Once Jurgis is all cleaned up after his wreak of a life has fallen apart, he finds a job working at the hotel for Tommy Hinds. “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that count’s it’s how many times you get back up” (Braddock) James Braddock was a tall and strong man. James was not scared of anything. James was a wealthy man because of his boxing career.…
Throughout When We Were Kings there is a constant duality between Muhammad Ali’s well favored embracement of African culture and George Foreman’s disgraceful contentment with staying an outsider. The film highlights the importance of African-Americans accepting and learning their African roots by showing us the good and bad of the famous “Rumble in the Jungle”. The film proves that an underdog such as Ali can win against a man larger and stronger by enforcing a home court advantage. We cheer for Ali because he is a “real person” and seeks a connection with the natives of Zaire unlike Foreman. Ali illustrates that embracing your “people” and heritage is winning and can overcome bad odds (Gast,…
On 05/12/17 at 6:48pm, I Deputy Warden N. Christian was dispatched to the area of W 5th Ave and Highland St on a dog at large, patrol only. I arrived in the area and saw a unknown male and female playing with a white medium mix dog and a boxer in a field. I stopped and exited my vehicle and approached the individuals. They indicated that they are the ones that called about the boxer running loose. I returned to my vehicle and retrieved my snare pole and doggie treats.…
Pride instills an illusion of perfection in people, and this paper-thin image it creates is vulnerable to be torn by the slightest impact. Throughout the world’s history, countless people get tempted by the cause of pride. Their judgments were clouded as a result of hubris. In particular, the narrator from the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”, famous cyclist Lance Armstrong, and legendary leader Julius Caesar exemplify that people who allow pride to consume them will make irrational choices that lead to regrettable consequences.…
Throughout several years, blacks have grown up knowing that it will be hard for them to find jobs and to have a good future. Life in the streets is hard for them as many of them have to fight to survive while also not getting the opportunities that people of other races do. The documentary, ‘Dawg Fight,’ talks a lot about fighting, how it is an outlet for anger, it is a way to resolve conflict, and it helps in finding a job. It is also an extension in a way for the book, ‘More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City’ by William Julius Wilson, as it goes into more detail about how life is for blacks.…
In the novel The Gangster We Are All Looking For, Le Thi Diem Thuy, the author uses water in a quite symbolic way. In the very beginning of the book Thuy lets the readers know that in Vietnamese the word nu’o‘c means both water and homeland. This seems to be something that whether consciously or unconsciously is kept in the narrator's mind. At times water is used as a symbol of comfort for the narrator.…
Published in 1993, “Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member,” is a memoir written by Sanyika Shakur. Set in East Los Angeles during the late 70s, 80’s and early 90s, Shakur’s book illustrates the overwhelming amount of violence that occurs due to conflicts between rivalry gangs. As mentioned in the book, the majority of the conflict is not between the Crips and the Bloods but instead between Crips and other Crips. The book offers a unique difference from most other books about gang life because the author, also known as “Monster Kody” throughout most of the text, is a notorious member of the “Eight Trays Gangster Crips” and manages to work his way through the ranks to Original Gangster. Just graduating the sixth grade, Kody has…
Defying the odds and accomplishing what you set after to do, or letting the problems overwhelm you and giving up are the results of dealing with adversity. It is up to you to determine what outcome you will have. Adversity simply defined is a difficult situation or misfortune. Adversity often brings out the best in individuals. Also adversity a common source of adversity comes from other people and them trying to hold someone back from their full potential.…
After watching the movie Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, many of the events/situation that occurred between the Supreme Court Justices and law clerks surprised me. First, I was fascinated by Justice Harlan’s law clerk, Kevin Connolly’s tenacity and idealistic attitude during the process of rejecting and accepting the case, Clay v. the United States. For instance, Connolly’s bravery was demonstrated when he tried to dismiss his responsibility to write the brief directed by Justice Harlan due to his political ideology.…
Just imagine that feeling of months and months of running, lifting weights, taking blow and blow, one punch at a time one step at a time for it all to come down to one night of 12 rounds in front of thousands. Now imagine the feeling of being alive you must feel when you connect with that one punch that sucks the room out of the air! Stops time! And lands your opponent on the mats for the knockout win… Amazing right?…
Intergenerational trauma is a term that is used to describe traumatic events that have impacted a cultural group in one generation, which can have lasting psychological, economical, or cultural effects on future generations. Although it can exist in serious and unfortunate occurrences like residential schools, intergenerational trauma can also be light-hearted, riveting and fun in relation to sport rivalries. Sport fans are well aware that not all games are created equal and that some games are in fact more important than others. With this in mind, there is one particular matchup that can trump all others, which is undoubtedly one against a rival.…
“Fighting Racism” Jack Johnson is considered as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Jack, who was actually born by the name of John Johnson, grew up in a time when African Americans did not have many rights. Johnson had to fight for any opportunity or almost anything he ever wanted because of racial discrimination. He was never one to be controlled by the social norms of the time; this made him a perfect fit to become a boxer.…
Jenee Desmond – Harris wrote an article called “Tupac and My Non-thug Life,” which was published in an online article called The Root. The title of this article seems very contradictory and that is because it is. This article is about how Desmond – Harris, as a young privileged half white, half black teenage girl, finds herself trying to embody Tupac after his death. The contradiction of this is that Desmond-Harris did not relate to Tupac in the ways of how they grew up. Desmond – Harris had yet to confront any of life’s hard edges when Tupac had passed.…
Blood, sweat, tears and a whole lot of determination, from living a life of pain and misery and being given no chance at all in life, being called a ‘bum’, to getting one of the biggest chances of a lifetime that would never occur again. Rocky Balboa known as Sylvester Stallone is the definition of determination and an underdog story for the ages. Rocky Balboa had a hard life growing up - living in a small house, trying to make a living as a boxer. One fateful day he was given the opportunity of a lifetime. To fight the world heavyweight champion Apollo creed.…
They see that they are unsatisfied when trying to achieve the male American dream and have no gratification in their lives. Fight Club members see that their job does not define them but often in the male American dream, a man’s job is his value. Through the constant pressure to conform to society’s standards, the male loses his true identity and becomes a slave to working for the male American dream, giving him no sense of self, worth or pride therefore losing masculinity and identity by only conforming to what everyone else does and expects. The narrator exemplifies this through his upscale condo with all matching furniture sets from Ikea (Fight Club). The narrator states, “I had it all.…