Friendswood Homework
Septemeber 7, 2016
"Who Should Speak? When is it Permissble to Dissent?"
While reading Classes 3 and 4 of Friendswood, we start to connect the dots between the characters and further understand each one's personality and unique situation. Lee is still suffering from grief following the death of her daughter and is trying her best to dig up more secrets from the oil-filled land at Banes Field and Rosemont, to try to stop the construction of Taft Properties. Hal finally gets lucky with his job and feels a little more satisfied in his life once he gets a crucial job offer from his entrepreneur friend Avery Taft. A love triangle is uncovered when Willa exposes more of her hallucinations and love for Cully where as Dex, a character the polar opposite of Cully, lets us in on his family life and his secret admiration for Willa. However, the love triangle among the three teens becomes dramatic and dangerous when we start to realize that Cully, the all-star football player blessed in the popularity department as opposed to academics, might have raped Willa.
Rape is very controversial and at times an uncomfortable topic for people to confront especially when they come from a small, conservative town that is oblivious to deviant behavior. Numerous times when a victim is raped, they don't report it for many reasons, varying from embarrassment or because they were intoxicated and don't remember the event. In Willa's case, it is presumed that she doesn't recall the act since she still carries affection towards Cully and agrees to go on a date with him alone. In situations involving rape, there is one question that remains in society, who should speak? I personally believe that the victim is the one who holds the heaviest voice when it comes to speaking out about rape. If a victim is caught in such an unfortunate event, it is never their fault and they should report it since the offender has tarnished their security and should be punished. In the victim's statement from the Stanford rape case, who also doesn't remember the night her security was taken away, she stated, "I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't interact with anyone" (4). Sadly, sometimes the victim is too disturbed to speak, which in that case their peers should speak out because a voice still needs to be heard if justice is to be won. Rape is a crime not taken serious enough and if it takes a whole community to speak, then they should just for the sake of their neighbor and to improve the feeling of safety in their town.
Even when it comes to polluted land and a construction project being performed illegally, the citizens should speak out. Sometimes esteemed institutions are greedy and just want to make money. For example, the EPA is being untruthful and is allowing Avery Taft to build his new properties on the contaminated land on the Banes Field-Rosemont area with tests coming out negative. The land is obviously still contaminated as proven by Lee's detective work of taking pictures and protesting. They should be taking accurate tests that reflect the danger of the land and prohibit Taft from constructing there, but it's clear that they don't really care. Lee is trying to prevent the project from happening, but she is being viewed as an outcast and crazy. This goes hand in hand with another question, when is it ok to dissent?
In the town of Friendswood, "no one is thinking of Rosemont anymore" (Steinke 49). In colloquial terms, the people of Friendswood don't see the purpose of stopping the building of Avery's homes in the area since they view the land useless already. Lee refuses to give up and is pushing her way to stop the process, an action that seems worthless to the citizens and goes against their opinions. I believe it is appropriate to dissent when one strongly believes in something and are able to back up their opinion with reasonable explanations. Also, if one's unique ideas go against the group but doesn't harm them, it's permissible to dissent. After all, Lee is doing the town a favor since she knows the land is still contaminated and may still bring up cancer. Overall, as the drama strengthens in Friendswood, hopefully Willa or her peers will gain the courage to speak up and Lee will continue to be her headstrong self.
Rape is very controversial and at times an uncomfortable topic for people to confront especially when they come from a small, conservative town that is oblivious to deviant behavior. Numerous times when a victim is raped, they don't report it for many reasons, varying from embarrassment or because they were intoxicated and don't remember the event. In Willa's case, it is presumed that she doesn't recall the act since she still carries affection towards Cully and agrees to go on a date with him alone. In situations involving rape, there is one question that remains in society, who should speak? I personally believe that the victim is the one who holds the heaviest voice when it comes to speaking out about rape. If a victim is caught in such an unfortunate event, it is never their fault and they should report it since the offender has tarnished their security and should be punished. In the victim's statement from the Stanford rape case, who also doesn't remember the night her security was taken away, she stated, "I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't interact with anyone" (4). Sadly, sometimes the victim is too disturbed to speak, which in that case their peers should speak out because a voice still needs to be heard if justice is to be won. Rape is a crime not taken serious enough and if it takes a whole community to speak, then they should just for the sake of their neighbor and to improve the feeling of safety in their town.Even when it comes to polluted land and a construction project being performed illegally, the citizens should speak out. Sometimes esteemed institutions are greedy and just want to make money. For example, the EPA is being untruthful and is allowing Avery Taft to build his new properties on the contaminated land on the Banes Field-Rosemont area with tests coming out negative. The land is obviously still contaminated as proven by Lee's detective work of taking pictures and protesting. They should be taking accurate tests that reflect the danger of the land and prohibit Taft from constructing there, but it's clear that they don't really care. Lee is trying to prevent the project from happening, but she is being viewed as an outcast and crazy. This goes hand in hand with another question, when is it ok to dissent?
In the town of Friendswood, "no one is thinking of Rosemont anymore" (Steinke 49). In colloquial terms, the people of Friendswood don't see the purpose of stopping the building of Avery's homes in the area since they view the land useless already. Lee refuses to give up and is pushing her way to stop the process, an action that seems worthless to the citizens and goes against their opinions. I believe it is appropriate to dissent when one strongly believes in something and are able to back up their opinion with reasonable explanations. Also, if one's unique ideas go against the group but doesn't harm them, it's permissible to dissent. After all, Lee is doing the town a favor since she knows the land is still contaminated and may still bring up cancer. Overall, as the drama strengthens in Friendswood, hopefully Willa or her peers will gain the courage to speak up and Lee will continue to be her headstrong self.
"Who should speak?" is an interesting question. In some cases, it seems obvious, such as in a rape case. According to you, the victim should hold the heaviest voice because she was wrongfully abused, but because of this, she may not want to speak up. So then the responsibility falls on her peers to bring the victim justice.
ReplyDeleteYou connect Willa to the victim in the Stanford rape case and used good support from the victim impact statement as an example of how affected a victim can be because of a rape, to the point where she can no longer speak about it herself. Your point is clear: in a rape case, the victim's voice should be most considered because it was not her fault, but the peers and community who speak up for her are also important and valid.
But I have a question for you. What if the victim lies? It's obviously not right to assume the victim in a rape case is lying, and I'm sure it rarely occurs. But if the victim hates the accused assaulter enough that she wants to tarnish his name and reputation, accusing him of rape could be a good attempt. So who should speak then?
You also say that the community should speak for the well-being of the environment because institutions like the EPA and Taft Properties are money-hungry. Although the only member of the community who is speaking up for the environment is Lee, and she dissents from the opinions of the other Friendswood citizens.
I liked the image you chose to go along with this post. It symbolizes a person like Lee who dissents, who speaks against a common belief, using simple human figures and contrasting blue and red colors. It enhances your idea, and it's cute. I enjoyed reading your post and seeing your opinions on who should speak. Thank you and good job.
Zoe-- thank you for commenting on Leslie's post. Your observation of her illustration and blossoming main point show your understanding of her writing. Good job!
ReplyDeleteLeslie, your post suggests that in the incident of rape, the victim bears the most responsibility to speak. Why? Can you develop this point before moving on to her community speaking up?
How could you have used research from the victim impact statement to develop your point?
Your illustration and writing are clear. Good job.
Prof. Young