Race and the American novel project part 2

Stacy Halida

 

Synthesis

 

            Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written from a Caucasians perspective and Beloved, written from an African Americans perspective. They both had good themes and issues about them.

            I think that inequality for African Americans is totally unfair. Both of the books talk about that. I never understood the purpose of slavery and every time l learned about it, it made me more confused and upset. I don’t think anyone should be treated differently just because the color of their skin.

            Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and it showed how the slaves were treated so badly that they ran away and created the underground railroad. Slavery was so bad and so many slaves ran away to the North that if anyone was asked if they have seen a slave that had to return the slave to its owner, they were forced to give them back. When I read that it just floored me because all people should be free to make their own choices. (Stowe)

            Beloved was written by Toni Morrison. It also showed how bad one family of slaves was treated that Sethe killed her child so the child wouldn’t be forced into slavery like herself. She also then ran away to try to stay away from slavery. I was also surprised when I read this because I never thought someone would kill their child. But, she did it for her child to keep her child safe from slavery, she did it out of love. (Morrison) This was one of the shocking things that happened in the book Beloved.

            Overall I enjoyed reading both books and I also learned a lot about slavery that I didn’t know before. Slavery was so bad that the slaves were willing to kill their own children and run away and having the risk of they themselves getting killed, because that would be better than going back to slavery.

Works Cited                               

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Toms Cabin. 1852.

  

Race and the American novel part 2

Stacy Halida

Reader Response

 

            From reading some responses on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com  that people wrote about the book Beloved, I would have to agree mostly with what they wrote. Most of the comments were that it was a very deep book, and that you had to think very hard about it at some points. Others said that it was very easy to follow and that they didn’t want to put it down. Another comment stated that it was a book about a haunted mother/daughter relationship. They said that it was very interesting that the mother would kill her own child for her own well-being.

I agree with most of this information that the people posted. I do feel that the book was very confusing at times, but it was very interesting. I was very helpful that we had class discussions on the book to make sure I understood was I read. It was also very interesting to see the other points of view that people had for the book. It helped a lot that we had deep discussions of this book in class, otherwise I may have been a little lost as to what was going on.
            I agree with that the book was hard to understand at times and that it was a haunted story about a mother/daughter relationship. But, I don’t agree with the comment that stated that it was easy to follow because it wasn’t easy for me to follow it. Overall I enjoyed the book.

Race and the american novel project part 2

Stacy Halida

Contemporary Connections

 

We have many racial issues in America in 2015. Some issues have gotten better and some have not. I do however feel that America has made a lot of progress forward due to racial issues, but there are still many that need to have more progress made on them.

ABC News covers these issues online. Everywhere you look you can see some sort of racism in the world. This helps me relate to beloved because the African Americans are treated so unfairly just because the color of their skin. Everything that African Americans do in the real world and beloved they get treated differently and much more unfairly because of the color of their skin.

Beloved helps inform me of these issues today because it reminds me of all of the inequality that African Americans have. I usually don’t always think like that, but when we read this it really reminds me of all the racial issues we have in the world in 2015.

Stacy Halida Race and the American Novel project part 2

 

Stacy Halida

Race and the American Novel project part 2

Critical Commentary

Morrison writes about the “interior lives” of the slaves to fill in the blanks, for her readers. I thought this was very interesting that this was pointed out. I thought this because many people want to hear about the slaves “interior lives”, but not many people want to tell that part. The narrators and the slave owners didn’t want people to know how the slaves were treated. I like how she gave us readers insight on how the slaves lived on the plantations and why slaves would want to run away like Sethe did with her child Denver. (Raynaud)

She also says that Morrison was also reluctant to even talk about the subject of slavery. But, she then was “kidnapped” by the idea of slavery like the slaves were abducted from Africa into slavery. This passage in the text was very interesting to me because she really didn’t want to write about slavery, but turned out to be an excellent writer of the subject slavery. (Raynaud)

This text helps me understand beloved a little better because I understand why she wanted to write it. I am glad that she wrote it so that we can get a different perspective on slavery.

