In the illustration shown to us today the main focal point I believe the viewers go to is the girl in the picture because she is standing still. I believe she is supposed to be shown this way to show that in the midst of freedom around her – many open doors and birds flying through them- she is held back by something. The girl is shown faced toward something that looks like some kind of music or audio player that was around during the 60s or 70s maybe. Maybe the viewers see it as her listening to that voice instead her own which is the key to her freedom. Also it could be seen as her big moment where she then decides what she will do.

The black mirror episode is both similar and different than the theme that is in Toni Morison’s The bluest Eye. They both are similar in the fact they show the highlighting experience s. In The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison writes about the black experience in relation to show her theme of racism and discrimination. However, in the Black Mirror episode it shows how the evil doctor uses helpless people like blacks, minorities and incarcerated individuals similarly to exploit expectations. The sharp difference between each stories simply acts as different drivers for the theme.

I believe the author decided to start off the novel with the Dick and Jane comparisons because he wanted to foreshadow the drastic difference in everyday life a young white child has versus black children have in society/ America. When the author writes “Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty” it shows a sort of American dream story that is planted within many. Also very importantly the next few sentences where it says “ Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy.” This shows the family dynamic many wish for but simply do not have due to many factors. This really is given and reflects mostly White Americans who definitely in that time were more likely to live a life that looked like that. This sort of dynamic is definitely sold onto people not from America thinking that that’s how we live when in reality only a small number of us do. Claudia and Pecola both are examples of the stark difference that I feel the author wanted to portray. They both live a life harshly different than the one the author portrays in the beginning.

I believe in this poem the thing that represents symbolism the most especially in the context is what the speaker calls ‘a document’ . In the short but simple post on this topic it shows how not only when your an immigrant illegal or not that you always feel like there is a target on your back. Not only that but the speaker even expresses when immigrants are here in America illegally they feel almost invisible. “ I wear anonymity like an oversized trench coat” is what stood out to me a lot too.

I believe that their is a protagonist in Lahiri’s story. At first I was on the opposing side stating that there was no one because of the fact that the author tells so much about not one but both characters. However, the information is coming from only one side and that side happens to be Shakumar’s perspective of what has been happening between him and his wife. Actually up until part of the story it seems as if he -like a protagonist- is lost and insecure on a few things and his wife Shona has felt a certain way for a while.

A major conflict that is presented in “Run, mourner,run” is Dean and his relationship with people who are a little more on the toxic side. I believe who is plays a role alone alongside of how he is to be used. He sort of allows himself to be used in ways and be manipulated by others in the story. However, some of those things he had gotten mixed up in resulted in his own tainted ways. One could definitely say Person vs. Self here in Deans case.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton