My Blog

“You behave as if everything I do is part of the story of your life.” (page: 198).

This sentence shows how selfish David is. He just thinks that there is him and others as if Lucy mentions in next sentences after that quote. This actually shows the personality of David. He underestimates other people and thinks that they were not well educated and not in high position intellectually. I liked this part because Lucy is reminding him the truths. Truths that he was not the one who could make decision the life style of any other people.

“‘I’m going to end up in a hole in the ground,’ he says. ‘And so are you. So are we all.’” (page: 189).

I think this is a little bit religious and a little bit rebellious sentence. David is trying to say that: What is the real meaning of the life, what is the award of the life to a person who is a hard working man? So, he leaves something to flow of the life. May be he does not care or may be he gives up and waits for his destiny. In both cases we see that he is a hopeless man.

“And let him stop calling her poor Bev Shaw. If she is poor, he is bankrupt.” (page: 150).

I see a irony in this sentence. We know that David underestimates people. May be he does not see them in his level. Also he thought that Bev Shaw is a woman that do not make any effort to look beautiful or attractive. So, he does not like her. But now, what happened? He made love with her. It is obviously seen that David is decreasing his expectations or he starts to see other people as equal as himself.

“It is a new world they live in, he and Lucy and Petrus. Petrus knows it, and he knows it, and Petrus knows that he knows it.” (page: 117).

There is a meaningful metaphor in this sentence. I think the author is referring to South Africa’s new formation by saying “new world”. If we think  the elements in this formation, there should be people. Those people are Blacks and Whites. So; in my opinion Petrus is a represent of Black people and David is a represent of White people. So sentence becomes that: “It is a new South Africa they live in, White people and Black people.  Black people knows it, and White people knows it, and Black people knows that White people knows it.” What I mean is: Black people are becoming more courageous because they know that White people are aware of the reform, and Whites become the ones who afraid of and strange. This is a advantage of Blacks to make the authority and capture their own respects.

“Raping a lesbian worse than raping a virgin: more of a blow.”  (page: 105)

In that part of the book author is defending women very much. He is trying to say that women should be protected by laws very well. Also in this sentence there is a meaning which is more than moral issues. I like that sentence very much. It is directly protecting the rights of women’s choices. Of course no one wants to be raped. However, think of a virgin but not gay. She likes men. When she is raped, it will affect her deeply for being raped. On the other hand think of a lesbian. When she is raped there would be a big shock of being raped by a person who is not a type of her at all. It is a huge psychological effect for the girl.

“He does not like women who make no effort to be attractive.” (page: 72)

I choose this sentence because I could not find any other. However, this is a interesting sentence that shows us the character of David a little bit. He is not a kind of guy that likes pretty girls, blond, White, tall or slim women and doesn’t like Black, short or ugly women. He just cares about if they are well groomed or not. This shows the characteristic of him. I think he honors humans who try to be beautiful or charming. So, it is a good thing to discriminate being well groomed or not rather than being beautiful or ugly.

“There are more important things in life than being prudent.”  (page: 49)

In here, I understood that he is very sinciar. He mentiones that he liked Ms Isaac. I like that he is standing behind what he did. More important, it is a good thing that he is protecting someone even if there is a risk that his career could be end. Actually we do not know if there is something in his mind or not. We can understand that he cares too much about Melanié. He is risking his life towards her’s.

“… a woman’s beauty does not belong to her alone. It is part of the bounty she brings into world. She has a duty to share it.” (page: 16)

In these three sentences there is an interesting point of view. I can be understood that “woman” is seen as an object in this book. Actually men usually think like that because for them, women are just objects to have fun and leave. They are treated as if they have no rights. This situation is an example to “discrimination on gender”. Also I like the message given in this sentence. When I look to my country, the same situation is seen. There is no respect to women themselves.

My final source is about very specific examples. In text “shopping while black”, there are specific examples about black people (a black woman shopping etc.), which are creating an important psychological impacts on people who are stereotyped. As it is stated in the text, in addition to the psychological effects racism-related stress has been found to increase physiological stress, which increases the risk factor of cardiovascular disease in Black women and Black men. Therefore, stereotype effects have more impact on people, who are different ethnic/race, than it is thought.

As second resource I will use “Race: A Stereotype” in my research paper. There are a lot of examples about stereotypes and effects on people who are stereotyped. This text can be especially useful by giving examples and supporting the main argument. There is an example which states that in europe there is a thundering politica which is based on racism. I think this is an important example which shows that how stereotypes take place in social constractions.