American History X Summary and Argument PDF

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American History X Summary and Argument....

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American History X Summary and Argument. Derek Vinyard is a skinhead band leader in Los Angeles. He is a young boy considered a role model for his friends, band members and especially his brother Danny. They have him very well regarded for his popularity, behaviors and bravery. When Derek was a teenager his father was killed by a black boy who was part of a gang in the neighborhood where he was working. Derek worshipped his father and he instilled in him the ideas of hatred before anyone who was not of his own religion or of his own ethnicity. Cameron, the most influential person in all skinhead bands, was also introducing these ideas to Derek. Through the death of his father, the Vinyard family's situation was dire. One day a family meal broke out a very strong fight broke out between him and his family (his girlfriend and his brother Danny agreed with Derek). That same afternoon there was a dispute on the neighborhood basketball court, it was shared by black slabs, and Derek proposed a game betting that whoever won the two bands would own the court. At night Stacy (Derek's girlfriend) stayed to sleep at the Vinyard family's house and when she was with her boyfriend in bed, Danny appeared alarming his brother that two black boys were trying to steal her car. In desperation Derek runs out into the street, accompanied by Danny, with a gun in his hand and without thinking twice he pulls the trigger killing one of the robbers. The police instantly show up, but Derek doesn't seem to care too much. This is where Derek begins a new life, in jail. When he entered the prison, he didn't want any relatives to see him. At first he joins a group of Neo-Nazis who have the same ideals, but when he sees that they have a series of businesses with people contrary to their ideas it demoralizes and realizes that everything moves through interests. So he makes the decision to stop interacting with them, as a result of this decision the Neonazi group does not take it well and they rape him in the showers. In the face of the desperation of loneliness, in one of the prison jobs, folding sheets, he meets a black boy who teaches him how to behave with the people who live with them in prison. Gradually thanks to this boy, after daily conversations he realizes that people have to be valued for what they are and not for the physique or ideas. When he gets out of jail and returns home, he finds that his family is in ruins and that his brother Danny loves the whole world of Nazis. Derek gets a call from Danny's teacher explaining that his brother follows in the same footsteps as him and that if he continues it will still end badly. With this situation Derek waits a few days for a party of the band of skinheads, there he meets his past: Cameron, Stacy, his friends... She has a conversation with Stacy commenting that she wants to stick with her but gets out of that world, she sees the change her boyfriend has given, despises him, not least because she liked his leadership and now he was with a totally different person. Derek talks to Cameron and tells him not to go near his brother and also talks to Danny, this one he listens to him by explaining everything that happened to him and suffered in jail. A few days later Derek decides to accompany Danny to school and down the street is the police commissioner, who stops him and tells him that Cameron and some members of his former gang have been beaten. asks you to talk to them to avoid future conflicts.

At the end of the conversation Danny enters high school and when he goes to the bathroom a gang of kill him after a shot in the chest. 2. Relates the main concepts used in the film and its meaning. Violence is an important issue in the argument, because it captures the kind of violence that exists in the world for having a mutual hatred between two street gangs, for ideological reasons. Racism is clearly seen in the film, white gangs fight black gangs, simply because they are not of the same color and believe that some are inferior to others. The Family and the problems that may be in it, the figure of the father is an example to follow for Derek and here begins to distort everything, because the ideals of the father were totally racist and Derek does not grow up in a good atmosphere of values. Father's death also marks a lot. The way of life they lead, the machismo and above all the violence that is experienced by Derek. Friends are important, because it is clearly seen that they are worshippered for having the same ideals, the same values, the same ambitions and because in the protagonist it is perceived that thanks to their friends, feeling accompanied, they feel stronger and higher than others to group level, for him to be leader of the group is an important thing and he is very proud of it. In the case with Cameron he is a friend, but Cameron puts the ideas in his head and encourages him to be aggressive. It also tells us about the right to life, at first the film through the protagonist captures the idea in the opposite way, but in the end when Derek begins to think rationally he realizes that every human being has the right to life and no one can challenge it. The interest in people is clearly seen with the prison group, in which the neo-Nazi gang has some dirty business with blackpeople. The principles of neo-Nazis towards blacks are of hatred, but when they have some common interest they participate with them. 3. Personal Opinion I find the film very interesting, it is an entertaining film, where many values about human coexistence come out, you can observe the way of life of a person who is leader of a neo-Nazi band and where he ends up being in that world. We can observe the reflection that the protagonist has after seeing how his life is wasted by having extremist ideals, his life in prison, his family... a series of situations that are perfectly embodied in the film. Every character in the film we can relate to an important concept, Danny the quest for leadership, Cameron the interest in people, Stacy a person who gets carried away by the rest, Derek represents how a person feels when he sees that he has shattered your life and you must start all over again....