Deplit & Smitherman

Delpit Reading

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1.       I honestly don’t think that it matters that she never reveals her race to the audience. To me, good writing should almost be a mystery. You shouldn’t be able to know if the writer is a women or man or black or white, it should make no difference if the writing is good. Even though the context of the writing has to do with racial identity and struggles of races and discourses, a white person could be writing about that.  It doesn’t matter her race, it matters her background. So whether it is from a white or black or Mexican race it shouldn’t matter. All that should matter is that they have enough background with the subject to have knowledge with it and whether the writing is good. I think if you know her background and race it changes how I perceive the writing. Although it doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing or good thing, it definitely changes how I perceive the audience.

 

3) It’s hard because I think I agree with both Delpit and Gee. Although she says that she agrees with Gee’s idea she does propose her problems with it. She is arguing that there are opportunities to overcome to obstacles that might airy with gaining a new discourse. She argues that teachers should teach all kids with an equal opportunity for all kids to learn and be able to gain discourse whether their class or race. She also argues that it isn’t impossible to change or gain new discourses. I think she definitely has a good argument here and she has many good background from it. I think just by reading it you can tell one of her most effective parts of her argument is here own personal story. Although it is not thrown out at you, you can tell by her emotion and connection to the story and it helps her argument. It helps that she has hands on information to direct people in the classroom.

 

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

 

3) I think that generalization can be both effective and problematic in writing and I have talked about this before when answering the questions for Malionwitz. It is true that they can be both beneficial and hurtful, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t work. Generalizations can be hurtful because you could be putting someone into a category that they are not in. I can definitely see generalizations in this reading because you can tell it is more directed towards people of color and therefore you putting all people of color into this generalization. She does have a bunch of stories and outlooks on the subject but the generalization can be hurtful to some people. I think they are effective to the main idea because it is what the article about but it can be problematic for people in these groups that don’t believe the same ideas. They could completely not agree with what she has to say.

 

Smitherman Writing

“Pre Reading”:

In high school I had to read the book called “A Lesson before Dying” which the character is getting executed and is dealing with the idea. He was a from the deep south and had a strong dialect. It was difficult to understand what he was saying like the words and hard to decipher what he was trying to say. Our teacher had to help and go over and pick out words and explain them to us. It was almost like a translation from one dialect to ours.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

2.        I think Smitherman is using Black Idiom to prove a point. He could be saying it to get a rise out of people or make people think that he is uneducated or that is how he originally speaks. I think that he uses it to prove a point. He is saying that it is not exactly connected with the black community and you should not be able to discuss these two together. I completely agree with this because anybody could have that kind of talk. I think he is using it rhetorically because he is using it to prove his point, not just doing it for fun or to get a rise out of his audience.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

5. I definitely agree with his when he says that there is a vital difference. Someone could read that and take two completely different ideas from it. A person who is black or white, or educated or uneducated could maybe not be able to understand one but not understand the other. In my opinion the difference is purely errors in the English. To me, “God doesn’t ever change” makes more sense. I think I think this because of my background and my discourse of English. That sentence is how I would speak or write so I automatically relate to it. The significance of “God don’t never change” I think again is done for a purpose to prove his point.