Final comments

Comment to Stephanie

I too thought that the marriage chapters were the most interesting especially on how the calcualted what was a successful marriage.

Comment to Sam

I also thought that the analysis of our books we read were cool. I like analyzing the different cultures and coming with possible solutions for why they act and how the function.

Final Post

I really enjoyed this class a lot. It was probably one of my favorite classes this semester because I didn't waste time during the semester thinking, "why am I learning this?" or "how is this going to help me in life?" This class taught me about the world and the people in it and how they function. It will help in understanding the how's and the why's cultures live and interact with others. My favorite part of the class was the section on marriage, family, and kinship. It was one of the hardest for me to wrap my head around because so many cultures are different than my culture in huge ways. I hope to use what I learned when I travel around the world. To not judge different cultures against mine or others but to accept them for what they are and what they give to the world.

Comment to Khala on Colonialism

I think tourism is a great example. It didnt even come to mind when I was writing my response. Tourists do take advanctage of the place they are going like it was created just for tourists to visit.

Comment to Sam on Colonialism

Sam and Khala, i had no idea as well on how the two were compared. I had to look at others responses and use internet sites. Thank goodness for the internet.

Sierra Armstrong

Colonialism

Colonialsim is when a prominent country such as England, Spain, or United States, one thats been around for a while, takes control of a smaller, less established country. France colonized coutries in Africa, Spain colonized areas in South and North America, and Britain colonized North America. They came to these places to make them better and function a better way, their way. The major coutries that colonized brought over diseases that killed many natives. They tried to assimilate cultures and take away the natives way of life. Colonization brough benefits and consequences just like the global market has brought benefits to some and consequences to some. Benefits are that pretty much every country can trade goods and make some money. The country may make money but the workers may not reap the rewards. The countries that are trying to trade or buy resources may use up all of those resources and country may be left with few or none at all.

paper

Is anyone else's grade lower because their paper was not graded yet?!

Cultural Paper, Dawn D

Dawn Depouli

Cultural Anthropology

“The Color Purple”

I chose “The Color Purple” for numerous reasons, never once did I think it would catch my attention and dedication like it did. The Color Purple is about a black woman named Celie who endures a lot of cruelty from men throughout her whole life. This book shows how she changed into a miraculous woman who stands up for what she believes in. This novel teaches you that you have to stand up for yourself and not let anyone steer you any other way.

The summary of the novel is that the story, The Color Purple begins with a fourteen-year-old girl named Celie who was raped repeatedly by her stepfather. The only one she was told to speak to was God, so she did this by writing him daily letters. The book starts out in the first letter with Celie describing how and why she is pregnant with her second child. This child was the result of her getting raped by her stepfather, Alphonso. At the time, Celie believes that Alphonso is her real father because that is what her mother has always told her. Her mother ends up dying shortly after, and her stepfather brings home a new wife. Although he has a new wife, he continues to abuse and rape Celie. Celie never saw her children for they were taken away from her by Alphonso and given to the wife of a missionary who couldn't have children. After the acts of rape Celie hated and feared men, but she didn't fear women. Celie's younger sister, Nettie, was incredibly smart and more educated than her, but they loved each other deeply. Soon after Celie had her children, she was then married off to a man who loved Nettie.

While reading this novel, I learned that Celie was raped by her father. I also learned that Celie’s mother is ill and is unable to take care of the family. Celie is forced to cook and clean for her family. Celie conceived two children because of her father’s continuous raping. She never sees her children and believes that her father killed them. A man from town wanted to take Celie’s sister Nettie as a wife, but her father convinces the man to take Celie instead. Celie is now forced to marry an older man who already has children. Celie’s husband constantly beats and rapes her without any remorse. He even made Celie nurse Shug Avery, his mistress, when she was ill. It is now that Celie learns from Shug Avery about love. Shug Avery encourages Celie not to take the abuse from her husband anymore and that she deserves better. Celie would finally leave her husband when she found out that he kept her sister’s letters from her. Nettie was the sole reason why Celie had managed to survive. Celie could not tolerate any more abuse and left with Shug Avery and Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes was Celie’s stepson’s mistress. Celie eventually meets up with Nettie and her two children whom she believed to be dead. She than goes back to her husband who has drastically changed since Shug Avery and Celie left.

