Ingrid Illustrated

  A recurring theme I have noticed in many of the pieces of writing we have analyzed is intersectional oppression. Intersectional oppression is when already oppressed groups start to oppress each other, to feel some sort of power over others. I have seen this type of oppression in “Indian Education”, Lord of the Files , the Smithsonian article, and sadly, real life.  In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, intersectional oppression is seen when a Chicano teacher points out that the Indian kids had been drinking. Even though the teacher knows what oppression is like himself, he feels the need to oppress others below him to feel better about himself. In the novel Lord of the Files by William Golding, Piggy and Simon are minorities themselves, but continue to pick on the littluns, the group even lower on the social ladder than them. The Smithsonian article also mentions this quote by Audre Lorde, “There is no hierarchy of oppressions”, which shows that oppressed...

  This week, for my silent book club reading book, I am reading Big Little Lies , by Liane Moriairty. In the book, age is something that is talked about immensely. The older women want to be young again and alive, while the younger women want to become more mature and stronger. The two groups of women are both jealous of the other, signifying the human instinct to want what you can’t have.  Ever since we were little, we were taught to always be content with what we had and to only worry about ourselves. However, we were always still jealous, leading sentences with “but she has this” and “why can’t I have this like her”. Our parents have helped us realize that not everyone is equal, so not everyone gets the same things or opportunities, but the instinct is still there. As we get older, we will never stop being jealous of what other people have, but we can learn to be more appreciative of what WE have.  Shakespeare actually classified jealousy as a green-eyed monster that a...

  This week in class, we had a Harkness discussion about the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. In the story, all of the townspeople participate in the horrible tradition of stoning someone to death every year for no real reason. Even though they all don’t want to be the one stoned to death, nobody speaks out about it. This is an example of people conforming to the norm just to not stand out.  Conforming to the norm isn’t always good. The example seen in the story is that conforming can actually harm yourself, others, and societies as a whole. When something is wrong, but everyone still does it, that doesn’t make it any more morally correct. Society has brainwashed us into thinking that the norm, and only the norm, is correct. We shouldn’t be afraid to voice our opinions to protect each other or state what we think is correct. Everyone can have their own ideas, and it’s ok if they’re not all the same.  Another example of why conforming isn’t always good is beca...

This week in class, we wrote about our characters’ ideal world in our novels. In 1984 , Winston’s ideal world is a world where love, individuality, and truth are allowed. That got me thinking about what my ideal world would be.  In my ideal world, everyone would be happy. Nobody would be in poverty. There would be no such thing as world hunger, or crime, or corruption. There would be no discrimination or racism. Rape, gender inequality, and harassment wouldn’t exist. Everybody could have anything they wanted, whenever they wanted it. Nobody had to do anything they didn’t want to do. Everybody would be equal. It would be perfect.  Then, I started to think about why this wouldn’t work. Because we, as humans, are greedy and proud. We always feel the need to rise above each other. If everyone in the world had a one million dollar house, there would always be people who wanted a two million dollar house. Also, people have different opinions. My perfect world isn’t the same as my ne...

During Silent Book Club reading time in class this week, I have been reading the novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I am enjoying it very much so far, and one quote that really stood out to me was “ I love him, but I am not sure I like him” (Lockhart 20). The second I read this line, I had to take a step back and think about it. My first thought was that this sentence didn’t make sense at all. Isn’t “love” just a degree of “like”? You have to like somebody before you can fall in love with them. But then I thought about it more. I believe to “like” someone, you have to like their personality and enjoy being around them. In my book, Cadence does not like her grandfather because her grandfather doesn’t welcome any change or diversity. But, she still loves him because he is her grandad.  My brother, for instance, is someone that I love, but do not like. I love him because he is family and will always be there for me. However, I don’t necessarily like hanging out with him all the time....

During our Harkness discussion today, a few classmates brought up the point of money today, becoming Big Brother. After giving this some thought, I can definitely see it happening in our world. In the novel 1984 , Big Brother is portrayed as “God”, the thing that dominated and influenced everyone’s lives. Nowadays, money is becoming closer and closer to “God”. We depend on money. We envy those with more than us. We are hungry for money. Why do we try hard in school? Why do we take honors and AP classes? To get into a good college. Why do we pay $30-80k a year for college? To get a good job. Why do we work hard at our job? To get a promotion and perhaps retire a little earlier. This is considered a successful path in life. But what is considered success? Success is money. Success is happiness. Designer products bring us “happiness”. Big, nice houses bring us “happiness”. Long, exotic vacations bring us “happiness”. But it isn’t permanent. When your Gucci bag tears, you are no longer hap...