Works Cited

Raynaud, Claudine. "The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison." (n.d.): 43-58.

Blog 6

Stacy Halida

Blog 6

 

“From the Woman Warrior” “No Name Woman” Maxine Hong Kingston wrote about a woman who was said to be her aunt. She has never met her aunt and she is confused as to who she really is. She is to never talk about her aunt because she had an illegitimate child. Since she cannot speak of her aunt she starts to make her own memoirs of her aunt.

This story was very interesting to me because the Chinese Traditions that were involved. I thought it was very odd though that her aunt could not be spoken of. I felt bad for her because she has never met her aunt and now she cannot really know anything about her because of what she has done.

I feel that many other cultures have many more traditions that are harsh and difficult to understand if you aren’t from that culture. Some of the traditions are very interesting to learn about, and that others are just very strange and foreign to me.

Stacy Halida blog 5

Blog #5

Stacy Halida

 

Diving Into the Wreck

            “Diving into the Wreck” is by Adrienne Rich. There can be multiple interpretations of this poem. For instance the “on the surface” interpretation and the “under the surface” interpretation.

            On the surface it looks as if she is really talking about exploring a shipwreck. The way that she explains the scene is rather creepy. She is talking about the color of the water as the sun is making shadows in the water. She says that the water is blue, green, and black which makes it sound very creepy. By how she is describing the scene it makes me not want to go scuba diving; especially not alone.

            Under the surface there can be many interpretations. One interpretation could be that the shipwreck is represented as society. Rich is saying that she wants to go explore the shipwreck, which could mean that she wants to explore society.

            This poem was very difficult for me to interpret because it can have so many different meanings. It’s hard to figure out what she is really meaning in this poem.

Stacy Streetcar named Desire

Stacy Halida

Blog 4

Streetcar named Desire

            Streetcar named desire is a written work and it was made into a movie. I personally liked the movie better because I could visually see what was happening between the characters. We watched most of the movie in class on Wednesday. I thought that the characters were mostly the same in the written work and the movie.

            Stanley was still very pushy and arrogant. He always thought he was right and pushed the women around. The story is mostly about Stanley and Blanche arguing about stuff that really isn’t that important.

            I liked this movie because, I like the time period it was made in. I thought it looked very cool and it kept my interest, just because I have never seen any movie like this. Streetcar named desire is about two sisters and a man and Blanche comes to visit Stella and Stanley and it appears that right away Stanley and Blanche don’t get along. Over all I thought the movie was very interesting.

Stacy's Harlem Renaissance

Stacy Halida

Literary Content Blog

Harlem Renaissance

            The Harlem Renaissance was major part of history, especially for the African American population. The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing period of artistic and literary creation in African American culture. It all began with the increased militancy and racial pride symbolized by the 1919 parade of black veterans through Harlem and ended with the Great Depression. (encyclopedia)

            It was also a movement encompassing literature, art, and performing arts in the 1920s and 1930s centered in Harlem, New York. Many writers and artists were determined to expose a new light to many unrecognized black culture Harlem provided them with many opportunities to do so. (encyclopedia) (Jervis Anderson)

            The readings that we had it class had a lot to do with colored people, so the Harlem Renaissance was very prominent for these authors. Claude Mckay was talking about what he thought of America, and Langston Hughes also wrote about what he thought of America, and he had hope. This is what the Harlem Renaissance was all about, so it seemed.

            Langston Hughes poem, I, Too can have many interpretations but the line “they’ll see how beautiful I am, and be ashamed, I, too am America.” I think this means that one day everyone will be equal and when that day comes everyone who thought blacks will not be equal to whites will be ashamed for what they said. This also reminds me of the Harlem Renaissance because it was the time of prosperity and growth for the African American culture and population.

Works Cited

encyclopedia, Benets readers. "Harlem Renaissance." (n.d.): 2.

Jervis Anderson, A. Houston Baker, Irvin Huggins, Gloria T. Hull, David Lewis. "Harlem Renaissance." (n.d.).

