Blog – ‘Engaging the Text’ #2 on p. 322
The essay does make a case that the wealthy are exploiting the poor. Gregory Mantsios explicitly says that capitalism is designed to give the powerflul people money and keep poorer people poor. Mantsios doesn't just assume this, he offers statistics showing how this works, such as SAT scores. Mantsios shows that the richer one is the higher SAT score they are likely to get, and the easier it will be for them to get into college, and therefore to get a job, etc... In addition, he points out that rich people keep money in the family. He says that 86% of people who make 100,000 dollars a year received assets that contributed a "substantial amount" to their financial situation. There certainly are other interpretations of the data that Mantsios provides, especially regarding the middle class. Mantsios defines the middle class as just 4% of the population. But the middle class could also be defined as an ever-changing group of people in the middle of how much money people actually make, as opposed to his method of taking all the money and dividing it by the number of people.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Idyllic Themes Contrasting
Blog – In what way does Cruz’s story contrast the idyllic themes of Alger? Are they also similar in some ways?
Cruz's story contrasts the idyllic themes of Alger in very obvious ways. Horatio Alger's stories about Ragged Dick consist of one omnipresent story-line: Ragged Dick is poor and has all the odds against him but he overcomes them through hard work, merit, and a tad bit of luck. Horatio Alger's stories attempt to offer every American hope: that if you work hard enough, and you're a good person, you can get as far in life as you want. Stephen Cruz shares that he first believed in the Ragged Dick stories. Cruz himself was rising up in society. But he realized that it wasn't just because of his hard work as he wanted to believe. Cruz was moving up because of the laws regarding racial equality in the workforce, because he was a Latino who could speak English like a "white person". Essentially what Cruz realized was that the American Dream is not available for everyone. Had it not been for the racial equality laws, minorities would have no equality in the workforce at all. But that doesn't mean Cruz is satisfied with the laws then, as he realizes that he isn't being kept around for his skills and hard work, but to make the company look good legally.
Cruz's story contrasts the idyllic themes of Alger in very obvious ways. Horatio Alger's stories about Ragged Dick consist of one omnipresent story-line: Ragged Dick is poor and has all the odds against him but he overcomes them through hard work, merit, and a tad bit of luck. Horatio Alger's stories attempt to offer every American hope: that if you work hard enough, and you're a good person, you can get as far in life as you want. Stephen Cruz shares that he first believed in the Ragged Dick stories. Cruz himself was rising up in society. But he realized that it wasn't just because of his hard work as he wanted to believe. Cruz was moving up because of the laws regarding racial equality in the workforce, because he was a Latino who could speak English like a "white person". Essentially what Cruz realized was that the American Dream is not available for everyone. Had it not been for the racial equality laws, minorities would have no equality in the workforce at all. But that doesn't mean Cruz is satisfied with the laws then, as he realizes that he isn't being kept around for his skills and hard work, but to make the company look good legally.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Dick
Blog – Dick is essentially rewarded for his actions with the job opportunity of a lifetime. What implicit argument is the story making about what it takes to be successful?
The implicit argument that the story is making about what it takes to be successful is a combination of two things: luck and effort. The story essentially says that there are chances for everyone to act upon their opportunities like Dick acted on the opportunity to save the boy. It encourages one to act upon these opportunities of goodwill because you very well might end up lucky. There are many Mr. Rockwell's out there who will offer you the opportunity of a lifetime "for saving their son" (or whatever the opportunity may be). The author does not, however, suggest this is all a matter of luck. The author takes another step into guaranteeing that good things will happen if you capitalize on your opportunities. The author implicitly argues that you get out of an opportunity what you put in. Just as Dick risks his life to save the boy, he receives the opportunity to change his life. Essentially what the author is arguing is that hard work will render you lucky.
The implicit argument that the story is making about what it takes to be successful is a combination of two things: luck and effort. The story essentially says that there are chances for everyone to act upon their opportunities like Dick acted on the opportunity to save the boy. It encourages one to act upon these opportunities of goodwill because you very well might end up lucky. There are many Mr. Rockwell's out there who will offer you the opportunity of a lifetime "for saving their son" (or whatever the opportunity may be). The author does not, however, suggest this is all a matter of luck. The author takes another step into guaranteeing that good things will happen if you capitalize on your opportunities. The author implicitly argues that you get out of an opportunity what you put in. Just as Dick risks his life to save the boy, he receives the opportunity to change his life. Essentially what the author is arguing is that hard work will render you lucky.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)