Cultures of American Childhood

Question 1

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Please match the text name with the appropriate quotation from that text.

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“Because he’s one of those people who has to believe that white people are better than black people to make himself feel big. ... For him to believe that he is better than we are makes him think that he’s important, simply because he’s white.”                                             “But they will only hire Mexicans to lay track and dig ditches, not as mechanics. I’ve decided to work in the fields until I can convince someone to give me a chance.”                                            “At first the rain had merely splotched the dust, which seemed to be rejoicing in its own resiliency and laughing at the heavy drops thudding against it; but eventually the dust was forced to surrender to the mastery of the rain....”                                            “Don’t worry. I will take care of everything. I will be la patrona for the family now.”                                            “Oh, all right. All right. So maybe what if I did say somethin’ ‘bout Miz Logan? ... Anyway, I’m real sorry ‘bout your mama losin’ her job and—”                                             “Tovah, I think maybe you were wrong after all. You said a girl must not depend on her looks, that it is better to be clever. But in America looks are more important, and if it is my looks I must rely on, I am to be sent back. How can this be?”                                            “‘Your daddy know you here?’ ... ‘N-no sir, I reckon not.’ ‘Then I expect you’d better be getting on home, son, ‘fore he come looking for you.’”                                            "'America... What will you do there?' 'I will do everything there,' I answered."

A. Letters from Rifka B. Esperanza Rising C. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

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4 points   

Question 2

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In completing this second matching exercise, please note that the word “text” can be used to refer to written texts as well as to filmic texts :)

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"Declaration of the Rights of the Child"                                                                  "It's That It Hurts"                                                                  "Civil Rights for Kids"                                                                  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry                                                                  “Formation”

A. A text that bluntly indicates how bad bullying in U.S. schools historically was for some children whose families were in the commercial farming industry B. A text that not only draws attention to contemporary abuses of power and of African American children’s rights by white adults but also powerfully represents African American children engaged in acts of protest and resistance against this abuse C. A text that demonstrates the need for novels like Mildred Taylor’s, which do not neglect the subject of children’s role in paving the way for the Civil Rights Movement D. A text that includes some problematic elements (such as an overly vague definition of “adequate” living conditions for children) but that nevertheless helps make it possible to pinpoint abuses of children’s rights by providing a preliminary interpretation of what children are entitled to   E. A text that features an empowered first-person protagonist whose very ability to tell her own story constitutes an act of protest

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5 points   

Question 3

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Hesse enhances Letters from Rifka’s representation of real issues facing child refugees in the United States by

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		Basing her novel on the true experiences of her great-aunt, who was a child refugee herself
		Depicting historical refugee experiences that are similar (though not identical) to the challenges facing some of today’s child refugees who hope to enter the U.S.
		Both

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0.5 points   

Question 4

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An example of a student interpreting Letters from Rifka as a “window text” might be

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		A student identifying with Rifka because she has lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments
		A U.S.-born student beginning to better understand the challenges of children who are recent U.S. immigrants after reading Letters from Rifka
		Both

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0.5 points   

Question 5

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In Letters from Rifka, we learn that Rifka experiences or has previously experienced discrimination or other disadvantages on the basis of

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		Her health status and her gender only
		Her health status, her gender, and her religion
		Her health status, her gender, her religion, her nationality, and her socioeconomic status

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0.5 points   

Question 6

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In reading and analyzing Letters from Rifka, we used ideals of childhood brainstormed by our class as a lens through which to examine the text. We used a similar approach in our next unit on Muñoz Ryan’s text and the history it represents; what “lens” did we primarily use in that case?

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		The same lens: ideals of childhood brainstormed by our class
		A different lens: the rights of children as declared by the international community
		A different lens: facts about child activism neglected by some historical sources on that period

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0.5 points   

Question 7

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While the young people in Esperanza Rising find that many of their rights as children are not respected even once they reach California, Esperanza and her companions are able to enjoy some of these rights of childhood during their time in the United States, including

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		The right to develop socially
		Housing that Esperanza identifies as better than what her family’s farm animals were given in Mexico
		Protection from employment before an acceptable age and from exploitation by employers

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0.5 points   

Question 8

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An example of a student interpreting Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary as a “mirror text” might be

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		A student who has witnessed gun violence seeing experiences and feelings that are similar to his own reflected and validated on-screen
		A student who has not witnessed gun violence having greater empathy with those who have after watching the documentary
		Both

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0.5 points   

Question 9

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There are quite a few similarities between Esperanza’s experiences in Muñoz Ryan’s novel and Mayra’s experiences as they are documented in Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary. These similarities include

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		The opportunity to grow up with both of their parents
		Intersectional effects of gender inequality and ethnic discrimination
		Housing that includes enough personal space for them to feel comfortable in their surroundings

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0.5 points   

Question 10

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Esperanza Rising and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry represent experiences of American childhood that are partly similar; however, the texts are distinct from one another (and thus are worth reading together) in that 

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		One addresses issues of ethnic prejudice affecting children in America, while the other does not
		Each text focuses on the experiences of children in a different ethnic group and a different region of the United States, although the children’s experiences have some similarities
		One addresses issues that continue to negatively affect children in the United States today, while the other addresses issues that have been completely resolved in the U.S.

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0.5 points   

Question 11

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One of Mildred Taylor’s stated intentions for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was that it would

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		Teach child readers about the activism of African American children during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s
		Teach child readers about the activism of African American children growing up in the 1930s and how that activism helped to bring about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s
		Teach child readers about the example that adult African American activists set for children growing up in the 1930s

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0.5 points   

Question 12

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Prior to this midterm, the first three units of this course have suggested that there are multiple aspects of children’s identities that have historically shaped and differentiated their experience of childhood in the United States – and that continue to do so today due to the persistence of prejudice and inequality in America. These aspects of identity include

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		Religion, nationality, race or ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
		Physical appearance,  gender, and parents’ marital status (single, married, widowed, etc.)
		Both

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0.5 points   

Question 13

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Because this is an interdisciplinary humanities course, so far this quarter we have analyzed literary texts intended for a child audience alongside historical documents, journalistic writing about current events, a documentary film, and even a music video. Choose one literary text that we have read so far (by Hesse, Muñoz Ryan, or Taylor) and explain how reading it in tandem with one of these other textual or audio-visual sources (the Winsor article, the 1959 Declaration, Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary, the McFadden article, or the music video for “Formation”) helped to enhance your learning experience. What connections did you draw between the two sources? Why was it important for you to examine the non-literary source alongside the literary one? How did this help you to further develop your understanding of American childhood? Please write at least one long, detailed paragraph, observing standard conventions of strong academic writing.

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