Module One Assignment: Short Answer

Creative Works
1. Explain your rationale for selecting the three creative works you chose. Be sure to
clearly state the artist and title of each work.

The topic I’ve chosen for this assignment is “Injustice and Exoneration,” as depicted
through these works:
1) Scar Island – A 2017 novel by Dan Gemeinhart
2) The Help – A 2011 movie written and directed by Tate Taylor based on Katherine
Stockett’s 2009 novel of the same name
3) Blind Injustice – A 2019 opera commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera, written by
David Cote based on Mark Godsey’s book of the same name.

A. How do you connect to these works?

These works depict their characters fighting through harsh conditions to survive and
overcoming great hardships with grit, determination, and a stubborn will to live. Each of
these works talks of discrimination and a system that fails those it is meant to protect
and feeds those greedy for power and control.
Through the characters' struggle in each work, we connect with a deeper understanding
of what injustice means, bringing to light various forms of unjust practices and bigotry -
racism, authoritarian education, wrongful conviction, etc. However, these works not
only serve as fine examples of inequity, but also serve as great depictions of exoneration
and the fight to free oneself from the chains forced upon them.
Furthermore, they explore the concept of Authoritarian vs. Authoritative styles of
education as seen by the Admiral and his men forcing the boys to pretend to enjoy all
the excessive hard labour and inhumane living conditions or risk severe punishment in
“Scar Island” and by the conflict between Aibileen and Mrs. Leefolt’s methods of raising
young Mae Mobley in “The Help.”

B. What is it about these works that you can relate to?

 Discrimination finds its way into every part of life, be it ethno-racism, religious
discrimination, anti-lgbtq+, ableism, etc. People find themselves unfairly treated simply
because of a factor of their life that they cannot entirely control or are antagonized
wrongfully based off assumptions made rashly.

Personally, as a queer individual in a society that’s conservative and rigid in its views, the
struggle of being someone not in the “normal” category and facing the backlash because
of it is one of the biggest relatable factors about these works.

Another fact is, as students, we are often pressured into conforming to the will of
people in charge of our well-being, such as parents and teachers, to choose a career
path that will maximize success, such as law, medicine, or engineering. Sometimes this
leads to grand expectations and unfair repercussions when we do not perform up to par.

C. What emotions do these particular works evoke in you?

These works invoke a sense of anger and righteousness at the unfairness of the
situation, when faced with the circumstances of the characters being wrongfully accused
of crimes they did not commit or victimized because of their race or disabilities.

Despite the outrage, they also ignite a hopeful spark as they journey through their
challenges with strength and determination until they overcome them.

One Work in Depth

2. Choose one of the works you selected. Describe how the work helps the audience
make sense of the topic it portrays.

Scar Island tells the tales of the boys in Slabhenge Reformatory School, a harsh and
inhumane place where “troubled” boys were sent to be ameliorated and rehabilitated.
But the place is more like a prison, the Admiral and his men treating the boys as slaves
 to “teach” them, rather than make any efforts to rehabilitate them.

The story begins with Jonathan Grisby arriving at Slabhenge. From the onset itself, the
school is shown to be a dark, ominous place, having been rebuilt from the ruins of
madhouse. Jonathan is particularly prejudiced against because of the crime he’s been
convicted of - arson that led to the death of his sister.

All the grown men are shown to be cruel and guileless, torturing the boys and forcing
them to live in inhumane conditions. They seem to not care about any of their wards’
lives, calling them “scabs,” picked off and abandoned on their island to clean up.

The story utilizes the boys as mirrors to their adult counterparts, such as Sebastian
growing power hungry from being in charge and acting worse than the Admiral when
the power goes to his head.

D. What insights does the creative work you chose give you about the topic it
portrays?

We’re shown a narrative of injustice and bigotry as the boys go through hellish
conditions yet are forced to pretend everything is alright when allowed to contact their
families. Instead of being educated and reformed, they are treated less than animals,
whether their crimes are serious or mild.

The injustice is palpable until it abruptly halts when the adults get wiped out by a
lightning strike. From that point on, we begin to see the unravelling of those themes as
they culminate in the boys choosing not to return to civilization and have free reign over
the island instead.

Some characters, like Jonathan, begin to ameliorate and redeem themselves from their
past, while others, like Sebastian, begin degenerating into the very people they were
trying to avoid. However, even he gets redemption before it’s too late. When his need
to stay in control is revealed to be because of his insecurity and loneliness, he finds the
remedy to his fears in shared camaraderie with the other boys, thereby breaking the
cycle of greed and violence.
E. What additional understanding can you gain about this topic by experiencing this
creative work that you wouldn’t get by just hearing the name of the topic?

Hearing the topic itself may not grant us an in-depth understanding of it, but by
experiencing this work we are given a thorough peek into how cruelty and injustice can
shape and affect a person’s mindset and the juxtaposition of those who can fight it and
begin to heal, against those who succumb to violence and regress into worse versions of
themselves. The boys mirror their adult counterparts, assuming a hierarchy based off
who is stronger than the rest, and such a system soon falls into the same patterns of
wrongful behaviour.

But they also prove themselves capable of change when they make kinder choices and
show that they do care about each other. This exonerates them from their tragic cycle
and shows that they are different from their abusers.

Citations:
1. Scar Island summary and study Guide | SuperSummary. (n.d.). SuperSummary.

https://www.supersummary.com/scar-island/summary/

2. Wikipedia contributors. (2024, March 14). The Help (film). Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Help_(film)

3. Wikipedia contributors. (2023, July 24). Blind Injustice (opera). Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Injustice_(opera)

4. Blind Injustice opera recording - YouTube. (n.d.). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?

list=PLcRNNU4N9gOEEU6gNiEF7VWzyUl9HLu8G