University of Chicago Lab School- Ms. Jacobs' Page

Monday, September 13, 2010

Identity and Escaping "The Box"



In humanities class we have discussed the different ways in which people choose to identify themselves and the challenges, decisions, and frustrations that go into creating one's "identity." You have made your personal identity collages and have explored various experiences that people have had coming to terms with their own identity.

One metaphor that we have discussed in relation to identity is the idea of the box---- the forces and obstacles that stand in the way of a person truly being able to be him or herself in some way. What are the forces that keep people inside of their boxes? What forces push them to escape?Think over the readings and discussions that we have had in class so far ("Theme for English B", "High Yellow White Trash", "Sylvia's Story","The Phone Booth on the Corner" and "Crickets") and think about the similarities and differences between each person or character's experience.In your post, write three to four sentences about a connection that you have found between at least TWO of the experiences that we have discussed/read/listened to in class.

Some questions you may want to consider as you write your post are:
What boxes do some of these people find themselves in? Are the forces keeping them in the box external or internal? Do you think they will be successful in escaping their boxes? How are some people's boxes similar? How are they different?

In addition, you can also throw out relevant questions or observations to which other students can respond.

*** Remember to use your first name, teacher's name, and class period when you sign your post. (Example: Bill, Jacobs 3-4) Also, if you choose to respond to what another classmate wrote, please do so in a respectful manner.

**** This assignment is due by Friday, September 17th*****

Image Source: http://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/images/uploads/worldofboxes.jpg

posted by Charlotte Jacobs at 5:09 AM

30 Comments:

  • Some forces that keep people in boxes are some times other people for example. Some people will never be able to be in the upper class. Because of the people all ready in that class. I think forces that are keeping people to push out of boxes, are to prove that they can do something people thought that person could not do. Or to prove to them selfs that they can do it.

    -brad, jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:19 PM  

  • I think that there is definately a connection between HYWT and Sylvia's Story. I think that because in Sylvia's story and HYWT they're both beiing pressured into a box. In Sylvia's story it's her mom pushing her into the box of a mexican stay at home mom, and in HYWT she's being pushed into the box of both the black and white people at the same time. That's the main difference, while in Sylvia's story she is being pushed into one box by most of her relatives, in HYWT she is constantly being pushed back and forth between the black and white box, causing conflict.

    Logan,Jacobs, 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:26 PM  

  • The connection between Crickets and Sylvia's Story is that both the parents are immigrants. In Sylvia's Story, her parents can't speak english very well so they rely on Sylvia to translate. In Crickets, Bill is completely American. In Sylvia's Story, her family is trying to keep her inside the box, where in Crickets, Ted is trying to get Bill to leave the American box because he wants his son to be more like him.

    -Tiffany, Jacobs 8/9

    By Blogger Unknown, at 1:02 PM  

  • I think there is a connection between Sylvia's story and Crickets. I think that Sylvia and Thieu could learn a lot from each other. Thieu is a lot like Sylvia's parents trying to show his child his vietnamese culture, in a similar way that Sylvia's parents trying get her to be Mexican. I think Sylvia could learn about what it is like to leave your homeland for a new place and how much it hurts you, where as Thieu could learn about how badly his son wants to be his own peron, his own American person.

    -Grace 1, Jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:16 PM  

  • I think that all three stories had something in common, one of the thing that they all had in common,first they all had racial boxes, and all wanted to get out of it.

    -Miles, Jacobs, 3/4

    By Blogger Unknown, at 2:47 PM  

  • I see a conection between HYWT and Sylvia's Story, because they both feel obligated to their parents to be something they are not. In Lisa's case, she feels as though she must be black for her father and white for her mother, though neither race ever seems right. Everyone expects something from her,leaving Lisa confused. In Sylvia's Story she is pressured by her family to be a "Mexican girl." If she is true to herself, her mother will be disappointed. If she does what her mother wants, she will never be able to live with herself. They both feel as if they are what they are then they are not only betaying their parents, they're betraying everyone who is of their ethnicity.


    -grace2,jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:19 PM  

  • I think that "Theme for English B." and "High Yellow White Trash" connect. They both have to deal with a character that is African American (or at least half), and they are both in a box feeling trapped by them self and society. In "High Yellow White Trash" the character is feeling "in a box" because she is not accepted by the White part of society because her mother had a relation with an African American male causing her. So then mainly after the separation between her parents her and her dad were pushed more towards the Black side of town because he had no more connections with people who were anymore privileged than he was.

    In "Theme for English B" the main character was trapped by society (again for being African American) and trying to get his point across to his teacher saying that Whites and Blacks aren't so much different. Even though their skin tone may be different they still have and/or do certain things that they can relate in (Caleb, Jacobs 3-4)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:04 PM  

  • I think that there is a connection between Crickets and Silvia's Story. Because Silvia's parents were trying to make her like a regular Mexican girl and Thieu was trying to make his son into a Vietnamese boy like he was. Also they have a connection with HYWT that all of the parents want the children to be different or more like them.

