Champion Of The World English Literature Essay

Champion Of The World English Literature Essay Throughout the years, sports have become a major part of society. It has been known to bring out the best and worst of people. People usually go after a team from their home town or teams with the same ethnic background. It has often been learned that, from this, language barriers begin to cross each other, and prejudices develop. Maya Angelou’s â€Å"Champion of the World† is much more than a chapter in a book. It represents much more than a boxing victory. During the 1930’s, people of ethnic groups, especially Blacks, were not worth much. When Angelou stated, â€Å"Champion of the world. A Black boy. Some Black mother’s son.† (Paragraph 27), this defined struggle. This battle against the White Contender was not your ordinary victory. The victory would exemplify the Blacks, not only defeating a White man and it being okay, but also would portray an aspect of Blacks defeating the system. For once in their lives, it gave African Americans a sense of empowerment. This was their first step of defense, where no repercussions would be taken in exchange for victory. â€Å"If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. † â€Å"My race groaned. It was our people falling†. (Paragraphs 16 and 17).[Reference?] These two quotes represent struggle and years of pain. They knew what it was like to experience violence first hand. It was not a myth nor story they heard about, they felt the pain on a daily basis. Not only would this defeat be a lost for Louis, but it would represent defeat to the entire Black culture. If this were to happen, Maya Angelou said it herself, Blacks were helpless. To them, it was back to torture, inferiority, pain, and suffering. To the Whites it would be accomplishment, defeat, superiority, and power. As stated before, this defeat was a mere symbol of Blacks regaining strength after all they had been through over the years; however, this did not defeat the purpose that racism still existed. In the last paragraph of this chapter in the book, it talked about the precautions Blacks would have to take after the victory of Joe Louis. Even though Louis’ defeat against the White Contender gave him the title as â€Å"Heavy Weight Champion of the World†, it also was now a risk for Blacks. Mentioned earlier, at the time, racism still existed. Racism is prejudice plus power: meaning, because the Whites had prejudice against any other ethnic group, and they possessed a power that came from the simple privilege of being White. If at any time Whites felt disrespected, they had the â€Å"right† to reprimand them at any cost. This is only portion of the violence occurring in and around 1930. In the opening paragraph of this paper, it gives the introductory opinion. Over the years, sports have become the core to many people in society. It can either better a person and/or society or worsen them. In other words, a person can look at competitiveness at a positive or neg ative approach. As far as positive competitiveness is concerned, it can be looked upon to better a person. It can also be detrimental, literally speaking. Too many times in society today, people take sports to the extreme. There has been many instances where people have even lost their lives as a result of a bet on the victory of a game, or even the preference one has over the other. Sports have an immense influence over culture and society then and now. For example, the victory of Joe Louis was more than a victory. It was symbolic to the African American culture and society. It gave them pride, and for many who have never experienced anything like this, it was a first. This is only one example of the influence sports have on culture.