Blog #15: Interrogation Addiction

I definitely found myself agreeing with Ms. Silko even before I began reading her essay. I have heard so many horror stories about Border Patrol and I have experienced and seen them in action. I do agree that Border Patrol puts people into stereotypes and immediately jumps on those who match it or even those who don’t. It’s this “dehumanizing” and “demonizing” that is striking fear into people. I know that the Border Patrol officers probably are more prone to asking colored people to “step out” or strip down for the officers or to have dogs search their trunks. When Silko talked about the patrol’s dog and the dog’s expressions and how “it was if she were embarrassed to be associated with them” made me feel like this dog was a way of dehumanizing Silko. She feels so violated of her human rights by the officers that the only thing she can connect and find sympathy with is an animal, not a human. The part about the patrollers allowing white people to just be waved through the checkpoint is true from my understanding. Last Spring, I went to a dance convention called ACDFA in Las Cruses, New Mexico with some dancers in the TCU Dance department. We were in a huge charter bus that TCU paid for and the bus driver was a middle aged, clean cut, white man. As the bus neared the Border Patrol station my heart sank as I feared a patrol man would come onto the bus and inspect all that was inside. Luckily, the driver just rolled down the window he told the men where we from, where we were going and we went right through without any problem. On the other hand, as we sitting there, I noticed a green, old, beat up, van with the trunk open and patrol men gathered around. We departed before anything interesting happened, but I could only imagine what the people inside the car were thinking and what happened to them. When thinking about this image I instantly clicked with Silko’s story about her and Gus and the old man who were pulled over and had his car searched. I’ve always found this issue so dehumanizing and a violation of human rights. Yes we live in a free country, but are we really “free?” This even happens at airports now as the TSA can search anyone for no reason just as Border Patrol. My dad is ALWAYS picked to be searched and I suspect it’s because he is very tall, domineering looking, and German, you wouldn’t want to make him mad, but he’s no convict. This frustrates him more than anything especially since he is an upper class, white male, which I guess all comes back around to Silko’s finding that “ no person, no citizen, is free to travel without the scrutiny of the Border Patrol.”

Blog #14: The Things I'd Carry

If I were in Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s army I wouldn’t want to bring much since I know I would not want to carry much, but it’s difficult for me to say what I’d carry. I have often though about what few things I’d take from my house if it were burning down and I can never give a straight forward answer. However, if I had had to pick a few tangible items for this army situation I probably carry letters, pictures, gum, soap, knife, gun, lighter, nylon-covered flak jacket, ammunition, water container, chapstick, some form of a good luck charm, and an iPod or music device. I’d carry gum because it would help my breath and I chew gum when I am nervous. I’d carry soap because I am a very clean and hygienic person. I’d carry a knife, gun, and ammunition for protection as well as the flak jacket because O’Brien said everyone had to carry one of these due to booby-traps and mines. I’d carry a lighter to make a fire or light up a dark place. I’d carry a water container because everyone needs water to stay hydrated. As for the letters, pictures, and good luck charm it would be for sentimental reasons. I love pictures, they allow me escape the moment and remember back to when the picture took place and it fills me up with joy and hope. I also love reading old text messages and letters would be a form of a text that I could reminisce over, and it would allow me to feel like that person was with me. The good luck charm (whatever it may be) would also allow me to escape the world in which I was in and transport to the other world where I wanted to be with that person. Lastly, I’d carry and iPod or music device because music calms me, and has a way to help me cope with any situation I am in or whatever emotion I am dealing with at the time. However, along with these tangible items I’d carry some intangible things as well such as fear, terror, love, longing, my life, and other emotional baggage that O’Brien mentioned. The thought of fighting in a war fills me with terror beyond anything in this world, and I would constantly be afraid that something would happen to me. Then, like Lt. Cross I’d get distracted from the war by daydreaming and floating into limbo about the pictures, letters, and music I was carrying.  

