African American and Conflicting Perspective Essay

Every individual has a perspective on things in life and their personal idea of the truth. These are universal concepts and are widely seen in ted Hughes poems â€Å"birthday Letters†. Birthday letters is a set of poems, said to have been written by Hughes for six years prior to his death, on his ex wife’s birthday each year this the selection of poems being called birthday letters. The selection on poems surrounds his problematic marital issues between himself and his wife Sylvia Plath. It is also to show the conflicting perspective on their relationship. This is mainly towards the criticism he received all those years after her suicide. He had been blamed for being the catalyst for her suicide/death and so began a collection of poems regarding their relationship but in some way, excusing himself and explaining that she was already on a destructive path. Through two of his poems, Fulbright scholars and the shot, an understanding of the poems have thrown lighten the concepts of conflicting perspectives. Two other complementary texts such as letters from two jima and to kill a mockingbird convey conflicting perspectives however on issues such as racial discrimination and the perspectives of an opposing country that has been marked as enemies. Fulbright scholars are the first poem in the birthday letters collection. Hughes here tries to remember how he met her and first know of her existence. He does this whilst looking at a picture that was taken at university, when he was a naive young man. He ponders about her throughout the poem trying hard to delve into his psyche hopelessly to recollect something about her when they met at a party. This can be noted by the quote â€Å"were you among them? † which refers to the picture of Fulbright scholar. In terms of conflicting perspectives, the e poem can also be seen as a text that he wrote implicating how difficult it is t recall that first meeting, however he begins to explain his perspective of Sylvia Plath. He says â€Å"your exaggerated American grin for the cameras† which referred to her as someone with false appearances. The various techniques Hughes used to convey his ideas were the use of rhetorical questions such as â€Å"were you among them? †, the repetitions of the word maybe and the use of the I persona, and metaphors such as the â€Å"first fresh peach†. Rhetorical questions he used as a means of asking himself how he met her and what she first looked like to him. The metaphor ‘delicious peach† can be said to be another way to say she was the first girl he â€Å"ever tasted†, in terms of the experience of truly liking someone who seemed special to him. Reputation is used throughout the poem of maybe can be analyzed as a way of trying to remember what he saw of her and his knowing of her existence. The ‘I’ persona is an important tool in terms of Hughes alluding to the very personal nature of his reflection. The poem ‘the shot’ is also one from the collection and conveys Plath as someone different to what her fans saw her to be. As he says that she was deceitful in terms of appearance of a good and decent person/poet. In the poem, the shot is a metaphor of Plath being bullet shout out a gun. It can also e sad that Hughes thinks that he was the one shot. Hughes perspective on paths â€Å"destructive path† is one that she has always been on, saying that she was already a bullet long before she has met him. Followers of Plath as a victim view him as a catalyst for her suicide but in the poem he tries to explain that she was already suicidal as she tried to commit suicide when she was younger. The use of word â€Å"daddy† is one of great importance as it refers to her childish attachment to her father. This is also the title of her famous poem daddy. Hughes also explains that from his perspective, that he himself has become the father figure that she had ways been looking for. Overall, the concept of the two poems depict conflicting perspectives through analysis of ted Hughes’ birthday letters. The text letters from Iwo jima is similarly to birthday letters, a conflicting perspective however of the Japanese however of the Japanese soldiers during the American invasion of to two jima in ww2. It depicts their perspective throughout the turbulent time, showing that even were still human beings with the same universal feelings. Clint eastwood directed the film letters from Iwo Jima in 2006, trying to show an American or non Japanese audience their side of the story or their perspective. Here, a conflicting perspective is shown. Throughout the film, eastwood wants us to empathise with the Japanese perspective f the same terror and emotions that the Americans felt at that time too. The main character is a young Japanese soldier called saigo who is little enthused on fighting and going to war. This is all seen through techniques eastwood input such as flashbacks- which were important in the film. The audience is then able to see how the soldiers were like before the war and what it was like for them when they got conscripted. Their reflections are a huge part in their conflicting perspective and also a great important technique is the Japanese language. Eastwood used the language to give a strong sense of ethnicity and strong sense of tradition. To kill a mocking bird written by Harper lee in 1960 conveys the conflicting perspectives of the treatment of African Americans in Alabama. This conflicting perspective is seen through the eyes of a young white girl, rather than n African American person. The text shows her view o the racial discrimination against the Negroes and the treatment, prejudice and violence they receive. The event takes place that’s how a conflicting perspective is the court case scene, where an African American man is accused of raping a young white girl. The perspective here is not only through the girl, Scout Finch, but also her father Atticus finch which is the lawyer defending the accused. However he took on a case he know that with all the racial discrimination and prejudice around, he would inevitable lose. The fact that he took on the case shows a conflicting perspective of a white American man who has no prejudice against African Americans. The daughter scout finch views the situation on a different level as well as she was basically raised by African American woman and didn’t judge her, as many people did in Maycomb County. She begins to see and understand the prejudice and discrimination when the man is accused of rape as the majority people did not like his race at that time. It was seen as stereotypical to blame him for the rape. The conflicting perspective here is that the perspective o a young white American and her family on the treatment the Negroes received. It can be said that harper lee wanted the audience to challenge their beliefs and see events from the perspective of a young child who is horrified by the treatment of the Negroes.