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Nineteen Eighty-Four Fake News – parallels with 2019 news 

Control though fake news in dystopian novel vs Donald Trump’s control through fake news 2019/2020

PLAN: 

Intro: Introduce Orwell’s warning of fake news and its manipulation of the public. Fast forward to 2019 & 2020 when Donald Trump exploits every method Big Brother used to manipulate the public. False enemies, false statistics and overt lies about large groups of people. 

Paragraph 1: false enemies 

Nineteen Eighty-Four Eurasia 

2020 USA with China 

Constantly swapping enemies and the enemy is the cause of every problem. 

For 1984 cause of limits and rations

For 2020 cause of the coronavirus

“Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”

“Yes, I have. Yes, I have,” said the president”

Paragraph 2: false statistics

Big Brother from 1984 – “The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more books, more babies… more of everything except disease, crime and insanity” 

Donald Trump – “The US economy today is the best in history”, “he passed the biggest tax cut in history.”

Paragraph 3: lies about people

1984 – “…The party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection like animals” 

Donald Trump – “They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Conclusion: When a leader has enough presidence everything they say influences the public. Orwell saw the significance of fake news – affects people astronomically. “Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else”. 

Nineteen Eighty-four Quotes: 

“It struck him as curious that you could create a dead men, but not living ones” 

“The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more books, more babies… more of everything except disease, crime and insanity” 

“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”

“…The party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection like animals” 

“War is peace” 

“2+2=5”

“Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else” 

Donald Trump Article Quotes: 

“Orwell knew that authoritarian regimes want the heart and soul of people”   

“…feelings have never been more swayed: Trump summons them up personally and directly” 

“Alternative facts”

“Creating own reality”

Donald Trump Quotes: 

In 2017, Trump made 1,999 false or misleading claims. In 2018, he added 5,689 more, for a total of 7,688. And in 2019, he made 8,155 suspect claims.

“They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

“El Chapo and the Mexican drug cartels use the border unimpeded like it was a  vacuum cleaner, sucking drugs and death right into the U.S.”

“When will the US stop sending money to its enemies, i.e. Mexico and others”

“China virus” 

“It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle – it will disappear” (referring to coronavirus) 

“The hardship will end; it will end soon.  Normal life will return.  And our economy will rebound very, very strongly.  But, right now, in the midst of this great national trial, Americans must remain united in purpose and focused on victory.”

*march 23, 2020

Trump has falsely said 184 times that he passed the biggest tax cut in history.

“The US economy today is the best in history” 

1984 Paragraph

Lottery for the proles

“It was probable that for millions of whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive”. In the dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, George Orwell has made clear a stark segregation between two classes of people; the party members and the proles. One of the ways this is evident is through the introduction of the proles’ main ‘delight’ and ‘intellectual stimulant’, the Lottery. Proles are described as uneducated, unrefined and live day-to-day in dirty slums, and so it is essential that this large work force of the population are given a source of joy and ‘reason for remaining alive’. While the proles are completely absorbed in the Lottery, everyone in the party knows that no proles can ever win the grand-prizes, “The winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons”. The principals of Ingsoc (English socialism) that govern the party and proles were founded in an effort to dissolve the inequalities between capitalists and the working class. The history books from the party state that life was much worse for ordinary folk before the ‘revolution’. “Everything existed for their [capitalist’s] benefit. You – the ordinary people, the workers – were their slaves”. Yet in this 1984 the ordinary people don’t even have access to the truth. In George Orwell’s dystopian future, the key reason 85% of the population remain alive is a lie, moreover one that the other 15% are aware of. From this small example of deception and manipulation of the proles, it is apparent that this classism within a communist governing could be said as even worse than the classism present before, in a capitalist society.

“It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant.”

