nina's+reflections

**to enrich the rich:** In his novel, //The Grapes of Wrath,// John Steinbeck wrote about the poor maintaining their wrath toward the inequality of wealth distribution in America. He writes that man created the banks, which created loans and depression and ultimately made the banks into the “monster.” The wealthy reap the benefits of this monster, because the wealthy will never have as bad a debt as the poor, and because the wealthy control America. This is how it has always been: wealthy, white slaveholders and landowners founded this nation, and today, the wealthy control this nation.

**I to We:** The idea “A fella’s got to eat” is the epitome of “I” – it’s an individual looking out for himself. But one man’s loaning of a blanket to another man’s sick baby is the epitome of “We” – an individual recognizing his duty to help another individual such that their separation is joined and they become concerned about what is collective. The poems by Whitman and Hughes each have “I” in the title. The one by Hughes was a response to Whitman’s, and juxtaposed together, the two create a tension that asks, “What about //we –// black and white, man and woman – hear America singing? Don’t we all sing America?” Great change in America will not occur until Americans begin thinking about themselves as the collective instead of the individual.

**shame:** So many Americans are ashamed to be American because, as Kaitlin describes, they grow up, look around, and find severe faults with the America that they once looked to as great and inspiring. For Blanche, like for many Americans, shame comes from within, for she has made shameful choices throughout her life. For Gatsby, shame comes from the past, also like many Americans, who try to fulfill the American Dream because they are ashamed of a poor or lowly life and seek the one thing that Americans seem to be proud of: money.

**revolution:** De Tocqueville believes that the great American faith in equality is dangerous because it will lead Americans to adopt the mindset, “We have achieved our democracy, so we need not go further,” inhibiting the prospect of great change brought about by revolution. For the future, I sincerely hope that de Tocqueville is wrong. For the past, I believe that change has already altered American society. For the present, I reap the benefits of this past change; changes like integrated schools and women’s rights. However, I see a distinction between change and revolution, for change alters society, whereas revolution transforms society. Change is what has occurred, and change has altered America. One of the most momentous examples of American change is that of the shift in the race of the man who leads America. This change is historic, and the moment that America changed was magical. However, this change is no more than an alteration; something that can be reversed, and something that many Americans want reversed. This change did not transform the mores of the American people. What about revolution? According to de Tocqueville, it’s not possible in America – to him, the American character cannot handle change so great. But revolution – meaning a total transformation of the mores of the American people – //is// possible in America. All we need is to shift our understanding of ourselves from I to We.