Bop By Langston Hughes

Bop By Langston Hughes

Bop begins as a casual conversation between two men about a music they called Bop.  The narrator is clearly a person in a social class than the other man, or Simple.  The narrator confuses two different types of Bop and Simple has to explain it to him.  One has been used by white people while the other came from a sad history of police brutality against black people.  Simple then explains to the narrator that white people cannot imitate Be-Bop because they haven’t gone through the pain that others have.  They haven’t been wronged by law or questioned where they were going due to the color of their skin.  Langston Hughes understands the fear and struggles victims of police brutality himself because he was a man of color during the 1900s, a time when racism was present.  He was also an early writer of jazz poetry.  Hughes faced racism in his time and this caused him to educate the public about what his people went through.  Fighting ignorance with poetry helped get his point across well.  His essay provokes the reader to think about how those of different races have gone through completely different tragedies and black people certainly have more history with racism and some racism present today.  This essay applies to young and old generation that may not have been educated on the struggles of the past.  But for sure, Langston Hughes wants readers to know that ignoring history or not understanding it is careless.  This point is proven when his final sentences hit readers’ hearts with emotion.  “Your explanation depresses me,’ I said.  ‘Your nonsense depresses me,’ said Simple.”  Hughes uses pathos to make the reader feel guilt that the narrator’s lack of knowledge and maybe even sympathy offends those brutality victims.  Hughes also uses Simple’s story of how he gets beat just for the color of his skin in order to make the reader feel for the ones who listen to Be-Bop and created it.  Emotion helps make the author’s message more important and can give readers who may not know much a call to action. 

The Lives Of A Cell By Lewis Thomas

The Lives Of A Cell By Lewis Thomas (pg. 358)

As much as humans try to distance themselves from nature and Earth, it is incredibly hard to since both mankind and nature are so similar.  Humans are full of miniscule ecosystems that hold their own even smaller villages too.  Man tries to differentiate itself from Earth by becoming a single entity, acting as though they are their own and in charge of their own body.  Yet just like Earth, man is filled with small organisms with a mind of their own.  All doing their own job and taking care of their body and man’s.  It is impossible to say that man is different than nature when both have mitochondria and nuclei that run cell systems.  The essay then dives into the fact that with changing technology, the earth changes too.  Lewis Thomas, who attended Princeton University and Harvard Medical School has his essay conclude with the opinion that even though the Earth may seem like one giant organism, it is “most like a single cell” (Thomas 360).  Thomas’s essay written in 1971 starts to mention that man distances himself from nature, this comes from a time when new technology is constantly being created and the human nature is becoming more bionic, than natural.  He is trying to show that although human may seem strong and an incredible race, we have the same things inside of us as the grass under out feet.  Everything in our existence is interconnected through microscopic systems full of even more life.  This message reaches to both old and new generation.  Old can see the way technology has allowed us to see our connections in nature and the new can be humbled into seeing the way our lives weave into others.  Thomas proves his point with a large dose of logos.  He slams biology terms in our brains yet still gives the reader a clear understanding of how all life is connected.  His wording gives the piece a serious tone and his last sentence ties together everything mentioned throughout the essay. 

The Disposable Rocket By John Updike

The Disposable Rocket by John Updike (pg. 549)

The Disposable Rocket by John Updike kicks off with a humorous simile comparing the male body to a bank account, “as long as it’s healthy, you don’t think about it much” (Updike 549).  He implies that men treat their bodies like an afterthought, it’s only important until a problem arises.  Updike then dives into the anatomy and desires of men.  He says a man’s urge to have sex with women parallel with their drive to live weightlessly or, “experience the release from gravity” (Updike 549).  The realization that males live carelessly highlights their likeliness to injury and poor care.  He then describes his relationship with his body as detached, almost as if he’s watching his body age and change.  In his career, Updike worked for The New Yorker and had numerous short stories, novels, and poems.  He wrote his essay when he was older, 60 years old.  At this time, Updike sees his pale ankles and balding head and realizes his relationship with his body has been like a movie.  Even though he sees what’s happening he doesn’t completely comprehend it.  This proves his message to emphasize the importance of taking care of one’s body and being in tune with it.  His careless treatment of his body didn’t allow him to see changes that he saw as strange when younger.  He mainly directs this idea towards a younger audience, who have time to take care of their bodies and learn about it.  He uses an anecdote to describe what he did when he was younger that showed how he treated his body.  He “used to jump and fall just for the joy of it” (Updike 550).  This automatically gives the reader a bridge to his life.  They see what he was like and can also relate.  When younger we tend to treat our bodies like they’re indestructible.  His relatable stories give the essay a nostalgic mood and allow you to feel remorse for not taking care of your own body, which effectively delivers his message.