Blog #13: To Achieve or Not to Achieve

In Zitkala-Sa’s story The School Days Of An India Girl I interpreted that at the beginning of her story she was living the American Dream, but didn’t want to partake in it. Throughout parts I-VI she seemed to be resisting her education and she wanted no part in the assimilation of the white culture. She admits, “I had arrived in the wonderful land of rosy skies, but I was not happy, as I thought I should be” (430). The way the “palefaces” cut off all the Indian girl’s hair felt like they were dehumanizing her and taking away her culture forcing her to submit to the white culture. She says, “Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy” (431). This dehumanization forces her to “loose her spirit” and she feels like “one of many animals driven by a herder” (431). Although she is receiving an education, which is a huge part of achieving the American Dream, I don’t think being forced into an education qualifies “living the American Dream.” She says multiple times how this new school is affecting her in negative ways. She refers to “chains which tightly bound [her] individuality like a mummy for burial” (434). I think the American Dream is something that people made a conscience decision to achieve, they knew what they wanted, and knew how to achieve it whereas Zitkala-Sa is being forced into education and what the white man views as the American Dream while sacrificing her beliefs, culture, and ways of life. However, I think this changes in part VII as she receives a diploma and is in college about to compete in a competition for which her mother is against. This time Zitkala-Sa wants to achieve the American Dream and is even willing to go against her mother’s will to achieve it. She even ends up winning prizes in both competitions even though some audience members show prejudice against her. I think that in this part of her story the American Dream is prevalent as she is fighting against all odds to achieve her dream.    

Blog #12: Favorite Sentence

My favorite sentence in Hawaii’s Story is, “Shakespeare has said it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” This quote reminded me of the picture of McKinley washing the Philippine baby and the concept of imperialism that we talked about in class on Tuesday. America is this large, dominating, super power and they were constantly trying to get people and nations to change their ways and cultures so that they would become American like. Instead of trying to use American influence, technology, and knowledge as power and use it as an opportunity to help educate these Hawaiians, the American government instead forced them to change their way of life and government, thus creating this “tyrannous” image to the native Hawaiians.    

Blog #11: Response to Paige Well's Blog

I definitely agree with you that this “awful sin” McKay speaks of is referring to the Biblical sin of all mankind, but I also think it is referring to the observers who watched Jesus being crucified. In the context of McKay’s “The Lynching” this could refer to the people or citizens watching the lynching. However I looked up Luke 23:46 that is in the footnote at the end of the poem and this verse reads, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he said he had said this, he breathed his last.” So I now understand and agree with you that your point about irony in McKay’s meaning makes sense. In Luke 23 “Father” is capitalized while “spirit” is not, but in McKay’s poem “father” is not capitalized while “Spirit” is. In my opinion I think that the reason McKay might have capitalized “Spirit” is because the black men who were being hung were like Jesus and had no reason to hang. Therefore maybe their Spirit is like Jesus and needs to be capitalized to show that they were like Jesus. So this “awful sin” again may refer to the people who watched the lynching. Luke 23:47-49 says that after the deed was done those who didn’t believe “beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him…stood at a distance, watching these things.” At the end of McKay’s poem he even mentions that the next day after the lynching people would come back and look the man swinging there and no one (not even the women) “showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue.” I think this whole poem could be translated into Jesus’ crucifixion as it speaks of the “cruelest way of pain” because back then being crucified was the ultimate form of death, in today’s criminal justice system it would be equal to capital punishment with lethal injections or the electric chair. Lastly, I think that the “star” could refer to “His father” as in God. Maybe McKay chose not to capitalize “father” and “star” to show the irony you spoke of. How could a “star” allow this to happen just as us who are Christian still wonder why God would let Jesus die for mankind when he was pure and perfect.

Blog #10: "Education and slavery were incompatible with each other"

I experienced an immediate “AHA!” connection between Frances Harper’s “Learning to Read” and Fredrick Douglass’s slave narrative. The first stanza establishes how the North (Yankees) was sending teachers down the South to educate people, and the South (Rebels) hated this idea. The next stanza is what instantly connected this poem with Fredrick Douglass’s narrative. It says how the slave masters didn’t want their slaves to learn to read as “knowledge did’nt agree with slavery/’Twould make us all too wise.” This is the same concept in Douglass’s narrative when Mr. Auld forbids Douglass to continue reading and writing lessons with Mrs. Auld as it was “unlawful, as well as unsafe to teach a slave to read” (Vol. I, pg. 879). Masters were afraid that giving a slave education would make them wise enough to realize how horribly they were being treated and that they might rebel or disobey their masters and mass hysteria would occur. The third stanza talks about how some slaves would learn to read from other sources and “some of [them] would try to steal a little from the book/And put words together.” I found a connection with Douglass learning to read from the little children or “urchins” off the streets in his spare time. In exchange for bread, the children helped teach him to read and write. The next two stanzas describes a man named Uncle Caldwell who “took pot liquor fat/And greased the pages of his book/And hid it in his hat.” This reminded me of when Douglass would be sent out to run errands and he’d take his book with him so that he could read while he was out of his master’s sight. Stanza six talks of Ben who listened to people spelling and reading and he tried to listen and retain as many words as he could. This is also like Douglass when he found his “meat and drink” The Liberator. It was during this time that Douglass learned of abolition for the first time, and he’d try to listen to people’s conversations about slavery. It was also during this moment that he realized just how bad things were and that he then wanted freedom more than he ever had before. The next stanzas, through the end of the poem, reinforce the desire of the South not to educate the slaves, but they did it anyways. Finally, in stanza eleven, after the war when slavery was abolished the narrator took hold her new found freedom and bought her own “…little cabin/A place to call home/And [she] felt independent/As the queen upon her throne.” With her new found knowledge and independence the author was allowed to live freely and gain as much knowledge and hope for a better life, and have a better chance of achieving the “American Dream” just as Douglass had done by the end of his narrative.

