Comparing and Contrasting

The main idea of the few chapters that we read from Nightjohn was to show how terrible slavery was and to see how the slaves were treated.  One example of how terrible slaves were treated is how a girl named Alice was treated.  Alice was always a happy go lucky girl.  She was picked by the plantation owner to be a breeder.  She did not want to be a breeder but was forced to breed.  The owner tore off her clothes forced her to have sex and whipped her then left her just hanging there as an example.  After that happened she was no longer a happy person, she lost her reason to live.  Then she tried to run away, but did not get far.  When the owner caught her they let the dog tear her to shreds, she did not die although she wanted to.  Another example is Jim.  Jim was an old man that decided to run away.  He did not get very far before they caught him.  He tried to climb up a tree but did not get up in time.  He was just hanging there when the lets the dogs loose.  The tore him apart from the waist down and then just left what was left of him hanging there as an example to other to not run away.

The main thought behind the chapter “Mascot” was to show racism.  One example is that when Malcolm X is talking to his teacher, Mr. Williams, about what he wants to be when he is older.  Malcolm told Mr. Williams that he wanted to be a lawyer and Mr. Williams replied with “Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is for us to be realistic.  Don’t misunderstand me, now.  We all here like you, you know that.  But you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer-that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.”  That is just a terrible thing to says to anyone let alone to a child.  Malcolm later said that is Mr. Williams had not said that he would have been a lawyer instead of a civil rights activist.

The Great debaters like the other two stories of hardship and racism.  It is a story of people becoming more than anyone else thought they could be.  In the movie there is a woman that wants to be a lawyer similar to Malcolm X excerpt that she never had anyone tell her that she could not unlike Malcolm X.  She eventually did become a lawyer also.  The people Wiley college team was told that they could not debate the Harvard and that they could not win.  Sarny was also told that she could not read.  In both of these cases they proved everyone wrong by doing the impossible.