“…he [Winston] was aware the prizes were largely imaginary”

“The winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons”

1984 by George Orwell Quotes

“Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (V, pg 56)

“Victory Mansions…” “Victory Gin…” “Victory Coffee…”

“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words” (V, pg 54)

“It struck him as curious that you could create dead men, but not living ones” (IV, pg 50)

“The fabulous statistics continued to poor out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more books, more babies – more of everything except disease, crime and insanity.” (V, pg 62)

“He meditated resentfully on the physical texture of life” (V, pg 62)

“…the Party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals,” (VII, pg 74)

“Men are infinitely malleable”

“If you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”

“In the face of pain, there are no heroes”

“Reality exists in the human mind and no where else”

“Sanity is not statistical”

1984 Paragraph

Control by of limit education

People become who they are expected to be

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious” 

“…the party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals, by the application of a few simple rules” 

“…they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern.”

“…being without general ideas, they could only focus on petty grievances” 

“The larger evils invariably escaped their notice”

“Proles and animals are free” 

“I understand HOW: I don’t understand WHY” 

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears” 

If the ‘party’ is teaching you all that you know, you would never know that you are not being treated fairly, nor that you have any power to change that. 

Colon used for proportion between two numbers, separate hours from minutes, or to precede a list of items, a quotation, or an expansion or explanation. But not actually any of the above mentioned

Logical, mathematical connotations. 

Capital letters for ‘how’ and ‘why’ give emphasis. 


NCEA 3.4 Writing Portfolio: Satire Piece

Ideas:

Description of MAC like it is an op course with extra options such as maths

Accurate reliever’s plan

Honest resume for a person applying for their first job

News article of students for vaping

Today we are confronted with the epidemic of ever increasing stress and overwhelming school days for the modern teenager.

Vaping is a government conspiracy to keep people addicted to drugs

School is a government conspiracy to control the population – we only know what they want us to know

Assembly speech advertising doing the bare minimum

“Good morning everyone, my name is … from the common student body and I’m here to speak about some of the fantastic opportunities available at MAC. We are all here, attending high school for at least 5 years. In that time you have so many hours, both in and out of school, and the way you spend these hours will shape you as a person. The more opportunities you get amongst, the more things you’ll

How terrible social media is but actually talking about the good parts

How hard it is to live in New Zealand:

  • slow internet
  • places out of cell phone range
  • bad tasting fruit
  • cold so get a runny nose
  • not being able to find the end of sellotape
  • cold enough in the morning for a jacket but warm enough for shorts in the afternoon
  • wanting to go skiing but the mountain slightly over crowded for your liking
  • Most delicious chocolate, Whittakers is $1.80 more than the cadbury’s chocolate
  • In order to tramping to NZ’s beautiful and sort after locations you have to decide before you go and book it
  • The supermarket is too busy at 5pm on a Tuesday
  • Stone fruit aren’t in season all year round
  • Lulu lemon bag gets too fluffy, can’t use it any more
  • Country road bag got dirty so you have to put it in the washing machine
  • In order to save the environment you have to remember to get your Trelise Cooper shopping bags from the car
  • If you are not a hug person and you’re involved in a NZ disaster you will be hugged by our friendly and compassionate prime minister
  • Too windy to go out on my jetski
  • Hit a rabbit with your toyota highlander on the way home, super inconvenient because you have to pull over to cry
  • Trying to buy things from amazon but it costs $15 to send to NZ
  • Too many people have the nice metal drink bottles from New World, no one knows whose is whose
  • Your taking your pure bread labrador for a walk along a beautiful, scenic trail and you have to pick up it’s shit so it doesn’t ruin the experience for others
  • Trying to go camping and you have to spend $6 for entry
  • No service on the 3 day hike – route burn or Milford track, so have to wait till you get home to brag to instagram followers about the wonderful scenery
  • Amazing new developments and facilities being built need an access road so you have to go 50km/hr in a 80km/hr zone for 3 mins
  • Occasionally you hear words in Maori and you don’t understand what they mean because you have never put enough effort into learning about your culture even though you have had 13 years of schooling where the option was available to you.
  • Block buster movies come out in NZ a couple of days after they do in the US
  • There is a smaller and lower quality movie/tv selection on NZ netflix
  • Fringe that doesn’t look good on them
  • For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.”
  • “Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

Trivial arguments, insufficient funds to satisfy desires, hungry for intervals up to 25 mins per day…

Every upper middle class 16 year old deserves the chance to grow and thrive, without any form of obstacle or inconvenience. In New Zealand we believe that each adolescent, regardless of circumstances or their parents being in the highest tax bracket, has the right to be untroubled and content at all times. Each year in First world countries, the days of innocent young lives are tragically interrupted by preventable causes. It is our responsibility is to stop our teenagers finding themselves in truely awful situations, such as inaccessible wifi, bad tasting fruit or getting a runny nose. Please donate now

Where would your donation go?