 

Stacy Halida Blog 3

Stacy Halida

Blog 3

            The story To Build a Fire was very interesting to me. This story was one of my favorite pieces we have read this semester. I mostly like this one best because it has something to do with the outdoors. It is about a man who is going to meet some people by a certain time, but has many pitfalls on his way to do so. He just cannot win in any situation he is put in.

            There are many different aspects in the story To Build a Fire like human ignorance, humans don’t respect nature, lack of fear or nature, and many more. Human ignorance seems to be the most distinguishing choice. There is a lot of human ignorance on the man’s part. The man who is unnamed seems to not realize how much danger he is truly in. Common sense says “Don’t go out in the wilderness and cold alone.” But what does this man do… he goes into the wilderness/cold all by himself and guess what happens, nothing good at all. This is so much human ignorance because he really doesn’t understand how in danger his life is in. And, because of his ignorance he ends up dying at the end of the story.

            This story has taught me a very valuable lesson, one that I actually knew before but showed me how bad human ignorance can really be and where it can lead you. Lessons come at a price and I’ve had my fair share, but this lesson came with a very hard price. The best advice this story can offer to its readers is don’t be so ignorant and pay attention to all of your surroundings.

Stacy's Race and American Novel Project PArt 1

Personal Synthesis

            One theme in UTC that really stood out to me was the power of women. Many see this book as very early feminism and I would have to agree. This novel was written before the women’s rights movement. I saw many times in the novel, though it may not be very prominent, how women have a lot of power especially over their husbands.

            Many of the women in the novel are very nice and sweet, who try to get their husband’s to be too harsh to their slaves. They try to work through the background so their husband’s don’t know that their wives are trying to have things a certain way. Some examples of these women are, Mrs. Bird who tries to help out many slaves, and St. Clare’s mother, and there are many more also.

            This book shows also African American women in a very positive way. Eliza is the prime example of pure, strong, capable, and brave African American women. Eliza is also very protective over her son and will do anything to keep him safe, even if that means running away with him, which that also shows her great bravery.

            This is one of the stronger themes that I saw throughout the entire book. A lot of the women portrayed in the book had great power over their husbands. Even sometimes when the husbands didn’t really realize it. When they did, they just pushed their wives off to the side and said that they didn’t want their opinion.

Stacy's Race and the American Novel Project Part 1

Critical Commentary

            On page 539 of UTC Jane P. Tompkins opens her article by telling us a story about a particular time in her life. Then she goes into describing women writers and how important they were to literature. It is now respectful to read the works of these writers because of how they are in history. Some of the women are Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin. Her main purpose for writing this article is the male-dominated scholarly tradition that controls both the canon of American Literature and the critical perspective that interprets the canon for society. During this time sentimental novels written by women were responsible for cultural evils. People could even argue saying that UTC is a conservative book. They may say this because it goes back to an older way of life. So she is basically saying that women writers were blamed for the many wrong things in society.

            I agree with all of the things she is saying because maybe that’s how people saw women in the 19^th century, but I feel women need to be given more credit for their works. I really like how the opening statements of this article is a story about a time in her life, so it gives me more background about her and what she is going to write about. I do believe it is respectful to read the works of women writers because they took the time to write it. I also think that the book UTC could be considered conservative because it was from an older time and slavery was around, so that makes sense to me.

            I agree with Tompkins interpretation because her article does sort of help me understand UTC a little better. Although women don’t play a big part in UTC, they are in it. Mostly the men take care of anything slavery related and the women very rarely give their husbands their opinion.

Stacy's Race and American Novel Project Part 1

Textual Background and Context

               This image is advertising the sale of slaves, preferably the Great Sale of Slaves. It is says the age categories for each slave for example, 3 Bucks aged from 20-26, strong and able-bodied. The poster also shows how well the slaves will be able to work, by saying how strong and how able they are to work. There are five different categories such as: 3 Bucks, 1 Wench, 1 Wench, One Buck, and 17 Bucks. Even though some are the same categories, it differs in their age and their ability to work, some are men and some are women. One woman even has a 6 month old baby for sale with her. The poster also states that only cash can be used to buy the slaves. It lastly shows who is in charge of the Great Sale of Slaves, which in this case is John Carter.

