Blog #2

Theme Statement: In chapter two, of The Other Wes Moore, the author Wes Moore portrays how stereotypes and expectations are broken.

Literary Device: Metaphor

"In West Baltimore, white people were a rare sight, so White Boy took the brunt of constant teasing. Despite clowning him about it, they loved him. Wes would always say, 'the only thing white about him is his skin. Everything else is black. He's a real black dude.'" (page 31)

Analysis: This quotation shows how stereotypes and expectations are broken and not followed for many reasons. For example, this proves that the white boy in the story, even though the color of his skin is white, doesn't represent the norm of a white boy. I think this is very important because it didn't matter that his skin was white, he was still respected and treated well. This goes against stereotypes, because not all white people should be expected to act a certain way. The same thing should go for black people, and any other race. This quote is a metaphor because it symbolizes stereotypes when it comes to race.

Reflection on Socratic Seminar:

The socratic seminar influenced my thinking on a topic. It made me think about expectations and stereotypes around the world. I thought it was a great topic discussion, however we didn't really touch very much on it. We live in a world where mostly everything is based on stereotypes and expectations for every person. During the 1900’s most women were expected to stay at home and watch their children, while the husband went off to work and earned money for the family. Now a days, these stereotypes and expectations have gone down, and I think our society has become a better place. One thing that was said during the discussion was about the other Wes Moore hitting his little sister, Nikki. I thought this provoked emotion because it was sad to think that the other Wes Moore’s mother was in an abusive relationship and that she wasn't allowed to fight back, because that was her expectation.

I don't remember much of the discussion in detail, however I do remember a few points that were made about women’s expectations in the other Wes Moore that I was in agreement with. I also agreed with the points made about Grandma Lynn, and how she didn't follow her expectations, and that it was fine if she didn’t. I didn’t agree by one point made about how Susie’s father started to drink again, and how this showed that everything was normal and happy. Drinking doesn't show any kind of happiness. If I could have said one more thing, I would have added a few quotes and citations in there, because it would have helped me back up my evidence. For example, “I told you, don't you ever put your hands on a woman!” (page 5). This citation proves my point about women’s expectations in the Other Wes Moore book.

I thought a few things worked really well during the seminar. For example, we were all very respectful towards one another. We all talked at least once. We had a good discussion, analyzed certain details, and asked very good questions. I also thought that the discussion leaders were very good, and encouraged other students to talk and participate.

Some things that needed improvement were as follows. I think that many more people needed to speak and share their ideas. I also think that the rubric is very strict, and could have been a little more lenient. I thought that the discussion was good, however needed to connect the two texts more. I also thought that there wasn't much time for a discussion, and think that half time should be quicker.