American Born Chinese

i really liked this graphic novel. it was actually one of my favorites. it is a perfect example of bullying, and feeling isolated. this graphic novel should be shown to younger children, so they can understand from a young age what it feels like to be left out. the character is the only asian in his class. this makes him an outcast because he looks different from everyone else. no one accepted him or wanted to be his friend. so, he decided to make friends with whoever was willing. this resulted in him becoming friends with a bully who took advantage of him. eventually, another asian boy comes into the class. at first our main character is reluctant to become friends with him. eventually, they do end up becoming really good friends because they accepted each other for who they were. i think in life sometimes people judge someone on their appearance, the clothes they wear, or even how they act. Unfortunately, this is how life is. it is important to teach children at a young age that this judgmental attitude is wrong. diversity is okay and sometimes it can teach you new things.

Dutiful Daughters

The spanish culture, particullary Peurto Rican culture daughters are expected to be the caretakers of everyone. They are taught this from a young age. The concept "marinismo" is the idea that little girls are brought up with in the spanish culture. From the youg age daughters are breed to understand that they will one day take care of the entire family and they will have to put everyone before themselves. What they are also taught is that their brothers will not have this responsibility. instead they are able to get an education and start their own families. in my opinion this concept is not fair and it is completly sexist. yes parents should be taken care of as they get older, but it should be a joint effort. if a son and daughter are both present they should both take equal responsibilities. They have the same mother who carried both of them for nine months so, all children owe mothers and even fathers some respect. so, daughters should not have full responsibility for their parents. it should be an equal responsibility among all children no matter what the gender may be.

Little Failure

I personally did not care for the style of writing Gary Shteyngart chose. He jumped around throughout the entire book. It was very hard to keep up with him at some points. I had to re-read some pages a few times just to make sure I understood what was going on. I felt as if there was no structure to the book. Gary would talk about the Russians, then his childhood, then America, and then his adulthood. I think Gary should have gotten all the historical information out of the way in a separate part of the book, like the first few chapters. Then he should of began his whole life story. It would of been an easier read for me if he did that.

The Emergence of Modern Colorism in the Americas

I personally do not understand how the white men got away with the things they did. They raped black women, enslaved thousands, and had children with slaves and took zero responsibility for them. This shows how long it took for modern day society to form. The Declaration of Independence stated everyone was created equal. But, around the time of enslavement that statement contradicted itself. However, I still think that women are inferior to men and this has been going on for centuries. This is proven in The Color Complex. Women were shipped away on boats and forced to marry men they have never met. They were not given the freedom of expression or individualism. Today this kind of stuff still happens. For example, arranged marriages are still seen in some parts of the world. Right here in New York it is evident that women are inferior in the work force. Men have an advantage because society thinks they have more power. Whereas women are just as good as men and are just not given the chance to prove themselves sometimes.  Some men are even paid more then women a that are in the same working positions. Fortunatly, there has been a lot of improvement in women's equality and hopefully it will just continue to get better.