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In third grade, my class had a creative writing competition. Many people wrote about taking a stroll in a garden or going to a water park on a hot summer’s day. I wrote about the death of Krypto the Superdog. Looking back, writing about a dog dying may have been just a little morbid, especially considering I read the essay out loud to a classroom of my nine year old peers. Maybe I should have written about something less macabre; maybe I wrote about the right subject, considering I ended up getting a ribbon for best creative writing piece. My unapologetic approach to writing has been rewarding even in the third grade, but it has gotten me my fair share of bad grades as well. When I write, I tend to put down on paper exactly what is on my mind, regardless of how my reader might react to it, and attempt to build up a solid defensive argument around every point I make.

In sixth grade, my English teacher introduced us to something I had never heard of before: the Schaffer paragraph. Before sixth grade, I had always written freestyle and organized my writing in a way that made sense to me. Now, I was expected to write a certain way—meaning, by extension, that I was expected to organize my thoughts a certain way. Young me did not take to kindly to the idea of having to write in a formula, and slightly older, still young me still does not appreciate it. Nonetheless, I had to write in Schaffer form. Five sentences each paragraph. A topic sentence, one evidence, two explanation, and a concluding sentence. Boring. By eighth grade, any essay not written in Schaffer form had points taken off of it.

Through high school, my teachers stopped requiring Schaffer form, citing its somewhat juvenile nature, and supported students writing in their own styles. My writing felt free again, but I was not exactly producing works of art every time my pen hit a page. My junior year of high school, however, changed that. I had a very experienced teacher for AP English Language whose rigorous curriculum and tough grading made me the writer that I am today. In this class, I began to mature as a writer, and my style first transformed to resemble how I write as a first-year college student. In fact, one of the essays that constitutes a main item in my portfolio was originally written for this class.

Creating this portfolio has shown me just how far I have come as a writer. Although I had already produced all the main pieces of writing included in this portfolio, compiling and organizing them into one cohesive whole forced me to view the essays in a new light. From my creative writings in third grade, to my essays in middle school imprisoned by the Schaffer paragraph, to what I believe was the beginning of the realization of my full writing talent during my junior year of high school, my writing has been continuously evolving. The writings in this portfolio represent not only the culmination of the years of developing my writing style, but also explore who I am. First, I will try to give my reader a clearer picture of elements that shape who I am as a writer. Then my portfolio will move toward major pieces of writing, exploring the past, present, and prospective future of my academic and professional career.

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Journal 1

I feel that this journal entry is an appropriate starting point for this portfolio. In it, I explore the early reading that shaped who I am today as a reader and writer. The novels I read in elementary set the foundation for what I read today, but it may actually have had a negative effect on my reading habits. Because I read so many novels, I see reading as a source of entertainment more than a source of learning; therefore, I tend to dislike reading more scholarly texts. On the other hand, the comprehension skills and exposure to varying sentence structures that I gained from reading novels is invaluable.

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My Literary Background

My attitude toward writing has been shaped immensely by my reading. As a child who did not have many friends growing up, I turned to books—especially fantasy novels—as a solace. The novels I read brought me out of my world and in to other worlds filled with magic and adventure. I read series like Children of the Lamp, Percy Jackson, and The Inheritance Cycle, in which the main characters leave behind ordinary lives to take on extraordinary challenges. As I became older, my reading taste diversified. I saw reading not only as a tool for entertainment, but also as a tool for gaining knowledge. I began reading poetry and nonfiction books, as well as publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Reading these new types of literature expanded my view of writing and the world as a whole.

My writing habits reflect my reading habits. While I don’t write normally write fiction, I always have ideas in the back of my mind about stories I could put down on paper. I do, however, write poetry. Reading poets like John Donne has influenced my own style: my poems are filled with metaphysical language and conceits—or at least my best attempts at the two. My forays in to more formal or journalistic styles of writing affects my essay style. When I read news publications like the few I’ve mentioned, the thought that usually goes through my head is “I could write this.” Reading these publications gives me confidence in my own writing, as well as examples of effective styles that I can emulate or incorporate elements of. Whether or not my faith in my own writing skills is misguided is up to my reader.

***

21 January 2017

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Journal 2

My second journal entry, and the second item in my portfolio, adds dimension to the image of myself as a writer and paints the picture of an unfortunate reality of my writing profile. I am a procrastinator. This quality leads to many nights up writing at 2:39 A.M. and not enough nights with sufficient amounts of sleep. However, another character trait I have serves to counterbalance the effects of my procrastination: I am also a perfectionist. The combination of these two traits together, procrastination and perfectionism, explain why I do not usually have second drafts (and never thirds). I simply never have time to write multiple drafts, but I tend to edit and refine my essays as I write them. With both my background in literacy and one of my negative approaches toward it delineated, my portfolio can now move toward exploring some of my writing samples.

