Malay Camp Misperceptions
Doron Zehavi
Contemp Lit, Per. 6
Malay Camp Essay
12 Jan 2009
Camping in Malay People’s perceptions often cloud their judgments. As one lives his life, he notices the character of people and naturally tends to associate their character with a generalized group that they belong to. For example, one may have noticed that a tall man is good at basketball because he sees tall men play on professional basketball teams. He then assumes that tall men are naturally good at basketball and therefore tall men must play basketball. This generalization is untrue however because there are many tall men who are not skilled at basketball and therefore would prove his generalization incorrect. The misperceptions that we naturally have need to be analyzed thoroughly because it is nearly impossible to accurately generalize a whole group of people. Generalizations are made about black and white people in the short story Episode in Malay Camp by Peter Abrahams, by the main character Xuma. “This is like the white people’s …show more content…
From these medias, perceptions about certain people, cultures, groups, etc. are embedded into his mind. As one grows up the perceptions embedded in his mind at early ages are used to judge people without ever meeting them. Additionally, from my experience, I have noticed that usually a large portion of certain groups and cultures tend to fit the stereotypes that they are labeled with. For example, there is a stereotype that Jewish people are cheap. In some way this is true and in some ways it is not. I have noticed that a lot of Jewish people tend to consider purchases more before making them, and may sometimes choose not spend money on things others would. However, I am Jewish and I would consider myself less cheap than my non-Jewish friends. There are more times that I offer to pay for my friends than they do for me. This just proves that you cannot always stereotype people
Contemp Lit, Per. 6
Malay Camp Essay
12 Jan 2009
Camping in Malay People’s perceptions often cloud their judgments. As one lives his life, he notices the character of people and naturally tends to associate their character with a generalized group that they belong to. For example, one may have noticed that a tall man is good at basketball because he sees tall men play on professional basketball teams. He then assumes that tall men are naturally good at basketball and therefore tall men must play basketball. This generalization is untrue however because there are many tall men who are not skilled at basketball and therefore would prove his generalization incorrect. The misperceptions that we naturally have need to be analyzed thoroughly because it is nearly impossible to accurately generalize a whole group of people. Generalizations are made about black and white people in the short story Episode in Malay Camp by Peter Abrahams, by the main character Xuma. “This is like the white people’s …show more content…
From these medias, perceptions about certain people, cultures, groups, etc. are embedded into his mind. As one grows up the perceptions embedded in his mind at early ages are used to judge people without ever meeting them. Additionally, from my experience, I have noticed that usually a large portion of certain groups and cultures tend to fit the stereotypes that they are labeled with. For example, there is a stereotype that Jewish people are cheap. In some way this is true and in some ways it is not. I have noticed that a lot of Jewish people tend to consider purchases more before making them, and may sometimes choose not spend money on things others would. However, I am Jewish and I would consider myself less cheap than my non-Jewish friends. There are more times that I offer to pay for my friends than they do for me. This just proves that you cannot always stereotype people