Personal Narrative Speech

Black Accent?

             Last week, I was surfing on the internet when I saw a very interesting video on Youtube. In the video, a black man talk about a conversation he had with a coworker about his accent. The coworker had asked him, “Ronald, you don’t have a black accent.” The man says, “What? What do you mean?” So the coworker replies, “You know. You don’t have a black accent. You don’t talk like black people. Your people.” Many people assume a black person would talk in slang and slur their words even before they meet the person. Then, they find it weird to find the person speak in a British accent or a southern accent. The creator of the video emphasizes how people’s accents differ depending on the region they’ve lived in. Therefore there is no such thing as a “black accent.” Have you ever seen Obama speak like Tupac or 50cent?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

             I also had a similar experience related to my accent. In middle school, it was mandatory to speak in English in certain classes. Therefore, about a third of all the talking I did in a day was in English. With my friends exposed to my accent for such a long period, they started to notice something about it. One day, they finally decided to drop the question on me. I remember talking to my friend about an inappropriate song, when he asked me, “Why do you talk like that?” For a second there, a part of my subconscious urged me to stick my middle finger in his face. However, I suppressed my urge to do so and kindly asked, “Why do you say so?” He replies, “Your accent. It’s like somebody mixed a western accent with a black accent and put it in your mouth.” “Is there anything wrong with that?” I replied. “Yeah, dude.  An Asian talking like a black person? Man, it’s unnatural. Not cool at all, dude.”

             Until that day, I’ve never thought I had a black accent. I do occasionally say things like, “We ain’t got no workshop,” but apart from that I saw no similarities. However, even if I do so, is it wrong for an Asian to have a black accent? Or, is it wrong for a black person to not have a black accent? Is there such a thing as a black accent? In the modern world, many people go about on how globalization has become universal and how countries no longer have borders. However, in such a world where people of many different ethnicities and characters interact, would it be beneficial to hold such stereotypes? These stereotypes aren’t just about the accents people have. Whether they know it or not, people subconsciously assume what a person would be like even before meeting the person and in many occasions it limits the depth of their interaction. For example, many people hold the stereotypes that Asians are not good that team sports such as basketball. This is exactly why Jeremy Lin wasn’t able to go to a university that’s famous for its basketball programs. Of course he did end up playing basketball at Harvard, but he talks about how hopeless everything seemed when college coaches would just assume that he’d be bad just because he’s Asian. As for the black man in the Youtube video, he would probably turn his coworker’s life into a living hell as he’s the supervisor at his job and he was offended. Stereotypes, they may not be discriminatory, but they imprison your insight and perspective.

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Dear Mr Menard,
I just wanted to thank you for your helpful comments!

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How to improve?

I am very inefficient when using words to express myself. With a limited vocabulary and a lack of a useful brain I find it hard to create a satisfying sentence. Therefore, I end up using words that I don't necessarily need and repeat myself throughout a paragraph. When it comes to writing, my goal is to achieve the ability to write concise sentences. Short, but to the point with no colorful decorations of any sort.

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Narrative Essay: Battle Royal

Battle Royal

             The few weeks after the move back to Korea from the States were blurry and dreamlike. I spent hours in my grandmother’s living room amusing myself with lego pieces. None of it felt real. Rather it was as if I was on vacation in Korea to see my grandparents. Even when our family moved into our new home and I started a new semester at the local elementary school, it felt as if I would wake up from this dream at my snug home in Seattle if I punched myself hard enough. But then, reality struck me when my mother dragged me to my first “hagwon.” Before I had any actual experiences at hagwons, I expected them to be educational institutes, as they are supposed to be. However, what I sensed when I entered my first hagwon classroom was quite different. Of course, the course itself was very educational, but what were strange were the looks the students had. They seemed like robots with the teachers inputting commands into their system.

             At first, all of this was absurd. All the aggressive competition seemed meaningless. However, soon I figured out we, students, had no choice but to become battle robots. Whenever I brought home a trophy or an award, my mother would try to act as if it was nothing, but I noticed the tips of her mouth bend slightly upwards. It wouldn’t have been such a big problem if all ended here. However, it seemed like my classmates and their parents made more of a big fuss then my parents. They would be astonished at the news of my accomplishment and would congratulate me with colorful words. But then, some would even go behind my back and chat about how it was mere luck. The list doesn’t end here. Hagwon teachers, neighbors, and literally almost everyone I know would overreact at such a notice. The funny thing was that the same applied for when I had bad results. A blend of sneers, ridicules, and judgmental views would surround me wherever I go. From these experiences, I learned that our society only acknowledges the best. In order to survive in such a society, I had no choice but to strive to become the best.

             Years later, I was accepted at a school named Daewon International Middle School, where everyone seemed so talented. With a hundred and fifty gifted people in one spot, all that I’ve accomplished so far began to look miniscule and dull in my eyes. I questioned the life I’ve lived up to that point, leading me back to the moment when I decided I have no choice but to become a studying machine. Since then, all that I was concerned about was being the best. And, what’s more astonishing is that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed standing on higher grounds than everyone else. Especially when I removed an opponent from the competition, I felt relieved and excited, like a psychopath when he kills his victim and successfully gets away with it. I had entered a series of battle royals. At first, I merely fought for the sake of survival. However, gradually the blood and killing appealed to me as exhilarating. 
                                

From the movie "Battle Royale."

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