Milestone 1

My topic of interest for my final project is the culture shock immigrants in the United States are subject to. I will use my personal experience as the perfect example. I will submit it via method A the traditional research paper format.

Cluster Course Wk 2

Let me jump right out and say that with me in this class, this class only got better...No, really. J I love throwing flowers at myself. Anyway, on a serious note, I feel as if my background allows me to be more open to other cultures than the average person out there. As asked of me in this assignment, one of the strengths I bring to this class is that I came from Togo, a West-African French-colonized country, which is thousands of miles away from the US. Being raised in Africa implies being raised by your family, the entire community then by your own self. Just to elaborate a bit, every person in your neighborhood has the right to discipline you when they catch you doing something you are not supposed to be doing. Your family keeps an iron fist on who you hang out with for fear that you might derail and become a loose person. You as an individual raise yourself in part by learning the tricks you need in order to keep your own identity without alienating your family and your community.

The second objective was to assess the ways in which culture shapes gender roles. Having spent 18 years of my life in Africa, I can say with confidence that I know one thing or two about gender inequality. In Togo, every household hopes to have at least one boy. A father who fails to conceive a boy is usually looked upon as if he was sexually impotent. He was looked upon as if there was something wrong with him. We were taught since birth that males were chosen by the gods to be in command and women were taught to respect and fear males. From birth, our own culture elevated us to be kings while reminding females that they were inferior and weak. Of course, I know longer believe such thing, however I respect those who believe in it.

the yellow wallpaper

The story tries to insinuate that the dominant sex ( male ) is sort of abusive when it comes to being in a relationship. It insinuates that males are controlling and do not seem to know when to listen to females in distress. the story left me with a sour taste in the mouth as if we, males, didn't have much feeling when it comes to the weak sex. it was quite an upsetting story.

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." 1894.

This story all starts off with the death of Brently and Richards is one of the first to find out by reading the newspaper. Josephine then went on to break the news to Louise, the wife, who has a bad heart condition. The story goes on by describing all the mixed feelings that the newly widow is experiencing, some sort of joy and sadness all mixed up. Then, finally, she dies..
The themes could be loss, grieve, life and death. This story main characters are Mrs. Louise Mallard, Brently Mallard, Josephine, Richards.

Wolff, Tobias. " Say Yes "

The story begins as an unnamed husband is in the kitchen helping his wife, Ann, with the dishes, as he does every night. In fact, he is happy to help with the dishes because it lets him show his wife how considerate he is, proving that he is sensitive to her needs. As they were doing dishes, the conversation turns to interracial marriage and the fact that the husband is against it.

The wife is rather surprised at the husband's response and wants to know why he thinks that people of color ( Black ) should not marry white people. The husband's explanation is that white people and black people come from different cultures and they would not be able to know each other truly in their marriage.For some reason, she is hurt and the husband feels bad for pitching in into the stupid debate. He goes outside the house to get some fresh air then come back inside and apologizes. He tells her that he will make it up to her by marrying her if she was black. The main characters of the story are Ann and her husband. The themes are race, culture and relationship.

Williams, Carlos William. " The use of force " The Doctor stories 1984

The story begins as the doctor ( who is also the narrator ) is called to the Olson's family house. Their little daughter had been having fever for several days and the parents are worrying. He analyzes the family as he is taking out his instruments from his suitcase. The parents are eager to help even though, they are kind of useless to the doctor. He knows that they will only tell him what he needs to know and let him discover the rest. The ill daughter turns out to be a real prick, hard to deal with. The doctor, even though he wasn't expecting that much animosity from the animal takes the challenge at heart, due to the kids he has seen dying from the pandemic disease. He manages to get what he wanted from the little kid at the end. The only name in this short story is olson. The themes are disease, confrontation, use of force and health.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. " Young Goodman Brown." 1835

This story is about a man who decides to go into the forest to find a mysterious figure, leaving his wife behind. Brown, on the road find this mysterious friend and decide to travel along with him. They discover new things about society in general. Some themes in this story are good vs. evil, and human nature.