Technical Emergencies – Slow internent, no service

Education without Embarrassment –

My Story

“My dream is to go back to school without a fringe again”. Like so many students attending a decal 10 school, 16-year-old

Child Protection Against Bordem –

Climate Change –

Apparently, according to researchers in the particular field, the earth’s temperature is rising. Inconvenient for skiing.

Trident, By Frankie Boyle

  1. Identify 5 political and social references and research their details online. Create a 1 paragraph summary of each reference, including as many facts, (place, time, people involved, political implications) as you can muster.

“Our greatest fear is that we die alone – which is why I intend to take quite a few people with me” is made with reference to mutually assured destruction. Each country involved in mutually assured destruction (MAD) is locked in a stalemate, as full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would ensue complete annihilation for both – a political reference to the cold war between the Soviet Union and the USA (1947 – 1991). Frankie Boyle has satirised the absurd idea of MAD, in that the only reason opposing sides do not fire their weapons is purely in the interest of their own self preservation. Therefore, if one side were to decide to unleash their complete nuclear arsenal, there would no absolutely no reason for the other side not to reciprocate. ‘If we die, then you are coming with us’.

  1. Identify 3 figurative language features that Frankie Boyle uses to strengthen his satire. (Options are: Hyperbole, Metaphor, Analogy etc)
  2. Select your controversial idea from yesterday and now develop a couple of paragraphs, where you build on to this sentence with some more elaborate metaphors and analogies.

Wide Reading

Title: Get Out

Director: Jordan Peele

Text type: Film

Viewed: March 20th & Sept 20th 

I did not know that I could feel more disgusted about slavery and racism. Both are such dreadful aspects of life in the past and now, but the film ‘Get Out’ brings to light more horror  surrounding these themes by use of violence and visual interpretations of psychological trauma in the genre of thriller. The film begins innocently with a young interatial couple seemingly in love and ready to introduce each other to their families – something almost everyone can relate to. It is then revealed that in reality the white girlfriend, Rose is manipulating Chris, her black boyfriend. Bringing him to her parents’ house in order for them  auction off his body to rich white americans. Clearly a parallel to the slave auctions. The difference is, instead of just forcing the slaves to do as they say, the auction winners literally take control of their body from the inside. Phase 1: hypnosis, phase 2: mental preparation phase 3: transplantation, the white person’s brain is surgically implanted, the white person snatchs the ‘steering wheel’ and the black person now lives in as a passenger in there own body – from the “sunken place”. To me, and to anyone this narrative is completely terrifying. It is a bright flash which snaps the hypnotised black people out of their trance and that is the effect of the film as a whole: a fright that wakes us up from the trance of believing racism is dead. ‘Get Out’ is a horror/thriller film that educated me on the ‘post Obama’ racial climate in the United States. I learnt from this film that electing a black president absolutely does not equate to the end of racism, moreover voting for Obama does not make you ‘not racist’. To drum in this message, Peele uses an apparently progressive white family who voted for Obama to be the antagonist. The disturbing thing by doing this is that the american family, the armitages on the surface are quite similar to me and my family in the beginning. Both trying to seem progressive, modern thinking, not racist. Personally, I have not had a coloured boyfriend before but I believe if I were to have on my conversation would be so similar to Rose’s and Chris’s: “Do they know, do they know I’m black? “Should they?” “It’s seems like it something you know you should mention. I don’t want to be chased off the lawn with a shotgun” “My dad would have voted Obama for a third time if he could have. They are not racist” and the Dad, Dean says “How long has this ‘thang’ been goon’ on” and repeatedly says “my man”, exactly what my dad would say to a black person. It shows how much of a real issue racism is in how uncomfortable it still is mixing the cultures. But the similarities between our families rapidly diminish once it is releveled what the Armitiges do to black people. To get the message across to me, Peele’s effective method is shock, both with first creating seemingly innocent characters that I could relate to and then disclosing that they are psychopaths and the literal concept of a white person having control of your body while you are still in it. Both horrifying and a persuasive explanation to a person like me that there is a very long way until the racial divides will dissolve, if ever. 

