Final Reflection

                The theme of pride is a very common theme that is present in modern American culture and in great literary works throughout American history. From the early years of American history, when the great president and Military leader George Washington was portrayed looking like a god among men in a painting by a German immigrant in the year 1851. Americans have always taken great pride in who they are and still encourage and admire those who also take pride in who they are, which might be a big reason why even today our media pays so much attention to the Ukraine, Russia crisis. Sure a big part of that is probably old cold war tensions left over leading to a sense of animosity towards Russia, but let’s be honest it was more than that. Americans admire nations like their own whose people take pride in who they are like both the Russians and Ukrainians are doing right now.

                During the Harlem Renaissance, great African American writers such as Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou took great pride in who they were as African Americans during a difficult time period despite the unfair and untrue stereotypes that white America applied to them. This pride in the face of adversity is portrayed in Angelou’s great poem “Still I Rise”.

                While American nationalism and faith in the American way may be somewhat fading in modern day America due to socio economic inequalities, political unrest and mistrust, and a large and growing gap between the rich and poor, American pride is still not lacking, despite these modern hardships. This is clearly demonstrated by the work of Aloe Blacc in his song “The Man” where Balcc tells of how he feels he is blessed and given a greater opportunity to succeed than others. Pride in American nationalism is also still present in modern American culture despite its shortcomings. This is clearly demonstrated in Kid Rock’s “Born Free”.

Summary of Grey’s Anatomy “Go It Alone”

                Grey’s Anatomy is set in a fictional Seattle Hospital, Seattle Grace. The series follows the lives of a group of doctors and their journey from being lowly interns to higher ranking attending. In the series, the most highly regarded and respected surgeons win an award called the Harper Avery. The award is like an Oscar for surgeons. To win a Harper Avery would get the doctors any job they would ever want. This episode follows the best friend of narrator Meredith Grey, Christina Yeung as she prepares for the Harper Avery award ceremony. While Meredith and Christina have always been friends, they are also always each other’s greatest competition. This creates some animosity between them when Christina is nominated for the award.

                Christina is nominated for the prestigious award because she recently successfully completed a groundbreaking conduit trial that uncovered a new and innovative way to save babies with heart defects. Without the conduit trial many of the babies would have died. Christina feels that her work is amazing and better than any other nominee, still she is nervous about the awards and refuses to write any kind of acceptance speech fearing that she might jinx herself before the awards.

                When Christina arrives at the awards she thinks she is alone, which is what she claims to have wanted when they were back in Seattle and Meredith and her on again of again husband Owen, the Chief of Surgery offer to attend the awards with her. However, upon arriving at the awards Christina feels that there is a very good chance that she could win the award and doesn’t want to be alone. Knowing Christina as well as they do, Owen and Meredith had already arranged to fly into the awards location on a separate plane than Christina in order to be there to support her. In the end, Christina ends up not winning the award, however it is apparent to the viewer that she thinks that her work is superior and that she should have won the award. At the end of the episode, it is hinted that Christina feels that this is because Seattle Grace doesn’t have a high enough pedigree for her to achieve her long term goals there.

    Analysis of How the Theme of Pride is expressed in Grey’s Anatomy “Go It Alone”

                In this episode the extremely brilliant yet cocky cardiothoracic surgeon Christina Yeung is nominated for a prestigious Harper Avery award. Every year the Harper Avery is awarded to the most ground breaking surgeon in his or her respective field. This year, it is known throughout the medical community that Yeung and her conduit trial are the favorites to win this year’s. Yeung takes a great amount of pride in her work at Seattle Grace she states in an earlier episode that she “Poured her heart and Soul into this trial.” She continues that train of thought by further exaggerating “This trial is my baby, don’t kill my baby”. For someone to take so much pride in their work that they describe it as their heart and soul and compare it to their own child they obviously have to be very proud of the work that they are doing.

                Even though Christina refuses to think of any kind of an acceptance speech for the Harper Avery award, the way that she states that she is too afraid to write a speech because she is afraid she might jinx her expectation of winning the award, actually further demonstrates to the viewer that she takes so much pride in herself and her work that not even the best surgeons in the country could possibly be on the same level as her. For someone to think that, especially someone as young as Christina, who until this season was still an inexperienced resident, who normally wouldn't even be given the opportunity to conduct a trial, much less be nominated for a prestigious award, to think that they have already won the award clearly demonstrates a great deal of not only pride but confidence.

http://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse?cuecard=69698
                                           Summary

        In the recent news segment "Ukraine Looks to Fight Back Against Russia, Protesters" NBC anchor Brian Williams speaks of how Eastern Ukraine is currently divided between two different ethnic groups, the Ukrainians who currently govern the area and make up the largest minority group in the region and the ethnic Russians who actually make up the largest percentage of population in the region but do not govern the area. Both groups feel entitled to governmental control in the region. Recently there has been much civil unrest in Ukraine because the ethnic Russians in the region have started taking action to annex the largely Russian areas of Ukraine back to Russia. 
       These movements usually begin in the forms of violent protests that create havoc throughout the Eastern Ukrainian countryside. However, due to the current weakness of Ukraine's government there has not been much action taken by the government to control the protests recently. This article details how the Ukrainian government has now started to take action against both the Russian protesters and the actual Russian government for agreeing to take back  much of Eastern Ukraine. Many people including high ranking American officials believe that this is an indication that Russian president Vladimir Putin is trying to restore the Soviet Union. Therefore, Ukraine realized that they had to take action in order to prevent there country from falling apart.



