Danzy Sennas Caucasia Essay -- Danzy Senna Caucasia Essays

Danzy Senna's Caucasia In Caucasia, by Danzy Senna, Birdie spends time in several different racial contexts and, in each one, adjusts the racial definition of herself. Through this process, she discovers much about the conception of race in contemporary American society and achieves the nuanced understanding that race, while merely a construction, is still (operationally) real. This is contrasted by the more dangerous, oversimplified understanding of race – that races are biological rivals, inherently different and unable to coexist without some sort of power structure – embodied by the character of Redbone, who is also a symbol of inauthenticity. This latter aspect of Redbone shows the emptiness inherent in the views he holds about race, an important reason for his inclusion in the novel. Redbone, which, interestingly enough, according to urbandictionary.com literally means a light-skinned black person with kinky red hair, is an incredibly outspoken advocate of the â€Å"revolution† (the movement intended to allow Blacks to overthrow Whites in the American power-structure) and the need to use violence to bring it about. In the scene where Redbone shows Birdie the guns, he says, â€Å"This little girl ain’t no security risk, brotha. We gotta raise our children to know how to fight† (Senna 15). He also tells Deck that maybe he needs to â€Å"get [his] head out of them books and put some action behind them high-falutin’ theories of [his]† (16). This manifestation of black vs. white politics as unabashed advocating of violence and this mockery and belittling of intellectualism as â€Å"high-falutin’† in favor of insufficiently thought-out action shows just how facile and oversimplified Redbone’s views of race are. Th ey are of the â€Å"good† vs. the ... ...cted† but that â€Å"that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist† that Birdie and her sister express toward the end of the novel upon their reunification (408). Through embodying both falseness and such a self-serving and facile view of race, Redbone serves as Senna’s symbol that they go hand in hand, that is, that such conceptions are empty and inauthentic – not true to the way the world actually works. As we begin to doubt who Redbone is, we doubt what he says. Taking this a step further, the sense of inauthenticity associated with him points out the aspect of lying to oneself that is necessary for maintaining these self-serving definitions of race. As Redbone pretends to be something he’s not and the flasher denigrates others for an inauthentic sense of power, the racist lies to himself about how the world really is to maintain his image of himself, and his race, on top of it.

Literature review on the cognitive processes involved with face recognition Essay

To human beings, facial recognition is not only essential for identification of persons in the social context, but also a vital social tool. There are various reasons why facial recognition process is a vital to human beings. Facial recognition serves an essential purpose of identifying members within our society; as a result, we are able to select those that we can socialize with that aid our survival in society. For instance, the males are able to select or identify the female and establish relationship that results to continuity of generation (Matsuo, Nakai, 1998, p. 110). While strong relationship and bonding exhibited in mother to child are facilitated by the facial recognition aspect.   The other vital function played by the facial recognition function is its ability to give information about individual’s emotional status through expression aspect like a smile or gloominess which serves as a mode of communication. Therefore, due to this significance importance of the facial recognition, psychologists have shown interest in studying the cognitive processes involved in facial recognition. In this line of thought, this paper shall examine and discus the cognitive processes and systems involved in facial recognition by individuals. Encoding of face by individual It is a common knowledge that in order for a person to recognize the face, the face features or cues must be encoded first in the long term memory. Thus, understanding face encoding precedes the recognition action. The first and initial stages of facial coding are referred to as structural encoding. In this stage, the visual information is encoded from the face into the information that shall provide information or be a data bank to face recognition systems in the stage of facial recognition. Encoding takes place in two separate processes, with the first one being â€Å"view centered description† that encodes the facial features like beards, color, eyes, nose, mouth and eyebrows which can be identified when viewed at an angle. From initial onsite of a person view centered description is involved in perceptual input that records the aspects of the face including its features. From the information input from the view cantered description, information is further processed to create a structural model of the face that facilitates comparison with other faces in memory. The second part of the processes is the expression independent descriptions that take its inputs from the view centered expressions. This second phase uses the already processed structural model of the face which is transferred to notional FRUs (face recognition units) (Matsuo, Nakai, 1998, p. 113) that will be now coded in semantic memory and would allow the facial recognition based on this stored information. In other words, facial recognition starts from basic perceptual manipulations on the sensory information to derive details about the person that generate cognitive ability to recall meaningful details of a person by seeing his or her face. Properly encoded face features enables the retrieval of features that relate to relevant past experiences of the individual and name that assists in recognizing the person. After structural encoding of the face features into FRUs, there are other parallel processes which occur like expression analysis processing stage receiving inputs from the view-centered process whereby an individual would analyze facial expression and imagine. But for the persons with brain damage cannot interpret expressions but can recognize faces. This is because these individuals with damaged brain, they can see facial features movements but they can not read the meaning of this facial features movement. Other parallel processes stage after encoding of the facial features into the FRUs is the facial speech analysis. This facial speech analysis stage of processing helps to separate distinct information from general information that gives more meaning to the encoded information (Shepherd, 2008, p. 320). Face recognition and identification After the information has been encoded into the semantic memory and can be used, the person visual perception shall be active and ready to retrieve features to identify the face.   According to Pretty and Benson, (2001); they states that face recognition involves stages that involve FRUs (Face Recognition Units). FRUs are nodes within individual’s long term memory that are associated with familiar face. When an individual eyes as a sensory organ sees an individual face which is referred to as a stimuli, it results to activation that is fed into FRUs. Within the FRUs there is inhibition and interactive activation, the node that reaches level of threshold activation will correspond to the face being observed, shall result to that face being recognized. While nodes that do not reach threshold activation level shall not correspond to the face being observed, therefore it will not be recognized. After recognizing the face, the FRUs and PINs (Persons Identifying Nodes) links and PINs receive input from the FRUs. This linkage enables the PINs to process and provide necessary information about the person. However, it is important to note that FRUs and PINs interact at levels of subject’s reaction time and name generation process for complete facial recognition. This is a simple process that leads to an individual recognizing and identifying the face of a friend or stranger. Possible errors associated with face recognition Most researches indicate that there are various errors that may occur in the process of facial recognition (Parkin, 2000; Retterstol, 2004). The errors are attributed to the brain disorders or neurological illness associated with such patients that are likely to make such errors. The dominant error is Prosopagnosia as a face perception disorder. Prosopagnosia is an impairment in recognizing faces that is usually caused by brain injury or neurological illness. In this case of Prosopagnosia, an individual’s ability to understand face is impaired, as a result, he or she can not recognize a face despite other perceptual skills like discriminating objects and recognizing remaining intact. The other error associated in facial recognition is misidentification. Misidentification error which is as a result of a syndrome which psychologist scholars refer to it as Delusional misidentification syndrome being a branch of the disorders which are caused by either neurological or mental illness to a patient. Misidentification error occurs as a result of a patient believing that the identity of an object or place or a person has somehow changed or has been altered. For instance, some patients with Delusional misidentification syndrome believe that close relative has been replaced is an example of the misidentification (Blakemore, 1970, p. 216) Reference Parkin, A.J. (2000) Essential Cognitive Psychology: Psychology Press,   Retterstol, N. (2004). â€Å"Delusional misidentification syndromes†: Psychopathology 27117–120. Matsuo, K. & Nakai, T (1998) â€Å"Cognitive Studies†: Journal of Cognitive Psychology vol.5, p.100–118. Blakemore, C. (1970). â€Å"The representation of three dimensional visual spaces†: Journal of Physiology, 209, 155–178. Shepherd, J. (2008) â€Å"Face recognition accuracy as a function of mode of representation.† Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 180–187