    -Olivia,Jacobs,8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:17 PM  

  • I agree with grace2 on everything she said. In HYWT Lisa felt like she was stuck in a box that had two sides to it, one side (her mothers) wanted her to be white and the other side (her fathers) wanted her to be black. I think she started to forget who she really was and had two different personalities. She thinks that the black and white world are two different worlds but as we discussed in my group we said that they sometimes are two different worlds but they do have some grey areas in between. Sylvia is stuck in a box that she doesn't want to be in and is constantly trying to get out of the box and not giving up. As she said "I feel like whenever I poke a hole in the box my mom tapes it up". They both loved their parents and wanted to do what was good for them but Lisa and Sylvia both wanted their parents to approve of what they were doing. The two stories are very similar. They both had external forces keeping them in their box but and they also had internal forces keeping them in the box. By escaping from their boxes they will have to hurt someone in the process (exp. Sylvia would hurt her mother, and lisa would hurt either her mother or father).
    Lexi, Jacobs, 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:02 PM  

  • I think that forces which would keep someone inside of a box would generally be cultural identifiers. Mainly, race, religion, age, and nationality would be the main forces, but all identifiers are possibilities. One simmilarity between HYWT, slvia's story, the phone booth on the corner, and crickets, was that in all of them, either race or ethnicity, has been a contributing factor to the main or overall conflict. In HYWT the main problem was that she was mixed races, and not fully excepted by either race. In sylvias story, the fact that her parents wanted for her to be like a classical mexican girl seemed to have given her limitattions. In The Phone booth on the corner, when the grandfather can not open the door both nationality and language both produced anxiety from the child and the grandfather. In cricketsthe fathers nationality, sometimes seems to get in the way of his views of his son. Overall, the different cultural identifiers seem to constantly get in the way of people's lives.
    (Julius Jacobs, 8/9)

    By Blogger Unknown, at 5:12 PM  

  • There are many forces that keep people in boxes but one force is other people. You see a connection in the stories HYWT and Sylvia's story. They are both kept in boxes because of someone in there family. In Sylvia's story her mom is holding her back from getting out of her box. In HYWT it is the differences between the white and black opinions in her family that are keeping Lisa in her box. In both stories the forces helping them out of their boxes is the knowledge that they will accomplish things and be accepted.

    -Veronica, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:35 PM  

  • I agree with what olivia. In Crickets, Thieu was trying to get his son to be like him. The same happens in Silvia's story. there a difference though. In Silvia's story, She knows that her parents are trying to get Silvia to be a Mexican girl, but in Crickets, Thieu's son doesn't necessarily know that he is trying to get his son to be more like a Vietnamese.
    -joe, jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:11 AM  

  • The thing that is keeping the people inside of there boxes is: Their culture, parents, and other family members. They think being American is awesome but only if they can break out of the box, that their parents build for them. Then again most kids in the stories never know what it is like to be an American. That's sad because being American is great. The stories we have read have so much in common they all don't like their boxes and the culture very much. But they have to try or they may never get out of their boxes. And never be the person they want to be.
    -Zander, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:15 AM  

  • There is definitely a connection between Crickets and Sylvia's story. In Sylvia's story, Sylvia's mother is trying to force her to follow her mother's footsteps in becoming a Mexican housewife, while Sylvia wants to become a successful american businesswomen. But in Crickets, the tables are turned. Thieu is trying to keep his Vietnamese ethnicity and is trying NOT to become an american, but his co-workers treat like he's an american even though that is not necessarily what he wants. Thieu also tries to teach Bill to be more Vietnamese, trying to but him in a box. Thieu is not a very strong influence over Bill, so he fails to put him into the box. But Sylvia's mom is very persistent, and so is Sylvia. This is how Sylvia resists being put into a box, while Bill did so passively since his father was less persistent and enforcing.
    Fritz, Jacobs 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:47 AM  

  • In "High Yellow White Trash" I think that the main character was trying to get out of the racial box. I think that the main character kept trying to be one race but then parent who wasnt that race kept pushing the main character back in the box of the race that parent was, which was causing conflict.

    -Joe, jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:57 PM  

  • People keep people inside boxes. In Silvia's story her mother is keeping her in the box by not letting her be who she wants to be. In crickets Ted is keeping himself inside a box by not acting more American, but unlike Silvia's mother he does not keep his son in box and lets him be who he wants to be.

    Paul, Jacobs 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:13 PM  

  • I think that there is a connection between Sylvia's Story and Crickets, where they are both in the same box of being american, but their parents want them to be Mexican, in Sylvia's case, or Vietnamese in Bill's case.

    Stefan, Jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:18 PM  

  • I think that there is a connection between Crickets and High Yellow White trash. Ted feels like he is trying to be American and Vietnamese by having an American name and trying to teach his son to fight crickets. Lisa Page felt she had to act like she was black sometimes and white other times, she felt she could not be both. I think they are both trying to get out of the box that separates race.