                                          Analysis

          Just like Americans, Russians and Ukrainians are proud of their heritage and believe their heritage to be superior to others.  This is made apparent to the viewer of Williams NBC learn piece when he states "Russians are strongly suspected of being behind this building by building, town by town struggle for hearts and minds and real estate of Ukrainians who live in the eastern part of the country where many of them speak Russian and identify themselves as Russian." this tells the viewer that both Russians and Ukrainians are present in the area and both are extremely proud of who they are. For one culture to attempt to envelop another like the Russians and Ukrainians are trying to do to each other, people must have great pride in their culture and believe it to be so superior that they are willing to result to physical violence to spread it.
           Pride is even further expressed by the Ukrainians when they decide to take further action against pro Russian nationalists in the area. In the past, the weakened Ukrainian government was just letting these people, who are technically Ukrainian citizens, protest freely against the government. While this might sound harmless to a typical American who supports the first amendment, it is in fact an act of treason. These protesters are so proud of their culture that they are willing to result to conspiracy with the Russian government and the commission of extremely violent acts in order to get Ukraine taken over by Russia. 
          Pride is a frequent and recurring theme in regards to nationalism. 
Almost everyone in the world is proud of where they are from. Because of this pride,the Russia/ Ukraine crisis will most likely continue for months, maybe even years before there is a resolution. 

              Pride is expressed throughout many current pop songs. This is especially true within the last 10 years as rap music has become more popular. A lot of songs in the genres that are currently enjoyed by modern American youth almost preach about taking pride in who you are, what you are passionate about, and what you love among other things. 
            This theme is true in the rock/ country song "Born Free" by artist Kid Rock. In this song Rock sings at one point describes himself as being "strong as the wind I'm (he is) facing" by that Rock means that he is strong and resilient and can face whatever adversity might come to him. If that does not scream pride in oneself than what does? At the end of the ballad Rock states, or rather sings, "I will bow to the shining sea and celebrate gods grace one me" this further demonstrates to the listener that Rock takes pride in himself and also takes pride in what he has accomplished in life despite some failures along the way. Speaking of the "shining sea" it is also apparent that Rock is hinting at his pride in living his life of the free land of America where he had the opportunities to pursue his dreams.
           In R and B singer Aloe Blacc's new single "The Man" the theme of pride is basically Blacc's basis for writing the entire song. There is a line in the chorus, which is frequently repeated throughout the song that states "Go ahead and tell everybody, I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man, yes I am yes I am yes I am"  through this line, Blacc's pride in himself is blatently obvious to the listener. Blacc continues to speak of his pride in himself when he states "God made my mold different from the rest, then he broke that mold so I know I am blessed" it is apparent that Blacc is extremely proud of himself and actually is so proud of himself that he feels that god made him superior to all others. 

"Born Free"

Fast, on a rough road riding
High, through the mountains climbing
twisting, turning further from my home.
Young, like a new moon rising
Fierce, through the rain and lightning
Wandering out into this great unknown.

And I don't want no one to cry.
But, tell 'em if I don't survive

I was born free!
I was born free
I was born free, born free.

Free, like a river raging
Strong as the wind I’m facing.
Chasing dreams and racing father time.
Deep like the grandest canyon,
Wild like an untamed stallion.
If you can’t see my heart you must be blind.

You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can’t keep no chains on me.

I was born free!
I was born free
I was born free, born free.

And I'm not good at long goodbyes
But look down deep into my eyes
I was born free.

Calm, facing danger
Lost, like an unknown stranger
Grateful for my time with no regrets

Close to my destination
Tired, frail and aching
Waiting patiently for the sun to set

And when it's done, believe that I
will yell it from that mountain high

I was born free
I was born free
I was born free, born free

I will bow to the shining sea
And celebrate God's grace on thee

[Hook:]
Girl you can tell everybody
Yeah you can tell everybody
Go ahead and tell everybody
I'm the man I'm the man I'm the man
Yes I am yes I am yes I am
I'm the man I'm the man I'm the man

[Verse 1:]
I believe every lie that I ever told
Paid for every heart that I ever stole
I paid my cause and I didn’t fold
Well it ain’t that hard when you got soul (this is my world)
Somewhere I heard that life is a test
I been though the worst but still I give my best
God made my mold different from the rest
Then he broke that mold so I know I’m blessed (this is my world)

