personal experiences, you can run with the risk with weakening your point if you don’t use the perfect quote.

Overall, both authors do a marvelous job in explaining what an active reader is and why we should use our experiences in prompt responses. The only thing they weren’t quite clear on was explaining how to choose these two techniques together and also how to choose effective personal evidence.

works cited

Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. Signs of Life in the U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2015. Print.