Title: Black Man and White Woman in a Dark Green Rowboat

Author: Russell Banks 

Text type: Short Story

Read: Sept 23th 

This interpretation of an interaccial couple is so interesting to me. Usually when a couple remains together despite adversity it is because they really love each other but the ‘Black Man and White Woman in a Dark Green Rowboat’ has taught me that this is not always the case. The short story is set in the 1970s. This time period is not explicitly but solely judging on the clothing described “lime-green terry cloth bikini” and the emphasis placed on the black man being present “he ceased working and watched carefully as… came a young black man” it seems to be around this era. This happens to be the decade of two very important social milestones; 1967, interracial marrige became legal in the US and 1970 depression began to be diagnosed. Banks addresses these unitedly. There is a white girl and a black man at the center of the narrative, about the same age, 20 – 23 but always addressed as ‘the girl’ and ‘the man’. This is the first evidence to suggest the disjointedness of the relationship. ‘The Man’ is more mature from simply living as a black man in the racial climate and the 20-something year old woman is still referred to as ‘girl’ as she lives with her mother and so far the only thing she seems to be responsible for is “tanning” and “sweating”. By use of dialogue in the text it is evident to me that the couple don’t really understand each other; “I wish I could just leave you here” “What?”. It seems they are young and simply taking advantage of an available opportunity… Still at a time where it is quite taboo, this new couple seems to be together only for the thrill and for the sex. “I wish I could just leave you here”, the man only wants her for company and other things. The mother seems to realise this, the girl tells her mother about her relationship, “I told her that I love you very much” “How’d she take it? As if I don’t already know”. The mother accepted it because the girl is “fragile” (in other words, has depression). The relationship seems to be keeping her daughter content for the time being so the mother is happy for it to run its course, confident that this will not last. Even though the girl says she loves the man she does not want to commit to him. “I suppose you’d rather I just did nothing” “That’s right”. I understood that they have an unwanted pregnancy, the girl wants to get an abortion but the man is not agreeable with this. The whole story is set on a dark green rowboat which the man is rowing like “a galley slave” and I think that the motion of the rowboat is an extension of his thoughts. When the girl is talking about empty things like her love of lying in the sun “he pulled smoothly on the oars” but after they spoke about abortion “he started rowing again, faster this time and not as smoothly as before”. With all of these things combined, it is clear that Banks is illustrating a couple formed lightheartedly but because of the impact of reality, all of their differences, the main one being race, they simply can’t last. This is an interesting comparison to all of the stories of ‘true love’ between an interacial couple who struggle to remain together because of exterior societal norms, in this couple the difference because of race is the very epicenter why the relationship won’t work. Both people had been shaped by society so much that they cannot connect. From this text I learnt that interaccial couples face adversity, not just because of the disapproval of others but because societal norms are ingrained into us, change us so we are not just different on the outside, but on the inside too.