Blog #9: Magazines Sweep the Nation

Between the time span of 1865-1914 several inventions were introduced such as the lightbulb, telephone, typewriter, radio, the motion picture, automobile and the airplane. These inventions in turn created changes in print culture such as new methods for printing, making paper, and methods of distribution. The literacy, education, and library rates also grew and more people had access to books and means of reading through libraries and bookstores. However, deep poetry diminished at this time and the short story and magazine became the prevalent source of reading material. Fiction also thrived and was the most popular literary genre of the time. Stories of rags-to-riches, tales of adventure, and historical romances filled novels and short stories. One of the contemporary connections from this time period that is still in relationship with today’s culture is that of the magazine. Magazines took flight as “readers were attracted by the colorful covers, lavish illustrations, and modest cost” they provided. All kinds of stories were published in magazines from short stories to periodicals empowering women. I think that this relates to today’s culture as I think that magazines are still the most read literature. Every time we walk into the waiting room of a doctor’s office, dentist office, dance studio, or wherever they have magazines spread out across the table. Not novels or book of poetry or fiction, but magazines. I feel that magazines are a colorful and creative way of grabbing someone’s attention and telling a story with pictures and illustrations with few words. They provide sources of gossip, news, style, home, and lifestyle information. In 1870, magazines published readings that focused attention on the right for women to vote and their struggle for political rights and social equality. Now a days, it’s who is dating who, who got voted off of Dancing with the Stars, and what new celebrity marriage or divorces is sweeping the nation. Even though the content of magazines has developed and changed over time the layout and purpose are still similar. Magazines are also cheaper than books and novels so this also sways people to buy magazines rather than other forms of literature. Magazines can also be read within an hour or so while novels may take anywhere from a whole day to months.

Blog #8: "Pure was thy life: its bloody close..."

I chose to analyze John Brown’s John Brown’s Last Speech and William Cullen Bryant’s The Death of Lincoln. When reading these two selections I found that both are talking about two men who died for the cause of freedom and justice. Both opposed slavery and fought to end its cruel rein throughout the United States. Both men are also compared to the image of Jesus as being “Christlike martyrs” who died in the cause of the Right.” John Brown seized an arsenal in Virginia as a direct attack on slavery in the South. However, he and his men were captured or killed and he was found guilty and hung. In his last speech he exclaims that what he did he did out of justice and for his brothers who are just like us, but not equal in the eyes of all Americans or American law. He justifies his death by saying, “Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in the this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done.” Brown repeats that he never intended to murder or commit treason, but only fought for slaves to be free and claim their justice. Although upset Brown was courageous to die for a just cause and was willing to go down with his fellow slaves so that they will be joined again in heaven. Brown died with honor and courage as did Abraham Lincoln. William Bryant’s poem about Lincoln’s death describes how his death almost set the slaves free. Again he is seen as the Christlike figure who died for the sins of man. “Thy task is done; the bond are free:/We bear thee to an honored grave.” Bryant describes Lincoln dyeing for a just cause although it “hushed” all Americans it almost made them realize how powerful Lincoln was. Bryant says that Lincoln’s death was not for nothing, but that it was for “the cause of the Right.”

