Category: ENG221 (Page 3 of 3)

Quotation:

“Anyone who lives a life of sorrow as I do, how could they not count it as a blessing to die? Therefore, there is no pain for me in meeting this fate, whereas if I were to endure that one born from my mother die unburied, that would cause me pain. As it is, I feel nothing.” -page 29, lines 474-481

“Nothing you say gives me the slightest pleasure— I pray nothing you say ever will— and by nature I offend you. And yet, could my fame be more gloriously established than by placing my brother in a tomb? I think all these people would agree, if fear did not hold their tongues. Tyranny is lucky in many ways, above all in doing and saying what it will.” -page 31, lines 514-522

Comment: Some context for quote number one: Antigone is being questioned by Creon for the crimes of burying her brother’s body. She explains that she knew all of what she was doing and had done it anyway, because she has already had such a miserable and sorrowful life that Antigone did not care about the consequences of committing this crime. She would be in pain if he had gone unburied, so she is willing to pay the price for the crime and she doesn’t care that she will die because her life is so sad. Context for quote number two: Creon has sentenced Antigone to death and she is saying to him why wait? She is basically telling him to stop waiting around and just kill her. She is proud of the crime that she has committed and she wants to die now so she doesn’t even have to hear what the king has to say anymore. These quotes engaged me quite a bit. This text is a bit hard to comprehend but these were some quotes that I understood and, quite frankly, resonated with them. Women didn’t have any rights back then and the fact that she stood up for what she believed in, stood up for her family, obviously makes me very happy. I love it when I see or hear stories about women that take charge and stand up for what they believe in despite what the rest of the world thinks about women. I say, “GO ANTIGONE!!!” and, “YOU GO GIRL!!” She has committed a crime, but the crime was justified. Now she will die knowing that her brother’s soul will be at peace. 

Question: Now, this has reminded me of a controversy. The controversy is when a person commits a crime, if it is for a great reason, should we be supporting them or punishing them? Also, what does, “Tyranny is lucky in many ways, above all in doing and saying what it will.” mean?

Quotation:

“I knew that Prince was not killed by a single officer so much as he was murdered by his country and all the fears that have marked it from birth.” page 78

“The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority. The abuses that have followed from these policies—the sprawling carceral state, the random detention of black people, the torture of suspects—are the product of democratic will.” page 78-79

Comment: These two quotes really stuck out to me and I felt like they formed a type of theme. The topic of police brutality in America is a highly controversial topic. Black people are extremely mistreated all over this country but especially in the criminal justice and law enforcement system. To me, it seems as though they never get a fair playing field and when they comment on it or try to justify themselves, they receive backlash in a form of beatings, death, etc. It really irks me that we have not come up with a solution to this horrible problem in our country. Parts of these quotes confuse me while other parts intrigue me and interest me, which is why I picked it for today’s QCQ. I believe that police brutality is a conversation that we should all be having. I would like to say that having the conversation would result in the spreading of awareness of this problem, but I truly believe that it is a well-known issue in this country, but yet still nothing is done to adjust the system and bring justice to, not only just blacks, but also latinas/latinos, hispanics, jews, the disabled, etc. The whole system is unjust and there’s no reason why we, as a country, can’t come up with some adjustments that could be made so that everyone has a fair playing field and nobody fears for their own body just from being pulled over and looked at by a police officer. It mentions in the book, also, that racism in this country is heritage. Well, I say that cultures can change and adapt, we could change our heritage if we really wanted to, but yet nobody (excluding activists and those affected by police brutality) seems to be trying.

Question: What is the carceral state? What is the democratic will? Why is it taking so long for changes to be made in the criminal justice and law enforcement system?

