Review monologues from previous class. Discuss.
Inquiry
With what character do you identify the most? And why?
Discussion
1. Identify your character's conflict on each level. (use text evidence to support ideas)
Self vs self (psychological)
Self vs other people (interpersonal)
Self vs society
2. How was the ending a resolution for each character? (use text evidence to support ideas)
3. How satisfying were the resolutions for each character?
Review Essay
Igama lam Thami Mbikwana. Utata Amosi Mbikwana. (My name is Thami Mbikwana, My father is Amos Mbikwana) I used to work very hard at school and wanted to make my teachers very happy and get good marks in all my classes. I thought being successful in school would help me become a doctor and help people. I thought I would be able to take care of my parents and my people, while charging the whites in order to make money. Now, I no longer want to be a doctor and make my teachers happy. I now know what my people really need, Inkululeko. Freedom. I no longer know who I want to be. I know that even as I am a smart man I will not be a lawyer or a doctor because I am black. Us black people aren't allowed any dreams. We have been at a disadvantage since birth just because of our race. I no longer believe school is a safe place that I can trust anyone. Oom Dawie comes to our school every once in awhile to give a pep talk. As I have grown older I have been able to see through the lies of people like Oom Dawie. The whites have taught us solely their history for too long. The only events I think of are the 21st of March, 1960 in Sharpeville, 16th of June 1976 in Soweto, and many others. They claim that South Africa is a country for all of its citizens but blacks are struggling to survive, while whites profit off our cheap labor. He talks about how special we are and how wonderful the Republic of ours is. He talked about how everyone, including us blacks can share the future, a future full of all races. He kept using "our future" and I could understand what he really meant. I eventually realized I don't see a wonderful future. I don't see happy and contented shareholders of the Republic. I only see a generation of tired and beaten people. Does he really think we can't see what is really happening? It is time for us as blacks to stand up for ourselves and no longer live in the shadow of the past and of the whites. AMANDLA!
ReplyDeleteI am a man who puts my trust in the children of tomorrow, of the educated masses who will one day bring our country out of its suffering. Like a slow antelope in the surge of today’s stampedes, if our people are too slow in building ourselves we will be caught in the claws of hunger and death. This is why my hope lies in the students who sit before me everyday, who listen attentively to my every word, for they determine the path of our future. I am fed up with seeing our young lose hope and stumble down the path toward violence, and therefore have committed my life to teach these youth.
ReplyDeleteLIVIE, JACK, AUDREY: THAMI’S MONOLOGUE
ReplyDeleteMy name is Thami Mbikwana. I am a young, black scholar ready to face the world with hope in my heart. I want to work hard and help people. But, now, this hope has unfortunately died. My people and I have become infected with an illness that cannot be cured by a doctor. It can only be cured with freedom, which is something that I now realize I do not have. I have tried very hard to work around this illness. Teachers place their hope and their promises in me, but after facing the reality of these promises, I have lost trust in these people who tell me I can, because I can’t. They are all sitting around waiting for a miracle to come, for a cure to this illness of freedom. Watching and waiting in humiliation is not worthwhile. I will not wait for freedom, and because of this I am now filled to the brim with rebellion. These people have set up traps. These traps of hope drag us down, and to get around them we must use our voices. We must rebel. AMANDLA!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTucker, Sophie, Chris
ReplyDeleteThami is an eighteen year old black man coming to the realization that his future entails dedicating himself to the struggle for freedom “What my people really need…” (53). This dedication was marked by the change from his initial plan to follow his education as far as it could take him but he realized that this IS a far as it can take him. He is inspired by the struggle of those who have come before him “humiliation of parents” (55). He is frustrated by the education system because it has set him up to perpetuate the system he’s in by presenting him with opportunities to keep things the same. Thami wants in the simplest sense freedom of opportunities and his people to be able to stand up and embrace their culture and have the chance to strive in the land of their birth. Thami uses a tone of sarcasm and frustration to express his feeling of stagnation. He’s experienced the “gift” of education and recognized that in order to break the cycle of poverty that he’s a part of, he must break away from his once beloved educational “potential”.
I am Anella Myalatya, otherwise known as Mr. M. I am a teacher at Zolile High School. I am a believer in the teachings of confucius, and one of my great goals in life is to be more like him: calm and patient hearted. But this is not who I am. (drop mic) The injustice and suffering that I witness every day, from violence in the streets to the unequal opportunity and treatment of the students at this black school, ignites an anger within me. The only thing that keeps me from losing control to my frustrations is my teaching; it gives me hope. The power of knowledge and learning is not only a motivator but a source of inspiration in my life.
ReplyDeleteGT
Kyra
Spencer