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Procrastination Nations

I’ll cut right to the chase: my biggest issue when it comes to my writing this semester is that I never cut right to the chase. Instead, I dilly-dally. You might be thinking that I mean I meander through my essays, giving shaky, broad evidence here and there, without ever truly making an assertion or a worthwhile analysis. I wish I could say I even do that much. No, my biggest issue with writing is simply sitting down to write. This is where the real dilly-dallying comes in. If I’m assigned math-based problem sets in either of my two economics classes, I have an easy time sitting down and working on them—even if that means chipping away at gigantic sets with due dates one month down the road. When it comes to any writing assignment, though, I drag my feet. I always have time to do something other than write. It’s not that I don’t like writing; actually, the opposite is the case. I think writing can be exploratory and cathartic and, well, fun. My attitude toward writing is similar to our attitudes toward showering when we were kids: we never wanted to get in the shower, but once we were in, we never wanted to get out. It’s the same with my writing: I never want to put my fingers to a keyboard (or, if I’m feeling old-fashioned, my pen to paper), but once I do, I can never stop writing. Words just flow from brain to page. Organizing, defining, arguing—none of them really ever give me trouble. But actually sitting down to write—now that’s the real issue. Needless to say, to keep up with my writing assignments, I’ll definitely keep a planner journal for the rest of this semester.

***

10 February 2017

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Making Connections 1

My journal entries introduce my style as a writer; my first Making Connections assignment, which further demonstrates my writing style and provides a glimpse of my analytical process, follows the journals. Additionally, because this Making Connections assignment includes my commentary on the nature of humanity, it also provides a glimpse of my beliefs and values. Thus, it is an appropriate finale to my introduction to myself as a writer before delving in to my writing samples.

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A Commentary on Weiss’s Monsters

The following is a commentary on a selection of Allen Weiss’s Ten Theses on Monsters and Monstrosity.

II

“What the unformed is to the sublime, the deformed is to monsters.” In the last sentence of his second thesis on monsters and monstrosity, Weiss makes a distinctive claim about the creative power of the evil or uncanny. In the same way that the Divine Creator formed the universe out of nothingness—creating from the “unformed”—monsters have the ability to utilize the twisted and grotesque for their own purposes. The sublime has power over the unformed, and monsters have power over the deformed.

IV

Weiss asserts that every monster is a separate being, unable to be classified among other monsters; however, these monsters, as he states, can “generate entire classes of beings.” Monsters do exist on their own. The history of serial killings in the United States serves as an example. Although the nation has had numerous serial killers, each killer existed with his or her own motives, methods, and psyche, distinct enough to be unclassifiable. These monsters, as Weiss claims, can also create similar beings. A demagogue, for example, may desire the complete eradication of a particular people group, whether by exclusion, deportation, or murder. His followers may not necessarily believe in the same as strongly as he does; however, the power of the demagogue is to take his monstrosity and project it to others, generating a new class of beings as Weiss suggests.

X

The last thesis is noticeably unique and, coincidentally, the most easily graspable. Rather than relying on esoteric language and obscure knowledge, this thesis relies solely on auditory imagery. The “blood-curling scream” evokes a macabre fear; coupled with the fact that the scream is “disembodied,” the final thesis is doubly grotesque. This thesis, despite—or perhaps because of—its lack of cryptic language, translates its meaning most powerfully of the ten.

These theses, however esoteric and difficult to comprehend, maintain a functionality within the context of certain disciplines. As someone who has dreams of being a civil rights attorney and activist, I will be willingly interacting with monsters every day. These monsters are of a particular nature. They hate their neighbors and love their hatred. They celebrate their foremonsters’ monstrosity. The hoist the symbols of the monsters that came before them, claiming not to be celebrating the monstrosity of times past but simply to be celebrating their ancestors. They embrace their heritage of hatred. Worst of all, many of these monsters do not even realize the monstrosity that characterizes them. They believe they wear sheepskin when in reality they don wolves’ pelts. These are the monsters with which I as a civil rights attorney and all of us as upholders of our human duties must engage in combat. The key to defeating your enemy is understanding him; Weiss’s theses applied to these monsters are beneficial in discerning the nature of their monstrosity and, by extension, in defeating them.

***

Work Cited

Weiss, Allen S. “Ten Theses on Monsters and Monstrosity.” TDR, vol. 48, no. 1, Spring 2004, pp. 124-125. Accessed 24 February 2017.

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Essay 1

In this essay, I explore the role of literacy within the humanities with insight from Dana A. Williams, Ph. D. While I do not plan on entering a career field in the humanities, this essay appears at the beginning of my portfolio as an appropriate starting point on my journey through my studies and, eventually, my career. I initially planned on being an English major; accordingly, I formulated this essay for an assignment in which I was required to write about the role of literacy within my field of study. Although I planned on majoring in English as late as last November, when I submitted this paper, I have since decided to switch to a double major of economics and Africana studies.

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Literacy within the Humanities, original essay

written for Writing, Literacy, and Discourse, taught by Professor Phill Branch

Prompt: Interview a professional in your prospective field. Using insight from the interview, write an essay on the role of literacy in that field.

Writing is a tool used to communicate opinions, facts, and arguments. Within the disciplines of the humanities, writing plays a particularly important role. In these disciplines especially, writing is allowed to flourish with the writer’s voice and style, as opposed to attempting to stay monotonous, as is the case with more science-oriented disciplines. This paper will explore the role of literacy in the humanities with special insight from Dana A. Williams, Ph. D., professor and chair of the English department at Howard University.

