Chapter 9-10: Choose two of the following questions to answer using quotations from the novel.
DUE OCTOBER 18th by midnight (THURSDAY)!!
1. In Chapter 9, Ruth reveals some of the struggles she faced as a young Jewish girl in the South, surrounded by racism and poverty. Do you think her identity was shaped more by her Jewish experience or by her experience as a somewhat wealthy child surrounded by families that were starving?
2. When it comes to shaping your identity, what do you think matters more: your race or your economic class (how much money you have)? Why? Explain in at least three sentences.
3. Explain the problems James and his siblings had understanding their race and identity. Does race determine your identity? Do you think Ruth thought race determined her identity or her children’s identities? What did she encourage instead?
question 1 i think her experience with the racism of black people beacuse she know what there like because she got teased by them eveeryday so i think that reflects on her restrictions with her own children " hey ruth, when did you start being a dirty jew?"
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2 your race matters more because if you were black back in the 1960's and you was rich white people will still hate you race is more important because that's your backround. for example," the jews in suffolk did stick together"
ReplyDeleteJabahri Taylor Class 191/ Period 2
ReplyDelete1. Ruth’s Identity was shaped more by her Jewish experience. It’s what she grew up on and her Jewish experiences. They made her change her name to Rachel to Ruth.
2. When shaping your identity race does matter a little but enomic class is better. Once people see you are good at something and put hard work into it they wont care about your race. They will even give more money to you demanding how bettrer you get at your job.
3. James and his siblings are raised in a black community and raised on white education. But their mom is trying to tell them they will do good in life no matter the race.
1. "I can't eat this. And I was embarressed..." (pg.81) I think that her identity was more shaped ny her Jewish experience. I think that because of the quote above. It shows that where ever she is she still has some respect of her Jewish religion, even though it will cost her hunger from food that is unbelievely irresistable to not eat at a time of poverty like this. She was embarressed, but it was the right thing to do.
ReplyDelete3. "I'm black, said David" In this quotation, David was very positive that he was and did not take it back. Overall race does not help determine your true identity. I don't think that Ruth though that race determined her or even her children's identity at all. None of that really mattered to her. All that she cared was about her children's education, money, food, the house and her job. Racisim might have been shoved in her face a few times in her life, but she pushes it away and carries on with what her life has to offer.
Michelle Isakova
P.#2 Class 191
1) I think that Ruth`s identity was shaped equally by both her Jewish experience and by her experience as a smewhat wealthy child surrounded by families that were starving.
ReplyDelete2) I think that when it come to shaped your identity that both your race and economic class matter more because when you think about your race you think about how people will look at you so you would change yourself to fit in. Also your economic class matters because you would spend money wisely, this could also lead to lying about how much money you have to make people think that you have the best life.
2. When it comes to shaping your identity I think that race matters more then your economic status because race is something that always seemed to have a bigger impact on me as a child. When I was a child, my parents would teach me things that my race of people believed in like principles to follow such as don't steal and honesty and etc. I think that even if we were rich, they still would have told me these things. Also, as a child I would always be cared for by my mother. My mother doesn't have a job so she cared for me a lot and she always had time to teach me things or rules that I follow today like not listening to anyone when they make fun of me which is something that sadly happens often and today when someone makes fun of me or yells at me at school, I don't feel anything and I would keep on walking on as if nothing had happened. Also money doesn't mean that my parents would really teach me any less. Even if we were rich I would be expected to clean everything off my plate and etc.
ReplyDelete3. The problems that James and his siblings had in understanding their race was that there mother never would talk about it and you can see this in the book that she would always stop talking about it like on page 100 "Boom. I had her. But she ignored it. 'Don't ask me any more questions.'" Race does not determine your identity because Ruth was Jewish and act's the complete opposite of a Jew now and I think that Ruth agreed and thought so also because she was changed and had different values now even though being born a Jew. Instead she encouraged reading and writing and etc which is evident on page 94 where it says "We thrived on thought, books , music, and art, which she fed us instead of food"
-- Sorry if this is so rushed
-Chantess Robinson Pd.5
ReplyDelete1. Ruth’s identity was shaped more by her Jewish experience. In Chapter 9, it briefly discussed that Ruth never starved as a child like other families did. However Ruth tells us that being Jewish in a predominantly white school was difficult. “It was a problem from the moment I started, because the white kids hated Jews in my school” (80), this already tells the reader that Ruth struggled in school because she was Jewish. “Nobody liked me. That’s how I felt as a child. I know what it feels like when people laugh at you walking down the street, or snicker when they hear you talking in Yiddish, or just look at you with hate in their eyes” (80) also shows that Ruth was uncomfortable as a Jewish child. Being uncomfortable and ridiculed half of her life in school shaped Ruth to have a somewhat low self-esteem. If every day you were being teased about being a certain religion, it would change the way you act and your beliefs for the rest of your life. Although was Ruth was smart, beautiful and had talents, when people saw her- all they saw were a Jew and nothing more.