               This poster really catches me off guard. I don’t think slavery is right to begin with so seeing this poster is just very strange to me. I also don’t think its right for the slaves to have names such as Bucks and Wenches. This poster may have gotten a lot of attention back then for the purchase of slaves, but that doesn’t mean its ethical at all. Slavery shouldn’t have happened at all so the purpose of this poster doesn’t really work for me at all.

               This image adds more understanding to Uncle Tom’s Cabin because that whole book was basically about slavery. We saw multiple times in UTC how slaves were being purchased. So this poster announcing the Great Sale of Slaves fits right into the book and gives us an image of what those posters must have looked like.

Blog # 2 Emily Dickinson

Stacy Halida

Blog #2

            Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830. She was a very famous poet of her time, probably one of the most famous poets. She lived with her parents most of her life except when she was away at boarding school for less than a year. So, she did get a very little bit of a formal education. She was very solitary most of her life because she shut herself up in her room a lot. Only 12 of her poems were published during her lifetime; she wrote many more than that.

            Dickinson’s poem titled #236 or “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church” has many symbols. A few of the symbols are the bobolink which is a bird and a chorister which is a person singing in a choir. I think that she wrote this poem because she wanted to know what church means to herself and what church means to people of the 19^th century. I also think that she feels that she doesn’t have to go to church because she acts “godly” all of the time. We discussed some of these ideas in class and it helped me see how she was writing this poem more clearly.

            The poem by Dickinson titled #764 or “My life has stood a loaded gun” was the most difficult poem to get a grasp on. I thought this because it could be interpreted in many different ways, and in some parts it was very difficult to understand what she was talking about. From our class discussion it helped a little because some points were cleared up. I feel that there was definitely a masculine character especially in the last stanza. And, in the 3^rd stanza there was happiness and then destruction.

            I feel that Dickinson’s work is overall very interesting. Emily Dickinson leaves a lot of room for many different interpretations of her works. I think that is very neat that someone can write a poem and people have so many of their own ideas of what the poem could be about. I believe that people are right when they say that Emily Dickinson on recognized as one of the world’s greatest American poets.

Uncle Tom's Cabin Blog #1

The quote from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “You ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It’s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I’ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can’t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!” “But, Mary, just listen to me. Your feelings are all quite right, dear . . . but, then, dear, we mustn’t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it’s not a matter of private feeling,—there are great public interests involved,—there is a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings.” “Now, John, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.”

This is Senator Bird and his wife talking. This text is saying how Senator Bird’s wife is trying to convince her husband that slavery is wrong and that they should help out the slaves if they come to them, which Eliza does come to them right after this discussion that they have. This quotation sums up many of the main themes found throughout the novel as to how slavery is not to be associated with
Christianity. Mrs. Bird is pretty much saying that if you are involved with slavery, you are condemned. It also seems to be saying that the women in this novel are portrayed as more loving and compassionate than their male partners. Mrs. Bird is using her Christianity and telling her husband that she won’t go along with slavery, but with her Bible because slavery, in her eyes is immoral.

This text was very clearly, to me produced during Harriet Beecher Stowe’s time. It is because it was right around the time of the Fugitive Slave Act, which said no matter where you are, North or South or whether you’re white you must help get a fugitive slave back to its owner if you are asked. This Act angered many people and gave the black people less hope for being free. I feel that this quote was supposed to be said in her time because Mrs. Bird is talking so strongly about how slavery is unfair and how against it she is.

In reality Stowe thought that the Fugitive Slave Act should be tolerated because it would be helpful and it would be in the public’s best interest to have this Act. I think she thought this because she maybe thought that it would help keep things in order and then the blacks would be in better control. I definitely don’t agree with this at all. I don’t think that any black or any person for that matter should have to be a slave, and I don’t think that white people in the North or South should have to help look for a slave if they are asked. Slavery wasn’t fair and was totally unjust and I think that there shouldn’t have been slavery in the first place.