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.”