Celie learns from Shug Avery about love. Shug Avery encourages Celie not to take the abuse from her husband anymore and that she deserves better. Celie would finally leave her husband when she found out that he kept her sister’s letters from her. Nettie was the sole reason why Celie had managed to survive. Celie could not tolerate any more abuse and left with Shug Avery and Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes was Celie’s stepson’s mistress. Celie eventually meets up with Nettie and her two children whom she believed to be dead. She than goes back to her husband who has drastically changed since Shug Avery and Celie left.

Celie was not very attractive and had no education. The first time she met Shug Avery she said, “you’re sure ugly.” In the beginning of the novel she was very obedient and acted like a slave. Towards the end of the novel she exhibits her newfound self-esteem and feelings of independence. Shug Avery was a very beautiful singer. She was free spirited and is did not have to rely on anyone for help. Celie’s husband was a very cruel man and never once stopped to think about Celie’s feelings. He constantly beat her and forced himself upon her. Near the end of the novel his character drastically changes and realizes that he was wrong to treat Celie the way he did.

During this novel, I saw many examples of the importance of the traditional family unit in America. Celie is forced to marry Mr. because in patriarchal American society it is essential that she have a husband. Mr. ‘s father forces him to marry Annie Julia despite the fact that he really loves Shug because he must have a proper wife. After reading the letters containing this information I was expecting a story of the typical family unit. I was not expecting the type of family that is ultimately glorified in the book. My understanding that the family that I would ultimately see in the book would not be a conventional one came with the realization that attitudes towards women in the novel caused men to sleep with several different women. The result of the aforementioned promiscuity is that men have children from different mothers all over the place. It is difficult to establish the traditional two parents, two-kid family when there are several different mothers and children involved. Sometimes, as was the case with Mr. and ‘Fonso, a man’s wife will die and he will take another wife. He will often have children by both the first, second, and possibility third wife as Alfonso did. In addition to the men, there are several strong, assertive female characters in the novel that were not afraid to behave the same way in terms of having several husbands/lovers. The result of the behavior of both the men and women is a large group of individuals composed of husbands, wives, lovers, ex-husbands, ex-wives, ex-lovers, still married individuals who have gone off with someone else, and all of their various children. This situation would not normally be very intriguing to me if not for the fact that all of these people are able to come together and truly be a family.

In conclusion, throughout all the trouble Celie had to go through, a proving success came. She had started the pants business, which brought her upright and standing up for her self. She had the courage to fight back. This even brought a key success into recognition, which symbolized her growth as a human being. This showed us how her self-respect had increased. Finally, towards her recognition and success she had a key to equality with her husband. It was an equal opportunity. Mr. Albert had changed and realized what he had done was wrong and had accepted it as a mistake. Therefore, though all these major events in which Celie strived for brought her to a finally success, recognition and equality. Additionally, one of the reasons I enjoyed this novel so much is because despite the rough times that Celie had in the end Celie and her true biological children are brought back together at the end, forming that traditional family unit. This made the story complete, and gave it a great ending. Everyone was on their own, but they all got united into one family, I don't think the story would have a point if Celie's real children just lived their own lives and never met one another. The importance of traditional family unit comes to mind when you read this book. Another reason I liked this book because Celie does things that black woman weren't supposed to do during that time period.

I have always felt that I was extremely lucky to have the level of love, understanding, and trust that exists within my immediate family. My immediate family refers to my parents and brother. With that being said The Color Purple helped me realize that there might be a type of family that is missing from my life. I have always wanted to be a part of a community of friends, teachers, lovers, of men and women who love each other without being related to one another, but I never thought of that type of a community as a family. By the end of the novel the level of connection that the characters managed to achieve with each other was astonishing. The beauty of The Color Purple for me lays not so much in the struggle of women, but in the struggle of everyone to find a place to belong.

Colonialism

SInce the early 1990s, almost all areas of the world had their own form of government and were no longer colonies of another country. During the era of colonialism, wealthy countries controlled the smaller, poorer countries in different places of the world in order to have cheap supplies of raw materials and markets to sell their goods. Even though the colonies gained independence they were still dependent on their former rulers. Economic ties were usually the strongest and the smaller countries continue to depend on the wealthy ones for survival. With the introduction of industry and technology the world economy has become what is known as a global market economy. Everyone trades with one another and the wealthy nations continue to fund industry in the poorer countries. They pay for cheap labor and materials now, just like they did during colonial times. Many poor countries continue to depend on the protection of the wealthy countries and need those countries in order to survive.