The Imitation of Life, Sarah Jane Analysis

The Imitation of Life, Sarah Jane Analysis The Imitation of Life is one of the most powerful cinematic displays of racial passing in movie history. Passing, a commonly used term especially in the African American community, occurs when a member of one racial category assumes the ethnicity of another (Alkon, 2012). The movie was originally made in 1934 with a remake in 1959. The main character, Sarah Jane, wanted not just to pass within the dominant social group (white), but to truly belong to that group and forget her African American identity that comes loaded with much prejudice and hardship. Despite having the racial fluidity to pass, her mother and the people who were close to her knew her true ethnicity. Although this is a movie, passing is part of our socio-historical background. In this paper I will examine how Sarah Jane does facework in order to successfully pass as a white woman. There are various examples of facework that allow her to be in character. In Imitation of Life, Sarah Jane was the daughter of a black housekeeper, who wanted to pass as a white female. When attempting to cross ethnic barriers, there are gains for the person who decides to attempt to pass. The ultimate gain is acceptance into a dominant class in society and the ultimate cost is eventually losing touch with blood relatives. For example, there is a scene in the movie when Sarah Jane begged her mother to leave her and to never tell anyone they were related. In this scene, you could see Sarah Jane softening a little bit as her mother embraced her and promised her daughter that she would leave her alone because she was getting tired of being turned away from her daughter. This exchange was the last time they spoke to each other. In the process of passing as a means of survival, the dilemmas facing those who pass, is the degree to which they internalize the dominant values of the oppressor (Yee, 1998). Both of her parents were African American, yet her outward appearance fit all the physical attributes of a Caucasian person being of lighter skin. As a young child, Sarah was upset because she was given a black doll. She did not like this because she had internalized and embraced that she looked just like the other white children around her. According to Mead, all children in this society learn at an early age that, generally speaking, whiteness is privileged and darkness is not and thus their choices in this regard are usually not surprising (ISL, 2010). During this scene, she was in wrong face; she pouted and voiced her unhappiness about the doll and their living situation, and her mother quickly came in to help Sarah Jane regain face by apologizing, a popular corrective process. In the reading, My Grandmothers Passing, XXX we were introduced to the writers grandmother, Mary Douglass, who was also upset because her granddaughter saw herself as an Anglo American woman, became upset and distanced herself from her granddaughter after she called her Mexican (Lopez McAllister, 2011). In both stories the females involved were of da rker skin and experienced self-loathing because of social comparisons and internalized racism. Sarah Janes mother, Annie, was able to find employment as a live-in maid with a struggling actress; the relationship of the two women clearly defined the social structure in their relationship. Annie was a hard working woman but her master status was black. She used emotional labor on a daily basis and rarely had a backstage to run to when her day was over. In her job as a maid, she had to do a lot of surface acting because it was hard for her to find employment and keep her daughter with her. She used corrective processes to avoid aggressive interchanges with her employer and with her daughter. The strain of this emotional labor made her ill and this is what we are led to believe is the reason she dies. Throughout the movie, Karl Marxs conflict theory of the haves and the have nots is clear. The tension between the needing to be a mother and being able to build self-esteem and pride in her daughter was in contrast to her own need of employment as the maid and taking care of their fa mily was quite evident. She did not realize that her compliance in her situation made a social dilemma for her daughter. A social dilemma is an individually reasonable behavior that leads to a situation in which everyone is worse off (Newman, 2011). Sarah Jane grew up living in the shadow of a rich-white lifestyle longing to be a real white girl, something she was able to accomplish once she had part ways from her mother. According to Romero (1995), Sarah Jane had to learn when she must act like the employers child and when she must assume the appropriate behavior as the maids e daughter. She has to recognize all the social cues and interpret social settings correctlywhen to expect the same rights and privileged as the employers children and