orenhammerquist

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    literature
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    The Career of the Light Brigade

    Many of us are familiar with Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Most people are not aware of Kipling's later poem "The Last of the Light Brigade" that talks about how these veterans have been forgotten. I would like to look at what these two poems (and other by Kipling and maybe Melville) can tell us about war.

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      literature
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      New Racism in America and Literature

      I suggest an article examining how racism has evolved in American Literature and what we can learn from it. My hypothesis is that we cannot understand tolerance until we understand racism and that literature is the way to do that. This would heavily focus on Huck Finn.

      • Interesting topic. A comprehensive history of how literature deals with the theme of racism across different periods would be essential. A few classics come to mind - Great Gatsby, The Bluest Eye and all Toni Morrison book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Heart of Darkness, colonial/post-colonial novels (Things Fall Apart) . It would be interesting to go all the way up to medieval literature and see how minorities were depicted too. And even maybe tackle dystopia and fantasy, how racism has been projected onto fantasy worlds as well - we can think about the Muggles and the half-bloods in Harry Potter. This topic is very very large though so it might be useful to narrow it down to a certain continent or genre or minority. – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun 10 years ago
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      • Didn't realise it only focused on America so some examples above are irrelevant. But could still be interesting as preliminary research :) – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun 10 years ago
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      • What I don't understand is how you propose to understand "new racism" in America without analyzing new or contemporary fiction. – T. Palomino 2 years ago
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      Latest Comments

      Good stuff you won’t really see outside of literary/cultural theory. Also, it is extremely dense. Honestly, I find Supreme Court decisions easier to read.

      Derrida in Twain: Deconstructing Racism in American Literature

      Thank you! I posted it on here prior to submission to Sigma Tau Delta Review to see what people said.

      Derrida in Twain: Deconstructing Racism in American Literature

      I agree with you. The biggest clue to that is that he wrote a novel set before the Civil War after the Civil War. It was safe and satirical. Still, it is significant.

      Derrida in Twain: Deconstructing Racism in American Literature

      Go read some of Jack London’s work. He had no particular issues with blacks, but how he hated the Chinese!

      Derrida in Twain: Deconstructing Racism in American Literature

      I think everyone, as stated, is slightly racist. Any criminal justice student knows that all humans identify people better when they are of the same race. Everyone classifies people they see by categorical expectations. This is a necessity that only becomes dangerous if we do not understand it.
      The point of this article was not that Twain was tolerant, but that we should evaluate exactly how and where his racism lies in order to draw out our own stereotypes.

      Derrida in Twain: Deconstructing Racism in American Literature

      Good article. Why didn’t you include Jack London in this list?

      The Nature Novel in American Literature

      Very well argued. Oddly, I had never considered the allegorical elements of this particular story. I think we could also look at death in this story (and all of his stories) as unavoidable. Here, prosperity incarnate (Prospero) cannot save them from a horrible death.

      Allegory in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

      Interesting analysis, but I find your choice of shows strange. Family Guy and American Dad are written by the same group as is The Cleveland Show. I would argue that The Simpsons (as the first adult animation to enter primetime) has had a far greater impact. This show also references popular culture heavily. It is interesting to note that Simpsons was once considered controversial, but it is tame by modern standards. Still, many of its themes are questionable–especially the ever-present elements of child abuse and neglect.
      Also, it is only American animated shows that are comedic. Many anime shows are very serious and dramatic in tone. Whether anime is geared to children or adults is debatable. At any rate, these convey a much different theme to a very different demographic.

      Modern Propaganda: How Animated Comedies Can Change Our Opinions