Monday, December 7, 2009

Bifocal - Jay's character

I was thinking a bit about the character of Jay in the novel Bifocal. I am very pleased with the decision that he made to stand up to Kevin. And I started to think...

Both young men are in their teens and I wonder at what point they began to be racist. Where do we learn racism? How does it begin? Perhaps you have some ideas on this topic.

26 comments:

  1. Dear Ms Prefontaine,

    I don't know where we learn racisim , I think that it just happens to us naturally. When we get mad we start to want to hurt people and then it just comes.That is what I think maybe some other people think differently.

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  2. I think that racism comes naturally. We don't really learn it from anywhere we just say it. Even if we don't really mean it, we still say it somehow.That is my opinion what about you??

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  3. I think we learn racism in movies, books, adults, and in books. I think it begins when people want some privacy, so people can invite specific people.
    Elizabeth

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  4. We can learn racism from parents, school, friends. It begins when people hating each other by their skin colour. Some people are just jealous, because of what they can do.

    Jocelyn

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  5. I think that you can learn racism from a lot of places; parents, relatives, friends, media, books and so on. If your parents or relatives are racist, your most likely to follow their footsteps because you look up to them. Friends can also pressure you into being racist because you don't want to be different.

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  6. I think that it was very good of jay to stand up to jay because jay stood up to kevin

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  7. Racism is like a disease that spreads it is just as bad as any king of flu virus but instead of infecting the body it affects the mind.

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  8. I really didnt like the point when they were racist but the book was still good.Besides the end it was an amazing story.

    I think that you learn rasism natually or from other people.

    I think it begins when you here it from someone else

    I like your blog and it interested me into reading it.So I thought I would comment.


    From
    Jaffery

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  9. I think people learn racism from peers and family members. It begins when people look at one anothers skin and judge them.
    Rachel

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  10. i think that people learn racism from their parents brother sister and other siblings they people have so much view or points or stuff and they watnt to follow or be cool

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  11. Oh, and I have another thing to add. When you don't know a lot about a certain race, you can easily believe rumors and stereotypes going around.

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  12. I think that racism starts from jealousy. Or it starts when you aren't freinds and are different cultures. That is my opinion

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  13. I think a person just develops racism if they are living in a racist community, that would also be known as bad influence. And sometimes we say racist things just as a joke but we do not realize that it could really hurt someone's feelings. Thats my opinion on where we learn racism from.

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  14. I think they migth learn racism from thier parents then they copy them

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  15. Racism comes naturally and I think that Jay and Kevin really took it too far when they did all those things!!!!!

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  16. racism is in almost everyone, sometimes you cant stop yourself from saying a racist joke it just pops out when you didnt mean to say it.

    i admit i did it once and i didnt really mean to say it but my friend forgave me and said i was sorry.

    btw good ms pre!

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  17. I think that it is like a virus that comes from others. it is like living in a racism world.that is what i think.

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  18. Racism is a bad thing. We learn racism from some movies and other people. I think people also start to be racist because they don't like somebody else from a different race. They start to be racist to that person and start being racist to other people too just for the fun of it.

    -Ajhivan

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  19. I think people learn racism by the people around them. They're influenced by others. It begins when people are afraid of what they don't know. Then they end up hating them because you don't know them.

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  20. we usually learn rascism at school, on tv, older siblings or outdoors.It begins when one race doesnt like how another race,acts,or the way they look

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  21. I think Racism starts from everyone and everywhere. I tihnk this because we can learn it from movies, book, radios, t.v, newspapers and signs. It also can start from different cultures because if one culture don't like another culture, they will start racism.

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  22. Well i think that there are a million possibilities
    and some are from movies (entertainment) maybe they're with racist people and maybe it just comes naturally because they are self-centered.

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  23. i think that it come from patents that goes to kids and that goes through the kids they hang out with.

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  24. Personally I think that they started the racism from there parent or peers around them. Eventually they will start to learn how to be racism. I think that we got this from people not respecting each other. They found there race and then they have something against there people.

    ~ Alyana

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  25. in all these comments, i am going to have to agree with the people who said it comes naturally

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  26. I’m happy too that Jay finally had enough confidence in himself to stand up to Kevin. I think racism comes from having enemies or from hating someone for who they are. People can also learn how to be racist from their parents, friends or people they hang out with a lot. People can be racist when they don’t like another person’s race or culture.
    Racism is probably natural or maybe the person just got influenced by another person.

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