Title: 20th Century Women

Director: Mike Mills

Text type: Film 

Viewed: June 9th & Sept 24th

20th century women are the first of their kind; feminists. Surprisingly after reading the title, ‘20th Century Women’ the central character of the film is actually a teenage boy, Jaime, who is growing up in the 80s and his relationship with his mother. The story gives a very gentle and polite perspective on the new difficulties in trying to be a ‘good man’ in this time of female empowerment. It made me feel more empathetic towards the young men who must become adults in this new era. “I think history has been tough on men. I mean, they can’t be what they were, and they can’t figure out what’s next.”, said by Dorothy, the mother of the teenage boy. I do agree with this statement. Of course these difficulties are not akin to the ones females face, but they are difficulties nonetheless. Jaime desperately wants to fulfill the ideals of a man for the women in his life; his mother, flatmate Cindy and best friend Julie. Ironically, this is one of the significant struggles females face: being the women men want them to be. Completely flipping the old narrative of girls being raised to cater for men. He is taught lessons such as; “Men always feel like they have to fix things for women when they’re not doing anything… Just be there, somehow that’s hard for all of you.” and “I think being strong is the most important quality. It’s not being vulnerable, it’s not being sensitive, honestly not even being happy. It’s about strength – durability against the other emotions”. This is how women want men to be – unrealistic human beings. The very expectation women are trying to escape. I can understand the effect this is having on young men; by trying to take on all of these lessons, a mountain of emotional strain is placed on Jaime. “Life was very big and unknown”, no one knows how to raise a child properly, they just do it the best they can. And now, I have a little more sympathy for the kind modern teenage boy.

Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Text type: Novel 

Read: March & April 

The idea I learned by reading ‘The Help’ is that “kindness don’t have no boundaries” and it is integral to ‘smile in the face of adversity’. Despite all the racial prejudice of the 1960s, tense climate of the black civil rights movement, the awful way the white women especially treat the help black women are still so loving towards the white children and continue to lead lives with humour and joy. In Jackson, Mississippi, african american maids Minny, Aibileen and Constantien continue to act as warm caretakers for the children of privileged white families. Unexpectedly, I felt optimistic after reading this novel. The message I took from ‘The Help is the kindness of the black women, while being treated so disrespectfully, they still do their best to raise the white children as “kindness has no boundaries”, more they really seem to love the children the care for. Mae Mobely is one of the white children included often. She is a chubby young girl at a time where a female’s beauty is her most important trait, so is constantly ridiculed by her mother for not measuring up. “You is kind. You is smart. You is important”. These are the reassuring words of Aibileen. Aibileen is doing her best to form Mae into a sweet woman, as she has with all of her ‘babies’, when she could easily just turn a blind eye and no matter the struggles she has to endure to have the job. She is paid next to nothing, has walk lengths to and from the bus and must constantly keep her mouth shut around the ‘superior white employers’. I believe that if I was put in this situation I would become significantly more bitter. I noticed the kind and caring qualities are not just shown in Aibileen but consistent with every member of The Help I read about. “The first time I was ever called ugly, I was thirteen… ‘Well? Is you?’ ‘Now you look a here, ‘Ugly live up on the inside. Ugly be a hurtful, mean person. Is you one a them peoples?’ ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so,’ I sobbed.” Constantine, a black nanny, consolidated Skeeter on this occasion for example and many other times. So many patient lessons Skeeter is adamant that Constantine raised her, which as a reader, I agree with. “All my life I’d been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine’s thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.” Constantine’s influence created a major impact on the woman Skeeter became. Out of context, this just doesn’t make sense to me. In the 1960s black people were treated as less than human. Having to be segregated, being humiliated by having to use separate toilets as is often mentioned in the novel. Kathryn Stockett is proving through showing these characters how valuable it is to remain positive even facing all the adversity that a black woman in the 1960s does. Their optimism is evident in the way ‘the help’ treat the children and in the quote; “That’s what I love about Aibileen, she can take the most complicated things in life and wrap them up so small and simple, they’ll fit right in your pocket.”. Meaning that Aibileen can always put negative things in perspective and is able to bring hers and ‘your’ attention back to the things in life which are loved. As well as a message about racial prejudice (“Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realise we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.”), to me this book was quite inspirational. These strong, amazing women faced so much everyday, and it was unclear to them if it would continue indefinitely, so absolutely more than I will ever have to deal with. The lesson I learned from reading ‘The Help’ is to try the most to feel optimistic in any situation I find myself in. If these laboriously oppressed women can still be kind, I can too. 

