Analysis of Picking Cotton - Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption - Book Report/Review Example

 Picking Cotton. Jennifer Thompson Canino was a student at Elon College in the County of Alamance in North Carolina. She was just twenty-two years old when a tragic night brought changed her life. A man who broke in while she was asleep raped her at knifepoint in her apartment. During the tragic ordeal the man said to Jennifer “yeah you a witch, we gonna have a good time tonight”. (p.14). While the rape was happening, she carefully studied the face or her attacker and told herself that if she miraculously made out alive, she would sure put her attacker behind bars (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Toneo 15). Jennifer was able to escape and eventually she identified Ronald Cotton as the man who had attacked her. Ronald maintained that Jennifer was mistaken, but the positive identification that Jennifer gave was compelling evidence to send him to prison. Eleven years later, Ronald underwent DNA testing which eventually proved his innocence. He was finally released after serving a sentence for a little over a decade in prison cells for an offense that he had not committed. Two years later, both Jennifer and Ronald have a face-to-face meeting and an unusual occurrence takes place. The two were able to forge an unlikely relationship of friendship that changed their lives altogether (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Toneo 202) In their own fashion of words, the two unfold the harrowing accounts of the tragedy they underwent. The two have challenged our notion of judgment and memory while demonstrating and indicating the deep nature of human grace and the healing power that can be realized through forgiveness. The discussion centered on this paper concerns both positive and negative traits that are reflective of an ordinary human life. I am confident that this book will be both entertaining and enlightening to any reader. It has particularly my idea of humanity, which I had, begin to think was a lost cause. The positive traits of each personality. The first personality was that of Jennifer Thompson Cannino. She was the protagonist in this memoir. She comes out vividly as the epitome of both grace and strength as she narrates and shares with the world her horrific ordeal as a young innocent and low-key profile college student. She recounts the reader how she was raped at knifepoint in the dead of the night at her apartments. She speaks of her memories so vivid regarding the physical characteristic and features of the man who attacked her (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Toneo 20) The memoir is of a scorned woman who despite the shame and bad taste that was left in her life emerged stronger that the tragedy. She is an illustration of the proverbial a glass half full as opposed to a glass half empty. She turned her misfortune into a best seller. She did not let her tragedy weaken her spirit and overshadow her life. During the ordeal, she vowed to put the perpetrator behind bars and thus focused on his features so that she could identify him when she got out of the ordeal alive. She also exhibited the will to live despite what she was going through. The other personality was that of Ronald Cotton. He was a big African-American man who was a high school dropout. He had a couple of skirmishes with the law but was on the path to recovery as he was trying and working towards finding his way. He was also the man who was mistakenly identified as Jennifer’s attacker because he resembled the police sketch that the police had come up with using Jennifer’s help. He stood his ground that he was innocent and never gave up the fight. He often insisted he was innocent until finally a DNA test proved his case. Despite the case of mistaken identity that put him behind bars for eleven years, he did not result to bitterness and resentment. Two years after he was released, he met with Jennifer the woman who had sworn he was the man who had taken away her dignity and innocence. He demonstrated a trait that is seldom seen as the two established a relationship that was remarkable. Ronald forgave Jennifer and together they developed a best seller hence the memoir that is the centre of my book report. Indeed a positive trait by Ronald that I wish I possessed or at least half of his spirit of forgiveness. Ronald first forgave himself making him better and stronger enough to forgive the woman who turned him into a guest of state for eleven years. The negative traits of each personality. The negative traits that Jennifer portrays have been outweighed by the positive that came from the ordeal. Jennifer underwent a tragic ordeal that almost defined her personality. She was obsessed with putting behind bars the man who almost ruined her life. She had become a victim who was focused on being the strongest probable witness and backed by a system that was all too willing to convict another young black man. Nothing mattered then than to obtain a conviction. She strongly believed that knowing Ronald was in prison was her gate pass to peace and security. The tragedy she went through, traumatizing as it was defined her as a person from that day. She was too blind to see the man as a possible and not certain. She was too rigid and firm in her decisions to see things any other way. The after math strained her relationship with her fiancé and her family as well. She had been brutally attacked and as a result