Author: wang.13081

Text Review: The Green Book

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The film “The Green Book” tells the story of the friendship between Tony and Dr. Sherry across race and class. From the white man’s perspective to show the plight of a great black pianist in society at the time. Tony is hired as a driver for Dr. Sherry, and the two drive to the American South for a concert tour along the way. Tony, a white male, and the black musician both live in New York City in the northern part of the United States. Tony has nothing to do, no regular occupation or income, low taste, loves to fight, and is foul-mouthed. The black musician is well-educated and lives a sophisticated, elegant, and polite life. The first meeting between the two is not pleasant, because Tony is a racist, and even the water cups drunk by the black decorators in the house are thrown away. In the film, the director lends the musician one encounter after another to constantly highlight and reinforce the theme of racism. Then Tony helps Dr. Sherry get out of trouble again and again. During this time, their souls were communicated and both changed them from previous ideas.

                                 

In addition to the topics that many people discuss, I would like to discuss the letters in the film. The letter in the film also has an important symbolic meaning, since it sustains the love and affection between Tony and his wife and children. At the same time is also Dr. Sherry helping Tony to write a letter, expressing his own desire for love. Dr. Sherry longed for the love and affection that Tony had, and also for the continuation of the friendship with Tony. In addition, the Steinway piano is a status symbol. This piano means that Dr. Sherry himself has respect for classical music. In the process of his tour, the piano played must be a Steinway piano, because he wants to defend the right of black people to play classical music. Later in the film, Dr. Sherry plays music with a black band in a black tavern, and the piano used is not a Steinway piano, but an ordinary piano. At that time Dr. Sherry no longer needs Steinway’s piano to add his own identity, which also means that he accepts his identity change. In addition to the theme that the movie wants to convey, I think the most touching part is actually the kind of mutual respect and understanding between two completely different people, as well as the warmth and light of humanity reflected in some of the supporting characters.

Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place-context presentation (week 15)

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Jamaica Kincaid is recognized in mainstream American literature as one of the world’s leading women writers of Caribbean descent. As a result of her accusations and satires against European colonial rule, academics have tended to interpret her work in terms of race, gender, and class in a single anti-colonial and post-colonial political way. In A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid traces the history of Antigua from the landscape to reveal its current situation under the influence of postcolonialism. With the help of postcolonial theories, the article analyzes the manifestations and causes of Antigua’s lack of national identity from three perspectives: economic, political, and cultural. The article analyzes the identity of the Antiguan “other” and the reasons for it from the linguistic and cultural perspectives and points out that Kincaid explores the possibilities and ways for the nation and the people to acquire a complete identity by reflecting on the legacy of colonialism and the potential impact of post-colonialism.

In A Small Place, Kincaid seeks to reveal the fog of rhetorical illusions shaped by the colonizer and expose the real world. She denounces white Western supremacy and native corrupt regimes and repeatedly uses the term “human trash” to directly express. In the book, tourists and readers are asked not only to see the blue sea and tropical atmosphere of Antigua but also to see the reality of the lives of the local Antiguan people. When tourists in a driving cab see a small house in front of a ramshackle public toilet with a sign that reads “Piggott’s Primary School” and “Harberton Hospital”. How wrong it is to have no doubts about it. Such places as hospitals and schools are so bad where the lives of the people and the education of the people are at stake. Is this place really the tourist attraction described by the colonists? As a tourist, “What if you have a bad heart… What if you happen to have a heart attack while traveling? What if the cab you are riding in suddenly has an accident?” Kincaid’s scolding” language not to keep international tourists away from the island. Rather, it was a way to keep them from being used by the colonizers. It is a tool for the colonialists to make profits and hide the truth of history. And Kincaid reminds people:  “See the blue sea and the tropical pristine atmosphere here but ignore the suffering here.” This sea area has been submerged in many sugar cane slaves. It has also witnessed how many black people were sent to other countries. At that time this seemed to be a beautiful sea. However, due to over-exploitation of tourism, there is often domestic wastewater discharged into the sea and it has not been treated. In the long run, this seemingly beautiful will eventually disappear. This primitive atmosphere satisfies the curiosity of tourists but the local people are forced to disguise their other thinking to keep running the tourism.

