Classification Essay

Classification Essay

 All communities get faced with unique challenges. Most of the challenges faced by a community meet all its members, both directly and indirectly. The stories “The Valley of Broken Hearts,” “New Development Stirs Old Case,” and “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet,” by Rick Bragg give examples of communities that get burdened with grief, social injustice, and a collective need for peace.

Grief

Death, though inevitable, comes in different shapes and forms. How it manifests influences how people grief. In “The Valley of Broken Hearts,” death is a norm. Men work in nuclear mines where they get exposed to radiation (Bragg 16). The grieving in this village is filled with anger since people are aware that greed nuclear of firms leads them to sacrifice innocent people for organizational profit. In “New Development Stirs Old Case,” death comes in the form of murder. The grief, in this case, is unsettled. Renfore wants nothing more than to mourn his wife without being accused of falsely for her death. In “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet,” Miss Preston’s grandfather dies. The grief, in this case, demands that family members come together to see off a loved one that died at his own time.

Social Injustice

Social injustice comes as a result of the government failing to meet the needs of its citizens. All three societies get faced with a form of prejudice that significantly lowers their quality of life. In “The Valley of Broken Hearts,” the government knowingly subjects locals to mining continuously in an environment crippled with radiation. Men of the valley keep on dying as a result of the exposure. The government sacrifices innocent lives in the disguise of protecting the nation during the world war. In “New Development Stirs Old Case,” the judicial system denies Renfore a chance to seek out evidence that proves that he did not kill his wife. When new evidence gets provided, it is refuted (Bragg 96). In “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet,” the rates of inequality are high due to racial segregation. Black children could only watch as other children were taught how to dance. They would then learn the art of tap dancing from a distance.

Need for peace

In all three stories, all characters are looking for a sense of relief and peace. They have all been through trials from which they need a break. In “The Valley of Broken Hearts,” the government tries to compensate the members of the Navajo with $100,000 for the people they lost to exposure in the mines. However, most people do not use the money since the money could not bring the dead back. In “New Development Stirs Old Case,” Renfore does everything in his power to seek justice for his wife’s death. Despite the resistance from courts, he is determined to ensure that the culprit is caught and put behind bars. In “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet,” children take up tap dancing to make money (Bragg 161). Most of the people in New Orleans are poor black people. Tap dancing for the children is one of the ways out of poverty.

In conclusion, societies fight against multiple difficulties. Some of the challenges are shared through generations, while others only face individuals. In the three stories, people are faced with death differently, and each grieves differently. People also get faced with social injustices that counter their need for development. They also need to find peace from the results of social injustices.

Works Cited

Bragg, Rick. Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg. Vintage, 2001.