May 6th, 2014

5/6/14

In Class:
Journal--  What comes to your mind when you hear the term "human nature?"

Screened and discussed two stories from The Colbert Report: "Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Ban" and "The Ballad of Cliven Bundy." Today's racism is rarely as overt and violent as it was only fifty years ago; oftentimes, racism comes from 'good' intentions and ignorance. While this does not excuse prejudice, it explains how our society allows for implicit or subtle racism.

Today's overarching question: Is separatist behavior inherent in human nature?

Human Nature, according to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, well-known 17th century philosophers:
Humans are flawed, capable of brutality, immorality, and general nastiness. But the question remains--does society corrupt man's natural goodness, or control man's natural badness?

This connects closely to a theory of literary criticism relevant to The Tortilla Curtain: Marxism.
Karl Marx's philosophy suggests that:
 * All social change is driven by conflict--bourgeoisie v. proletariat.
 * Capitalism is an artificial system that contradicts and bastardizes human nature through learned behaviors:

• commodity: any good or service which can be traded for money or other commodities
• commodity fetishism: obsession with (even sexualization of) commodities, ownership, and wealth
• commodification: the transformation of abstract ideas like labor and time into commodities
• reification: the process by which people begin viewing fellow humans as commodities, modes of production, or objects.

Connected back to The Tortilla Curtain using the following excerpt:
"Delaney was thinking about that as Kyra came to the end of her dissertation on Cynthia Sinclair: Kyra had cleaned up the corner of Shoup and Ventura, and Dominick Flood had cleaned up the labor exchange. All right. But where were these people supposed to go? Back to Mexico? Delaney doubted it, knowing what he did about migratory animal species and how one population responded to being displaced by another. It made for war, for violence and killing, until one group had decimated the other and reestablished its claim to the prime hunting, breeding or grazing grounds. It was a sad fact, but true" (Boyle 192-3/198).
  * Capitalism, through the notion of competition, drives Delaney to dehumanize and fear the Mexican population; he sees them as a threat, like brutish animals, even though much of the brutality and hate comes from within his white community.

With remaining class time, students began the reading assignment for next class. In addition to reading, please complete two "golden lines" in the following format:

Exit ticket: Define proletariat.

Homework:
Read through the end of Pt. 2 of The Tortilla Curtain.
Identify two golden lines.