Sunday, October 14, 2012

Exploration 7 McAlester

A cultural place I think as been a little overlooked since the beginning of the book would have to be McAlester Prison. I think its good piece of  the culture then and now cause there will always been prisons no matter how technically advanced we get in society. I think for the 1930s and especially in this book not this prison as its self, but most were afraid of letting people out due to the times and how everyone was on edge everywhere you went.  I really like how this prison is one of the most famous ones in the country due to it being in one of the greatest books about the great depression but also because of the punishments they did to people. Most of the time in McAlester they had murders, rapist, and robbery.

          I really like how they include McAlester enough in the book to ensure you remember where and why Tom can't get in trouble. I choose this topic because i feel like it's good to know the background information in whatever story you read and this isn't a big background story for the family but for our main character. It has a very different value to me just  for the fact that it's prison and some of the websites show me why i should always think before i act no matter what the situation is or is turning out to become.

Mcalester
Here is McAlester Prison in the 1930's. you can see for how the times were that it is a pretty big prison compared to most other at that time in the U.S.



http://www.okolha.net/McAlester_prisoner_1921-1931.htm
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MC001.html
http://www.lasr.net/travel/city.php?OK+mcalester+oklahoma-prison-historical-museum&TravelTo=OK0106009&VA=Y&AttractionCategory=&Attraction_ID=OK0106009a004#.UHus_G8xrYQ

10 comments:

  1. I wasn't expecting such a large and intimidating looking prison. I worked at North Central Correctional Institution and McAlester makes it look like a day spa.

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  2. I dont blaim Tom for not wanting to go back! It was nice to actually put a picture on what the prison looked like and to learn more about it.

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  3. I agree with you my friend, learning and understanding the context of anything you read is key. So many times we can get ourselves into trouble when we don't first stop and learn the background information. Without such an understanding there is much confusion and misinterpretations. Thank you very much for your research and your words, good stuff!

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  4. That’s a great point to talk about in detail. Of course nobody wants to go to prison but when you describe the prison and give a visual it really emphasizes the point. No wonder Tom does everything he can to avoid that place.

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  5. I agree with Nick about the size of the prison. I was not expecting it to look like that. I definitely agree that this prison is an important part of the book and now knowing a little more about it, I definitely can understand why Tom, as well as the rest of his family, does not want him to go back.

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  6. The size of the prison really surprised me. I was not expecting such a large place, but its nice to put a picture with the name. I can see why his family does not want Tom to go back, and I also like how the book mentions McAlester enough to remind us why Tom can't get in trouble.

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  7. I think that was very cleaver to do your research on the prison mentioned in the book. I think it makes it more real.

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  8. I like how you brought the book a little more to life with the prison. It defiantly looks like a stereotypical prison that you would imagine as a kid.

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  9. I agree with Nick, that prison looks scary! I'm glad you were able to show us what McAlester looked like, very informational!

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  10. That looks less like a prison and more like a castle. I would suppose that the inside wouldn't be so luxurious. I wonder why it is that straight men that shun homosexuality when put in a cell all of a sudden almost applaud it indirectly with their actions.

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