Discover William Inges Play Picnic

Picnic is a three-act play written by William Inge, the author of Bus Stop and Come Back, Little Sheba. Set in a small town in Kansas, Picnic details the lives of ordinary Americans, from hopeful widows and embittered spinsters to idealistic teenagers and restless wanderers. The play was first performed on Broadway in 1953 and was adapted into a motion picture in 1955, starring William Holden and Kim Novak. The Basic Plot Mrs. Flora Owens, a widow in her forties, runs a boarding house with the help of her two teenage daughters, Madge and Millie. Madge is constantly admired for her physical beauty, but she longs to be acknowledged for something more substantial. Her younger sister, on the other hand, has brains but not a boyfriend. A young stranger (who at first seems like a vagrant) is passing through town, working for food at the neighbors house. His name is Hal, a strong, shirtless, sometimes shifty hero of the play. Nearly all of the female characters are entranced by him, especially Madge. However, (and heres where the conflict starts to come into play) Madge has a serious boyfriend named Alan, an up-and-coming college student who leads a life of privilege. In fact, Hal has breezed into town hoping that Alan (his old college buddy) will be able to use his connections to land him a job. Alan is happy to help, and for a short time, it seems that Hal might be able to give his aimless life direction. Although handsome, Hal isnt the most cultured of young men. During the Labor Day festivities, he feels very awkward while socializing with others. Mrs. Owens and her tenant Rosemary, an aging school teacher, do not trust Hal, maintaining their first impression that deep down he is merely a bum. The communitys perception of Hal worsens when he allows Millie to drink whiskey. (Although in Hals defense, the illegal booze is supplied by Rosemarys boyfriend, Howard the traveling salesman. While Millie is getting drunk, Rosemary (also under the influence) makes a move on Hal while dancing. When he is uncomfortable with the school teachers advances, Rosemary viciously insults Hal. Millie then becomes sick and Hal is blamed, incurring the wrath of Mrs. Owens. The Plot Thickens: (Spoiler Alert) The increasing animosity toward Hal softens Madges heart. She feels both empathy and desire. When Alan isnt around, Hal steals a kiss from Madge. Then, the two lovebirds (or lust birds?) have sex. The copulation doesnt occur onstage, of course, but a sudden natural portrait of premarital sex demonstrates how Inges dramatic work was a harbinger of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. When Alan finds out, he threatens to have Hal arrested. He even throws a punch at his ex-friend, but Hal is too fast and strong, easily defeating the book-wormish college boy. Realizing that he must catch the next train (hobo style) and leave town before the cops toss him in jail, Hal departs — but not before announcing his love for Madge. He tells her: HAL: When you hear that train pull outa town and know Im on it, your little hearts gonna be busted, cause you love me, God damn it! You love me, you love me, you love me. Moments later, after Hal has caught the train headed for Tulsa, Madge packs her bags and leaves home for good, planning to meet up with Hal and begin a new life together. Her mother is shocked and despondent as she watches her daughter head off into the distance. The wise neighbor Mrs. Potts consoles her. FLO: Shes so young. There are so many things I meant to tell her, and never got around to it. MRS. POTTS: Let her learn them for herself, Flo. The Sub-Plots As with other plays by William Inge, an ensemble of characters deal with their own squashed hopes and wistful pipedreams. Other storylines that run throughout the play involve: Rosemary and her reluctant boyfriend: By the end of the play she coerces Howard into marriage, allowing her to shed her old maid lifestyle.Mrs. Potts and her elderly mother: Surprisingly optimistic about life, Mrs. Potts is often tied down by the demands of her severely debilitated mother.Millie and Alan: After Madges relationship with Alan falls apart, Millie finds the courage to admit that she has always had a crush on the young man. (And who can blame her? The original Alan was played by Paul Newman.) Themes and Lessons The prevailing message of Picnic  is that youth is a precious gift that must be savored instead of squandered. In the plays beginning, Flo speculates that her daughter might be working at the towns dime store well into her 40s, a depressing idea for Madge. In the plays conclusion, Madge embraces adventure, thwarting the convention wisdom of older characters. Throughout the play, the adult characters envy the young. During her tirade aimed at Hal, Rosemary vehemently declares: You think just cause youre young you can push people aside and not pay them any mind... But you wont stay young forever, didja ever thinka that?