The Handicapped Randolph Bourne Summary

“The Handicapped” by Randolph Bourne: After reading “The Handicapped” by Randolph Bourne, I found it upsetting that because of Bourne’s disability, he was very self conscious. His timidity is shown through the text “The deformed man is always conscious that the world does not expect very much to him… As a result, he does not expect very much of himself, he is timid in approaching people, and distrustful of his ability to persuade and convince” (Bourne 58). Although Bourne’s sensitivity towards people’s first impressions of him, get into the way of his social life, it also has its benefits. He believes that his sensitivity allows his few close friendships to reach a higher level of intimacy than most people’s friendships that are only …show more content…
The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s which affected African American workers the worst. African Americans were unemployed fifty percent or more and whites faced thirty percent. It was common for African Americans to be denied certain jobs and receive less pay than white workers. While working, Africans American people often had racial slurs thrown at them and were mistreated by white people. Throughout the text “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical sketch” by Richard Wright, Richard faced racism all his life. He had been beaten and verbally abused by racist white people. Throughout the text it is shown how white people treat African Americans terribly and constantly mistreat them in real life. The text also mentions that in the 1930s police officers whose jobs are to protect everyone and ensure the safety of their communities, still treated African Americans poorly. To this day, police officers are still mistreating and killing African Americans for their skin color. According to the thesocietypages.org the number of unarmed African americans killed by the police in the United States continues to go up each year. The African American community still continues to face discrimination and are constantly living in fear for their lives which is caused by …show more content…
Racism and segregation between african americans and whites is portrayed throughout the text. Real world issues were brought up in the text that has been endured throughout history. For instance, it is stated in the text how the country had been split up, ”In the stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn’t really, absolutely know what whites looked like..The hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the workers against the work and the ragged against the well dressed..” (Angelou 353). In my opinion, this made me feel sad because our country continues to face these problems everyday. Although most issues have gotten better, our country need to unite as one instead of everyone fighting each other. Although this text shows how Maya living in the South caused her to have an unfair life, we are able to bring positivity out of it and bring awareness towards