Dr. Williams has a particularly long history with engaging all forms of literacy. Prior to beginning higher education, Williams had an affinity for literature and was already a talented writer. As an undergraduate at Grambling State University, she began her studies as a computer science major.  Upon realizing the lack of creativity within the discipline, however, she decided to become an English major instead.

While much of Dr. Williams’s writings are inaccessible to first-year college students simply because of the topic or scope of the pieces, she has published a few articles that she specifically recommended as readable for freshmen. Among these were her article “‘The Field and Function’ of the Historically Black College and University Today” and her book chapter “Whither Now and Why.” These two pieces can serve as archetypes for her style. As a specialist in the humanities, which she identifies as “English, literature, modern languages, religion, history, philosophy,” Dr. Williams’s writing style exemplifies the standard style within the discipline. In these two archetypal pieces, she utilizes a high level of vocabulary and complex sentence structures. For example, in “‘The Field and Function,’” Dr. Williams discusses how “a curriculum model grounded in cultural relativism” could connect “seemingly disparate disciplines” and “make clear . . . the formulation and articulation of solutions” to social problems. Eschewing an analysis of her argument and instead focusing on an analysis of her language, Dr. Williams’s high level of diction is evident. Her choice to use the word “disparate” emphasizes not only the contrast between different disciplines but also their usual separation. She also mentions that cultural relativism is useful for both the formulation and articulation of ideas, instead of only using one or the other. If her objective in writing were a target, then Dr. Williams wields her vocabulary to hit the bullseye—she uses specific words in order to communicate her exact meaning.

Despite her seemingly masterful use of vocabulary, Dr. Williams told us in our interview that one of her greatest struggles with her own writing is that the scope of her vocabulary is too limited to properly communicate her ideas. Her diagnosis of her own limits shocked me. Dr. Williams has studied literature for years; she has a Ph. D. in African American Literature; she is the chair of the English Department at Howard University. I thought that I could remedy my own shortcomings in vocabulary by reading regularly, but here is an educated professional, incredibly knowledgeable in her field, who has been reading regularly for over a decade, and she feels the same shortcoming in her writing as I do in my own. Her diagnosis called to mind Socrates’s attitude toward knowledge. The ancient Greek philosopher, despite being the wisest sophist of his time, continually described himself as ignorant. The more he learned, the more he realized he did not know. This irony in the desire for knowledge applies also to Dr. Williams’s and my own desire to increase the scope of our vocabularies. This desire is a continuous pursuit, and there will not be a point at which vocabulary—or, in a broader sense, knowledge in general—will be “sufficient,” allowing us to simply stop reading. Instead, continuous reading—a continuous pursuit of knowledge—will continuously increase vocabulary, yielding the tools for more and more precise communication of meaning.

The first step in being able to portray your meaning to an audience effectively, Dr. Williams told us in our interview, is to hone your own understanding of your meaning. She does this in the initial part of her writing process. Before she begins to write anything, she thinks for a long period of time on exactly what she wants to write. Only after she completes—or at least makes significant headway in—this intensive thinking process will she begin to write her outline.

Another aspect of Dr. Williams’s writing that exemplifies the popular style within her discipline is her intense subjectivity. Writing in the humanities is about presenting arguments and rebutting against formerly made arguments in order to decipher social norms and, as Dr. Williams said, formulate and articulate “solutions to problems of the human condition and social culture.” In the humanities, writers embrace subjectivity—in their tone, their style, and their writing’s content—in order to present their own opinions. Other fields, by contrast, are not characterized by this embrace of subjectivity. In scientific pursuits, for example, writers tend to cling to objectivity. Passive voice is written by scientists; this style, they believe, presents the formality of objectivity more than the active voice embraced by the humanities. However, passive voice is not any less subjective than active; it simply presents the illusion of objectivity. Regardless of how much a scientific writer may believe that they are presenting pure facts, writing will always convey the attitudes and beliefs of the writer. For example, researchers Jabari Mahiri and Soraya Sablo presented a case study of students who engage in extracurricular writing. Much of Mahiri’s and Sablo’s research essay is written in a passive voice; however, their opinions of the two students they discuss remains evident. The humanities eschew attempts at presenting the illusion of objectivity and instead fully embrace subjectivity as a tool of presenting and understanding ideas.

Literacy is an incredibly important aspect of the humanities. An overwhelming amount of the arguments and pivotal ideas that shape both the field and all the aspects of culture that the field impacts are shared through writing, especially in the modern age. Thus, understanding literacy—both the production of literacy and the consumption—is imperative to both success in the field and the development and employment of critical thinking. This type of understanding is only attainable through commitment. Continuous production and consumption of writing—that is, continuous production and consumption of ideas—is essential to understanding the field and its ken. This type of “serious intellectual and social commitment,” according to Keith Gilyard in his speech at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 2000, is a tool that enables people to “play a pivotal role in” the movement to bring “visions of a better society . . . to fruition” (44). Literacy and the humanities go hand in hand.