    Lizzie,Jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:47 PM  

  • The connection I found with "Sylvia's Story","Theme for English B","High Yellow White Trash" and "The Phone Booth on the Corner" was that they were all affected by their cultural identifiers such as race, gender and race.
    In Sylvia's story, she is being pushed into a box by her mom because of her gender and her race, Mexican. In High Yellow White Trash,she is being pushed into a box because she feels bad about being both black and white. In The Phone Booth on the Corner, the grandfather is in a box because he is in America and can't speak American because he is Mexican. He is affected by the language barrier. In Theme for English B, he is affected by race. He finds himself being similar to everyone else, but being considered completely differently different then everyone because of his race.
    -Julien, Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:37 PM  

  • The connection between Sylvia's story and Crickets is that both sets of parents are in a box because of their ethnicity. I feel bad for Sylvia because she is being held back by her parents box. But on the other hand, I'm proud of Ted and his wife for letting Bill out of the box. I wish that people with a different ethnicity than American would teach their kids something about their ethnicity for learning purposes so if I was friends with Bill I could learn about the Vietnamese culture.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:40 PM  

  • I think that Sylvia's story is pretty similar to Crickets because like both of the kids, Bill and Sylvia, just want to be American but like their parents don't want them to be. They want them to be more from their culture. Like Bill was born in America, speaks like American, and acts like them. But he like knows nothing about Vietnamese culture. And with Sylvia she wants to be American but her parents won't let her. But Bill's parents aren't trying as hard as Sylvia's


    -helen, jacobs 3/4

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:51 PM  

  • I think that in sylvia's store she is being pulled into the box by her mom. I also think that her mom is not trying to be mean to her and that she respects her because she is not afraid of being alone. I also think that in crickets theiu is truing to pull ted into the box by teaching him vietnamese culture but in the end he actually helps bill out of the box.
    -Ben, Jacobs 3/4

    By Blogger Unknown, at 5:04 PM  

  • I think there is a connection between Sylvia's story and HYWT. Both Sylvia and Lisa wanted to be something that their parents didn't want them to be. Sylvia's parents wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom, but she wanted to graduate from college and get a job. Lisa's mom wanted her to be like her white relatives, but they weren't even including her in the family picture because of her skin! And he black people complimented her light skin so she felt more welcome with them. So both character's parents (in Lisa's case it was her mom/relatives) were pushing them into boxes that they didn't want to enter.

    -Nicky, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:40 PM  

  • I think that "Sylvia's Story" and "Crickets" have a connection, because in "Crickets" the father wants his boy to want to be more vietnamese so he is trying to keep him in the box even though the boy is trying or doesn't care about being vietnamese. In "Sylvia's Story", Sylvia is the one who wants to not be like every other Mexican girl (she wants to have a career before getting married and having kids) while her mom wants her to stay and be a stay at home mom. In one story it is talking about how a parent want his kid to stay in the box ("Crickets") and the other story is from the daughter's point of view and her mother is trying to keep her in the box ("Sylvia's Story"). The two stories are similar but they are told from different perspectives, one from the parent and one from the child.

    Halima, Jacobs, 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:54 PM  

  • I think i really felt a connection from HYWT and Sylvia's story, because they were both kept in the box by there families. they both are trying to break out but seems impossible for both of them because it's the people they love most thats keeping them in.

    -Alex, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:12 AM  

  • I think that there is a strong connection between crickets and sylvia. Sylvia's family and mostly her mother wanted her to be and act like the rest of her family. And in Crickets the dad was trying to get his son to be more like him and less like an Amarican.
    paula, jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:34 PM  

  • i also agree with olivia because there really is a constriction of the two people (silvia and teds son) on the way they should live and the way they are told to live. also there is a large box around silvias story and high yellow white trash because the two stories both put the characters in a box situation where they have to find out their true identity
    rosiejacobs3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:45 AM  

  • I thought there was a connection between Sylvia's story and crickets, because in both stories, they have similar situations, but different points of view. In crickets, The dad is sort of like sylvia's mom in that he wants his son bill to share some common ground with him, but bill is to americanized. But in crickets, Ted isn't holding Bill back, whereas in Sylvia's story, her mom is.


    -Henry, Jacobs per. 8 and 9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:27 AM  

  • In High Yellow White Trash, the girl is being trapped between two different boxes, a much harder place to be then in one. She is kept there by herself and those around her, and she's always trying to be like everybody else wherever she is. But unlike Sylvia's Story, she doesn't know what kind of box she wants to be in, and just goes between other peoples instead of making her own. In Sylvia's Story, Sylvia is "shoved" into a box of Mexican heritage by her family, who have no thought that her daughter might want to be something they're not. This leaves her without support, and kept in a box like a cage. Mainly, both are kept between boxes because of family, and not able to fully become who they want to be, setting themselves apart from who they want to be.

    ~Sarah, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:42 PM  

  • There is a connection between HYWT and "Theme for English B" because they are both different than the people around them, but they also want to look right where they are. In "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes he writes, "Being me, it will not be white." (19). That shows that he doesn't want to be white. In HYWT Lisa Page writes, "You are forever light skinned, no matter how black you feel on the inside" (1). These two examples show that they are both in the box that they will always be one thing, even if they want to be something else.

    Leah, Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:22 PM  

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