when to fulfill the expectations and obligations as the maids daughter (p. 89). The ways in which parents, family, community and society transmit various interpretations of race eventually determine how one identifies oneself. During the film, Sarah Jane was challenged because she lived in fear of being found out. Sarah Janes emotion work involved a lot of deep acting to maintain the role and achieve the master status of a Caucasian person that she was not ascribed. In society, race is usual ly visually confirmed. As Sarah Jane grew older she constantly denied her ethnicity which led to another challenge. For African Americans, understanding the past is essential in analyzing present day issues of the community. The topics of colorism and the relationship between light and dark skinned Blacks are especially important because history indicates that the subject is imbued with cryptic discomfort (Cunningham, 1997). Light skin is valued in some minorities especially African American. When Sarah Jane started to date she thought that if she married a white man, her children would come out white and no one would know the wiser. Contrary to her wishes, her boyfriend, who was white, found out that her mother was black. He asked her on a date and savagely beat her and threw her in the gutter. He felt that she tricked him because he would never date outside of his race. Having one drop of black blood was considered contaminating, and its presence made one totally and absolutely black. The one drop rule b ecame law during re-construction. In addition, many Whites feared an infiltration of black blood, and anti-miscegenation laws were born partly out of the fear that a White person might accidentally marry a black person (Cunningham, 1997). After this beating she felt more resentment towards her mother because she felt all the obstacles she was facing were her mothers fault. There are also breaks in facework in which emotions are not managed properly. Sarah Janes status is constantly changing in response to the wide range of social settings she encounters (Romero, 1995, p. 89). To avoid embarrassment because of the many awkward situations she faced because of her race she decided to run away in order to maintain face. She joined a chorus line in a low class night club and became comfortable living as a white woman. She successfully passed in her new identity. This allowed her sense of self to grow; she was able to distance herself from the social norms that were in place for African Americans. Facework allowed Sarah Jane to avoid stigmatized identity: After she ran away, in her new environment, there was no one to stigmatize her as a black woman. She made friends and found a job. Being a light skinned African American was often a barrier to find jobs because in the eyes of some whites, they were a picture of the outcome of a mixed relationship which was taboo at that time. The mere idea of people who were black being able to pass and live among whites caused an ongoing threat of racial obscurity for white so naturally passing as a white woman affected her looking glass self, by seeing herself as she thought others saw her (Alkon, 2012). Sarah Janes mother was getting older and she was getting very sick. She eventually cooperated with Sarah Jane in the process of facework by promising her that she would never acknowledge that she was her mother so that Sarah Jane could maintain her face and keep the persona of being a white woman. While Annie was dying she told her employer to tell her daughter that she was sorry and that she was being selfish as her mother but she loved her because she was the only thing she had. As I mentioned above, Annie used facework and corrective processes until she died. Unfortunately at the end of the movie Annie died. During the funeral, Sarah Jane ran down the crowded street and threw herself on the coffin, this time she was screaming and telling her mother that she was sorry. She was using a corrective process by apologizing and asking her mother for forgiveness. Unfortunately it was too late because her mother died of a broken heart. In conclusion, Sarah Jane used facework to successfully pass as a white woman, and allowed Sarah Jane to avoid a stigmatized identity. She was able to do this because visually you would not know she was African American. Passing as a white woman affected her identity because she used deep acting to internalize the white race that she infiltrated. Sarah Janes passing deeply affected her mother because her mother wanted her to live as a black woman and marry black man. Passing is a small piece of African-Americans socio-historical background and usually remains hidden like a long buried bone, ironically society is more tolerant and would not see it as a stigmatized behavior. Society has come a long way from the 30s and 50s and there is more opportunity out there to be successful regardless the color of your skin.

