American Culture & Literature Essay #3 Petra A. W.

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Personal Reflection
Taking this American Culture and Literature class did not disappoint me. There were many things that I could learn from all of your lectures and journals, Danielle. All of my thoughts and ideas of America, its people, its literature, and its culture were come from the media like news on TV, magazines, newspaper, books, and mostly movies. Ive never been there before, and the only acquaintances with its native people are very limited. So forgive me, if I sometimes misinterpreting between what I saw on TV and what happened in real life there. What common (Indonesian) people knew about America is that your nation is the most powerful and the most superior country of the world for its economy, its technology, its education, its fashion and glamorous life, especially its freedom and democracy, and all the things that became the trends we wanted to copy. The overwhelming necessity to know and to be akin to your country is very well-liked here. However, putting aside all of those sophisticated things, your explanations of the phenomenon that is happening in the past through this subject, are somehow widen (perhaps change) my horizons to several things that previously I never had in my mind. Therefore I would like to explore the themes that we had already discussed in class before. All I knew about the war between America and Mid-East countries was triggered by the incident of 9/11. My understanding came out like the Mid-East countries was the bad side and America was the victim. Period. At that time I didnt consider the continuing actions of America doing massive assassination were undoubtedly wrong. It was after our conversations in class where I began to think of the negative impact of the war. I didnt think that Bush was using these silly reasons to sheath the sword and use this opportunity for other purposes. Now that I understand why people disliked Bush and America at that time, and vice versa, why common Americans hate Muslim people since the tragedy happened. As the American people blinded by

American Culture & Literature Essay #3 Petra A. W. / 112008093 the mass media containing over generalized- negative information, they also did not have enough positive contact or good experience with decent Muslim people. I really appreciate your frankness to admit that even your people have these selfish reasons to show the world that your people are the best from others. And also to reveal that they have those suspicious judgments about other nations and religions. Because behind those amazing things we see of America as a country, there are also shameful problems and things that actually my own country can manage ourselves without wanting to be like yours. Another topic that is racism and also segregation also caught my concern. Previously I thought there were many people with different races and colors live peacefully together in the neighborhoods. America has known for its diversity and its freedom of democracy. Although I already knew several movies and stories about the struggle of Afro-American and Native Indians, theres no idea that the problems were very complicated and too much painful like I have read in the papers that youve shown and the stories that you told to us. I was shocked to know about Jim Crows Laws and Japanese Internment Camps. There were only few bad people (from other races) doing bad things to America, but suddenly their whole people of the ethnicity are the ones to blame for the chaos that occurred. Its very unfair to do this stereotyping. Isnt it really sad, that the white people there loathe black people and Asians just because they think that the other colors of people are trash? Is the sense of their insecurities too much excessive? Do they (white people) realize that they also turn into the wrong side when they did those segregation things to other races? The discussion about racism in America in the previous classes such Introduction to Literature, Prose, and Poetry never went this deep. This actually raised my awareness toward the issues of diversity in my own country. For example like the stereotypes of Chinese people are like this and Javanese people are like that. Just because mostly people do like

American Culture & Literature Essay #3 Petra A. W. / 112008093 this, and then we judge that the entire people of their kind will do the same. Well no, I realize that it is wrong to ever think such generalizations. Thanks to you, Danielle, because of your explanations in this AmLitCul class, I became clearly understand of the whole history of the issues that I did not really give so much care of. . Its really helpful for us to comprehend the narratives when we really hear them from your perspectives as an American, not from our local lecturers. As we also did our own reflection, that actually seeing the cover of a book is never really enough. We need to see the inside and from the other perspectives too, because its a lame to have one opinion from one side only. Fourteen weeks are not enough. It was all new to me. And I guess there are lots and lots of thing that I still want to know. I would like to say my deepest gratitude to you, Danielle, for all the knowledge and your openness while teaching this exciting subject (thanks for the apple pie + pumpkin pie too, ENAK BANGET). I hope I can still learn from you, perhaps not in class, but in the other time and place.