***

Works Cited

Gilyard, Keith. “Literacy, Identity, Imagination, Flight.” 2000. Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, Edited by David F. Green, Jr., Baltimore, Black Classic Press, 2016, pp. 36-45.

Mahiri, Jabari, and Soraya Sablo. “Writing for Their Lives: The Non-School Literacy of California’s Urban Youth.” 1996. Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, Edited by David F. Green, Jr., Baltimore, Black Classic Press, 2016, pp. 15-34.

Williams, Dana A. “‘The Field and Function’ of the Historically Black College and University Today: Preparing African American Undergraduate Students for Doctoral Study in the Humanities.” Profession 2013. Web. Accessed 3 Nov. 2016.

6 November 2016.

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Literacy within the Humanities

Writing is a tool used to communicate opinions, facts, and arguments. Within the disciplines of the humanities, writing plays a particularly important role. In these disciplines especially, writing is allowed to flourish with the writer’s voice and style. This paper will explore the role of literacy in the humanities with special insight from Dana A. Williams, Ph. D., professor and chair of the English department at Howard University.

Literacy is an incredibly important aspect of the humanities. An overwhelming amount of the arguments and pivotal ideas that shape both the field and all the aspects of culture that the field impacts are shared through writing, especially in the modern age. Thus, understanding literacy—both the production of literacy and the consumption—is imperative to both success in the field and the development and employment of critical thinking. This type of understanding is only attainable through commitment. Continuous production and consumption of writing—that is, continuous production and consumption of ideas—is essential to understanding the field and its ken. This type of “serious intellectual and social commitment,” according to Keith Gilyard in his speech at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 2000, is a tool that enables people to “play a pivotal role in” the movement to bring “visions of a better society . . . to fruition” (44). Literacy and the humanities go hand in hand, working together to achieve this goal. Dr. Dana Williams brings her own unique approach to literacy with this goal in mind.

Dr. Williams has a particularly long history with engaging all forms of literacy. Prior to beginning higher education, Williams had an affinity for literature and was already a talented writer. As an undergraduate at Grambling State University, she began her studies as a computer science major.  Upon realizing what she cites as a lack of creativity within the discipline, however, she decided to become an English major.

While much of Dr. Williams’s writings are inaccessible to first-year college students simply because of the topic or scope of the pieces, she has published a few articles that she specifically recommended as readable for freshmen. Among these is her article “‘The Field and Function’ of the Historically Black College and University Today.” This piece can serve as an archetype for her style. As a specialist in the humanities, which she identifies as “English, literature, modern languages, religion, history, philosophy,” Dr. Williams’s writing style exemplifies the standard style within the discipline (Personal interview). In these two archetypal pieces, she utilizes a high level of vocabulary and complex sentence structures. For example, in “‘The Field and Function,’” Dr. Williams discusses how “a curriculum model grounded in cultural relativism” could connect “seemingly disparate disciplines” and “make clear . . . the formulation and articulation of solutions” to social problems. Essentially, Dr. Williams claims that understanding cultural relativism and using it as a basis for teaching in the classroom could reconcile different fields and solve social issues.  Eschewing an analysis of her argument and instead focusing on an analysis of her language, Dr. Williams’s high level of diction is evident. Her choice to use the word “disparate” emphasizes not only the contrast between different disciplines but also their usual separation. She also mentions that cultural relativism is useful for both the formulation and articulation of ideas, instead of only using one or the other. If her objective in writing were a target, then Dr. Williams wields her vocabulary to hit the bullseye—she uses specific words in order to communicate her exact meaning.

Despite her seemingly masterful use of vocabulary, Dr. Williams told us in our interview that one of her greatest struggles with her own writing is that the scope of her vocabulary is too limited to properly communicate her ideas. Her diagnosis of her own limits shocked me. Dr. Williams has studied literature for years; she has a Ph. D. in African American Literature and is the chair of the English Department at Howard University. I thought that I could remedy my own shortcomings in vocabulary by reading regularly, but here is an educated professional, who is incredibly knowledgeable in her field and has been reading regularly for over a decade, and she feels the same shortcoming in her writing as I do in my own. Her diagnosis called to mind Socrates’s attitude toward knowledge. The ancient Greek philosopher, despite being the wisest sophist in Greece during his time, continually described himself as ignorant. The more he learned, the more he realized he did not know. This irony in the desire for knowledge applies also to Dr. Williams’s and my own desire to increase the scope of our vocabularies. This desire is a continuous pursuit, and there will not be a point at which vocabulary—or, in a broader sense, knowledge in general—will be “sufficient,” allowing us to simply stop reading. Instead, continuous reading—a continuous pursuit of knowledge—will continuously increase vocabulary, yielding the tools for more and more precise communication of meaning.

Before you can begin to wield your vocabulary as a tool for communication, you must engage in an initial step of the writing process. The first step in being able to portray your meaning to an audience effectively, Dr. Williams told us in our interview, is to hone your own understanding of your meaning. She does this in the initial part of her writing process. Before she begins to write anything, she thinks for a long period of time on exactly what she wants to write. In doing so, Williams forms a more solid, concrete idea of what she wants to write, avoiding beginning writing with only a muddled, unclear idea of what she wants on paper. Only after she completes—or at least makes significant headway in—this intensive thinking process will she begin to write her outline.