Obstacles Teachers May Face Essay

In any education setting, teachers will come across a wide variety of obstacles throughout their career. These obstacles will differ in each and every classroom, depending on students’ social, cultural and ethnic background. It is vitally important as a teacher to overcome these obstacles to ensure that the students within your class are able to gain the highest possible outcomes, a quality education and enjoyment from their schooling. Some of the many obstacles that a teacher may face in a classroom setting include development abilities both academically and socially, behaviour problems and unmotivated students. Students can differ from one another in several aspects, including age, mental ability, personal achievement, ethnic background, psychosocial development and cognitive development. These differences can affect how classroom learning happens (Snowman & Biheler, 2003). Children develop at different rates this is usually a result of different measures of intelligence, social interaction with peers and personal development. Whether it is physical, mental or emotional each student will differ, and this will also depend on their up bringing, prior knowledge, family circumstances and innate knowledge. Social and emotional development problems will result in the student finding it hard to create relationships and develop learning skills with his or her peers and educators. Intellectual development, communication and speech difficulties will affect student’s concentration, memory, communication and understandings of certain tasks (BTEC First Children’s care, n. d). As a result of children developing differentl, it is vitally important for educators to track and maintain an understanding of how each student is progressing through out the year, this will result in not only being of benefit for the student but also the teacher. According to Vygotsky, for the curriculum to be developmentally appropriate, the teacher must plan activities that encompass not only what children are capable of doing on their own but what they can learn with the help of others in group settings (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). Therefore, by creating learning activities that are in learners’ zones of proximal development, and providing instructional scaffolding to support learning and development will accommodate the children by helping them gain a better understanding of the task at hand (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). In saying this, this will ensure that the ducator is working to their full potential and ensuring that the students are getting the highest quality education. Positive reinforcement is the process of increasing the frequency or duration of a behaviour as the result of presenting a reinforcer. Therefore, offering positive reinforcement will increase and maintain the probability that a particular behaviour will be repeated. There are many different types of reinforcers that can be used to increase behaviours, but it is significant to note that the type of reinforcer used depends on the individual and the situation. While gold stars and tokens might be very effective reinforcement for a second-grader, they are not going to have the same effect with a high school or college student (Cherry, n. d). Also, if your students finish their work on time and have been successfully completing their work you may give them an early mark for lunch play, the students will eventually come to understand that finishing their work on time results in a rewards, therefore they will continue this behaviour. We all apply reinforcers everyday, most of the time without even realising we are doing it. You may tell your child â€Å"good job† after he or she cleans their room; all of these things increase the probability that the same response will be repeated. Students may find tasks hard to complete at school and want to give up, by giving them positive reinforcement twill encourage them to want to keep going. Students are more likely to be motivated to learn if they are positively reinforced for completing a project or task (Snowman & Biehler, 2003). Having a positive attitude as an educator and constant positive feedback also encourages students to feel secure in their learning environment. It can also be used to adjust behavioural issues, whilst punishment and negative reinforcement decreases unacceptable behaviour, it doesn’t teach desirable ones, in saying this; it means that positive reinforcement is more effective. However punishment is sometimes required in some circumstances, as when all forms of punishment is removed it can cause the class to become more disruptive. Research has found that some types of punishers are more affective these include; desists, timeout or detention (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). Skinner believed that peoples innate needs, wants and desires can be avoided, as they alter their current behaviour according to what has happened to them due to the previous consequences of their past behaviour. He called this approach operant conditioning he identified three types of responses or operant that can follow behaviours, these include; Neutral operants, reinforcers and punishers (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). Not sure of the reference? Having unmotivated students in the classroom can make it difficult due to the fact that other students may get distracted and lose focus. Unmotivated students have the ability to disrupt other students that can have a detrimental affect on the entire classroom and overpower teacher’s capabilities. There are many factors relating to the cause of unmotivated students in the classroom. These include behavioural issues and cognitive development. Students with learning difficulties may feel lost and confused by what is being taught and therefore give up on listening and trying. It is important to identify these students and put in place the appropriate means necessary to ensure that these students are understanding and motivated. Motivation is often classed in two different categories; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation the difference being; extrinsic motivation is to engage in an activity as a means to and end. And intrinsic motivation is to be involved in an activity for its own sake. Eggen & Kauchak, 2010) Motivation is working towards maintaining and sustaining our efforts to reach a particular goal (Snowman & Biehler, 2003). In some classroom settings children display inappropriate or problem behaviours which can make it difficult for themselves and the students around them to learn, and also isolate the child from his or her peers (Child Study Centre, 2002). Therefore it is crucial as an educator to establish and maintain a classroom environment that will motivate students to learn. Having motivation to learn is essential for students to become successful in their learning. It is vital that students set both academic and social goals to work towards to ensure that both the student and the teachers are driving towards the same goal. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2010) motivated students have positive attitudes towards school, they describe school as satisfying, persist on difficult tasks and cause fewer behaviour management problems, process information in depth and excel in classroom learning experiences (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). By creating a positive learning environment within the classroom, students will be encouraged to achieve and set learning goals to attain higher results. In a positive learning environment students feel secure and as a result are more willing to take risks with their learning. A classroom performance goal structure is characterised by the teacher emphasising student performance relative to normative standards rather than relative to the student’s prior performance. Features of this structure are the teacher’s provision of more public versus private performance feedback, and the valuation of correct answers over effort and learning (Hughes. , Wu & West, 2011). Through incorporating student’s interest into the lesson, relating lessons to real life and matching students abilities will help to motivate the students to strive for better results and develop a love of learning. Motivation within the classroom and a child’s need to succeed in their academic life is based on â€Å"Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency† (Huitt, 2007). In conclusion, obstacles that teachers will face throughout their career are respective to each individual child and their differences when it comes to developmental ability, motivation and behavioural issues. Ongoing professional development is a necessary component in ensuring that an educator is properly trained in all areas. This will ensure that educator’s feel confident when an obstacle arises and the skills to be able to deal and respond to any given situation.. Therefore, incorporating a safe and happy classroom environment, ongoing professional development, understanding each individual child’s needs and backgrounds and motivating students will help overcome some obstacles that a teacher may face.

