Edward Said "States"

Edward Said in “States” reflects on the way the Palestinian view has been forgotten and receives hardly any historical recognition. He explains how the ongoing conflict between Islam and Palestine is slowly deteriorating the nation and emotionally depleting the Palestinian people as a whole. What really conveys Said’s points and helps his expressed situations come to life are pictures inserted in his essay which he calls “a series of portraits without names, without contexts.” Said’s portraits deeply display the emotions of the people which helps to strongly connect to them to the audience, as if we are there and can feel their pain. Said connects each picture with a description, by  viewing them one can experience a genuine view of exactly how wretched the Palestinians are, in a way words cannot describe. A particular picture that stood out to me was one of two children who appeared to be living out of in a beaten up, old, and abandoned car. It is heart-breaking to see that children are suffering from the conflicts and poverty in Palestine. In addition to the poverty, little to no prosperity is evident in the lives of Palestinians just as depicted in a particular picture portraying a tourist shop in which “customers are rare.” A great sense of identity by the people and you can see into their emotions that they yearn for change or to just be acknowledged.

Edward Said’s “States,” is a very culturally eye-opening essay to the troubles of the Palestinian society. I believe the argument Said is trying to make is that our society is too self-centered to acknowledge the poverty and hardships of others. Palestine is suffering in ways unimaginable to the majority of Americans. We live in a world where the thought of a lost identity of the question of “do I belong here?” Doesn’t even cross our minds. My question then is: How will we make these hardships well known in our culture, and how can we show compassion towards other hurting societies to help? 

Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk,”

In Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk,” he explains the striving in the souls of black folk and expresses the equality and freedom they yearn for in an age of such harsh prejudice treatment. He first addresses the question of how it feels to “Be a problem.” For that is how the white men view his culture, as menaces to society. He says he has never known life as not being the “problem,” for the first noticed this difference and racism in his childhood. The negative effects subsequently, only intensified as he grew older, and “dazzling opportunities were theirs, not mine.” Du Bois however, claims that he told himself he would somehow, someday, take this mandate and underserving racial upper hand from them. Du Bois goes on to explain how the Africans view themselves through the eyes of others. Thus, they see them self as the world around them sees Africans: in contempt and pity. He explains how tough it is to feel the “two-ness” of being on one hand an independent American, while on the other a culturally diverse African; along with his ethnicities longing to merge the two into being a better and truer self. Du Bois then goes on to explain how these days are more of a “second slavery.” For in the days of bondage, the actual captivity was thought to be the root of evil and problem; for is slavery was taken away, all racial dilemmas would be resolved. This however, was clearly not the case. For even the centuries after emancipation, the nation has not yet found peace between the two races, and discrimination has yet to improve. The Africans must not give up however but they must still strive for “physical freedom, and political power, trainging of the brains, and training of the hands” and if all these ideals are attained and fused together, then Du bois claims, their dreams of a new world with freedom and equality will be true. In short, all these things, (work, culture, and liberty) are the tools that will eventually save them from the second slavery. Both races currently however, are so poor in these qualities that in order for this true America to come about, both races must strive for and attain such qualities to live in harmony.

“The Souls of Black Folk,” is a very passionate and argumentative essay. Du Bois vividly paints a picture of racism in society and conveys the feeling of discrimination, and the hopelessness the African-Americans feel in an ongoing struggle to be equal and free. The essay lays out the points on which the Africans are oppressed and how they must overcome this for the betterment of America. In explaining that if both races can master work, culture, and liberty on even levels and peace, then America will be successful. I agree that for in order for America to excel, the two races must harmoniously work together. For a nation that is divided will not progress or succeed, yet continue to internally crumble.

Kipling's "The White Man's Burden"

Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden,” claims that the Caucasian people were the guardians of the earth under God, and that it was their obligation to guide others towards the ideals of democracy. The poem consists of seven stanza’s all of which begin with “Take up the white man’s burden-“ and essentially claims that white men are the “best breed” whom must carry the labor in this world to rule with right, and successful mandate. The white men must lead their peers with wisdom toward the light.

Kipling shares a bias and somewhat racist outlook of the world, in which non-European cultures are viewed as childlike and demonic. Therefore, this view suggests that white men subsequently have duties to rule over, and encourage the cultural advancement of people from other races and ethnic backgrounds, to adopt Western culture so they may too get on with and live a “normal” acceptable lifestyle. Kipling communicates that it is the white people’s responsibility to help to poor people with contrasting ethnic backgrounds to help “better” themselves and lifestyle whether they want to or not. My questions for Kipling would simply be, why change the other cultures? If they have been getting along just fine and not interfering with the advancing culture of the Western world, why medal with other perfectly functional societies?

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"

Just off the coast of Florida, four surviving men struggle to survive and aimlessly seek help while rowing a dinghy after their ship was overturned. The correspondent and the oiler both split the labor of rowing, while the cook scrambles on the floor, bailing water. The men follow orders from the captain, who was wounded in the shipwreck and sits pitifully in the bow. The men battling hopelessly against the vicious current are careful to make no extreme movement as to capsize the small dinghy. So much so, that they will not even swat at a pestering gull perched on the captains head. After the captain finally shoos the bird and they continue rowing until they spot a lighthouse in the distance. The cook warns that the lighthouse has been abandoned for more than a year, but nonetheless the men begin to embrace the idea that they are near reaching land and survival. Their grimly moods are overturned into optimism for a brief period until they realize they are unable to navigate through the choppy surf, and help isn’t coming. When nightfall approaches, the men forget about being saved and continue on their gruesome journey, taking turns rowing and keeping the boat afloat. While rowing alongside a frighteningly, large shark, the correspondent reflects on a poem he heard in his youth about a soldier dying in a foreign land, never to return home. When dawn breaks, the captain proposes that they try to route the surf with what energy remains. They take the boat as close as possible to sore before it goes under and then begin to tread the wintery water to shore. Finally when the group is saved and reaches land, the correspondent floats in and out of consciousness, but as he recoups, he perceives many people on shore with rescue equipment. Finally he discovers, only the cook and captain survived with him as the oiler did not survive the swim.


Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat,” fully captures the moment and feelings of the surviving crew’s gruesome voyage at sea. Its overall vibe and points are very naturalistic in the sense that life is just an on-going suffering, struggling race to death. Just as the story went for the oiler; in the dinghy he fought and rowed with all his might to just keep surviving for no real purpose but to live a few moments longer.