Another aspect of Dr. Williams’s writing that exemplifies the popular style within her discipline is her intense subjectivity. Writing in the humanities is about presenting arguments and rebutting against formerly made arguments in order to decipher social norms and, as Dr. Williams said, formulate and articulate “solutions to problems of the human condition and social culture.” In the humanities, writers embrace subjectivity—in their tone, their style, and their writing’s content—in order to present their own opinions. Other fields, by contrast, are not characterized by this embrace of subjectivity. In scientific pursuits, for example, writers tend to cling to a front of objectivity. Passive voice is written by scientists; this style, they believe, presents the formality of objectivity more than the active voice embraced by the humanities. However, passive voice is not any less subjective than active; it simply presents the illusion of objectivity. Regardless of how much a scientific writer may believe that they are presenting pure facts, writing will always convey the attitudes and beliefs of the writer. For example, researchers Jabari Mahiri and Soraya Sablo presented a case study of students who engage in extracurricular writing (Mahiri). Much of Mahiri’s and Sablo’s research essay is written in a passive voice; however, their opinions of the two students they discuss remains evident. The humanities eschew attempts at presenting the illusion of objectivity and instead fully embrace subjectivity as a tool of presenting and understanding ideas.

Dr. Williams’s approach to literacy hinges on a continuous development of her literary skill. In order to achieve a perpetual state of self-improvement, Dr. Williams engages in continuous reading and writing—Gilyard’s “continuous production and consumption of writing.” This perpetual self-improvement is an essential aspect of literacy within the humanities. Self-improvement allows for intellectual genealogies to develop, with new thinkers expounding, critiquing, and developing the theories of those that came before them; without it, society would rely on the thoughts of the philosophers of the past. Because of self-improvement, the humanities remain a contemporary rather than a classical study.

***

Works Cited

Gilyard, Keith. “Literacy, Identity, Imagination, Flight.” 2000. Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, Edited by David F. Green, Jr., Baltimore, Black Classic Press, 2016, pp. 36-45.

Mahiri, Jabari, and Soraya Sablo. “Writing for Their Lives: The Non-School Literacy of California’s Urban Youth.” 1996. Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, Edited by David F. Green, Jr., Baltimore, Black Classic Press, 2016, pp. 15-34.

Williams, Dana A. “‘The Field and Function’ of the Historically Black College and University Today: Preparing African American Undergraduate Students for Doctoral Study in the Humanities.” Profession 2013. Web. Accessed 3 Nov. 2016.

Williams, Dana A. Personal interview. 1 November 2016.

6 November 2016, edited 30 April 2017.

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Making Connections 2

My second and third essays deal heavily with the injustices perpetrated by the United States, along with the nation’s hypocrisy in relation to these injustices. Accordingly, I find that this Making Connections, which deals with much of the same, appropriately precedes these essays.

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A Commentary on “Letter to America”

Main Ideas:

The author of the letter answers questions that he says “American” authors ask. In his answer, he delineates the atrocities that the United States has committed around the world, including directly attacking and supporting the oppression of developing nations. The United States has been responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million children as a result of state sanctions against Iraq while maintaining the moral high ground in the eyes of the developed nations of the world.

The author also contends that, on the basis of the political structure of the United States, the three hundred million citizens of the nation consent to the attack, oppression, and murder of billions of people in the Global South. Theoretically, the United States government exists by the popular consent. The citizens choose the government, and the government chooses to murder and pillage across the world. Additionally, the citizens pay taxes that fund the United States military and consent to the behavior of the military by electing officials who form policy toward nations in the Global South.

Next, the author addresses the hypocrisy of the United States. The United States has touted itself as a haven of liberty and a defender of freedom since its conception; however, it has been responsible for genocide, mass enslavement, and, in more recent history, infringing upon the sovereignty of developing nations and supporting settler colonialism in South Africa and Palestine, among others. The nation has been committing human rights violations pre-1776 to the present day.

Commentary:

As an economics major, the author’s analysis of the political system of the United States was interesting to me, considering the economic power of tax dollars that the government collects. As a newly declared Afro-American studies major, his mention of the common practice of the United States and other “developed” (read: imperialist) nations of stealing resources from less economically wealthy nations connects to both of my fields. Indeed, if European nations had not raped Africa and, in the twentieth century, the Middle East of their natural resources, people today would have completely different notions of what “developed” and “developing” nations are. Instead, the powerful nations gained their power at the expense of less powerful nations, as the author contends when he says that the United States steals resources under the threat of military force. Instead of referring to nations in the Global South as “developing,” they would be more accurately referred to as “underdeveloped,” reflecting the intentional oppression of the Global South perpetrated by imperialist nations for the purpose of keeping colonized nations powerless. As both an economics and Afro-American studies major, and as an African person living in the United States, a nation that has never loved me nor any person who looks like me, I agree wholeheartedly with the contents of this heavily edited letter.

