Good Essay On Change For A Better Life

Change is one of the most important elements of life because life does not get better by chance; instead it gets better by change. “Invasion,” written by Benjamin Percy gives an account of how the people living in a small village, Bend in central Oregon transformed themselves as well as the region with certain major changes in their lives. In the early years, due to the low population and less crowded towns, the trees, soil and canals of Bend in central Oregon were benevolent in nature . As Percy describes the people and the place, it is evident that people migrated from various places to Bend. In spite of the Pandora epidemics, people never compromised in their living standards and desired to move to Oregon permanently. The government did not favor the immigrants in the fear that they might disturb the nature of Bend.
Though the people of Bend were poor, they peeped occasionally into the rick neighborhood and lit the stick fuses. Life at Bend was no entertaining that the people enjoyed every moment of it. The caterpillars and moths were the natural attraction of Bend. Children hit them with cars and tennis rackets . After the author moves away from Bend, the place transforms into a million dollar population. Entering the coffee shop became difficult for the author due to the long queue at the shop. The region changed and improved so drastically that the author was proud to be a part of the Bend population. Building grew within no time and the people of Bend started to live a high standard of living with all amenities. Percy tries to convey the readers that it is man who belongs to the earth and not earth that belongs to man . He explains that any changes done to the earth by man would negatively impact nature.
In the fiction story “Indian Education” narrated by Sherman Alexie, the author gives an account of his experiences in the reservation school amidst white students. He explains about the changes he saw in the society as he grew from a kid into an adult. While schooling is a time of fun and entertainment in the first grade, bullying was a common punishment to the natives . Racism was so prominent during the period that the teacher always punished and despised the Native Americans. The author explains how the teacher made Victor stand in the class, asked him to eat a crumpled paper and write the term “Indian” for several number of times as a punishment. While native boys struggled for their self-identity amidst racial discrimination, native girls were upset about their beauty . Education was not relevant as the schools were places of racial subjugation. Even the teachers were so brutal that the students hated going to schools.
Indian education was tragic and full of discrimination. The Indians tribes felt shameful for the treatment they received among the other students. Punching, stabbing and hitting on the nose were other common punishments given to the native students by the whites. The Native Americans had a little opportunity to succeed in education with the fear that they might rule the whites. Cultural appropriation is visible throughout the schooling years. After Alex moved away from the reservation into the high school, he sensed that the white girls denied eating food to get a skinny body tone . Alex remembers about his life in the reservation where his mother had to stand in long queues for commodities, yet the food was so worst that even the dogs would never eat it. There were no facilities for the people in the reservations and they struggled to eat the worst food that was available to them.
Even in the high school, Alex had to face discrimination in the form of his white teacher who often accused him for drinking when Alex never drank. There were great expectations about the looks of women based on their ethnicity and race. Media always depicted the Indian women as sex symbols with dressed in headdress. Alex always felt bad for the lack of respect the whites had for the Indian tribe. The whites oppressed the Indian culture by limiting them to the reservations, which were places of alcohol, drugs, poor educational system and rampant health conditions . In his essay, Percy visualizes Bend by giving each minute detail of the region and the lifestyle of the people living in Bend. Though they had no money for decorating the houses, the houses looked elegant with flowers and green shrubs. Bend had bakeries, pools, clubhouse, barber shops and many others. The people living in the area stayed together and sensed the feeling of a family unlike the reservations where there was no unity even among the Native Americans.
When compared to the life in the reservations as mentioned by Sherman Alexie, life in Bend was far more pleasant and no one ever wished to leave such a charming place where unity was significant among the people. Instead of feeling depressed for their lives, the people enjoyed every moment of their life unlike the Native Americans in the reservations. Moreover, since the community stayed away from the dominant groups, there was no scope for racism. All the people lived united with a feeling of brotherhood. However, in the Native American reservations, there was nothing but racial discrimination and suppression. The Native Americans faced the same oppression even if they migrated to other regions, because racism spread all over the nation. To conclude, change does not roll out overnight, but occurs during the course of time through constant struggle. It is the individuals who decide whether they are in the need of a positive change or a negative change.

References

Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven. Open Road Media, 2013.
Percy, Benjamin. "Invasion." Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholz. Models for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 329-335.