Ruth-+Overcoming+Challenges

RUTH AND THE CHALLENGES SHE OVERCOMES AS A TEENAGER.** Ruth was an orthodox Jew.As a Jew and a teenager,she had her own challenges at school and at home.At school,she tried so hard to fit in,and at home, she grew up with her dad,who was a money hawk. "He cleaned that gun more than he cleaned his own trousers and he had it ready for anyone who tried to fool with his money.He trusted no one",pg 59," We had no life,that store was our life",pg 41.She spent her whole teenage life in that store working for Tateh,after her brother Sam ran out from home.Her dad sexually and verbally abused her when she was a teenager,which partially made her grow up in a depressed manner and feeling bad about herself,because she couldn't help anything that happened to her as a teenager,"Of course i had something to run from .My father did things to me when i was a young girl that i couldn't tell anyone about.such as getting in bed with me at night and doing things to me sexually that i could tell not tell anyone about",pg 42.This was a challenge for her,but as a teenager,she had no strategy to hate him either than to be afraid of him and hate him,"I was afraid of Tateh and had no love for him at all.I dreaded him and was relieved anytime he left the house.But it affected me in a lot of ways,what he did to me.I had very low self esteem as a child,which I kept with me for many,many years;and even now I don't want to be around anyone who is domineering or pushing me around because it makes me feel nervous",pg 42-43.Probably,that was why she felt safe and happy in the hands of a black man,because they were usually happy and not judgmental,"He came from a home where kindness was a way of life.I wanted to be in this kind of family.I was proud to join it,and they were happy to have me",pg 236. While Ruth faced challenges at home,she also faces challenges at school.No one liked her,already suffering from depression at home,she suffered extra at school."It was a problem the moment i started school,because the white kids hated Jews in my school.Hey,Ruth when did you start being dirty Jew?"they'd ask.I couldn't stand being ridiculed.I even changed my name to try to fit in more.My real name was Rachael,which in Yiddish is Ruckla,which is what my parents called me-but i used the name Ruth around white folk,because it didn't sound so Jewish,though it never stopped the other kids from teasing me",pg 80.This was her life in school,"That's how i felt as a child",pg 80.Although all this happened to her,she persevered.She was never rebellious like her daughter Helen.She was like her mom,she was quiet and endured.All she waited for was to be free,but she got held back severally by her Jewish faith,The line marched out of Suffolk High's school yard and onto Main Street and slowed as it bottled up at the church doorway.As we approached the church I started to shake and sweat,and just before we reached the church doorway,I stepped out of line.I couldn't do it.I just couldn't go inside that church.In my heart i was still a Jew.I had done some wrong things in my life,but i was still my parents' child",pg 158. media type="youtube" key="cjok69cDfOE" height="344" width="425" Above is a video of Lindsay lohan a teenager struggling to know who she is and scared of taking responsibilities for her actions.she can be compared to Ruth.In both lives,the struggles and challenges is even worse because the families are both in chaos.
 * SONIA CHRIS-UKAH
 * HER DAD AND FAMILY**
 * BEING A JEWISH TEENAGER**

The moment Ruth decided she was going to marry a black,she was rejected by her family,by blacks and whites. "I'm dead".You want to talk about my family and here I been dead to them for fifty years",pg 1.After Ruth got married to her family,she was disconnected from them.Her mother's family believed that she was now of age to make her decisions,and since she had made one that they didn't like,they decided it was time to cut her off from them,although when she hadn't decided to marry Dennis,they were never friendly to her and her crippled mother.Her dad even indirectly disowned her when he heard rumors that she was going out with a black.He said,"If you marry a nigger,don't ever come home again.Don't come back"."I will always come back and see mameh she said","Not if you marry a Nigger you won't,"he said,pg 215.Although Ruth wanted to come back to see her mom,but she couldn't,because she wanted to bury her past,and this was a challenge for her,because she even broke the promise she made to Dee Dee,which was that she was not going to leave.Again,you cannot be two individuals in a person,and be effective,one of the individuals in you,has to die for the other to live and not just live,but to be effective. None of the sides that she chose,was easier.Although she liked blacks,because of their nature,which included happiness even when they had little,blacks had problems accepting that Dennis their brother or fellow black was going to be with a white woman.Actually,both blacks and whites were against the marriage of Ruth and Dennis."One night after work,i walked into the hallway of our building and this black woman punched me right in the face.She hit me so hard I fell to the floor."Don't disrespect me!" she said",pg 231.That was a black woman in the 1940's reacting.She felt that Ruth agreeing to come into a black man's family was an insult to her,she felt that Ruth had no right to be there,and she shouldn't ever be there."Some black people never did accept me.Most did,but there were always a few who didn't,pg 232.But there was no turning back for her.She had to remain wherever she was,because in the long run,it was better,"There was no turning back after my mother died.I stayed on the black side because that was the only place i could stay.The few problems i had with black folks were nothing compared to the griefs white folks dished out"pg 232.Whites in the 1940's weren't accepted to be with a black folk and that was it."They called you a white thrash.That's what they called me".So,there was no better one,but she stood firm believing in what she wanted from life."Me and Dennis caused a riot on 105th Street once.A bunch of white men chased us up the street and surrounded Dennis and tried to kill him,throwing bottles and hitting and kicking him until one of them made the rest of them to stop",pg 232.These were her challenges,due to the fact that she decided to marry a black man.Although she had ups and downs in her life,**SHE LATER BECAME A BETTER PERSON IN MY LIFE,WHICH OF COURSE IS THE MAIN AIM OF LIVING**.media type="youtube" key="yAkDHuimJRc" height="344" width="425" Above is the video still showing racial discrimination today.Although Ruth and Dennis were discriminated before and during the early years of civil war,discrimination especially due to race still exists today.In the video,the black woman had someone walking around her not because she needed help with what she wanted,but because the shop owner doesn't trust a black around her store.
 * RUTH AND HER CHALLENGES AS AN ADULT**
 * REJECTION BY HER FAMILY**
 * REJECTION BY BOTH WHITES AND BLACKS DUE TO MARRIAGE**

www.spark notes.com.Basically,i didn't get anything though from any source,thats why i don't have my sources cited