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Essay 2

This essay, while it explores a subject within my current studies as an undergraduate, was actually written before I realized that I wanted to pursue economics for my degree. I originally wrote this paper as an in-class essay for AP English Language during my junior year of high school. The changes I have made to this essay since I first wrote it reflect how I have changed over the past few years. In the original essay, I assert that capitalism, despite its many flaws, is the best available economic system. In the version of the essay edited this year, I suggest that a democratic approach to socialism may be a viable alternative to capitalism.

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Grapes of Capitalism, original essay

written for AP Language and Composition, taught by Beck Strange

Prompt: As an in-class assignment, write an essay in 45 minutes on a major theme in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. Then, after the first draft is graded, expand and refine your argument.

While capitalism is the best economic option for the survival and wellbeing of a nation, it remains an ideal riddled with loopholes and opportunities for injustice and suffering.

In the novel, Steinbeck depicts the suffering of migrant workers and links this suffering directly to corporate greed. In chapter five, representatives of big banks and landowners arrive on the Oklahoma farms, trapped comfortably in their steel cages—separated from the earth itself—, ordering the tenant farmers to vacate the premises (31). In what seems like an instant, the tenant farmers’ way of life is stolen from them. Most of the farmers have been living on the same plot of land since childhood; in their minds, the land they live on very much belongs to them because they have toiled so close to the earth—they have cultivated it, watched it give birth, reaped the benefits of the harvest, and begun the process over again the next planting season. Suddenly, these button-down men, who refuse to even exit their vehicles while talking to the tenant farmers, mandate that the farmers must leave the land they hold so dear. These men, however, are not at fault for this injustice. The men claim that the corporations they represent truly bear the blame: “It’s not us, it’s the bank. A bank isn’t like a man” (33). They are correct in this regard; the corporate workers are simply heralds of bad news—they hold no power over the decisions of the companies and carry out the will of their employers in order that they may ensure their own paychecks. Indeed, the corporations themselves do only what is best for corporate and executive bank accounts. Large corporations are quite often run by a board of executives, a small group of people so rich, so subscribed to the system of capitalism, and so disconnected from the common man that they lack the capacity for empathy for the common man’s problems. When the decision between a profit and the livelihood of an entire group of farmers, the profit prevailed. The tenant farmers in Grapes of Wrath were made to endure many different forms of suffering because of corporate greed.

The type of greed exhibited by the corporations depicted in Grapes of Wrath is made possible only in a capitalistic economy. Capitalism is an economic system based on the concept of private, rather than public, property. In a capitalistic nation, businesses and enterprises are owned by individual citizens or groups of citizens, not by the government. Combined with the selfishness that is the primal instinct of humanity, capitalism becomes a tool the rich and powerful use to remain rich and powerful. Capitalism is itself a system founded on greed and the accumulation of wealth. Other major economic systems do not allow for this type of corporate greed. Neither socialism—a system in which the state owns all property and distributes wealth based on the merits of different citizens—nor communism—a system in which the state owns all property and distributes wealth based on the needs of different citizens—allow for greed on such a large scale to flourish and prosper. Capitalism is the sole modern economic system that allows for this type of corporate greed to go unchecked. The farmers in Grapes of Wrath suffered because of corporate greed, which was allowed by capitalism.

The situation of the modern poor bears a remarkable resemblance to the situation of the poor seventy-five years ago: the problems of both were caused directly by capitalism. In a system by which the rich get richer, the poor must remain poor. During the 1930s, one demographic—the poor tenant farmers of the West—was a prime target for corporate greed. In the modern day, demographics are still targeted by the rich; economic classes have taken a largely racial undertone. There are many poor white people and some affluent people of color; however, the vast majority of the lower class is colored, while the vast majority of the upper class is white. A lineup of the richest one percent of America is visually similar to a container of ranch dressing: overwhelmingly white with an insignificant amount of color speckled throughout. Because people of color entered America—or were forced to enter—with little to no possessions and were promptly and consistently denied the same rights as white males for centuries, people of color sunk to the lower economic classes. Fifty years of perceived “equality” cannot and has not remedied the effects of centuries of inequality. In addition to this, economic equality has still not been achieved. A chart on the Think Progress website illustrates this graphically and conveniently: white males make the most money for their work, followed by white women—who make approximately seventy-seven percent of white males’ salaries for the same jobs—, then black men, then Latino men, black women, and finally Latino women—who make only fifty-four percent of a white man’s wages for the same job (Covert and Petrohilos). With these economic inequalities still in place, of course the poor and underprivileged—a large majority of whom are people of color—will remain poor and underprivileged. These inequalities can take place only under capitalism.

Although capitalism provides the means for so much suffering, when compared to other proposed economic systems—such as socialism and communism—, it remains the best economic system for the overall wellbeing of a nation. A successful, morally upstanding socialist state is absolutely possible, but would require a massive bureaucratic government system overseeing the distribution of wealth. A socialist state would also be hindered by humanity’s tendency towards selfishness and greed; eventually, people will become greedy and attempt to hoard wealth. Communist states will never be successful unless a major change in the human psyche occurs. Communism, under which wealth is distributed on a basis of need, requires outstanding levels of production in order to meet every citizen’s needs. Because each citizen no longer has a direct need to work—the government provides for their needs—, the main issue of communism is to change the mindset of the populace to work for the betterment and prosperity of the state, rather than for their own personal gains. Communism’s main hindrance is the same as socialism’s: the greed and selfishness of humankind. Capitalism, when compared to socialism and communism, is the most successful economic system.