Blog #7: "He is not hers, although she bore him"

I chose to analyze Frances’s E. W. Harper’s The Slave Mother. I used the sound and sense element of poetry in my analysis. To me this poem does two things that made me think of it from a sound and sense standpoint. The first is that the language and word choice makes you feel like you can actually hear the cries of despair coming from the mother and child. Secondly, the poem’s use of end-rhymes creates a comparison between the second and fourth lines. This poem is not like Fredrick Douglass’s slave narrative as Harper is not describing the physical means of torture the slaves went through, but more of the psychosocial pain the mother and child went through in these separations. I believe Harper does this to fill in the gap between the reader and listener to make it more dramatic. I also think that Harper chose to give the mother moments of crying, “shrieking,” “shuddering,” and “pains” to show readers that slave women experienced the same emotions as white women. In a way I think that Harper was trying to put white and black women on the same playing field to emphasis that both have human emotions and are humans not property or un-human. The end-rhyming patterns such as “air and despair,” “pains and veins,” and “apart and heart” rhyme so that Harper could create a sense of unity between the reader and author. White women back then couldn’t relate to bearing a child that wasn’t actually theirs so Harper rhymes these words to create a connection. “He is not hers, for cruel hands/May rudely tear apart/The only wreath of household love/That binds her breaking heart” is a stanza that can be an example of this “gap” between the reader and narrator. Women could relate to having children and knew that they meant everything to their mothers and families. Harper explains that the taking and separation of children from their mothers was like taking away “the only wreath of household love.” The love of a child was the only thing most slave women cherished, but once they were taken their hearts, “[broke] in despair.” Again Harper is trying to humanize the slave mother and put on the same level as the reader to emphasis the pain and suffering she goes through in the separation her child. “he is not hers, although her blood/Is coursing through his veins.”

Blog #6 Gender Roles Take Hold

In Harriet Jacobs’s story, Incidents in the life of A Slave Girl, there is definite and clear characters that represent how the slavery system affected society. The characters I wish to explore are Dr. Flint, Aunt Martha, and Linda Brent. Dr. Flint is represented as the real life master of Linda Brent (aka Harriet Jacobs). He depicts the cruel, hypocritical, and conniving character who never feels guilt, self-doubt, or sympathy for his actions. He is given absolute power by the slave system and shows his lust for power, brutality, and moral corruption caused by the system. I feel as though Jacobs is displaying Dr. Flint in a way that makes men/masters seem like monsters and almost demons. She reflects on how slavery destroys mortality, and even the nicest of men can fall victim to this corruption. Mr. Sands, for example, has intention at the beginning to free Linda’s children, but once he becomes financially in trouble he betrays her and declines his promise. This once again reinforces the concept of feminism and how women are suppressed and depend on the patriarchal figure to support them. On the other hand, Aunt Martha represents the religious, domestic, and patient women Jacobs looked up to for support in her life. Aunt Martha represents the ideals of womanhood, femininity, and lives for her home and keeping the family together. She shows how women can be strong on their own and not resort to the male figure for guidance and support. However, I feel that Linda’s dream of creating a real home for her and her children are not possible because of this battle of the sexes. Women back then we considered to be housewives by nature, but black women couldn’t even live with their children. Not only do we see issues with gender, but also race and class. Another way that the male figure dominates over the female is that of stripping the woman of her humanity. Slaves were sometimes forced to sleep with their masters and were torn apart from their families. They were denied basic human rights and protection. Linda was stripped mostly psychologically as she was forced to live in an attic for years to be “free.” Even in this “safe” place she was falling victim to physical and mental issues. She was slowly losing her ability to walk, but she created this “freedom” in her head that was this attic. I feel like this shows how powerful the male/master was at this time. To make a woman hide out in an attic for so many years displays tons of influence and oppression.

Blog #5: Apess and Sigourney

“Now I ask if degradation has not been heaped long enough upon the Indians?”  During the 18th and 19^th century discrimination and prejudice was shown towards the Indians. The whites tried to take away their rights and most didn’t even recognize these rights. This caused authors like William Apess and Lydia Sigourney to speak and act out about the suppression of these Indians. In both of their stories and poems I recalled a central theme of sympathy on behalf of social injustice. Apress’s story An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man, discusses how Indians are treated unequally to the “white man.” He goes through and quotes bible verses that defend his argument as to how God tells us to “love one another.” He quotes 1 John 4:20 that says, “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” Throughout the whole story Apess constantly questions readers to examine how if God loves all his children why don’t his children love one another just as He does. He goes on to continue to say that Jesus Christ and the Apostles never gave any regard to skin, color, or nation in which people come from and that if they knew Jesus personally, who didn’t condemn men, then who are these white men to oppress the Indians. Apress concludes his story by stating that “man was created for society, and not for hissing-stocks and outcasts.” In other words God created man to live among each other in peace, harmony, and unity, but there is separation of whites and Indians. These ideas tie into Sigourney’s poem, Indian Names, through description of how the Indians founded the land and how these other men are driving them out. Sigourney says that although they have been removed from their lands, their presence, names, and influence still lives in the lands. The land hasn't forgotten who settled it originally. It is impossible to completely wipe the Indians away, no matter how hard some may try, and some have tried hard and brutally. Heaven will listen in the appeal for justice in their afterlife, and certain people will be sorry for taking their father's lands away from them. Their souls are tied to the land, and vice-versa, and they call out to each other. Their memory will always linger in our paths. “Their memory liveth on your hills.”