Career Goals My Career - 1861 Words

Career Paper Phenix Patton In this paper, I will review my career choice, why I chose that career, why I believe I am fit for that career, and what I have to do to have the career I want. I will explore the advantages of my career, the disadvantages of my career, and how difficult leading a life with that career would be. I will also go over the results of several assessments I have taken in order to assess my best career interests, my aptitude for the career I choose, and a personality test. All of those tests are used to determine my skills and how I could best use them to benefit my career. I will go over why I chose my career, why I chose it, the projected career growth, some details on the career, the salaries the career provides,†¦show more content†¦I have taken several career assessments, and at the top of those lists have been careers such as Music Educators, Artists, Therapists, Postsecondary Educators, and Fine Arts Instructors. I have ranked highest in the fine a rts categories, and have scored higher in education than any other categories. The assessments have ranked me highest in artistic categories, and more specifically, music. I believe this is a sign that I should go into a fine arts based career such as music education or music performance. I also took assessments that told me what type of job I should go into, and an assessment that estimated what type of personality I have. It has said that I have a Feeler-Perceiver personality, which means that I communicate well on an interpersonal level, and I know how to see what people are feeling. The assessments have ranked me highest in artistic categories, and more specifically, music. I believe this makes me fit for my job because I will be working one on one with students, and I need an understanding of how they feel in order to properly teach them what it is they need to be taught about music. I believe that all of the career assessment and personality assessment tests I have taken have accurately assessed my skills and personalities. The top occupation I tested for was Music Educator. I tested equal in others as well, such as art, therapy, art, and music performance, and I chose Music Educator as a favourite. As a music educator, IShow MoreRelatedCareer Goals : My Career Essay1393 Words   |  6 Pagespsychology, my career assessments test showed me many options for my career goal path. For starters, my career interest profile results are broken into six main categories which are: social, artistic, investigative, enterprising, realistic, and conventional. According to my results, my career matches are as followed: preschool, primary, secondary, and special education teacher. I am 28% social, 22% artistic, 17% investigative, 11% enterprising, 10% realistic, and 9% realistic. 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With me earning my degree I am one step closer to my career field, which is the business side of the health field. Also, my family is my motivation, they are the reason I’m striving to do better in life. And that’s why I want to continue my academic success. My educational goal that I wish to achieve is obtaining my 4 year degree. Achieving this goal will make me feel like the best mother ever. I know it will be hard at times because

Essay on the Woman Protagonist in The Birthmark - 1856 Words

Woman Protagonist in â€Å"The Birthmark† In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, â€Å"The Birthmark,† the reader finds an excellent example of a woman who is so superior to her male counterpart that she has to be labeled the protagonist of the tale. This essay will demonstrate why this designation is deserved by the female character, Georgiana. In the opening paragraph of â€Å"The Birthmark† the narrator introduces Aylmer as a scientist whose love for Georgiana is â€Å"more attractive than any chemical one.† And indeed, he is such a passionate scientist that everything meaningful in his life has to be related to science. He is incapable of developing beyond this stage of personal growth. Georgiana, on the other hand, enters the†¦show more content†¦The reply comes from a virtuous woman. But Aylmer overlooks the precious and pursues the superficial by asserting that the birthmark is â€Å"the visible mark of earthly imperfection,† and that it â€Å"shocks† him. Georgiana perceives a lack of love in his overdone negative reaction to the birthmark: ``Then why did you take me from my mothers side? You cannot love what shocks you! The narrator includes observations of other women regarding the mark: â€Å"Some fastidious persons -- but they were exclusively of her own sex -- affirmed that the bloody hand, as they chose to call it, quite destroyed the effect of Georgianas beauty, and rendered her countenance even hideous.† The narrator opposes such an absurd accusation, likening it to the ridiculousness of asserting that blue veins in quality marble degrade the marble: â€Å"But it would be as reasonable to say that one of those small blue stains which sometimes occur in the purest statuary marble would convert the Eve of Powers to a monster.† In a balanced consideration of Georgiana and the mark, the narrator also includes the opinion of the â€Å"masculine observers†; they, â€Å"if the birthmark did not heighten their admiration, contented themselves with wishing it away, thatShow MoreRelated The Birthmark Essay: External and Internal Conflict in The Birthmark2109 Words   |  9 PagesExternal and Internal Conflict in â€Å"The Birthmark†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   This essay will analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark† to determine the external and internal conflicts in the tale.    In the opinion of this reader, the central conflicts in the tale – the relation between the protagonist and antagonist usually (Abrams 225) – are the external one between Aylmer and Georgiana over the birthmark on her cheek, and internal ones within Georgiana between love and self-interest andRead MoreTo What Extent Does Schlink in His Novel ‚Äà ºthe Reader‚Äà ¹, Show That It Is Impossible to Escape One‚Äà ´s Past.1189 Words   |  5 PagesEssay Response To â€Å"The Reader† To what extent does Schlink in his novel â€Å"The Reader†, show that it is impossible to escape one’s past. In his novel â€Å"The Reader†, author Bernhard Schlink through the use of techniques such as structure, setting and characterisation reveals to an immense extent that it is impossible to escape one’s past. Schlink utilises the main protagonists of the text, Michael and Hanna, depicting their relationship, along with the idea of post war German guilt to further