Example Essay on Racism and Discrimination

People are like flowers, each different, delicate, and easy to break. Imagine living in a world where discrimation often leads to one becoming disconnected from their culture. Furthermore discrimnation is the most critical issue facing various cultures, because it leads to alienation and the loss of cultural identity. 

To begin, people who have been discriminated against and belittled for their way of life often tend to become alienated. One example of this is in “Any Other Name” by Santha Rama Rau, an American-Indian journalist whose work helped educate Americans about the Indian culture and world after World War II. Rau illustrates the experience of young Indian girls attending a British boarding school located in India, in which a girl named Premila comes home from an Anglo-Indian school after taking a test, infuriated by the teacher’s actions as she explains to her mom that the teacher made “[her] and the other Indians sit in the back” and made them put “one desk between them”  because the teacher proclaimed that “all indians cheat” (Rau 5).

Henceforth the teacher portrays discriminatory actions, as she arranges all the Indian students in the back, which leads to the alienation of Premila since she is excluded from the same treatment her fellow classmates get. In addition Premila was so distraught by the teachers actions that she decided to leave the Agnlo-Indian school and take her sister with her due to the bias which symbolizes the British’s strain towards Indian civilization and the unfair treatment of her and her indian students, as she this lead to her alienation as Brit’s see them as distrustworthy people which is reflected through the teachers actions. Additionally discrimination leads to Premilas alienation, as she is embarrassed of the teachers preconceived notions of her, which is set by the teachers discrininatory ideas about the Inidan culture and moral beliefs.

Futhermore the discrimination of the Indian studetns leads Premila to become alienated from her fellow classmates. Similarly to Premila’s experience, in the letter an “Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake, in which a Father of a boy named Wind-Wolf tries to explain to his son’s teacher that labeling his son as a slow learner was unfair and uncalled for as “he may have trouble writing his name” but he is very capable of “saying his name in many different Indian languages” (Lake 2).

Furthermore, this has not only led to Wind-Wolf being labeled as a slow learner but he has brought upon prejudice towards his culture as one of his friends' parents told Wind-wolf that “they don't allow [him] in their house” because “he is an Indian boy” (Lake 4). Thus emotional abuse and the bigatory actions leads Wind-Wolf to becoming alienated from his classmates as he is neglected by his friends and is labeled unfairly. In addition, the discriminatory behaviour towards Native Americans has driven him to become disconnected and treated differently than the other students in his class. Furthermore, since the teacher and the parents students have singled out Wind-Wolves and his capability to learn and make friends it has inevitably led to him becoming segregated from his peers. 

Losing Cultural Identity

On the other hand, the tendency to lose cultural identity, oftentimes is provoked by discrimation. One example of this would be in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, in which Dee arrives at her house after a long trip away from her family. As she approaches her Mom and Sister, she decides to tell them that she has changed her name to “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo to protest being named after people who oppressed her in the past” (Walker 7). Dee’s Mother tries to explain to her the significance of her original name and where it originated from, but Dee’s decision is unable to see the significance of her birth name. This reveals that because of prejudice and the fear of her name and the memories it brings she has decided to change it to forget the past.

In addition, Dee changing her name portrays how she has lost her identity to the bitter past as discrimination and verbal abuse have brought her to dread her own cultural and fear the things people associate with her culture, leading her to lose her cultural identity. Furthermore because of discrimination in the past Dees has decided to change her name to Wangero to prevent herself from reliving the horrific nightmare of the past. In contrast to Dee losing her cultural identity one can argue that many people think discrimination is not prevalent in todays society because there are no definite laws dividing anyone, yet many diverse groups face adveristy from econmically or socailly dominant cultures.

Thus revealing how cultural shaming leads people to question their identity and its significance as it also leads one to become alienated.  Furthermore many cultural dominant societies tend to not only discriminate but harass and or vandalize the inferior culture.  Henceforth in the Novel “Animal Farm” by Geroge Orwell, the pigs who are in charge of running the farm are considered to be the superior animal as they consider themselves as “the most intelligent” and the only species that is able to “fully read and write in English” (Orwell 34). The feeling of superiority inevitably leads them to start “meddling with the rules” they set for the farm “to benefit themselves” (Orwell 82), and this inevitably created social classes which gave a big divide in equality. This further reveals that because of the Bring back flower element.