Breaking Bad

     After watching the first episode of breaking bad I can imply that there are many gender roles throughout the episode.  One was that men should be the sole provider of the house.  In the first episode, Walter had to work two jobs in order to provide for his family and live comfortably.  While he worked two jobs, his wife did not seem to have a job at all.  Providing for his family became such an issue that he had no choice but to start cooking crack.  Another implied gender role was is that men shouldn't break under pressure.  When Walter found out he had cancer he did not react in the same way any of us would.  Not only that but he didn't tell his family in an effort to protect them.

Ending Crapalachia

Scott McClanahan wrote the novel in an effort of trying to describe his life with such detail to make it as lively and realistic as possible.  He goes into depth with topics usually not touched upon such as death.  He also tries portraying his friends and family as live like in order to get the reader to understand what their situation is like and in efforts to help the reader relate to the characters.  His style of writing did end up working, in my opinion, because I personally have been through struggles considering I come from a working class environment as well.  My situation might not be as bad as what is portrayed in the story but it does in fact make you relate to the characters in the story.  I feel like the entire novel did what was intended to do by making the reader feel like it might of been them in that situation, and that catches you from the start of the novel to the very end.

Crapalachia 1-20

1. Scott was raised in a poor area filled with factory workers.  They were to poor to afford some basic necessities, including health insurance.  He is part of a society that does not mourn or complain during hardships but rather just ignores it.

2. Based on the review, I already expected to read about tough times and struggles within the working class.  Not to my surprise I was right that once I began to read more into the book.

3. I do see some stereotypes in Crapalachia, one being that the working class are poor and uneducated people.  They go on to portray them as dumb and rude which can shift anyone's view of what the working class really is.

4.  I believe these stereotypes are present because there are people who are similar to the ones portrayed in this story; if you think of the working class as a whole, however, then it does not.

5. The first 20 pages seem to set up the society that we will be looking at throughout the book.  It sets up a poor environment that makes me, the reader, feel sorry for them.  It made me react this way because a reader I am inclined to put myself in their position and from the start of the book there are already visible struggles.

MAMA

After reading chapters 5-8 in the book Mama I am left wanted to keep reading to find out more.  What stuck out to me the most in these couple chapters was limit that Mildred was willing to go in order to keep feeding her children and surviving.  She went through a couple different men who had money in order to live decently for awhile.  In my opinion I feel as if Mildred purposely knew she would just stay with these men for awhile until she found someone better with more money.  In the end she end up with a teenager who according to Freda was almost young enough to be her boyfriend.  This story is filled with many surprises and hardships that progress as the story go on. I am looking forward to reading what happens in the next couple chapters.

Class

Class by Sherman Alexie is about a native indian who meets a white woman and ends up marrying her.  Throughout the story they describe how their marriage turned out after two years.  During that time his wife was cheating on him and he knew the entire time.  Instead of shaming her and cheating on her with a friend, he got into prostitutes. This eventually became an addiction and he had to stop. One day he went to an Indian bar where he got into a fight. Because of this fight he realized how ungrateful he was of the life he has.  

This story was actually very entertaining.  It described real situations and real world problems with much detail.  It showed how into their problems a person can get, which makes them lose sight of hard the rest of the world has it.  The main character was into his struggles so much that he began to be ungrateful of everything he had.  In my opinion that is something that happens to everyone whether they notice or not.  

A nation of welfare families

After reading A Nation of Welfare Families by Stephanie Coontz, you discover more on the history of government aid.  America ,which looks down on government aid today, has always received aid to help better themselves.  In the article it states that all throughout history families in america would receive aid wether they knew it or not.  People were able to buy 160 acres of land for $10 because of the Homestead Act of 1862.  They would also be able to buy a house for close to nothing because of the government GI's.  However in today's society it is looked down upon to receive welfare and government aid, which is very hypocritical considering that all throughout history we have been receiving some for of aid from the government.  I believe that it became looked down upon once there was diversity throughout the US (rich white people didn't want to give minorities their "hard earned" money).   Regardless the US still provides aid to families in need.  The system might need to be reformed but it still does benefit plenty of families that are hardly making it by.  One may criticize people for taking advantage of the welfare system, but have no idea how difficult it might be for the family receiving the checks to get by without them.