Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Differing Cultures

This study will examine the cultures described in Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, Don't Be Afraid, Gringo (the story of Elvia Alvarado, translated and edited by Medea Benjamin), and The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley). The study will include consideration of the "hardships of life" experienced by the subjects in the three books and suggestions on how the cultures might live in greater harmony and peace.

Down These Mean Streets is the story of a self-described "skinny, dark-face, curly-haired, intense Porty-Ree-can---unsatisfied, hoping, and always reaching," who tells himself "Get angry, get hating angry, and you won't be scared" (Thomas, 1991, p. x). It is the story of poverty, oppression, violence, and a growing despair which the author is able to articulate. In the first page of the book, we read of domestic violence, a clearly dysfunctional family, hunger, "frightened silence," "noise and hassling," "whipping from . . . poppa," animals foraging in garbage, yelling, and, above all, the fear and sense of injustice that the author feels as a child. He watches men fix heroin in the hallway after running away from home to try to "whip Poppa back with worry" (pp. 3-4).

The book is a horrific tale of the growing up of Thomas, and of his ability to survive conditions which are unbearable simply to read about. It is the story of addiction, cruel racism, violence, and a rage that flares up regularly but is always simmering just under the surface of every encounter. There is a sense of urgency in every scene --- the urgency of need, of fear, of despair:

"You damn fool," I said, "couldn't you see what was happening? That lousy shit was courting you, making time with you, like you've done on the outside with broads. You appealed to him 'cause you're to him like a virgin would be on the outside, a first cop." . . .

" . . . I already told him I'd give him back his stuff, and no dice; that mot...

Page 1 of 12 Next >

More on Differing Cultures...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Differing Cultures. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 13:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709224.html