Capitalism is, despite its many downfalls, the best economic system in practice invented by humanity thus far. However, capitalism is absolutely not an infallible economic system. The system itself has a foundation upon selfishness and greed. Until a successful, morally upright socialist—or even communist—state arises or the advent of an entirely new economic state arrives, capitalism will remain the least of all economic evils.

***

Works Cited

Covert, Bryce, and Dylan Petrohilos. “The Gender Wage Gap is a Chasm for Women of Color in One Chart.” ThinkProgress. n.p., 18 Sep. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.

Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

8 February 2015

[ethan-engw105]

Capitalism through the Lens of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

In John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, a family of farmers must quickly adjust to living as migrant workers. Steinbeck explores the nature of the white migrant worker in the United States West, capturing the struggle of traveling across the country and encountering unwelcoming people throughout the journey. While The Grapes of Wrath is ultimately Steinbeck’s exploration of themes relating to the white migrant worker’s life, its backdrop—the Great Depression—qualifies it as a novel that can introduce a conversation about the detrimental effects of capitalism in the United States.

In the novel, Steinbeck depicts the suffering of the Joads, a family of migrant workers, and links this suffering directly to corporate greed. In chapter five, representatives of big banks and landowners arrive on the Oklahoma farms “in closed cars,” trapped comfortably in their steel cages and separated from the earth itself, ordering the tenant farmers to vacate the premises (31). In what seems like an instant, the tenant farmers’ way of life is stolen from them. Most of the farmers have been living on the same plot of land since childhood; in their minds, the land they live on wholly belongs to them because they have toiled so close to the earth—they have cultivated it, watched it give birth, reaped the benefits of the harvest, and begun the process over again the next planting season. Suddenly, these button-down men, who refuse to even exit their vehicles while talking to the tenant farmers, mandate that the farmers must leave the land they hold so dear. [Expand on contrast between bankers’ and farmers’ connection to the earth.] These men, however, are not entirely at fault for this injustice. The men claim that the corporations they represent truly bear the blame: “It’s not us, it’s the bank. A bank isn’t like a man” (33). Here, Steinbeck uses his fictional bankers to make his own commentary on corporate structures in the United States: corporate workers are simply heralds of bad news—they hold little power over the decisions of the companies and carry out the will of their employers in order that they may ensure their own paychecks. Corporations, on the other hand, do only what is best for corporate and executive bank accounts. Large corporations are often run by a board of executives, a small group of people so rich, so subscribed to the system of capitalism, and so disconnected from the common person that they lack the capacity for empathy for the common person’s problems. When presented with the choice between a profit and the livelihood of an entire group of farmers,  profit prevails. However, corporate workers are incorrect in absolving themselves of all guilt. While they may not have much power in directly influencing company policy, they do have the power as workers to organize and make demands about the way the company is run. Rather than take advantage of this power, whether as a result of status quo bias or risk aversion, workers often settle for complacency. Steinbeck displays these corporate relationships in his fictional bankers: as a result of corporate greed and the corporate workers’ disinterest in counteracting it, the tenant farmers were made to endure many different forms of suffering.

The type of greed exhibited by the corporations depicted in The Grapes of Wrath is made possible only in a capitalistic economy. Capitalism is an economic system based on the concept of private, rather than public, property—that is, in a capitalistic nation, businesses and enterprises are owned by individual citizens or groups of citizens, not by the government. Combined with the selfishness that is the primal instinct of humanity, capitalism becomes a tool that the rich and powerful use to remain rich and powerful. Capitalism is itself a system founded on greed and the accumulation of wealth. Other major economic systems do not allow for this type of corporate greed. Socialism, another major economic system in which wealth and resources are distributed amongst the people, does not allow for greed on such a large scale to flourish and prosper without government intervention to prevent it. Capitalism is the sole modern economic system that allows for this type of corporate greed to go unchecked. The farmers in The Grapes of Wrath suffered because of corporate greed, which was allowed by capitalism.

