Something I Care About 10 Questions

Taiah Thornton

Less violence and gun possession in the US

1. Why is so easy to possess a gun in the US?
2. Are there Laws that restrict you from possessing a weapon?
3. Why do individuals believe possessing a gun is acceptable?
4. Do humans feel safer with gun possession?
5. Does violence solve all problems?
6. Why do all problems have to resolved with homicide or genocide?
7. What are some alternatives for individuals in the US to feel safer?
8. Is the government trying to limit how easy it is to possess a gun?
9. Do individuals who possess weapons, are they usually licensed?]
10. What are some ways we as a community can make the world a safer place?

Taiah Thornton

ENGW 1101

Professor Young

10 April 2017

On April 12, 1999, a speech by Elie Wiesel known as “The Perils of Wiesel” was given at the White House during the presidency of President Bill Clinton. Elie was a Holocaust survicor and the Nobel Laureate. Throughout his life, he has experienced injustices and suffering firsthand during the Holocaust In Wiesel’s speech, he explained and defined what he thought the word “indifference” meant. He advises the people of America not to be indifferent to victims of injustices. Wiesel also hopes that in the twenty-first century, people would be less indifferent. Indifference has many definitions and can be taken in several directions. Wiesel defined indifference as, “A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.” Based on his explanation, to me I believe indifference is neither good or bad. You seem to fall right in the middle and you’re basically “feelingless”. Throughout Wiesel’s speech, connections were made to the novel, Friendswood, by Rene Steinke. The novel of Friendswood is a novel about a small city suffers with a contaminated chemical dumping site which begins to significantly affect the community.

In the novel, the character of Lee Knowles is the mother of a daughter who suffers from a blood disease in a town, Friendswood, Texas. Her daughter becomes affected by the contaminated chemical dumping site and eventually dies and Lee was angry throughout the novel. Lee tried to prevent Avery Taft from building new homes in Rosemont to basically protect the community as whole. In connection to Wiesel’s speech, it reads, “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred.”Although her anger may have seemed aggressive because she planted a bomb on the site to resolve the situation but in result she injured Cully in the midst of it. In this case, when Lee stood up to Taft properties she was benefiting the aggressor because she had no one to back her up. But the overall question is, “Is it better to be angry or indifferent?” Surprisingly, the answer is angry. Angry because you’re passionate about one specific idea. You pick a side to defend. Whereas, Indifferent is more in between, numb, and feelingless. Anger allows you to feel creative as Wiesel defined in his speech. The text states, “Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative.”

On the other hand, Not only does Lee make a connection to the Elie Wiesel speech, so do the other characters throughout the novel. Wiesel was young Jewish boy from the Carpathain Mountains. Throughout his years he has experienced many successes as well as struggles. Wiesel mentions in his speech, “In the place that I come from, society esad composed of three simple catergories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders.” Usually, the bystanders were the who were indifferent. Never knew which side to fully commit themselves to. Relative to how Dex felt in the novel when he was a bystander during the incident between Cully and Wila. Cully was a highschool football star who sexually assauled a fellow classmate, Willa. Based on the quote from Wiesel’s speech, the killers are the antagonist, which is Cully or Avery Taft. The victims are protagonist, which in this case are Willa or Lee and lastly the bystander role was Dex.

Overall, Elie Wiesel’s speech “The Perils of Indifference” was generally the thoughts he had on the idea of indifference.He wanted to imply that indifference is worse than hate or anger. Elie Wiesel did a remarkable job of conveying his message to America. He speaks from his experience and his explanation allows the connection to the novel, Friendswood by Rene Steinke

Thornton 1

Taiah Thornton

Professor Young

English 1101-3A

31 January 2017

1. Willa Lambert is a teenage girl in high school who has visions. Willa and her parents used to be close when she was a young girl but as she got older they grew about. Her parents are very anti-Satan and don’t like any of those things. “Just a year ago, she and her dad used to go running on the old golf course in the early morning,” as it states in the novel. (Steinke 9) Willa also has certain visions and hallucinations a few of them being, “There had been a little girl, reaching up with both arms for Willa to hold her. There had been a naked man with thick thighs and a beard…” (Steinke 4)

2. Dex is also an awkward teenage boy who has a crush on Willa. His parents are not together anymore and he feels bad for his mother. In the novel, Dex doubts any man would love his mother again. In school, Dex is awkward about Willa and friends and just says anything to make conversation.

3. Hal is Cully’s father in the novel. He works as a real estate agent for a living. He believes that people need jobs and that building houses over the chemicals is safe now. Hal is very prayerful, however, he has a hard time selling houses to customers.

4. Lee Knowles is the mother of Jack and Jess. The significant event that happens in Lee’s life is the death of her daughter. Jess died from a terrible blood disease and her mother strongly believes that the chemicals in the field next to where they lived caused it. She argued that nothing, including houses, should no longer be built on these grounds in this community.

5. Chemical dumping his disastrous effects on the Friendswood community. There is a serious pollution site where chemical byproducts of oil refining were dumped on the land and into the water. The EPA was responsible for the chemical dump in the novel Sy said, “says its runoff from the oil refinery, but I checked with the city, the EPA says its such a small concentration of stuff and it can’t hurt anything.” (Steinke 7) Signs that the environment and community had been affected by the chemical dumping were that people were getting ill, houses were being destroyed and land was being torn apart.

6. As we know in Friendswood there is a severe chemical dumping happening contaminating all the land and water. A similar problem is happening in Flint, Michigan where the water is being invested by lead. This contamination started in Late 2014 and has being going on ever since. The Michigan Department of Environment Quality blames cold weather, aging pipes and a population decline. The next couple years, very high levels of lead were detected in a resident’s water sample. In both these crisis’s the community water is contaminated with bacteria and its causing the populations to become ill.

Works Cited

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood, Texas, August 2014, pp. 1-60