Author: an.315

Text Review Assignment

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An interesting book I read is the Maze Runner by James Dashner. This book is about an apocalyptic world where many people are infected from a virus called “the Flare”. The Flare virus targets peoples’ brains and makes them insane and aggressive. The main character is Thomas, a teenager who is immune from the Flare. A group of scientists uses Thomas, other immune teenagers, and non-immune teenagers in an experiment to figure out a cure for the Flare.  Their experiment is about sending teenagers to a dangerous maze and studying their brain patterns. In the beginning, the teenagers have their memories wiped and don’t understand why they are living in a maze. As the story proceeds, some of the teenagers receive their memories and find out they are experimental subjects. Furthermore, they realize that if they voiced demands to quit the experiment, the scientists will not listen to them.

One identity difference between the scientists and the teenagers is age. Usually, older people have a sense of superiority compared to children or teenagers. An older person has more life experiences and would assume they know what to do. However, older people shouldn’t impose their will on younger people simply because of age.

One concept that applies to the Maze Runner is the “Self” and the “Other”. One example of this concept is a parent who commands his children to do chores. The parent is the “Self” while the children are the “Other”.  In comparison, the scientists assumed they were smarter because of their high social status and higher age. They thought they were saving the world by testing teenagers and studying their brain activity. The teenagers had to comply with the experiment even though it contained many dangers.  The scientists assumed the “Self” role while the teenagers became the “Other” role by obeying the adults.   

Another concept present is the theory of subalterns. The teenagers could be lower than the “other” position and be a subaltern instead. The teenagers can voice their opinion but if the scientists ignore them, they are unheard.  Moreover, the scientists purposely wiped each teenagers’ memory so they couldn’t form opinions against the experiment. Each teenager was sent to the maze without a choice. If they told the maze observers they wanted to quit the experiment, they wouldn’t be granted their wish to quit.

The author wants his readers to consider what is better, solutions or morality. It is horrible for the scientists to test teenagers without their consent in an life threatening experiment.  Even after completing the test there is only a small chance for the Flare Cure. But if scientists stuck to good morality and didn’t perform their experiment, there would be zero chance for a cure. I believe the Maze Runner wants to show readers that adults assume more power over teenagers causing them to be the “Self”. With that power, adults could do many things, even impose injustices such as forcing teenagers to do dangerous work.

 

The Maze Runner (Maze Runner, Book One) by James Dashner | Penguin Random House Audio

Diary of Systematic Injustice Showcase: Economic Inequality

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           My family is poor. When I was a high school student studying for the ACT, I noticed a graph on a website that showed different family incomes resulted in different scores. Families with higher incomes of 80,000 dollars  had an average score of 24. On the other hand, families with poorer incomes of 80,000 dollars had an average score of 20. I belong with the families of poor incomes.  Many of my friends belonged to the families of rich incomes. They tend to earn higher scores than me. I didn’t consider money to be a huge factor for better scores until I saw a graph showing economic inequality affecting ACT scores.

         There are numerous reasons why wealthy students would perform better in standardized tests compared to poor students. Firstly, wealthy students have enough money to take the ACT many times. Poor students do get free test waivers, but they don’t get many free test waivers. Moreover, wealthy students live in a comfortable environment. Wealthy students usually live in a calm, spacious, clean, and quiet house. In contrast, poor students usually live in dirty, loud, and cramped spaces.  Furthermore, rich students attend prestigious schools that have high quality teachers, computers, and advanced classes.  Additionally, rich students would also be able to hire tutors. 

           One of my sources is a ACT website that talked about trying to help poor families with the ACT tests, but I don’t think much action happened. In the website, there line graph showed years between 2012 to 2016.  The lines for both rich and poor families were both straight horizontal lines; no significant increase or decrease were shown. The situation of rich students getting higher grades continues to stay the same. This is a systematic injustice since almost every poor student will do worse compared to rich students. Poor students simply don’t have the same advantages and tools rich students have. If there is a government law that helps poor students have the same amount of money and advantages as wealthy students, this systematic injustice would be solved. Another solution is to create a different standardized test that doesn’t involve money to get higher scores.