The situation of the contemporary poor bears a remarkable resemblance to the situation of the poor seventy-five years ago that Steinbeck captures in his novel: the problems of both were caused directly by capitalism. In a system by which the rich get richer, the poor must remain poor. During the 1930s, poor tenant farmers in the West, like the Steinbeck’s Joads in The Grapes of Wrath, were prime targets for corporate greed. In the modern day, certain demographics are still targeted by the rich, and economic classes in the United States have maintained an exaggerated racial overtone. There are many poor white people and some affluent people of color; however, the vast majority of the lower economic classes are non-white, while the vast majority of the economic upper class is white. The wealth gap between Black people and whites is especially exaggerated. Because Black Americans were kept enslaved with little to no possessions and, after enslavement ended, were promptly and consistently denied the same rights as white males for centuries, many Black people remained in the lower economic classes. Fifty years of perceived “equality” cannot and has not remedied the effects of centuries of inequality under enslavement and Jim Crow. Additionally, pay equity has still not been achieved. A chart on the Think Progress website illustrates this graphically and conveniently: white males make the most money for their work, followed by white women, who make approximately seventy-seven percent of white males’ salaries for the same jobs, then black men, then Latino men, black women, and finally Latino women—who make only fifty-four percent of a white man’s wages for the same job (Covert and Petrohilos). With these economic inequalities still in place, of course the poor and underprivileged—a large majority of whom are people of color—will remain poor and underprivileged. These inequalities can take place unchecked only under capitalism.

Despite the attitude of a significant majority of people living within capitalistic nations, capitalism is not an infallible system. While many point to injustices taking place under socialism, like massacres in Maoist China and shortages in Soviet Russia, they forget comparable injustices under capitalism, like the genocide of Native Americans and food deserts in inner cities. Both the United States’s hostility toward and its hypocrisy in decrying socialism maintained during the twentieth century and through the twenty-first. Today, food shortages in Venezuela, a socialist nation, have been condemned by the United States; however, under the United States’s capitalist system, the populous city of Flint, Michigan, has been without clean water for three years. Indeed, as the United States condemned Venezuela, it stood poised to endanger the clean water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux in favor of increasing capital with the Dakota Access Pipeline. Steinbeck highlights the injustices of capitalism in The Grapes of Wrath; these injustices parallel the injustices suffered in the real world. Given the intense shortcoming of capitalism, a more democratic approach to socialism is worth exploring.

***

Works Cited

Covert, Bryce, and Dylan Petrohilos. “The Gender Wage Gap is a Chasm for Women of Color in One Chart.” ThinkProgress. n.p., 18 Sep. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

8 February 2015, edited 30 April 2017.

[ethan-engw105]

Resource Guide

This item, a break in my portfolio between the second and third essays, is a short resource guide for the study of economics. Not only can this guide be useful for other economics students, but the research involved in creating this guide was useful for myself. I see this guide as a segue between the present and the future; using these resources, I can succeed in my studies of economics and begin my study of law. Accordingly, the resource guide can serve as a segue between the second essay, which symbolizes my present, and the third, my future.

[ethan-engw105]

Economics Resources

Introduction:

Having been first solidly established in the late eighteenth century, economics is a relatively new field of studies. While there are many definitions of the discipline, the broadest and most encompassing classifies economics as a field of studies that researches, examines, and analyzes the behaviors of consumers and suppliers in the marketplace. As a social science, economics studies how individuals and groups interact in a societal context. It is also heavily-math oriented, including calculus as a method of analyzing data. This means that to be a successful economist, you must be proficient in advanced mathematics and be able to understand societal trends. As economics becomes increasingly important in the private, public, and political sectors, it becomes an increasingly important discipline.

Key Terms:

Firm – An entity that uses resources to produce goods to sell in the goods market and that buys capital in the factor market

Household – A person or people who buy goods in the good market and who sell capital in the factor market

Supply – The amount of a good firms are willing to produce in relation to a price level

Demand – The amount of a good households are willing to buy in relation to a price level

Law of Demand – All other things being equal, the price level of a good and the quantity demanded of that good are inversely related

Law of Supply – All other things being equal, the price level of a good and the quantity supplied of that good are directly related

Elasticity – Describes how much the quantity demanded or supplied of a particular good changes as the price level of the good changes

Academic Journals:

American Economic Journal – An economics journal first published in 2009 by the American Economic Association. The journal consists of four peer-reviewed journals: Applied Economics, Economic Policy, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics.

Cambridge Journal of Economics – An economics journal first published in 1977 by the Cambridge Political Economy Society. It is one of the top 100 economic journals according to the Journal Citation Reports.

The Review of Black Political Economy – An economics journal first published in 1970 by Springer Science+Business Media in affiliation with the National Economic Association. The journal covers economic issues of African-Americans and the Global South.

Undergraduate Organizations:

Omicron Delta Epsilon – A Greek economics honor society founded in 1963 as a merger between Omicron Delta Gamma and Omicron Chi Epsilon. The society has approximately 88,000 members worldwide.

New York University Economics Honor Society – An economics society founded by students in 2003. In the society’s first year, it gained enough recognition to host fifty United Nations ambassadors for an event and to receive the University President’s Service for Leadership award.

Career Paths:

Government Analysts – Many government agencies in the United States, such as the Office of Personnel Management and the Congressional Budget Committee, hire economists to analyze major trends in the nation’s economy. These economists shape the creation and enforcement of fiscal policy in the United States.

Lawyer – Prospective law students who studied economics as undergraduates earn higher scores on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) than criminal justice and pre-law undergraduates. Lawyers can work in many different fields, such as criminal defense or prosecution, corporate law, and civil rights law, among others. Many successful politicians studied law.

Managers or Entrepreneurs – Many economics majors go on to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and run companies or start their own.

***

3 February 2017