Most recent public comments by Jennifer Mercado https://nowcomment.com/users/82906 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=2216884 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=2216884 The narrator gives human characteristics to the hunger he's feeling. He says, "to find hunger standing at bedside, staring at me gauntly." This example of personification is used to describe how hunger creeps up on him, and how the feeling of hunger comes to him Mon, 30 Nov 2020 11:05:47 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148374 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148374 Honestly I was a little bothered after reading this criticism excerpt, but also a bit shocked because I just automatically thought everyone would sympathize with Bigger and the black community as a whole from Native Son. I was annoyed though because she judged very harshly, without even experiencing the things Wright did that made him write his Novel like that. Tue, 20 Oct 2020 17:33:46 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148372 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148372 After reading the biography it seems like Richard Wright made Bigger in his image. I feel for the people that have been through similar things since their childhood like Wright. It makes me think that I really take my life for granted, and that I'm so lucky to have this life and exist in this time period. I also enjoyed the fact that Wright chased his dreams despite it being really difficult to do so at the time, it gave me a sense of motivation to peruse my own dreams. Tue, 20 Oct 2020 17:27:39 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148367 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148367 After watching the video it made me shocked and angry. I've always known there was a wealth gap between the two races but I never knew it was so drastic! It's so huge I was shocked. It seems like we're (African Americans & other minorities) fighting so hard to close the gap but no work is being done there's just not enough cooperation society as a whole. It's disappointing to see that even after so many years of slavery and segregation the black community is still being let down by this country that they helped build. The worst part is that we probably won't live to see this gap close up. Tue, 20 Oct 2020 17:21:19 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148344 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2148344 After seeing the video I was disappointed because inequality is still present today and will always be no matter how hard we try to fight it. It was sad to see that even today it is still harder for a black American to get a mortgage or loan than it is for a white American. Although I am not an African American, the Latino community also faces those same issues since it is also a minority. It's just discouraging for me to see that just because of our race we have it harder in a country the preaches freedom and equality. Tue, 20 Oct 2020 17:09:49 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146519 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146519 This relates to Native Son in the sense that whites always wanted to dominated everything, but there are also some differences, some of the people being targeted where black veterans from the war who didn't do anything that was affecting white people. However they mistreated Bigger because they believed he was a murder and rapist, very different motives for targeting them. The riots were out of pure hatred for the black community since they were doing well on this "black wall street." Like the wealth gap video explains a little, whites didn't want blacks bettering themselves which is what made the gap so big, and that's probably why these riots took place, to take away and destroy what the black community had built. Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:05:32 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146481 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146481 This video relates to Native Son because although Native Son was a fictional book the events in it could have been real. The Race Riots that actually did happen in Chicago are proof of that. After Mary's murder many African Americans lost their jobs, many were arrested for looking like Bigger, and many of their homes were destroyed. Similarly during these Chicago race riots mobs of young white men terrorized African American neighborhoods, by looting and burning their homes. Both show how big the consequences and how violent it can get when one race attacks the other. Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:26:42 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146400 This relates to Native Son and other videos, especially the Wealth Gap video. It relates to Native Son because we learn more about the circumstances that minorities such as black people and Hispanic people face. So we better understand why the protagonist Bigger didn't care much for his education if the school system in the US is set up in a way that puts the black and Hispanic minority down. Because of their race they have a lesser chance of going to college and getting higher/better education, and this can contribute to a loss of motivation to fight their education. It also relates to the Wealth Gap video because both show different drastic gaps between the black and white community, from wealth, to social class and education. Mon, 19 Oct 2020 21:35:12 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146197 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146197 Between this video about The Harlem Renaissance and Native Son there aren't much similarities except for the fact that both time periods/events are important not only to African American history but also American history in general. There are more differences however, according to the video and prior knowledge the Harlem Renaissance was a positive turning point for African Americans, it was the "flowering of creativity" that was absent all those years after and during slavery. Unlike in Native Son, where it was a time period of a lack of opportunities for blacks to better themselves in their careers like many blacks did during the renaissance. This time period had a way more negative impact on the black community, not like in the 1920s at all. Mon, 19 Oct 2020 19:48:36 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146159 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2146159 Both Native Son and the film Birth of a Nation are fictional pieces that have incorporated the lives of black Americans and tried to depict them in a certain way, a way that some people strongly disagree with for example, Ayana Mathis. Therefore the video could also be related to her criticism excerpt, because the Narrator of the video describes how the blacks were made to be the villain's, and how they were made to act animalistic and from some perspectives like those of Mathis that is what Wright did in his novel. There is also another small similarity between Native Son and the video, Bigger knows the KKK is a horrendous group, and from the way the narrator is speaking he probably thinks the same since he acknowledges the fact that the film was deeply racist despite others believing its not. Mon, 19 Oct 2020 19:32:34 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143133 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143133 This is not a credible source, since it is a criticism excerpt, it is completely opinion based, not fact based. This is someone's own perspective and interpretation of a novel. We could possibly use it when comparing people's different views on Native Son yes, but when it comes to building an argument of our own, not the best choice since there are no facts or evidence to pick up from. It is completely biased, she speaks from her head and discusses her own thoughts on the novel and the topics discussed in the novel. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:55:26 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143095 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143095 This relates to Native So because perhaps Max and Jan had a perspectives like this, they didn't believe in what society made black people look like, just like Mathis doesn't believe in what Wright is making black people to be. However, they're also very different because this is a recent article, which means Mathis is not living in a time period where segregation is forced upon us, she did not live during the time period Wright lived in, she didn't experience the same things he did, so their perception of black lives and how they live/act are significantly different. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:48:09 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143092 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143092 I learned that there are people like Mathis who completely disagree with the way Wright presented the life of a black person in his novel. This is a probably a result of Mathis having different experiences than Wright and not facing the same hardships as him that have lead him to come to such conclusions about black people. Mathis thinks he did not correctly present the black lifestyle the way it should be, according to her black people were presented in a grotesque way. This helps me better understand Native Son because although Bigger thought so badly about himself, not every black person during that time period and in present day have those same beliefs. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:40:18 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143069 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143069 Some topics covered were the grotesque portrait Wright presented of black people in his novel, as well as the "ungenerous depiction" of a black person's life. Mathis also discusses how Wright exaggerated his black characters to get white sympathizers. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:18:15 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143065 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143065 Some new terms that were unfamiliar to me were "grotesque," and "caricature," but I searched up the definition and I will start using them in my discussions because they may help me describe what I mean in a more efficient way. The word "berserk" also came up and I think instead of incorrectly using words such as insane I could use the word berserk instead in a discussion. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 21:14:08 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143000 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2143000 There are no potential biases, the biography comes from biography.com, which gives the most important events of a person's life but makes no judgements on them. The only limitation of this biography is that the author is unknown. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 20:28:26 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142995 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142995 The biography is similar to Native Son in some aspects but there are also some differences. In a sense Bigger represents Wright, both of them were raised by a single parent and both of them were given a huge role that came with a lot of responsibility, and that was stepping up for their families. A main difference was that unlike Bigger, Wright believed in himself and chased his dreams despite the era he lived in that consisted of a lack of opportunities for blacks because of social class and race. The biography can also be related to both of the videos because Wright lived under conditions of poverty like the ones mentioned in the videos, where the quality of life was just terrible. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 20:21:48 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142938 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142938 I learned that Richard Wright had a very struggled childhood. I learned that his father left him when he was only 5 years old which would explain why his mom forced him to take on the role of basically having to be "the man of the house" and stepping up to help his mother and siblings. I learned his mother was a sharecropper, and from what I know sharecroppers barley made enough to provide for their families since most of their crops were given off to the owner of the land. I also learned that Wright joined the communist party, which is probably why he decided to add that into the novel Native Son, perhaps that's why he made Max and Jan belong to the communist party of the US because it represents a part of him. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 20:08:55 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142886 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142886 After reading Richard Wright's biography some terms I could use in my discussion are "Jim Crow" because of Jim Crow laws and how these laws greatly affected the black community in a very negative way by basically depriving them of basic human rights. I could also use "racial violence" to address the violence that comes from different races or violence within the same race. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:56:29 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142836 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142836 Some topics covered in Richard Wright's biography where how he came from poverty, how he was raised by a single parent, how he joined the communist party, and mainly how he focused on perusing his dreams. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:36:13 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142801 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142801 I don't think there were any potential biases in the video, the video was heavily packed with facts and statistics that supported the multiple points that were being presented. The speakers in the video are educated experts, Booker a previous attorney now US Senator, there was also a sociologist, and a foreclosure specialist. These people are trust worthy and credible because they have degrees and have studied the information in the video, it might've been less credible if it was random individual speaking on the topic, but it wasn't. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:16:16 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142793 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142793 This video relates to Native Son because it discusses how housing segregation was a huge thing, the video says that real estate agents didn't want to sell houses to black families. If they did the homes of white families would greatly decrease in value and this was bad for their wealth. In the book Max mentions how Mr. Dalton refuses to rent homes for black families outside of what he called the "black belt." It was probably for that same reason, so that whites didn't get affected by having black families living in their neighborhoods. A difference I could find was that this video touches mainly on the wealth gap between the two races, while Native Son focuses more on the oppressions and prejudice the black community faces, big part of it being in the judiciary process. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:04:53 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142787 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142787 I always knew there was a huge gap between the wealth of the white community compared to the wealth of the black community but I didn't know it was so huge and drastic. It was really upsetting to see that the average median white household's wealth is 117k compared to the one of a black household which is only $17,600. I also learned that the Federal Housing Administration wouldn't insure mortgages in area they decided were too "risky." Risk was determined by race. If there was many black families in a neighborhood, property values would decrease, and this was a bummer for white families. This helps me better understand Native Son because it helps me familiarize myself with the time period Bigger was living in. It helps me understand why it was so hard for blacks to better their way of living (for example Bigger's family), it wasn't by choice, but rather they were just living under conditions that were set up for them that placed a great limitation on their ability to grow their wealth. That's also probably why Bigger's mother pushed for him to get a job, they had no other way to even start gaining their own "wealth." Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:53:10 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142692 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142692 Some topics covered in the video were the wealth gap between white Americans and black Americans, and what has prevented this significant gap to fix itself. It also covers legislative actions from past presidents that have aided or hindered the gap. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:39:39 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142676 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142676 After watching the video, I plan to incorporate "wealth gap" and "housing discrimination" into my discussions, I think these phrases could be useful when discussing the hardships of colored people and lower class people. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:33:27 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142256 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142256 There could definitely be a potential bias from the speaker. I searched him up and he is an African American male. This could make the video biased because he might be talking from experience without us knowing. Although I don't see any issues with relevance and credibility, some limitations are that he only interviewed people from Baltimore, and it was only a few people as well. As of 2018, Baltimore's population is 602,495 people, that's a lot of people, I think his representative sample doesn't match the population. He did not interview other minorities that may be going through similar conditions in Baltimore as well. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 11:28:49 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142234 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142234 The video relates to Native Son because it discusses how white people have more opportunities than black people, we can see that by comparing the living conditions of Bigger's family versus Mary's family and their big gap in social class. The video can also be related to the poem "Ballad of the Landlord" because it discusses the terrible and improper housing blacks received and how that is a huge hardship for black people. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 11:15:18 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142218 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142218 Surprisingly I learned more than I expected. I learned that housing segregation and redlining are still very present in this country today. I learned that where a person is located has a greater impact than what I thought. It impacts their education quality, their living conditions, and even their health. I think this will better help me understand Bigger from Native Son because we know that he lived in a poor black segregated community. The video greatly explains how individuals are affected by living in a place like that. So I understand why Bigger had such a negative mindset, why he believed he could not follow his dreams... because it seems like this country was setting up black people for failure back then and even today it seems like they still are. Now I truly understand how hard it is for people like Bigger to have a positive perspective about life and their future. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 11:08:20 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142216 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142216 Some topics that were discussed in the video were the "Fair Housing Act of 1968" that was implemented during the New Deal but was never enforced. Some more general topics covered in the video were: unequal opportunities for colored people, for example it's harder for a black person to get a mortgage or loan vs a white person. Social class and education in a black community were also some topics. Sun, 18 Oct 2020 10:55:38 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142201 https://nowcomment.com/documents/235791?scroll_to=2142201 Sun, 18 Oct 2020 10:44:50 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929286 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929286 I think that's what happened here, the speaker was forced to face his fear (the gang) by his mother. And as terrified as he was he fought back and defended himself, his victory made him stronger. This was probably the first step for the speaker to break through from his childhood into manhood and step up in his father's absence. Fri, 05 Sep 2025 14:27:09 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929241 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929241 Fri, 05 Sep 2025 14:27:09 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929211 https://nowcomment.com/documents/208004?scroll_to=1929211 Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:39:35 -0400