suffered many years from the psychological fallout of the event that was traumatic. She looked herself for a couple of years chasing justice at all costs at the expense of an innocent man. What mattered to her was peace and security. Ronald’s negative traits are similarly not many because he redeemed himself in the long run. He was a young man whose life was far from good. He was a high school dropout and this begun his bad characters. He was also infamous with the police in North Carolina. Although he was straightening out his life, he made it easier for people to judge him negatively than positively because of his bad traits. Ronald’s other bad trait was drawn from the fact that his story did not check out. First, he got his dates mixed up when providing his alibi. He was not consistent is furnishing his facts and although he cannot be blamed for a faulty system, he did not help either in raising a reasonable doubt. Ronald only went to prove the preconceived perceptions concerning young African America males who drop out of school and engaged in lawlessness. If he had his life going on, it would not have been a case of mistaken identity. My results from the personality test. The forty plus personality quiz that I took identified me as a phlegmatic. According to the explanation offered, I am kind and self contented. The trait also identifies me a person who is very affectionate and accepting. I am also one who is shy, very receptive and I often prefer stability to change and uncertainty. I am a young black woman from the rural areas who prefers to consistency, rationalization, a relaxed atmosphere albeit I am observant, curious and I can make a good diplomat. The memoir of Jennifer and Ronald is one that is eye opening and a story that I relate to in a number of aspects. Personality results from my cousin. From the forty plus personality quiz that I made her undertake, she turned to be choleric. According to the explanation offered, this person is a doer. I agree because my cousin is very energetic, passionate and full of ambition. She tries to instill in me her drive because we are totally opposite in terms of personalities. She has the capability to dominate me especially because I am a phlegmatic. She likes to in charge of things and I can foresee her taking leadership roles in school politics. Getting along with other people. The book in illustrating on the way to get along with people comes out clearly. It explains in its demonstration of the way Ronald while a guest of the state of North Carolina found peace with himself. He was armed with his bible and quiet time alone where he was able to forgive himself. It is important from for individuals to find peace with themselves in order to make peace with others. If Ronald had not forgiven himself, then forgive Jennifer he would be a bitter man full of rage. He stated that “Put a man in a cage with beasts and throw away the key, and it’s usually not long before the man is a beast himself,” (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Toneo 180). How the book will change my views of others. The book will indeed change mu views of others. Firstly, the bitterness that I felt when reading the earlier chapters of the book went diminishing as I progressed. The system in my view was quick to convict a black man and my sympathies were with him. The spirit of forgiveness and grace that Ronald exhibited melted my heart. He forgave the people who took away his life for eleven years and turned the ordeal into a memoir. He sought out to change the system and even established a remarkable friendship. I have learnt to forgive those who point it out to me that I am not good or that I cannot be good at anything. Even those who disappoint me or disgrace me, I am now able to forgive in order to fill myself with positive emotions. The idea of blended personalities in marriages, families and friendships. The memoir Picking Cotton can be used to offer an explanation on the idea of blended families. The book is about forgiveness and turning lemons into lemonades. Ronald and Jennifer turned tragedy into a bestseller. The rise in divorce rates has led to the escalation of blended families. Since the situation is here and alive, it is, best if individuals just plan properly and accept each other. Blended personalities undergo some sort of second chance at happiness and for this reason; individuals who find themselves in such situations ought to embrace the same with grace. The unions’ in marriage, family or friendship are unique in my view. Ronald and Jennifer established a remarkable friendship that is admirable. Conclusion. The memoir by Jennifer and Ronald is referred as a New York bestseller. It is a tale of courage and a powerful illustration of the problems that are rife as far as eyewitness identification is concerned. It a must read for book everyone as the level of humanity and grace expressed is what is needed in today’s world. The society is full of cynical people, narcissists and plain lack of consideration for one another. The mantra the modern society has adopted is that of I am not my brother’s keeper making people lack love, respect and forgiveness. Ronald and Jennifer have demonstrated to us that it can be accomplished and it must be done, forgive and let peace prevail. I strongly recommend this book. Work cited. Thompson-Cannino, Jennifer and Cotton, Ronald with Toneo, Erin. Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, North Carolina: St. Martin's Press, 2010. Read More