Title: The Hate U Give 

Author: Angie Thomas

Text type: Novel 

Read: February 

Children get shot in the ‘neighbourhood’. 16 year olds get shot for being immature and ‘looking intimidating’ by no fault of their own. I learned of the privilege I have from reading “The Hate U Give”, the privilege of growing up however slow I felt and to be treated as innocent. Because of prejudice against black people, african american children are forced to learn harsh lessons about the world before their time. Unfair prejudice and a smaller importance placed on their lives leaves young black children in america so vulnerable to being shot. This novel is a snippet of the life of a teenage black girl, Starr who grows up in a poor black neighbourhood in the USA. She witnesses both of her best friends get shot, one at the age of 10 and one at the age of 16. Both had no reason to be shot. The novel follows Starr on her journey of standing up for herself, her innocent, dead friends and her community including themes of racism, police brutality and bravery. In reading this I learned about the difficulties that come with living in such a neighbourhood with such a skin tone, and how lucky I am to live where I do. “Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. I called him Khalil. The world called him a thug. He lived, but not nearly long enough, and for the rest of my life I’ll remember how he died.” Starr’s best friend Khalil was shot by a police man right in front of her. This was a boy she’d known her whole life, who she’d “taken baths with at his grandmother’s house at 5 years old”, to her a completely harmless sixteen year old boy. In stark contrast, the policeman saw a fully grown black man, in a car bought with drug money and reaching for a black handle. A ‘thug’. Reading this, I felt pain in my heart imaging myself in this situation. The truth is that it would never happen. Driving home in Wanaka, two sixteen year olds, that would end in a fine if anything. So unfairly, these black children have to learn how to act responsibly because the risk for them is getting shot, by someone in the community or even law enforcement officers. “When I was twelve… Momma fussed and told Daddy I was too young for that. He argued that I wasn’t too young to get arrested or shot. “Starr-Starr, you do whatever they tell you to do,” he said. “Keep your hands visible. Don’t make any sudden moves. Only speak when they speak to you.” Starr is taught by her father to act around police before she is even old enough to go to highschool. “I hope somebody had that talk with Khalil” At 12 years old I was learning about planets and elephants not how to avoid getting shot. For me, this is a lesson I have never learned and never will have to learn because the assumptions made about a middle class white girl is always innocent. These are the implications of hundreds of years of bigotry, assumptions are made about black people who are even too young to understand what bigotry is. “Pac said Thug Life stood for ‘The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody’.” This means that the way we are raising african american children, treating them as a potential criminals turns them into a criminal. Angie Thomas made it explicitly clear to me through the novel ‘The Hate U Give’ is that the treatment of african american youth is so unjust. “I’ll never forget. I’ll never give up. I’ll never be quiet. I promise.” By reading this enabled me to again realise my privilege of growing up in a safe community and being treated innocently. More, the novel helped me see how difficult it still is for black people in the USA, how much more they have to prepare themselves for, just living in the same world. 

