Diving In

After reading the "Women Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston, specifically the chapter "White Tigers," I could not feel anything but disgust and utter anger for how Kingston was treated during her childhood and young adult life. This is not a new development sadly; the disrespect shown towards women has been going on for centuries. But what most angers me about Kingston's predicament is the wavering on-and-off support from Kingston's parents. Parents obviously don't support their children in every single endeavor the child tries to embark on; this could lead to danger for the children. In Kingston's case, however, this support was for Kingston herself as a person, which shifted from her mother "talk[ing]-story" about "swords-women" and "heroines" to completely devaluing Kingston's worth as a living being (19). By the end of the chapter, I failed to understand what Kingston's parents actually were. In my op...

The United States of America has never treated Native Americans in the way they deserve to be treated. In its long history from gaining independence from Britain to becoming the world's strongest power, America has mistreated Native American many times. Whether it be when Pilgrims first arrived to North America, killing Native Americans for land and crops, or forcing the Native Americans to walk 2,000 miles along the Trail of Tears, this forced nomadic group has never found a place to call their own. Even when a truce was called between the US government and Native American tribes, Native American tribes were continually pushed farther and farther west until there was no more room for settlement. Just as Sherman Alexie's father speaks of America "... been trying to kill Indians since the very beginning," Native Americans have always been the hunted, not the hunters (29). Why did they deserve this treatment? The only crime Native Americans committed was def...

As said by the great Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address, "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Is that true, however? For a good amount of people living in the United States, that statement doesn't necessarily hold true. Throughout America's considerable and extensive history, two groups have never completely seen eye to eye: the public and the government. One could say that the two sides could never completely agree, but there have been brief periods of time when the people and the government have agreed with one another. Unfortunately, these periods of time have usually occurred only during great times of tragedy and unrest. What causes this distrust, and why do the people tend to distrust the government? I believe this feeling of distrust stems from the nature of the government's work. A lot of information can't be withheld to the public, so the average American can decide whether or not t...