Author: ouellet.5

Text Review Assignment – The Giver

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Amazon.com: The Giver (Giver Quartet): 9780440237686: Lowry, Lois: BooksFor my Text Review Assignment I decided to use the novel The Giver. I chose this novel as it is a “seemingly perfect society” that is depicted without war, pain, suffering or choice. There is no prejudice as everyone looks and acts the same. This futurist society distinguishes its people with societal roles as they all have a defined place in society. Jonas, the main character’s society, is founded on the principle of Sameness. Their climate is controlled as well as their landscape being altered which ensures complete uniformity. Individuals lack freedom as they are matched Community | The Giver Wiki | Fandomby the Committee of Elders with spouses, family units and their occupation. 

Jonas referring back to the theory of othering is physically and mentally different from all members of his society. His eyes are very different and have unusual lighter colored eyes and he sees the world in a “different way than others”. The story refers to him having the “capacity to see beyond” as the rest of the members in his society do not question the way things are, but Jonas does. Even though these members of society are technically the same culture as Jonas, as they are all the same, Jonas was born different. Relating back to the real world, our world is full of various different societies and cultures. Everyone is different in their own way and lives their own life. Many societies give each individual the choice what they want to look like(if they want to change their current look), who they have relationships with, and what occupation they choose. There are several modern day cultures that still implicate arranged marriages such as many traditional African societies, royal families, some Muslims, the Amish, Anabaptist groups, etc. Jonas at the age of 12 is assigned the Receiver of Memory which is defined as the sole keeper of the community’s memory. When the society turned to the same, they got rid of all the trauma and memories and they must be kept so that the community does not make the mistakes again. Jonas’s job is to receive the memories from the current Receiver, the Giver. As Jonas gains old memories, he realizes how bland and empty their current society is and sees the real color and beauty of nature. This feeling of othering and wanting to escape their current society leads to Jonas being forced out of the society and therefore releases all the memories back to the Giver. In total the author wants you to leave knowing, the novel depicts what can happen when a society tries to keep running smoothly as well as trying to keep people safe, and the effects on not allowing individuals to have individual freedoms.

 

Diary Showcase (Elon Musk and World Hunger)

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Dear Diary, 

This week, Elon Musk tweeted how if he were to give 6 billion dollars of sold Tesla stock to the UN he could fix the matter of world hunger. I felt like world hunger was a very important topic to me as it affects so many people on a daily basis worldwide. When I saw what Elon had tweeted, it made me extremely excited as it is such a recurring injustice. After seeing it, I began to pick the topic apart and discover there truly is no way to solve world hunger. Six billion dollars would for sure help for a couple weeks if not months helping people with food struggles, but eventually this money would run out and if it is not replenished, world hunger would continue to thrive. No amount of money could truly solve world hunger as it is a never ending. The main thing many countries need to do is work with their governments to establish a stable system in which to then go about solving world hunger. As many as 811 million people still go hungry as they do not have the funds or means to produce food. This 6 billion dollars could allow some families to have a couple nights of not worrying what they are going to have for dinner, but after supplies and money run out, we will go back to our previous starving state. Many people also replied back to Elon, mentioning it could not end hunger for everyone, but could save 42 million people from starvation. Beasley, the U.N’s food and chief, ““We need the help of billionaires who have made so much money during COVID – unprecedented wealth – this is a one-time task. Please help us. Please help us save little girls and little boys.” If many of the world’s billionaires came together and contributed money as Elon Musk said he might, the solution for world hunger may be closer to getting solved or may allow people to have a stable source of food for a bit longer.I personally never have had a food insecurity so it is hard to completely understand and take in what these people go through on a daily basis, but I understand it enough that if many people come together and help, we can at least change these people’s lives in the present for the better.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-beasley-elon-musk-world-food-programme-plea-to-billionaires/

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/01/elon-musk-tells-un-food-chief-hell-spend-6-billion-to-fight-hunger.html

 

The Correlation Between Addiction and being an Immigrant – Context Presentation (Week 11)

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Addiction is something that comes in all shapes and sizes. From gambling addictions, alcohol addictions, drug addictions etc, these addictions can seriously impact your life. Anyone can have an addiction but looking at immigrants, the chances of acquiring an addiction is much easier. Many Immigrants tend to experience large amounts of trauma in their immigration process leading them to turn towards tendencies which can lead to addiction. They face constant struggles and trauma relating to division or loss of family, separation anxiety, abuse of all kinds, isolation, stress of relocation, learning a new language, etc. These events can lead to chronic mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. 

 

These addictions can lead to serious consequences especially a loss of money in the long run. We see this very prevalent in the book The Leavers by Lisa Ko, as Daniel started off playing poker for highschool and then realized he was talented and could recognize certain patterns to win. He later became so obsessed with gambling that he built up his online account to $80,000  and never withdrew it, instead funneling it back into poker. He ends up consistently borrowing large amounts of money from others and is unable to pay them back. Addiction can ruin relationships with others and leave people dealing with these addictions feeling extremely lonely. Many studies find that gambling has a huge prevalence in immigrants and that those who were first generation immigrants were ultimately less likely to become gamblers in the long run compared to second and third generation immigrants. First generation gambling rates were much lower at .82% prevalence for men and .40% prevalence in women. Compared to first generation immigrants, second and third generation immigrants had a 5.18% prevalence of gambling. Rates are also majorly dependent on the age of arrival and the duration of time in the new foreign country. Also, studies have shown that being part of an ethnic minority may constitute a risk factor for a gambling problem. These problems are very common and not very talked about as people immigrate to new countries, yet need to be talked about as they can change someone’s life for the better or for the worse.

 

Works Cited

“Addiction and Refugees and Immigrants.” Addiction Center, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/refugees-immigrants/. 

 

 Gambling Prevalence Rates among Immigrants … – Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268148800_Gambling_prevalence_rates_among_immigrants_A_multigenerational_examination.