Blog #4: The Tenth of January

First of all I found this story very upsetting and depressing. The sad thing is I feel as though this story depicts life in a real more dramatic way as it deals with social injustice. I want to talk about the plot of the story, even though plot may seem boring, I found it interesting as it was a roller coaster of a story. It begins with almost a background of the main character, Asenath Martyn, and right off the bat I noticed foreshadowing in the fifth paragraph. It says, “The best thing about one’s grave is that it will be level” (Phelps 1). It foreshadows the way she dies at the end under the ruble in the fire, she is lying down, I imagine, and level with the earth. The story begins somber and dreary as the narrator explains the abuse of Asenath’s mother, but then picks up as Asenath and Richard’s love begins to form. Then right as you feel giddy and happy for Asenath you read that Richard and Asenath’s friend, Del Ivory, are in real love. Richard is merely marrying Asenath because he feels sorry for her, and thinks no one else with marry her so he should out of pity and kindness. Then Asenath sees Richard and Del in the park and over hears their conversation oh Richard is only marrying Del because he feels sorry for her, and that he truly loves Del. Asenath wishes and looks at the way Dick looks at Del and longs for him to look at her in the same way. Then time passes and instead of breaking up or leaving Dick, Asenath stay with him. Time passes and we are returned to a day in the factory where Asenath and Del work. Tragedy hits as a fire burns the building to the ground claiming the life of Asenath. I found this part very depressing and dreadful as I read this all I could was picture it as a movie as it was so dramatic and ironic. It also reminded me that beauty means many things, there are physically beautiful people and there are beautiful spirits and personalities. I found Asenath to have a beautiful personality and spirit and I wish she had lived in the end to prove a point that looks aren’t everything.    

Blog #2

I found it interesting to read about where books, novels, and plays came from. I couldn’t imagine only having church sermons and histories to pick from when reading a book. Our society and culture has come such a long way from those days. I never knew how much the Declaration of Independence influenced newspapers. Writers, and artists. The changes in the print culture we giving writers and authors a “growing sense of identity” and “colonial unity.” It was also refreshing to see that African Americans were finally being counted as a whole person and member of society. Phillis Wheatley even published the first poem by an African American. I also found it interesting how things in the social media have changed, like newspapers for example. Newspapers 1700s drew colonies together and were established for a common cause whereas today I feel as though newspapers and the news only have bad news. Every day you turn on the news 95% of the stories are about someone dying, or being murdered, or the Dow losing more money. Back then real writers who had a voice of the people wrote articles and stories to entertain, not to destroy or upset. However, it was nice to hear how woman were becoming just as educated as men and being allowed to attend schools and read book and break away from the status quo of being a house wife.

Blog #1

I have always believed as Americans we are strong, determined, citizens who are proud of our nation. We show patriotism, pride, and are dreamers of the future however we can sometimes be charged with being too privileged, careless, and materialistic. I do believe that as Americans we have great feets of freedom and at times we feel as though we are the most people in the world. I feel that we are too materialistic and that we take many things for granted such as a home, running water, electricity, and the ability to put food on the table every night. I still feel that we are a strong and dominate nation, but I also feel that we are slipping away from what our founding fathers dreamt America should be. I feel as though we are all so caught up ib the ways of the world that we forget to help feed the hungry, or give back to society by helping those in need. We forget what it means to be united as one body and country sometimes. The original Americans were seen as white, Englishmen who owned property or were Scotish, Irish, Dutch, German and so on. Back then Americans were a small, segregated community. It's so nice to see that we have evolved the term Americans to apply to more people. Americans now consist of black people, legal immigrants, Native Americans who are naturalized, and so many more people than were back then. My defiinition on Americans hasn't changed, nor the way I view us, but I do believe we should find ways to come together to form a more perfect union.