Scientifically, synthesis means the combination of ideas to form a theory or system. This synthesis essay I will combine works of literature like To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun, and a social science documentary called American Denial to focus on the “Powerful” and its opposite “Powerlessness” and its effects on race.
Throughout works of literature like To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun, and a social science documentary called American Denial it’s clear that race highly influences your social status. The short story, A Raisin in the Sun, shows this claim perfectly. Walter Younger, from ARITS, is a black man who obviously doesn’t get the same opportunities as the white people. Walter is mean and nasty to pretty much …show more content…
I think Walter is so mad is because his life didn’t go as he planned. At times it’s as if Walter wished he were white. At one point in the story he says, “I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…Mama – look at me.” Hansberry 73. During the Civil Rights time white people had better opportunities for success. In the middle of the Civil Rights movement in 1962 almost more than 50% of all African Americans were living in poverty. White people,who had the lowest poverty rate, had 15% poverty rate. Flash forward to 2010 African Americans remain the highest race living in poverty with 27.4%, while white people are one of the lowest with only 13% living in poverty. In the documentary American Denial (40:13-42:10), black psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clarke did an experiment called the doll study. In the experiment black children were put in a room and on the table in front of them were two dolls, a white doll and a black doll. The kids were supposed to pick a doll that they thought …show more content…
An example is our country the US. The most powerful people in our society are predominantly white. Even though a federal country, like the US, gives ethnicity and other races equal representation in politics it doesn’t seem that way. We see a great example of this in To Kill a Mockingbird. Dolphus Raymond, a character in To Kill a Mockingbird, is in love with a black woman and marries her. Dolphus’ choices of ridicule him from the rest of his neighbors in Maycomb. Dolphus was born into a rich white family, so his social standings in the community had been already high, but when he marries a black woman he isn’t respected anymore. We always hear about how a minority was treated differently or unjustly compared to his or her white colleague. The Civil Rights Movement hoped to destroy racism, but we still see in our society unfairness and discrimination amount race. An experiment by Mahzarin Banaji in the documentary An American Denial (22:27-26:10) showed that most white people have unconscious biases towards white people. She did this experiment on bosses and CEOs of companies and they also had an unconscious bias towards white people. If Tom Robinson was white, a character from To Kill a Mockingbird, his verdict would have been very different. Atticus even said “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's,
Throughout works of literature like To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun, and a social science documentary called American Denial it’s clear that race highly influences your social status. The short story, A Raisin in the Sun, shows this claim perfectly. Walter Younger, from ARITS, is a black man who obviously doesn’t get the same opportunities as the white people. Walter is mean and nasty to pretty much …show more content…
I think Walter is so mad is because his life didn’t go as he planned. At times it’s as if Walter wished he were white. At one point in the story he says, “I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…Mama – look at me.” Hansberry 73. During the Civil Rights time white people had better opportunities for success. In the middle of the Civil Rights movement in 1962 almost more than 50% of all African Americans were living in poverty. White people,who had the lowest poverty rate, had 15% poverty rate. Flash forward to 2010 African Americans remain the highest race living in poverty with 27.4%, while white people are one of the lowest with only 13% living in poverty. In the documentary American Denial (40:13-42:10), black psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clarke did an experiment called the doll study. In the experiment black children were put in a room and on the table in front of them were two dolls, a white doll and a black doll. The kids were supposed to pick a doll that they thought …show more content…
An example is our country the US. The most powerful people in our society are predominantly white. Even though a federal country, like the US, gives ethnicity and other races equal representation in politics it doesn’t seem that way. We see a great example of this in To Kill a Mockingbird. Dolphus Raymond, a character in To Kill a Mockingbird, is in love with a black woman and marries her. Dolphus’ choices of ridicule him from the rest of his neighbors in Maycomb. Dolphus was born into a rich white family, so his social standings in the community had been already high, but when he marries a black woman he isn’t respected anymore. We always hear about how a minority was treated differently or unjustly compared to his or her white colleague. The Civil Rights Movement hoped to destroy racism, but we still see in our society unfairness and discrimination amount race. An experiment by Mahzarin Banaji in the documentary An American Denial (22:27-26:10) showed that most white people have unconscious biases towards white people. She did this experiment on bosses and CEOs of companies and they also had an unconscious bias towards white people. If Tom Robinson was white, a character from To Kill a Mockingbird, his verdict would have been very different. Atticus even said “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's,