Faced with the lingering legacy of the old colonial past and the trauma of the new colonization, Kincaid does not suppress his anger or adopt a euphemistic tone like other writers of his generation but uses her “angry” language to accuse the evils of colonialism and express his resistance to the colonial culture. As a descendant of the colonized who has lived in Europe and the United States for many years, she angrily exposes the evils of colonialism and its legacy. She angrily exposes the illusion created by the colonizers. She presents the real colonial history and the current situation to the world. She expresses her hatred for colonialism and her hate for the incompetent Antiguan government. She does not want to do unto others as they have done unto us but to be equal and free. The history of suffering must not be forgotten, and the future of justice must be pursued. Today, in the globalization of peace and development, there are still many places like Antigua, described as A small place, that is controlled by the colonial powers, which needs to be changed.

 

 

Resource from:

Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place, academia, 1988.

“Antigua Guatemala Today.” https://www.hotelcasa-antigua.com/antigua-guatemala/

“The Ugliness of Tourism .” https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/smallplace/themes/

Regional discrimination in China-(Diary of Systemic Injustices)

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There is a very common phenomenon in China that is regional discrimination. In China, coastal areas are generally more developed than inland cities, both economically and in terms of education per capita, so many people from inland cities will come to coastal cities to pursue a better life. This is a very prospect and diverse phenomenon since different regions in China have very different food habits, cultures, etc., and the foreign population is actually very helpful to the development of local cities. However, there are some locals who will reject foreigners or treat them unfairly. In terms of the universality of the world, human beings, by nature, tend to get along with people of similar characteristics, and face. There is a lot of uncertainty if they get along with people of different identities, colors, or races. This is a universal problem that is better explained in psychological studies. Also in China or other regions, housing prices in developed cities tend to be higher than in other regions. The price of housing will of course become more expensive as the population increases. The housing pressure on the locals will increase synchronously. In addition to the price of housing, there will be more competition for education resources, urban welfare, and public services at different levels. The two types of discrimination mentioned earlier are general discrimination at the individual level and public policy discrimination at the institutional level. If we want to overcome discrimination at the individual level, it actually involves a change in perceptions and even values. It is difficult to say that we can make everyone free of discrimination, but we are still advocating for improved public policies to move towards justice and equality. At the level of individual values, diversity itself is an objective existence, but in public policies and social value formation, justice and equality are to be emphasized. Cities have a large number of immigrants, which is precisely the source of having dynamism, providing urban innovation and entrepreneurship. In a modern civilized society, justice, and equality are achieved even through reverse discrimination. Many resources are allocated on the basis of income, so it is important to systematically allocate resources in favor of disadvantaged groups in the income, racial or physical dimensions. In terms of personal values, there may be some “some people just look down on low-income people”, but in the construction of social values, the opposite should be true.
In general, this is very similar to what we discussed in week 11, the issue of immigrants in the United States. Many immigrants have suffered from discrimination and unfair treatment. From a psychological perspective, people prefer to live with people who have similar characteristics to themselves. From a public policy and resource perspective, people are concerned that their interests are being compromised. In fact, these are unconscious protections that people have for themselves. But on a larger level, people need these immigrants to enhance diversity and provide innovation and entrepreneurship to the city.

 

 

The local police hurled insults at outsiders and said outsiders are inferior to natives.

 

News about opposing the unfair college entrance examination system for non-local people.

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2012-10-19/141025394785.shtml

 

 

Resource from: The local police hurled insults at outsiders and said outsiders are inferior to natives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7mMdBF_LRE

Oppose the unfair college entrance examination system for non-local people. http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2012-10-19/141025394785.shtml