Justice In The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Improved Essays
The world is an amazing place for some people, yet not for all. A few unfortunate individuals are terribly discriminated against because of disability. For these few ill-fated people life may not be so kind to them. To illustrate the poor treatment and discrimination of disadvantaged human beings the novel “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” represents the harsh times in history for the disabled population. Manifested through the uncertainty of characters and institutions, Kim Edwards exhibited justice to the undue hardships of handicapped individuals in the 1960’s. Justice is initiated through Caroline despite the actions of David and the School Board.

To begin, David is portrayed as an obstacle against Caroline’s pursual for justice for Phoebe. One of the first things we see david do is
…show more content…
The school board refuses to take any down syndrome student because they require extra time and supervision. “If it were me, I’d rather have her settled in a productive and useful trade” says a representative of the school board. (pg 163) The school board is prejudice towards phoebe’s situation and puts all of the handicapped people on a track towards a trade. This is caused by the disbelief that they are capable of anything more. Caroline takes offence to this predetermined future for her daughter and will not stand for it. “shes six years old...shes not ready to learn a trade.”says Caroline (pg 163) Caroline does not want a prearranged career for her daughter. Caroline decides to inform them that her daughter is too young to have to worry about school and especially not a career. It is not only people who are discriminatory towards down syndrome but whole organisations such as this school board can be against the equal treatment for these individuals and Caroline will not take this