[Bridge:]
Stand up now and face the sun
Won’t hide my tail or turn and run
It’s time to do what must be done
Be a king when kingdom comes

Girl you can tell everybody
Yeah you can tell everybody
Go ahead and tell everybody
I'm the man I'm the man I'm the man

[Hook]

[Verse 2:]
I got all the answers to your questions
I’ll be the teacher you could be the lesson
I’ll be the preacher you be the confession
I’ll be the quick relief to all your stressing (this is my world)
It’s a thin line between love and hate
Is you really real or is you really fake
I’m a solider standing on my feet
No surrender and I won’t retreat (this is my world)

[Bridge]

[Hook]

I’m the man
Go ahead and tell everybody what I’m saying y’all
I’m the man
Go ahead and tell everybody what I’m saying y’all

                The painting Washington crosses the Delaware was originally painted in the year 1851 by a German American who recently moved to the United States and wanted to commemorate the heritage of his new nation. Despite the fact that the artist who created it, Emanuel Leutze, was German born, he had as much pride in his country as any other American during the patriotic time period in which the painting was created. 
               One could speculate that the sun beginning to peak out from behind the horizon creating a halo of sorts around the head of commanding general of American forces George Washington symbolizes the greatness of the man and one can easily infer from this aspect of the painting that the artist took great pride in the history of America.
               Another instance in which the artists pride in America and her fascinating beginning is apparent in the painting is shown by how the American flag which is dramatically flapping in the wind is illuminated by the sun as if to symbolize that it represented the bravery and resilience of the American people. This is the artists pretty much coming out and telling the viewer of the painting that he feels Americans should take pride in their history. 
          The theme of pride continues to be present when one takes an even more in depth look at the historic piece of artwork. The man standing behind Washington, who looks to be a high ranking commander of sorts seems to be looking forward towards Washington in an admiring fashion as if saying to the viewer "look at my leader he is great and I am proud of him and look to him for guidance".

                In the poem "Still I Rise" Angelou writes of how her place in history and her own life story has been misconstrued by others misconceptions about her. Many of these untrue assumptions are fueled by the vicious and untrue stereotypes that many people in society hold about African American females. In this poem, Angelou basically states that she is still proud of who she is. Who she REALLY is not who she is made out to be in society eyes and even in biased history books. In the poem Angelou states "You may write me down in history, With your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirt, But still, like dust, I'll rise.". By this Angelou means that other may try to change her life story and make her seem like something that she is not, but she will always take pride in who she is and rise about the stereotypes that threaten any human beings self worth. 
              Angelou continues to express the theme of pride in the poem when she states, "You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise."Angelou continues to face adversity even today. However, facing this adversity has in fact made her a stronger human being and she can now take pride in herself regardless of the words of others.             The theme of pride is continues into the final stanza when Angelou states "Out of the huts of history's shame I rise, Up from a past that's, rooted in pain, I rise". By this Angelou means that despite the fact that African American history has been tarnished and white washed by societies cruel and biased stereotypes, she is proof that one can take pride in their heritage and accomplish great things regardless of how many people say otherwise. 

Still I RiseYou may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? 
Why are you beset with gloom? 
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? 
Bowed head and lowered eyes? 
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? 
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? 
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs? 

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. 

                             Analysis of How Pride is expressed in Shel Silverstein’s “A boy Named Sue”

                When one is a male with a very feminine name like Sue, they might find it extremely hard to take pride in whom they are. That is one of many reasons that the reader might be rather surprised that the theme of pride is present throughout Shel Silverstein’s Poem “A Boy Named Sue”. Silverstein wrote the poem from the perspective of the man names sue so obviously the narrator knows exactly what went through his own mind throughout each instance in the story. The narrator speaks of his innermost insecurities with regards to his rather unusual name. These insecurities within Sue turn into pride in his originality by the end of Silverstein’s rather humorous poem.

                In the second Stanza Silverstein states “Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke, and it got lots of laughs from folks, it seemed I had to fight my whole life.” (Lines 7-9) this line demonstrates clearly to the reader that a young Sue did not take pride in himself because of his rather embarrassing name. In fact, the phrase highlights that a young Sue would often result to violence to prove his manliness so that the average person would not judge him by his girly name. By the middle of the poem, Sue still does not take pride in which he is and is so angry with regards to his name; he is seeking out his absentee father to take revenge on him for naming him Sue. The narrator states, “Well I knew that snake was my own sweet dad” (stanza 4 line 1) while describing the man he was planning to fight in a bar. However, towards the end of the fight the narrator has a change of heart and thanks his dad for naming him Sue, it is implied that he would no longer be ashamed of his unusual name, but take pride in his uniqueness. This is made apparent to the narrator when the poem the dad tells Sue, “you ought to thank me for that gravel in your guts and the spit in your eye because I’m the guy that named you Sue” (stanza 9 lines 4) this makes Sue realize that he should take pride in his name because in the long run it has made him a much stronger despite the adversity he went through because of it.