Welcome to your online discussion of American Street!
Together with members of your book group, you’ll be reading American Street by Ibi Zoboi over the next several weeks. Although you're not required to take notes while you read, it would be wise to keep track of important events and characters for your own clarification. You are, however, expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in an online discussion of FOUR essential questions.
Here's how it works:
Divide your book roughly in half. You need to have read and blogged about each half by the due dates below.
There are two kinds of posts in this discussion: response and comment.
Response = direct response to the essential questions
Comment = comment on someone else’s posted response or comment
Post at least THREE responses for each half of your book (SIX overall).
You must respond at least once to each of the essential questions over the course of your reading. One of your six responses can be a “free-response" post.
Post at least THREE comments for each section of your book (SIX overall).
Due dates:
- Post your first set of responses and comments by Monday, May 20 (Blue 2), and Tuesday, May 21 (Red 2).
- Post your second set of responses and comments by Thursday, May 30 (Red 2), and Friday, May 31 (Blue 2).
- How does prejudice affect the lives of young people growing up?
- How and why are people prejudiced?
- How are justice & courage related?
- In what ways does this book refute the notion of the “single story”?
** Free-response option: Address another issue/episode/or passage in the book that you find significant for any reason.
Assessment:
To earn maximum credit, post thoughtful responses that are at least a few sentences in length—and carefully proofread! Do not misspell characters' or authors’ names! Also, be sure to include specific references to the text (either details or short quotations). Page numbers, too, are always helpful.
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ReplyDeleteWith just starting "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi, it's clear to see some instances of racial prejudice. For an example of how this book refutes the notion of a single story, when Fabiola loses Manman and asks for help from Deborah Howard, Deborah responds and "speaks slowly, as if I am stupid.". Deborah's assumption is that because Fabiola has a hard time finding the right words in English, that she doesn't understand English well. This bother Fabiola, as seen by the moment immediately after with "I purse my lips and clench my fists. How do I tell her..." and goes on to list what she wishes she could say in English. (I deleted the original comment and reposted this because my profile wasn't showing)
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DeleteI agree that this doesn't reflect the whole book, but is a single event.
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DeleteWhat I meant was that refute means to disprove, not to help. Refuting a single story means proving the single story theory wrong. Aidian's comment is a good example of a single story, but not refuting it.
DeleteI believe that this is a good example of a single story, but is not a example of the book refuting the single story.
DeleteI think it is a single story and prejudice because she is assuming she doesn't know English.
DeleteIn the first half of American Street, justice and courage are already intertwined. He mother is detained, and her only hope of seeing her is through Detective Shawna Stevens, a detective in Detroit. The Detective says she can "get her out", if she gives her "information . . . on Drayton"(91). What this means is to get her mother out of detainment and into Detroit, she must infiltrate Dray's drug parties and get evidence of the drug use, and do it without her cousin Donna knowing. This links courage and justice by asking her to do something that takes a lot of courage to get justice for her mother.
ReplyDeleteI'm just imagining being someone traveling to a different country to immediately lose their mom to customs and needing to go on this dangerous mission.
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DeleteThis post was Made by Hudson Holden.
DeleteIf the situation was flipped, and an American family went to Haiti, do you think that there would still be detainment? I don't think that Manman would have been detained if the situation was flipped.
DeleteI agree. Going "undercover" into a drug operation is always risky with the proper training, so I can't imagine what it would be like to go in as an immigrant that just arrived in the US. If I were in that situation, I would just want to go back to my country of origin
DeleteI agree with Hudson. I don't think that Manman would've been detained if she was an American going to Haiti. This is again prejudice because they took Manman without knowing why she was trying to go to the U.S..
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ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. While I was reading the part when Fab gets out of Dray's car and says "Don't hit him" and Dray responds with something along the lines of no one cares about him. That really shows how people will judge other people without even really knowing who they're judging and what kind of person they are.
DeleteBad leg is prejudiced and beaten by Dray, but in the end, Bag Leg gets his revenge by killing Dray.
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ReplyDeleteI agree
DeleteI disagree
DeleteI think this book refutes the notion of a single story through Bad Leg. Everyone thinks Bad Leg is a crackhead, except for Fab. Fab seems to think that he is Papa Lewa, the god of crossroads. She takes him seriously, despite everyone else attacking him and telling one story about him.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that Fab has a prejudice, because she thought that America is perfect. But as she lives in America, she is surprised by its imperfectness. She eats her first meal alone, and she says that America has less color that Haidi. Her dream of American perfection is ruined further by Dray's drug operation, and her involvement in that.
I also believe it was because of Manman being immediately detained and Deborah Howards acting like Fab is stupid. I highly doubt this would make Fab look at America in a positive way.
DeleteI think that Fab continues to look at America in a negative way, as she says that America seems colorless compared to Haiti, and she felt alone in America.
DeleteAs Hudson said in a comment, this entire situation with Manman and Fabiola being separated most likely wouldn't have happened in a different country, and to refer to Hudson again, let's take an American mother and daughter going to Haiti. I highly doubt Haitian airport security would detain the mother right as they get there. The Americans detaining Manman shows prejudice because of this and has made Fabiola's life in Detroit much harder. None of her conflicts would have happened if Manman was American going to a different country most likely.
ReplyDeleteAs Fabiola and Detective Shawna Stevens are talking in the restaurant, Shawna says "no one around here is gonna talk. So this all becomes like some sort of chaotic cycle. Bad people stay on the streets, good people die;" (92). This shows how courage and justice are related because no one has the courage to help end the crimes going on, "no one around here is gonna talk." and the injustice then comes from no one trying to stop it. If people (Like Fabiola) had the courage to fight against what's going on, more justice would be established and less crimes would be committed.
ReplyDeleteBut when Fab attempts to do the right thing, and get Dray in trouble with the police, her boyfriend dies.
DeleteYes, and to raise the stakes of Fabiola's conflict even higher, she may have to choose between loyalty to her mother or loyalty to her cousins and boyfriend. It looks as though she'll have to pay a terrible price for the American Dream. (Just as her uncle did before her...)
ReplyDeleteIn Fabiola's letter to Manman you start to realize how innocent she is and that Manman protected Fabiola and shielded her from the real world. But now she is on her own.
ReplyDeleteAnd has to face the prejudice and discrimination from the community, which changes how she is.
DeleteI agree that Fab went through a lot change with while Manman was gone. I think that this change occurred because Manman was gone. Manman would not have been OK with her swearing, or dating, or doing marijuana, or partying, or many things that . she did in America without her knowing.
DeleteIn Princess's story she talks about why her and her sister were named Prince and Primadonna. it shows the different in culture, because in Haiti if you had a good job and a good house. You were pretty much royalty, but that isn't how it works in America.
ReplyDeleteAnd in Haiti, if you don't have money you can't get an education. In the book, they said that they were sending Fab $20,000 a year for education. If you don't have money, you can't get education, which means you can't make money.
DeleteI think that Fab has been refuting the notion of a single story later in the book. She was a girl from Hati, who gets good grades and is innocent. But as the story progresses, she gets a boyfriend, gets into a fight, and acts more like her cousins. I think this refutes the notion of a single story by showing that people can change their story.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe that people's stories change as the people in their lives change.
DeleteI believe that Dray prejudice Fab by putting her in a single story. He does not believe that she sells/takes drugs because she seems to innocent. While this is not very harmful to her, I still think it is a strange form of prejudice.
ReplyDeleteYes, he acts like she can't handle herself as well, just because what he thinks about her.
DeleteAmerican Street intertwines justice and courage further later in the book. She knows that the detectives are after the wrong person, but she sets up dray anyway. She takes the easy way out, rather than reporting her cousins. Because she did not have courage, Kasim dies.
ReplyDeleteFor how and why are people prejudiced, how would be by someone insulting another person, the girl on page 196 insulting Fab, "Yes, he's my boyfriend" is all I say. 'Not for long, bitch. My cousin Raquel already claimed Kasim." the girl insults Fab just for being in a relationship with Kasim because the girl's cousing wanted him, which is the why part of the essential question.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this is prejudice. Prejudice is when someone makes an assumption about someone before they know them. This girl was angry because of something that Fab did do, meaning that it was not prejudice.
DeletePrejudice affects the lives of young people growing up through this story, shown by after Pri and Chant talk to Q. Q gets the girls to sell drugs for him to make money. Chantal says "Money was running out. We still gotta live, Fab. We still gotta breathe. Money's just room to breathe, that's all.". This makes Fab feel terrible, as she starts crying right after, and shows how because of all the prejudice that has been put on them, they've needed to rely on making life better with money by selling drugs.
ReplyDeleteYes, and hence the bitter irony of their local intersection: America Street and Joy Road.
DeleteIt is interesting that the house has a bad history, as if the only way to get joy in America is through tragedy. This is further proven by the ending of the story.
DeleteFor how prejudice and courage are related, on page 243, Dray starts yelling at people for disrespecting him, with Dray saying "I didn't come out here to get disrespected," followed by Donna saying "Well, you're disrespecting me. You stay disrespecting me." this is the prejudice of disrespect being put onto Donna by Dray, and then Donna doesn't have enough courage to cut off the "relationship" because Dray starts being nice to her, "Then Dray is back down on his knee and grabs Donna's hand. I can tell by her face that she's buying it." That shows that Donna doesn't the courage to act, even with the prejudice put onto her.
ReplyDeleteWhy not, do you think? What keeps her from breaking up with Dray? Clearly, everyone in her family is frustrated by this relationship.
DeleteI think that she is not breaking up with Dray because he is nice to her sometimes, and makes her feel that Dray needs her. I think she feels bad about breaking up with Dray, because he makes her feel needed.
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