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Her attitude is justified by her teacher, who tells Davidson that the young girl has a learning disability and only began to fare better in her studies when she was sent to that school. Her talents and abilities may not make the young girl the best possible candidate to be The One-Size-Fits-All Model of Standards, but it does allow her to create a standard for herself. The untapped potential inside her could not have been reached for more standardization; rather it was reached by taking a completely different turn in how she was learning. Other students seeking to liberate…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Short Bus, written in in 2007 by Jonathan Mooney, is a story about Jonathan’s journey through the United States one summer, in a short bus. Jonathan, who was labeled as Learning Disabled in school, talks about his experiences with dyslexia and attention problems throughout his schooling experience, and recalls the short bus, used for students with disabilities, and is set out to change the meaning of the “short bus”. Jonathan states that to him, most of his life, the short bus he would see coming down the road was “the symbol of disability and pain” (Mooney, 2007, p.6) in his life. One of his main goals during this journey is to reinvent the word “normal”.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During this era, disabled people were known as anyone who essentially did not look like an ideal normal white person. The author describes the terms of these laws as, “those labeled insane, idiotic, feebleminded, epileptic, and otherwise “defective” (Welke, 79). The author continues on to describe how labeled disabled people were to be institutionalized, and treated without the right to citizenship and…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Essay developed by Nancy Mairs, Mairs analyzes her perception on what the word “crippled” means to her and what she feels serves its purpose. She defines the word in her own words stating that it is straightforward, precise, and holds history. She also gives her take on what the other words such as “handicapped” and “disabled mean to her stating that they are words that demean those who are not capable of doing things a certain way. She differentiates the levels of demeanor that the terms hold and how they serve different purposes. Mairs goes on defining what these words mean to her and as she defines “crippled” she embraces it showing that it is a word that expresses her self pride and self conscious.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the real world,lots of people think handicap people are “different”and “weird” just because of their issues and their health. Some people don’t even want to get close to them because they think they are “contageous”. In my opinion,they are perfect the way they are and they are the same as us no matter their healty or sickness. To continue,another discrimination people would face is due to their social class. In the story,Byron which is Kenny’s brother is the “god” of the school.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two Different Sides According to census.gov, 1 in 5 Americans have suffered from disabilities. This statistic includes those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, Down Syndrome, Autism and various physical disabilities they are born with. In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the characters Doodle and Lennie both suffer from a problematic disability. These stories are both so intense they will leave the reader on the edge of their seat.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Riley II inserts the historical impact on current media and minds of how disabilities were portrayed in the past has affected the present. “We have had millennia of fiction and nonfiction depicting angry people with disabilities as villains, from Oedipus to Ahab to Dr. Strangelove.” This is an emotional as it makes you feel sad for how people with disabilities were demonized in the past and how thinking of works you read as a kid portrayed people with disabilities unfairly. It raises ethical dilemmas too as we allow our youth to continue to read these stories at a young age and be influenced. “It is impossible to know the full degree of damage wreaked by the demanding and wildly inaccurate portrayal of people with disabilities.”…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Starting with the first sentence, the story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. already relates to today’s societal issues with equality, stating that it is now the future and equality has been met. Vonnegut starts off the sentence saying “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal,” and I instantly began to think of today’s society and how almost every day the issue of equality is brought up, whether it be with feminism, gay marriage, etc. He then begins to explain what is so equal amongst everybody. In the 4th sentence he states, “Nobody was smarter than anybody else,” and then continues saying, “nobody was better looking than anybody else, and nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” After reading these sentences, it…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Liberty can be defined as governmental, protected freedom of discrimination from both society and the government. Based off the support of many powerful politicians, the number of acts passed over several years, and the various programs created by the government, people with disabilities primarily gained liberty through governmental assistance beginning in the 1930’s. Throughout the 1900’s people with disabilities were viewed by society as feebleminded, useless, tragic, evil, and as defective human beings. They were discriminated in many areas such as education, employment, public transportation, voting, and availability of treatment or rehabilitation.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was inevitable that the sound of laughter from children his own age, the buoyant jokes they 'd utter and the encouraging words they’d say to one another would cause numerous questions to run through his mind, "How does it feel to be like them? To not be ashamed of who they are and where they’d come from? " It’d leave him wondering how it would feel to be accepted. It’s tough to imagine children experiencing something as horrid as discrimination, it’s even harder to believe they’re also the ones causing it. How they see the universe and everybody in it is influenced by those around them.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Maggie’s mom refuses to take any handouts from anyone. She gets angry when Maggie accepts change from Mr. Petrakis, who is a good friend to Maggie. Later, her mother refuses to let her daughter purchase a dress from her friends’ father’s dress show, using a discount. I also learned that hearing people, like Maggie, who grow up in a deaf family struggle in academics because sign language is their first language. Although, Maggie is hearing, she was forced to work much harder than her peers for that reason.…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Keith Jones, another individual with disabilities would go on to share a very interesting viewpoint of the education system. As an African-American, Keith described many of the unique situations he went through in his life related to his disability. This brought to light another issue where individuals with disabilities are often discriminated against by not only their disability, but also through other areas easily targeted by prejudice. Keith’s story did indeed raise another even deeper question for the audience, how do we provide an equal and positive educational experience for those with disabilities while also keeping in mind many of the already present prejudices within the world we live in? Is there a way we can help dispel many of these already horrific prejudices while also providing the best educational experience for everyone?…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Disability Movement Essay

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Throughout many years of history, those with disabilities were not always treated fairly or given equal opportunity. Activists around the world have worked together to achieve goals such as increased access to all types of transportation and a safer day to day environment. Equal opportunities in employment and education have been a big part of their efforts too. For many years, children with disabilities were many times segregated and not given an equal opportunity for a chance to learn and succeed in school. A disability should not limit a person’s choice to improve themselves and their intellectual capabilities.…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People are don’t think they are still unaware about treating and assisting and helping these people .People who are disabilities are accept to survive in a world with great respect and they still are willing to lead and run the life which is no more different than normal people, But talking about today’s world bad news is our society, neighbor views that the disabled person who lack the natural ability strength to understand, or think good for themselves. The story is autobiographical, very heart touching and emotional tyrannical, captious, arbitrary, landowner is the author’s mother who is very greedy and selfish. She was widowed early and was absolute monarch on her estate. For example, that she had two serfs sent to Siberia for having failed to make their obeisance’s to her as she passed because they did not see her.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays