If the Shoe Fits

We all feel emotional and depressed when we hear about events like the Holocaust or 9-11. We sit in despair as we watch the news on the latest terrorist attack. We try to put our feet in the victims’ shoes as much as we possibly can, but the question is, are we truly able to fit into their sizes? 

Let’s talk about the holocaust. We know the facts: Jews were tortured and killed. We know the Nazis killed them and that Hitler was ultimately responsible, but what else can we conjure up? This is exactly my point. We will never truly understand how these victims felt because we weren’t there to experience the horror. It is impossible to feel the emotions and pain that these innocent people felt, and no matter how hard we try, we will never truly know.

In “Maus,” it is necessary to note that Art Spiegelman wants to hear of his father’s wartime memories, but at the same time, he is unable to feel the pain his father is going through as he retells his story. When his father says, “My eye started so bleeding,” he is also anaphorically leaking blood as he talks about his past. This represents all the painful history he obtains that Spiegelman will never truly understand.

Although, I don’t mean to inform you to erase all these painful memories from your brain. It is important that we always remember the traumatic events that have occurred, because if they are ever forgotten, the same tragedies will repeat over and over again. Just as Powell says, “[the Holocaust] remains that which cannot be remembered but also that which cannot be forgotten.” We should try to fit our feet into their shoes as best as we can, even though they will never be the perfect size.

Bound to Men

Chinese women are considered inferior to men. They are deprived of the rights that men own and live to serve them, having no voice represented in society. A male child is considered a gift while a female one is shameful to own. Chinese women endure many hardships, including getting their feet bound, which give them no opportunities to escape the awful life they have. Chinese women are brutally mistreated and thought of as trash. Their society thinks that “Feeding girls is feeding cowbirds” (Kingston 46). They are worthless, yet are still used for important tasks that no man could ever fulfill, which include cooking, cleaning, and most importantly, creating new lives.

The relationship of a Chinese woman and her husband symbolize the relationship between African American slaves and their white owners. Slaves were treated as if they weren’t even human beings, but were a species that deserved torture. They were trapped in their land of work, and were punished if they ever “disobeyed” their owners, just as women in Chinese society are. White people were always superior and the African American slaves had to be submissive in order to stay alive, which wasn’t a great life to live anyways. 

I know we don’t have it nearly as bad as women in China do, or slaves did back then, but females in America are also stereotyped to be less efficient than men. What I mean is that we always have to act proper or “lady-like” and should constantly bear a smile on our faces, no matter what. If we even do so much as a burp, people will be grossed out. In addition, we are thought of to be not as strong as a man. When we have moments of weaknesses, someone must say “be a man” to us, as if we don’t already know that we aren’t one. It is unfair how women are stereotyped to act a certain way, trapped on our “little bound feet” (Kingston 44). I truly hope one day this can change, for women all around the globe. If we got rid of slavery, though, this should be an easy fix.

Preventing Knowledge is not the Answer

Billy Collins presents a poem to explain the story of how a teacher lies to his students to protect their innocence. For instance, Collins states, “Trying to protect his [the teacher’s] students’ innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters” (1-4). The teacher is incorporating the fact that kids should not be aware of the evils this world has presented, but not giving them the knowledge that they rightfully deserve is going to affect their lives in crucial ways. 

I am an example of this concept. My father was always the dad that would never let me go out alone, hang out with boys, or even watch the television when he thought something “inappropriate” was occurring. He thinks that if he controls me to this extent that I will obey, but what he doesn’t understand is that I am not a puppy who will listen if he feeds me a treat. What he has done only made things worse for me, because I was left out of society and what it had to offer. He made it more difficult for me to fit into society's standards.

Unlike Henry David Thoreau, who informs the people of the United States to rebel against the government in his piece, "Civil Disobedience," I am not telling all of you to walk out on your parents because they are being overbearing, rather, I want us to prove to them that we know what we're doing and they shouldn't feel the need to retrace our every step. For me, I am sick and tired of being watched over like a hawk and not being taught to know what good and bad things there are to life.

I understand the intent he had toward his actions, but unfortunately, he cannot comprehend the fact that I am mature enough to handle things on my own; he needs to let go. I know it can be hard for parents to do so, but somewhere along the line, they will enjoy to see us grow and prosper in life, and the only way this can happen is if we get to experience it for ourselves, and the same thing goes for the children in Collins's poem if they learn what truly happened in our past.

Independence for All

Many years ago, African Americans were treated as if they were not people, but were worthless pieces of the United States government. While everyone else celebrated their freedom on the Fourth of July, they sat in despair waiting for their own freedom holiday to arise. Frederick Douglass believed that the United States’ so called “Independence Day” was only for whites. He informs his crowd of how African Americans cannot celebrate this holiday since they have not yet gotten the independence they deserved, unlike the rest of America. Slaves were not free, but in captivity, always having to be submissive to their owners. 

Furthermore, the Bible preaches the fact that everyone is equal, and the supposed Christian whites are strong believers in its teachings, so it’s questionable that this part of the Bible is skipped, since clearly, African Americans did not have any rights; they worked just as much as whites, and acquired the same jobs, yet were still considered to be the inferior race. Douglass informs his audience, “..your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-...” He is trying to make a point by saying how God is disappointed in America and can see how people are betraying Him. Today, the world has gotten better with allowing everyone to have independence and not only a certain race. There are still some improvements that need to be made, but the United States is well on its way to truly having an Independence Day for everyone to celebrate passionately, which is exactly what Frederick Douglas wanted.