Title: The Story of OJ 

Songwriter: Jay Z

Text type: Song lyrics

Read: In Feb & Sept 25th 

I found the ‘The Story of OJ’ very powerful as a vessel of understanding the real world implications of racism – unfortunately money is so important for living and I understood the message of the song lyrics were that ‘black people will always be black but if they have enough money they will be able to lift themselves up in society’. From reading these lyrics II was again faced with the reality that money does solve problems. Even racism. The message portrayed by Jay Z in the lyrics is saddening and potent to me, especially because every word seems to be true: african americans cannot escape their blackness, the only plausible way to leave behind the struggles that are attached to being black is to become rich. The chorus throughout the song is “Light nigga, dark nigga, faux nigga, real nigga. Rich nigga, poor nigga, house nigga, field nigga. Still nigga, still nigga”. Using the word ‘nigga’ repetitively is quite jarring, especially to a person such as myself, a white person. So in choosing this word I felt the song became significantly more impactful – offensive and pointed, each word seemed to force me to acknowledge it. This places more emphasis on the different types of ‘niggas’ Jay Z was describing and finally the words ‘still nigga’. The order of the people described is important too, they are sung in pairs and every second title is related (light n*, faux n*, rich n*, house n*) compared to (dark n*, real n*, poor n*, field n*). This brings attention to the history surrounding the privileges of lighter skinned negroes, as they had a portion of white genetics they were raised in status, to work inside and so received better opportunities. Even with these differences, they are all ‘still nigga’. Every person with darker skin than Europeans’ (“my skin is black… skin is yellow”) faces prejudice. More, I think this line signifies how each ‘nigga’ is connected to their past/anscestors no matter who they have become. This includes Jay Z, every black american and so of course the infamous OJ Simpson who says “I’m not black I’m OJ”. These are simply facts but by the way they are being delivered it makes me feel helpless and hopeless. By reading these lyrics I became more aware of my privilege how I am not part of a community or a race as a whole that is struggling. According to the songwriter, for black people “Financial freedom my only hope”. The underlying purpose of this text is the truth that to get away from becoming the embodiment of negative black stereotypes you need money. “Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood. That’s how you rinse it”, meaning that the only real way to lift the black communities out of poverty and rid them of crime is to support them financially. This is a sad reality to me. From these lyrics I found that all of this effort and volunteering put into inspiring underprivileged kids is only half the battle. With a sliver of exceptions, children can only grow to achieve highly if they are supported by their families. “I can’t wait to give this shit to my children”. In relating to the title of the song, OJ really was meant to be proven guilty in this racial climate, but he had money. Jay Z could be still dealing drugs but now he has money. To me, it is so upsetting that the root, if we want to change lives, make a difference we always need money. Your own money, someone else’s money, we rely on that. Racism at its core seems like such a social issue, simply individual pieces of bigotry that collate into a large issue, but the truth is it’s bigger than that. A mass lack of finances and property belonging to the slaves way back in 1865 effects the following generations to this day. Now there is a significant problem with african americans involved in crime because they just need an accessible way to get an income. “You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away money at a strip club? Credit” Do you know what’s more important than getting fast cash? Credit. From reading the lyrics of ‘A Story of OJ’ I became more educated on what one of the giant barriers affecting the progress of equality is, sadly it is money. 


Assessment 2.4

Analyse how setting was used to reinforce an idea in the written text(s).’

Note: “Idea” may refer to character or theme.

A southern town in Alabama 1930, thoughtfully chosen, is a perfect place to highlight bigotry regarding race, sex and class. Harper Lee uses this setting in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ to reinforce the theme of the text; prejudice. The 1930’s in the United States was a time of friction. After the roaring twenties, the Great Depression created strain, anxiety and discord but also emptiness. “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.” The middle class became lower class, the women were again constrained to their homes and the African Americans were even more feeble for lack of job opportunities. While the people were struggling, and apparently because they were struggling, intolerance was alive and well.  We see these varying faces of bigotry in the courtroom, in the school and in the Finch’s’ household. Throughout the text, Maycomb as a backdrop ensures that each message of prejudice is heard loud and clear.

Maycomb’s court room is where we see the most blatant racism. There is no space for grey area and subtlety when making decisions in the justice system, and that is the reason the courtroom was purposefully used to reinforce the idea of prejudice. “The Court should never be influenced by the weather of the day but inevitably they will be influenced by the climate of the era,” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The centre of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is the court case concerning Tom Robinson allegedly raping Mayella Ewell. A gripping case in any era, but because this dispute is between a black man and a white woman in the southern states circa 1930, the emphasis is lifted from the horrors of rape and instead highlights racial prejudice. The climate of the setting is the reason the court case is not actually about whether Tom was guilty or not, it is about if the 1930’s jury were progressive enough to stop prosecuting innocent black people. “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.” The resentments are present everywhere in Maycomb so of course they come into the courtroom. The prejudice is felt more sharply because of the setting, ironic because as Atticus states, the one place where a man ought to have a square deal is in the courtroom. The setting of the courtroom emphasises the racism especially because in this location it is so easy to see that black and white are not equal. The black people always stand to the side to let a white person in first, the onlookers are seated in completely different places depending on their race and most importantly, the lawyers, the judge and the jury are all white. This setting shows undoubtedly Atticus and Tom really were “licked a hundred years before they started”. Even a child could recognise that the system is stacked against the black defendant. This is how the setting reinforces prejudice.

“It’s time you start being a girl”. In the 1930’s the culture pendulum swung away from more freedom for women to portraying the domestic role as the proper and fulfilling role for women. The setting of the home reinforces the theme of sexism because in this decade and several following, the home is the place where ‘women belong’ and where male and female roles are most clearly defined. For instance, Atticus comes home late in the afternoon, sits and reads, Calpernia cooks and cleans and sets the table and looks out for the children. Although Cal is paid to do this work for the family, it is not a coincidence that it is women doing the domestic chores in every single household, it is a strict societal code. Evidence of this protocol is seen when Scout states; “[Calpurnia] seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.” This clearly shows that young Scout has learned cooking means ‘being a girl’. Sexism.

Moreover, the roles of men and women in the home mirror their roles in society. Men are the leaders of the family, making the decisions, looking after finances being the breadwinner, while women must get all the chores done without complaining and must be the “sunshine in a man’s lonely life”. Outside of the home this translates to men being the leaders of the country, yet a women’s value was in their beauty and ‘softness’, their worth was based off how happy they made men. The setting of the Finch’s home reinforces the theme of sexism because it is where gender norms are as black and white as anywhere, we can obviously see the separate boxes men and women are put into. These interactions in a household could also be seen as a sort of a magnification and zoomed in section of society, evidence of the origins of sexism. The Finch’s home reinforces the theme of sexism not only because it illustrates the oppression within the home surrounding male and female roles but also shows the root of gender norms in our culture.

The layout of the town, Maycomb is to show class prejudice, and it reinforces class prejudice because it shows that this bigotry creates physical divides in communities. It is plainly seen as, Tom Robinson… “lives in that little settlement beyond the town dump. He’s a member of Calpurnia’s church”. Blacks, obviously lowest of the classes in the 1930’s, live on the outskirts of town, by the dump. The Ewells are neighbours to the negroes, although they are white, they are poor and have been “the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” meaning they are cast into a similarly low class. Just as far out of town and just as poor (thanks to the recession) are the Cunninghams. In spite of this, the family are widely known for possessing the redeeming quality of honesty. “The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back—no church baskets and no scrip stamps. They never took anything off of anybody, they get along on what they have. They don’t have much, but they get along on it”. Lastly, there are the Finches right in the center. “…Jean Louise [Finch] that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of several generations’ gentle breeding-“. Harper Lee uses the location of the characters’ homes to deliver, in my opinion, the key message of the text. “There’s four kinds of folks in this world. The ordinary like us and the neighbours… the Cunninghams… the Ewells… and the negros” “Naw, Jem, I think there is just one kind of folks. Folks”. ‘Jem’ literally groups the classes or ‘types of people’ in perfect alignment with the location they are described to live. Harper Lee has used setting as a tool to give the reader a deeper perception of the atmosphere of little Maycomb. It shows the palpable divide between classes geographically and how locations actually separate people so much that they choose not to interact with each other. “Jean Louise, there is no doubt in my mind that they’re good folks. But they’re not our kind of folks….you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem. Besides, there a drinking streak in that family a mile wide. Finch women aren’t interested in that sort of people.”Jem, as most people do, has made the judgement that he and his neighbours are different and apart from the Cunninghams and the Ewells and the negroes but our Scout does not agree because she sees that people are not defined by the place where they live nor their financial status. This shows again how the setting and prejudice are so heavily intertwined.

Setting is used as non-verbal communication to show animosity but also creates an opportunity to induce prejudicial comments. We see the sexism, racism and class prejudice many times in how the black and white people are separated in the courtroom, the way that all ladies are coincidentally homebodies and how being of a lower class affects where you are in the town. This setting that embodies many many social divides, combined with a slow paced life certainly highlights prejudice and reinforces the theme of prejudice. Maycomb, Alabama 1930 is where oppression is as common as dirt.