Melissa Zaragoza

For the Next couple weeks I will be studying Post colonial Lens, what influenced me the most to choose this topic is racism, freedom of speech, and to protect Human rights. The colonial class has so much power to colonize race, religion, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, and costume beliefs. I believe that the African Americans race is capable of being self sufficient. This particular lens catched my attention because it is a problem that still goes on till this very day, when in reality it should've been left behind years ago.  The other day on my way home from school a car pulled up next to mine and it was a women. In Front of her car was a red truck and a Mexican men was driving it. The women was american and had her windows down, she was was yelling outside her car “why do people come to the US if they can’t even speak English” and “Why do Mexicans have to be here they are not welcomed". I was very shocked and wanted to say something back, the lady then stepped in the pedal and crashed into the back of the Mexicans truck. I felt extremely mad and full of anger but also felt pretty bad for the man because he could of made her pay for the damage she did, but like he doesn't have papers so he can’t get victory or go looking for the cops. My personal belief about this topic is I agree 100% completely with the fact that we should not allow racism. No race is better than another and no race knows more than another, we are all the same and should be treated equally. We can not allow a race to be feel more powerful than other. A similar topic to racism that I was considering on choosing is feminism, feminism is similar as racism but its gender inequality not skin tone. I believe much in the fact that everyone deserves a chance and are capable to do anything they like if they put there heart and mind to it, not just because you're Asian or black or a women you aren't suited for chasing your dreams. Out of this project I am hopping to get racism to stop completely from people, when they look in my blog and see all the  racism that has been going on around in our everyday life and in beloved.

For this project I will be writing through a marxist lens.  From the beginning of humanity there has always been a separation from who had the most power to who has the most money, and no matter how different it has been many years ago, we are still faced with a label.  And in Beloved social class is a huge impact on a person in that time, slaves were below any level of social status which will help understand why the character acted a certain way.  I have been around people with a higher class and also people in a lower class and what I have noticed is that people that are in lower classes tend to be around people in the same social class as their are. And when two people from different social classes they tend to have a hard time communicating because of their differences in culture.  What I believe about the Marxist lens is that although it may not seem fair, it seems necessary to have.  If there is no one in those lower classes who will be taking the jobs that the people in the higher class don’t want to take.  It is a system that is put into action because it has a purpose.  And at times I don’t see a point to it because of the fact that it is almost impossible to raise your social status.  But that was not the only lens that hooked me, the Feminist lens also intrigued me because since the main character is a female it would give me a good idea to ask myself if  the main character was a Male would the actions be any different and how people see things.  What I am hoping to get from this project is to be able t0 strengthen my writing and and explanation skills so that what I am thinking is heard and understood.

I decided to analyze Beloved through the post colonial criticism. I chose to read through this perspective because I am passionate about social justice, and I want to focus on the interaction between the African American community, and their struggle to overcome adversity and challenges that slavery caused. No one has the right to own another person, and no race or culture is inferior to another, yet there was a time that this was considered acceptable, and it still something we struggle with today. The Untied States is considered a "melting pot", where there is a diverse cultures and ethnicity, however the amount of discrimination in our nations's history is horrific. The consequences of slavery lasted for years after, and only started to be given true change during the 1950s. Post colonial’s focus analyzes the “colonization” of a community to another, and during this time period the inferiority that whites felt towards African Americans resulted in years of inequality and injustice. While reading, I am interested in how how a person’s cultural background influences their interactions with other characters, and how it will affects their choices in the story. I want to analyze how different cultures  are portrayed towards each other in the story,  and how this affects each character’s actions. Though post colonialism studies the cultural interactions within literature, it also relates to present day. Today in 2015, we still see racism and injustice just as it was in the 1860’s just “differently”.  By reading the story through a post colonial lens, it analyses the effects of slavery and how hegemony and slavery in the past still affects our society today.

I picked the psychoanalytic lens. I chose this because in my life I have had experiences with psychology. I like to look into how people think to better understand the world around me. I have taken multiple psychology courses. I have seen the depth of how people think and how they chose to view the world around them. Everyone's actions affect one another and how we think determines how the world runs. What we are taught and our confidence levels and natural ways of thinking can either benefit or hurt us. I have a hard time understanding why people do the things they do and I would like to learn so as to avoid manipulation and pain in my life. I believe it is important for everyone to be able to notice their thought processes and correct the errors that lead to rash and detrimental decisions. Humans naturally need other people to live. They need connections due to the thinking habits that have been carried with us throughout the centuries.

Humans naturally when there is danger go to other people for help. Without that support it feels as it did when humans were first created or evolved whichever you believe in. Physical danger is inherently lessened in groups and two’s.

Trauma is highly common no matter the degree throughout today’s society. In a situation that is a “trigger” the person has the same exact emotions they had when the scary situation was happening in the moment that the trigger happens. These triggers and fears tend to lead peoples actions and make it difficult for them to live their daily lives. This affects others as well as the traumatized person and serves to either push away people, scare them, hurt them, or bring them closer together.

In the “Stanford prison experiment” it was shown that humans have a tendency to not only conform to their peers, but also to listen to what they perceive to be authority. Over all psychology is a very strong aspect of life and is relatable to everyone.