Analysis Of Our Time By Mary Pratt

A contact zone is the space in which transculturation takes place. It is where two different cultures meet and inform each other, often in highly asymmetrical ways. A contact zone is where people come together and often disagree about their ideas. Mary Pratt defines “transculturation as a processes whereby members of subordinated or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted by a dominant metropolitan culture” (323). It means that there is a higher power that gives orders and information to people who do not have power or people who are lower in power. Pratt uses transcultural to describe the dominant groups or cultures because there are so many groups and cultures that are dominant in this world. “Our Time” is a transcultural …show more content…
Wideman used both professional and slang language. Robby mostly used the indigenous language. I think that he talks that ways because that what he is used to. That’s the language they use in the streets. For example, he says that, “nobody to blame but my ownself. I know now. But things were fucked up in the streets” (458). He thought that the streets were easy but in the end, he found out that the hard way. The streets landed him in jail. He using this words to make the reader experience and understand what he did and went through while he was on the streets. I think that because he didn’t choose the right path, the streets chose for him. He blames the world but he did this to himself. He ended up in prison because he made the wrong choices. Wideman uses metropolis idioms because he wants to be professional with the story. For example, he writes in an appropriate way, so you know he is the one talking. It is different from his brother’s language that he uses. Wideman states that, “and it had taken guards, locks, and bars to bring us together” (436). Wideman is trying to explain what it took to bring him and his brother together. For example, tragedy bring people together. He saying that if his brother was not in prison, they would not have get to know each other better. Robby’s situation brought them together. I can’t image what is going to Wideman’s mind. He should be mad at his brother for causing trouble and a …show more content…
Though out the book, Wideman lets his brother talk but in just certain times. He will let his brother talk then he will talk. I think that Wideman was trying to write his brother’s point of view and then his point of view. He wanted to make sure that we readers understand what we were reading. Wideman is a writer and also a reader of the story. He was explaining things in his way so the readers can understand Robby’s point of view from his point of view. In a way, he was trying to make it easier for the readers to read and understand what they are reading. For example, Wideman lets his brother talk at the bottom of page 442 until the top of page 445. Robby states that, “loved youall but wasn’t no room left for me. Had to figure out a new territory. I had to be a rebel.” Robby is mostly explaining about his childhood growing up. The events that led him to make bad choices. The neighborhood that he grew up in, and he also explains how life was hard for him as a kid. Even though the transition between his brother and him talking made the story confusing to who’s speaking, it was the only way Wideman will get people to read the story. I think that if Wideman let his brother talk throughout the book, people would not have let the story because it has not meaning to them. He just a person in jail. Nothing is important about