University Days
Thurber's botany class did not live up to his expectations
because he thought it would be an easy class to pass just like all of his
others. In the class, the students were required to look at plant cells through
a microscope and draw them. But Thurber, who had poor vision, could not see
through the microscope and only saw "a lot of milk". This frustrated
his teacher very much because he didn't understand why Thurber couldn't see the
cells. He yelled at him saying that everyone could see through a microscope and
that he was just making it up to get on the teacher's nerves. But once he
finally thought he met his teacher's expectations and saw something, his hopes deflated when he was told that he was drawing his own eye.
Thurber also had a lot of trouble in gym class because he was expected to
participate without glasses and learn how to swim. This he obviously could not
accomplish. Since his college was a grant university, he was required to pass a
military drill class. His teacher's expectations were so high for him that he
was called "the main trouble with this university" since he was so
untalented at the drills. He was forced to repeat this hell through senior year
until he finally got the hang of it. Just how his hopes deflated when he
thought he saw through the microscope, Thurber's expectations that all of his
classes would be effortless deflated too. This made his college life miserable
and made him see that his opinions of what it would be like were much too
facile than it actually was.
An Account of Experience with Discrimination
"It is hard for the old slaveholding spirit to die. But
die it must..." is the subject of Sojourner Truth's short story. She
believed that it was finally time for the abolishment of slavery and
discrimination for the African American community. Her experience revealed how unaccepting
American society was to the blacks even after the Civil War. Because injustice
was so common towards the African Americans at the time, they were still
considered lower class citizens and treated without respect even though slavery
was ended. This shows how the community norm was racism because they were so
used to it. It became so common because the community shaped the individuals
and taught them that this was acceptable. For an individual to shape the
community, they would have to be as courageous as Sojourner and be willing to
make a stand for the truly correct ideals.
Primary documents differ from a reporter's account of a
community or a short story because they provide a sense of realism. They give a
first-hand perspective that clearly illustrates a person's accounts and give an
accurate representation and an exploration of the community. Reporters, on the
other hand, only give the details they feel are important or the ones that they
want you to hear to feel a certain way about the community. They don't have the
specific details that a primary document would and might not understand the
topic the same way someone that gives their personal account would. They
provide their own perspective that might not be the same as one from someone
who has written a primary document or might wrongly interpret the idea of what
a primary document is saying since they most likely don't have an exact
personal connection to what is happening in the community.