Quotation:

“Hall: Well yeah, he said to me no wonder you got so many hogs to go to the sale, said you got a ditch cut out under the wire, you know, where my hogs could come on over there and you’re selling them. Man, I blowed him up and told him how big a liar he was. I said if you find any hog on the sale belong to you I’d like for you to describe him. And so he went back home and he told his folks I was a crazy nigger. Said that James hall over yonder, he’s crazy. Said he ain’t got good sense. Said he over there, my hogs getting under the fence and it was the biggest lie he ever told. The hogs didn’t even root against the fence. So anyway, we went later on my cows got out, my cows got out and he got out in the road and he drove them up the road and put them in his pen, you know, in his barn…

Hall: … Then when I got over there to get them, to get my cows, twenty-five dollars, that’s what I had to pay him to get my cows out of the pen where he had them locked up…

Hall: … I paid him the twenty-five dollars and got my cows and carried them home… 

Hunter: … Why did you have to pay twenty-five dollars to get them out?

Hall: Oh, he said they was going to eat up his crop, they didn’t allow that, at that particular time, now they don’t allow other folks stock to go on their place and eat up their crops. They put them up and charge them a fee and some of them go out there and kill them, white folks do.

Hunter: This was fair?

Hall: That was fair but they could overcharge you. He overcharged me cause the cows didn’t get out of the road. What they done, he had his hands to push the cows up in there and headed the cows right off the highway, right off the public road and into the barn…” 

Comment: Reading this part of the interview really made me upset. I was both angry and sad for James Hall. Before he told this story, he first began by explaining all of the years, time, and effort put into his farming. His farms were all he had. It was his life’s work. Unfortunately, he had so many different farms because he had to move so many times because people couldn’t treat him right. It angers me so much that black people were/are treated so differently just because of the color of their skin. We are all human beings, we are all people, skin color doesn’t make a difference. Everyone should be treated equally. It really bothers me how poorly him and his family were treated by other farmers. You would think that since they are in the saem business and community that they would all be peaceful with each other and help each other if need be, but they can’t even do that just because of the color of his skin. So horrible. 

Question: I’m confused about the beginning of the interview when he tells the story of the people who were going to kill his daddy… Can we have a conversation about this to clarify the events?

Quotation:

“I live my life with an assumption that I have the right to do the things I think I should do, and that my gender and my race should not be limitations.” -Stacey Abrams Fight for A Fair Vote

“‘For most people from the outside, every story you read, every narrative you’re told, except for a couple of months out of the year, is about how you’re not supposed to be one of these people.’ The net effect, she writes, is that people view themselves as ‘ancillary, not essential’ to the decision-making processes.” -Stacey Abrams Fight For A Fair Vote 

Comment: The first quotation really made me happy. The entire time I was reading this article, I couldn’t help but fan over Stacey Abrams. She really is such an icon and such a good role model for so many young people to follow, it baffles me. So many things that she speaks about move me in so many ways, mostly good, and I’m just really a big fan. This is one of the things she speaks of that just strengthened my interest in Stacey Abrams. She is 100% right. Nobody’s gender, race, sexuality, etc. should be a limitation to what they believe they should do. I want this quote framed and hung on the wall in my classroom when I become a teacher. 

I felt that the second quote really supported the conversation we had in class about how important just one vote can be. We had touched on the subject of people saying, “Well, I’m not gonna go vote because it’s just one vote and it won’t matter anyway.” Which, I understand that one vote doesn’t seem like much but look at it perspectively. All of those people that say that and decide not to vote adds up. All of those uncasted votes are the votes that could potentially change so many things in an election. When the subject first got brought up, I related it to money. It would be like if there was a fundraiser going on for a great cause and I had said, “Well, I’m not gonna go donate my money because there’s plenty of other people donating their money so my money won’t make a difference.” If everybody said that, no money would be raised. Your $1 doesn’t seem like much but if 1 million people all donate just $1, $1,000,000 would be raised. 

Question: In Stacey Abrams Fight For A Fair Vote, when Stacey is talking about how voters are not dumb, she mentions “cynicism”. What is cynicism?