The Daly Post

It's shocking to me when I hear that "not much has changed" (Wilkinson) in regards to the segregation in our surrounding communities. Coming from such a racially diverse, well-rounded area makes it hard to believe that only 25 minutes away people don't live with the same range of culture that we do here in Troy. We've only ever been exposed to a multitude of races and cultures in our schools and neighborhoods that we hardly pay attention to what's happening a few cities away.  Take yourself back to when you and your family went on vacation. Often times, you meet either other travelers or tour guides and the question of "where are you visiting from" maneuvers its way into the conversation. When you follow up the question with "Detroit", the answer commonly shocks the average person, but why?  Detroit is known for being one of the most "segregated areas in the nation" (Wilkinson). It mainly consists of African-Americans whi...

After calling Gatsby "gorgeous" (Fitzgerald 2) in the first chapter of the book, "The Great Gatsby", Nick's sexuality was immediately questioned by not only myself, but by many others. The queer lens, or perspective, offers insight for the reader in regards to how  Nick himself may be portraying a queer role without the knowledge of it. Him being the narrator of the novel, we as an audience see  his queer-like opinions, descriptions, and interpretations of situations and people which ultimately sets a very "sexually ambiguous" (Tyson 342) tone to the novel.  Nick is often seen describing females in a very masculine way, and males in a very feminine way which can suggest his sexual insecurities, yet true interpretations of the characters. Gatsby is always  described by Nick as if he were a female figure. He talks about him as if he only owned "gorgeous pink suits" (Fitzgerald 162) and "shirts with stripes in coral and apple green ...

While reading "The Great Gatsby", our class has picked up on a couple of motifs such as the green light, the valley of ashes, and the reoccurring color of yellow. Motifs most of the time are a sort of object such as the green light, or a symbol such as the color yellow. Given that the valley of ashes acts as a motif, but also is a setting within the novel urges me to expand my knowledge on the mysterious place even more.  The valley of ashes is a stretch of desolate land between West and East Egg consisting nothing more than just ash and dirt itself. The name itself is contradictory serving as ironic due to the fact that a "valley" is a place normally looked upon as beautiful in comparison to ashes which serve as a symbol of uncleanliness and being poor. Putting aside the name, the unkempt area is described as "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke" (Fitzg...

Why do I love him? Why do I love a man who does not respectfully love me back? What is it that's holding him back? He loves me. I know it. He's just not expressing it the way I am. Is he embarrassed of me or something? Am I too needy to the point of demand? I mean, it's not like I'm asking for too much. All I want is somebody, particularly Milkman, to love me the same way I love them. Okay, maybe I am a little needy, but it's not like love is a difficult thing to do or feel. If I, the supposed "neediest girl", is able to fall in love with this man at the rate I did, I would surely bet my mothers "two-carat diamond" (Morrison 310) that he can do the same. Unfortunately for me, I'd lose that diamond so I probably shouldn't do that. But why? My appearance is something that I have always been insecure about. Maybe that is the one thing he doesn't want, the outside portion of myself. Milkman, being the materialistic man he is, may ...

When reading the novel "Song of Solomon" I often find myself setting the book down in order to process the work of the author. Toni Morrison, I would say, is known for her numerous hidden meanings and symbols in her texts. As a class, we are constantly reminded to take note of scenes that stick out to us. Most likely, those out of the ordinary scenes signify an idea or may grow into something more as the books continues to develop. Most of the time after discussing the significance behind these scenes, I walk out of the classroom in shock. For example, this past Friday in class we touched on the scene regarding Milkman and his hunting friends and their experience in the woods. First off, we came to the conclusion that the bobcat that the boys hunted and killed represents Guitar. Why a bobcat? Little did we know, Morrison has been comparing Guitar to a cat since the beginning when she referred to him as the "cat-eyed boy" (Morrison 7). In opposition to killing the bo...

Before even reading Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon", our class was directed to talk about meanings behind each of our names. "Grace"... what meaning could that have? Everyone at my table had an intricate story behind why their parents chose the name they did and all I had to say was, "I think my parents just liked the name." Although I found the situation kind of funny, I couldn't help but feel a little down about the fact that my name didn't have a meaning. In my eyes, this meant that my name was just a name. Although as I read Morrison's novel, the motif of names was often brought up especially when talking about the naming of streets. It allowed me to think, "what are names and what do they really represent?" When talking about streets, many city legislatures referred to a specific street as "Doctor Street" while many others refereed to "the avenue fronting the lake to the junction of routes 6 and 2 leading to ...

       Reality can be brought upon an audience within any type of image. “Why did Art choose to put the photograph of his father in his novel instead of drawing?” During seminar, this was a question that caught my eye. At first, I was slightly unsure of why he chose to include a photograph of Vladek instead of a drawing because above all... it was a comic book! Although throughout the week after reading passages in regards to our synthesis essay, the relationship between violent images and reality became more apparent.        When the comic surfed across its darkest scenes, Art chose to display a real life image of his father instead of a drawing. To most, comics are just a fun piece of literature that don’t hold much importance. Although “Maus” portrays characters as mice and cats which may come off as childish, in my opinion it gives off more of a meaning than any other picture-less book. So in order to bring the audience out of the “comic book...