            When relating to this issue in class, I think about John Lewis’s book March. According to the government census website, in 2019, there is a poverty rate of 18.8 % for African Americans while white Americans have a poverty rate of 7.3%. If African Americans are more poor, they are less likely to have good results in standardized tests. Even though African Americans have achieved civil rights, they did not achieve economic equality.  Not only is there economic injustice against poor people, but there is a hidden racial injustice against African Americans.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/R1604-ACT-Composite-Score-by-Family-Income.pdf

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/03/rich-students-get-better-sat-scores-heres-why.html

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html

Week 6 Context Presentation: Things Fall Apart

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The book “Things Fall Apart” is a fictional story about a person named Okonkwo. The story takes place in present day Nigeria. Okonkwo is a leader who leads his own tribe and lives with other neighboring tribes around him. Oknokwo’s nation worshiped wooden and stone idols and planted yams as their main source of food. Later in the story, British colonizers arrive at Oknokwo’s nation. These colonizers try to make Okonkwo’s nation abandon their beliefs and practices. The colonizers also brought religious leaders who tried to spread Christainity. During the end of the book, many people convert to Christainity or don’t fight back against the colonizers. Although “Things Fall Apart” is a fictional story, Africa did get colonized by many European countries including Britain.                

  In around 1860, the Industrial Revolution was starting. Countries that were industrializing needed raw materials to supply the Industrial Revolution.  European countries found out Africa had raw materials such as gold, ivory, diamonds, and rubber. After hearing about the natural resources in Africa,  Britain would plan to conquer nearly half of Africa, including present day Nigeria, the location of “Things Falling Apart”.

In 1870, Britain and other European countries took part in imperialism and colonialism. Imperialism is the idea of making an empire by capturing weaker countries with military or political methods. Colonialism is when an imperialist country imposes cultural, economic, and political life on the captured countries. Many African nations tried to fight back fiercely against the European military, but ended up surrendering to European rule.  

“Things Falling Apart” mainly depicts the British colonizers imposing religious and cultural life. However, actual colonizers did more harsh actions. The British colonizers would force some natives living in the area to be laborers in mines or workplaces. These laborers would mine or produce raw materials. The British colonizers forced Africans to learn English and wear British clothes. People who were colonized by the British had to pay taxes to Britain. 

In 1945, African countries started to gain their independence. During World War 2, some Africans fought with Britain and the allies. Britain and other European countries started to question the costs of keeping the captured African lands and the morality of colonization. It was at the end of World War 2 that European countries started to acknowledge Africa’s Independence. Nigeria gained its independence in 1960.

The effects of colonization drastically changed African countries. Before colonization,  there were 100 different ethnic groups that spoke 1000 different languages. After colonization, many of these ethnic groups were gone and people in different regions spoke English, French, German, or any other language of the country that colonized them. Because colonizers took their natural resources, they became poorer. There are some positive outcomes though. Britain and European countries brought technology such as railroads in Africa during colonization. Nationalism sparked from being colonized. Some authors such as Chinua Achebe would write books about African culture before colonization and what colonizers did during colonization.                     

Sources:  

Grill, Mark. “The National Archives | Education | British Empire | Living in the British Empire | Africa | Background.” The National Archives, Case Study, 22 July 2010, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/g2/cs3/background.htm.

Hardin, Graham. “British Colonization of Africa.” Story Map, ESRI, 12 Mar. 2019, https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=e8f24a9c56404e67b209dfcdfb37bc82#:~:text=The%20British%20colonized%20Africa%20in,hesitate%20on%20conquering%20the%20land.&text=Another%20resource%20in%20Africa%20was,good%2Dsellin

Iweriebor, Ehiedu. “The Colonization of Africa.” African Age, Schomburg Center, 19 Apr. 2011, http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html.

Singh, Amardeep. “Colonialism/Imperialism: The Simple Way to Distinguish These Two Is to think of Colonialism as Practice and Imperialism as The.” Home | Lehigh University, Amardeep Singh, 14 Oct. 2001, https://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/eng-11-globalization.htm.