Dracula Book Club Essay

My book club read Dracula by Bram Stoker. In this book, Jonathan Harker goes to visit a mysterious count named Dracula. When Jonathan manages to escape, Dracula wrecks havoc on his life and all his friends lives. In this story, Dracula almost always has power. He does this simply by being stronger and faster than the humans and also by outsmarting them. Or he can do this by outsmarting other people. This is how Dracula always has power.

When Jonathan visits Dracula’s castle, he is at first unable to see than Dracula is keeping him hostage. He later figures this out when Dracula does not let him leave by threatening him with death by wolves. Dracula has all the power because he is keeping him hostage in his castle. He is doing this physically. He can keep Jonathan inside the house by pure force. This is how he controls people using force.

Dracula can also mentally outsmart them. In one scene he sets up a trap for them where they are attacked by rats. He controls them by setting traps and forcing them to look other places. He can control them by turning their friends into vampires for example they turned lucy into a vampire. Then she became under his control. She becomes mentally control by Dracula and they have to kill her.

These are the two ways that Dracula controls his victims. He uses strength and power to defeat them. Or he uses tactics and thinking to steer them in the direction he wants them to go. This is how he has control.

Martin Espada Essay

Martin Espada Essay

Xavier Markowitz

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There are many ways to be racist towards hispanic people. In the poems, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” by Martin Espada, there are people who are racist to the hispanic people. I think these poems are connected because they have to do with racism.

In the poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” the principal overhears students speaking spanish in the bathroom. He doesn’t understand them and the only thing he hears is his own name. He then gets upset and bans spanish from the bathroom. This shows how he is being racist by not letting the students speak their language. I feel that this is unfair because the principal is limiting their culture. This is how Martin Espada showed racism in this poem.

In the second poem, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” Martin Espada also talks about racism. He becomes upset when people mispronounce his name so he goes on a long fantasy about how he will hold Americans hostage and how he will become the stereotypical hispanic revolutionary. He describes himself to look like Che Guevara. I think this is showing how angry he is and how he feels people who mispronounce his name view him. This poem shows his anger very well. This poem also shows racism through the speaker’s anger.

The poem, “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” talks about racism. In the poem, Espada, talks about two mexicanos that were lynched. They were not given a fair trial because they were hispanic. Then after the hanging, the people who hanged them took a picture with them. This is very racist. They did not see them as human beings. First of all, they did not get a fair trial. Second, they took a picture to remember the moment. They did not think of them as people who died. They do not care about the Mexicano’s lives. This shows the racism at the time.

These three poems are connected in a certain way. They all show racism towards hispanic people. These poems are trying to show us how being racist effects other people. Sometimes it takes away part of their culture, or sometimes it makes them angry. In extreme cases it can lead to death. This is what I think Espada was trying to teach us.

Chinese Test Essay

Chinese Test Essay

Xavier Markowitz

In China there is a test called the gaokao. This one test can determine your entire future. It tells you where you go the college. There are special schools that are based solely around prepping for this test. I feel that this test is unfair. I think this because the test is very stressful and it is discriminatory to poor people.

This test stresses all students out. "It's critics say it stifles creativity and puts excessive pressure on students." The critics are right. This system puts a lot of pressure on the students and taking test is not as creative as doing other school activities such as projects. Also, “Teenage suicide rates tend to rise near the gaokao.” This shows how the test is extremely stressful towards the students. It is very upsetting that the test makes them do this. The school itself makes it a more stressful experience. “Maotanchang’s teachers dole out lessons, and frequently punishments, with military rigor.” This stresses the students out even more. These three things combined create a very stressful environment for the students.

Another problem that makes the test so unfair is that it is discriminatory to poor people. “Many wealthy families are simply opting out of the system, placing their children in private international schools in China or sending them abroad for an education.” This shows how being rich can simply take you out of the test. That is very unfair. “Rural villages like Yuejin, have poor schools and few well trained teachers. Wealthy urban families can hire private tutors and pay for test prep courses, or bribe their way into the best city school.” These are some ways that wealthy people have a very big advantage in this system. “Rural students are allowed far fewer college-admissions spots than students from cities.” This is showing how statistically richer people from cities get into colleges for often than poorer people for rural areas. These are ways that money can be an unfair part of the testing experience.

These are two reasons why this is test is unfair. Firstly, it is extremely stressful for the students. They spend years studying. Secondly, it is discriminatory to poor people. If you are poor it is harder to pass the test. This is why the gaokao is unfair.