Is This Kansas by Eula Bliss

    In Is This Kansas by Eula Bliss the midwest, specifically college in the midwest, is viewed in a different light. The author examines the midwest from the standpoint of a visitor who had not lived in the midwest for very long. A major theme woven thoughout the story was that the midwest is not as wholesome as once thought. This theme is illustrated in the piled couches on streetcorners on move out day in Iowa City, the midwest city she highlights. The couches reflect people from all over the midwest. All of the couches, however, are cigarette burned and reek of vomit. Another major theme is the ungraduates in the midwest's naivete. This is illustrated in the undergraduate's view of racism and sexism. The students insist that racism and sexism are obsolete, but some students feel that we should send all homosexuals to one state in America so they can be seperate but equal. A minor theme in this story is the author's feeling that the university system does not have undergraduate's best interest in mind. In Bliss's words, " The philosophy of education that dominated the University of Iowa, an ideology not unlike the thinking that dominates many other many other universities, seemed not only to encourage but to depend on the quiet resignaion of the students." A second minor theme in the essay is that racism is still alive in America. This is illustrated by the reaction to the looting during Hurricane Katrina compared to the looting during the floods in Iowa City. The looting in Iowa City was downplayed compared to the looting in New Orleans because the people living in Iowa City are mainly white, midwestern students who are percieved to be wholesome compared to poor, black citizens who were some of the most effected people during Hurricane Katrina. An undertone of this story is that all people are essenially the same regardless of location or color of their skin. This understone is supported by the fact that looting took place in both primarily white, midwestern Iowa City as New Orleans.