2. In the past, your ethnicity had a lot to do with your lifestyle. Your ethnicity had power over where you lived, how people perceived/judged you, your job and so on. This is still how the world is today. For example- I am African-American. This affects who I am and how people see me (identity) because being “black” is still associated with being an “animal”, dirty, cheaters, liars and so on. Although those were common slurs in the past, it still lingers today. A large part of my identity, despite my personality and other components, is the way I look. If my skin is a certain color, people assume I belong to a certain race and judge me off of that. Race does matter more than your economic status because all the money in the world can make you look nicer, and have a better lifestyle but people are still going to judge you off of what race you are.
Queens Collegiate Cheki Woodberry
ReplyDelete192/ 2nd period English
2. When it comes to shaping your identity, your race matters more. Money can not make the person you are today. If you want an honest friend to always be there by your side, they should judge you based on how you are, instead of hang out with you because you have money. It would be nice to have money, but your money doesn't make who you are. If you are only in something for the outcome of it (money) then you are not really in it for anything important at all. Of course you don't want people to remember you as the little black girl or big caucasian male, but you also don't want them to only except you because you have alot of money.
3. In James and his siblings' life, they struggled with their identities as black children in school. Even though the family of 12 kids were black, the mother, Ruth, was caucasian. Yet she didn't make her change the way she felt about her children or what other's thought about the situation. "A white lady marrying a black man"? What's wrong with that? As long as you are in it for the right reasons, your race shouldn't determine your identity,your personality should. If you can't find it in your heart to like somebody who is the opposite race than you, then you don't deserve to have anybody around you.
1.In this chapter, Ruth discusses the hardships of being Jewish in the South during the first part of the twentieth century. Ruth endured constant ridicule at school and sought a way to escape her inferior status in Suffolk. She had difficulty making friends there, but she found one true childhood friend named Frances, a gentile girl who accepted Ruth's Jewish background. Ruth vividly portrays the devastating poverty that afflicted both white and black people in Suffolk. Primarily, I think Ruth was shaped more as a somewhat wealthy child surrounded by families that were starving rather than growing up Jewish."Black and white were poor." Page 83.
ReplyDelete2. When it comes to shaping your identity,I think race and you economic class come hand in hand. Well for starters, most people stereotype you based on your race. If your black, you don't have much money, if your white, your rich. Well that's definitely not the case. That's just being ignorant. I can say as a colored young woman in today's society, all of my family member's make an abundant amount of money where they work at and I will plan to do the same in the near future.
1) I think Ruth's identity was shaped more by her Jewish experience as a somewhat wealthy child surrounded by families who were starving because it made her realize that money really wasn't the important thing in the situation. For example, in chapter 9 page 83, she says, "I never starved for food till I got married, But I was starving in another way. I was starving for love and affection. I didn't get none of that." This shows that no matter how much money her or her father owned, there was one thing that money could not buy, which was love and affection. This experience was why her identity was shaped.
ReplyDelete2)When it comes to shaping your identity, race or economic class really doesn't matter. If I were to choose from those two though, I would pick economic class. For example, let's say you would want to change your acts and go to college, if you haven't been doing well in school in the past, you would need to have a high economic class to get in since you wouldn't be eligible for a scholarship. In conclusion, in the situation, if I were to choose, I would say that economic class would matter more than race.
Marquell,I think she was she was shaped by surrounded families that were starving because she changed her name to sound less jewish
ReplyDeleteMarquell, i Think you are classed by how much money you have not really because of your race or your economic class you can be African american and be on the top of the other people but back in slavery times we couldn't
ReplyDelete1.I believe being around so much racism and poverty and seeing people starving really affected her growing up as a Jew in the south. It really made her look at the world in a different light and change her perspective of things.
ReplyDelete2. It does matter how much money you have , but it plays a small part. Money does not tell who you are only you can but, but without money you will be unsuccessful. Also it does matter what economic race your in as well as your race because everyone judges based on what they see and not what the know.