Final Synthesis: Who gets to talk about race?

This semester stared off with a Ted Talk called “The Danger of A Single Story”. It was given by an African Woman who had been dealing with stereotypes her whole life based on her race. Her talk discussed how important it is to understand that everyone has a different story. There is not one story for Africans, or Americans, or women, or 2 year boys. There is always more stories to consider. You can’t just assume you know all the information about slavery because you read one book depicting a slaves journey to freedom.

Shortly after listening to that Ted Talk we began reading Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This novel followed several slaves lives and the hardships they faced while being a slave and the difficulty in trying to escape to freedom. The book allowed us to see several different stories unravel throughout the novel. Instead of just one main character that we follow the whole time, Stowe had us follow several different stories. Each Slave had their own difficulties and their own journey. Stowe showed us the cruelty of slavery but also provided the reader with hope that it would all work out in the end. As we read this book as a class we discussed how it was written by a White woman of the time. She wasn’t a slave. She didn’t struggle. How could see have the audacity to write a book trying to outline how horrible slavery was? She was White! But she grew up around slavery. She saw what was happening. She knew it was wrong and wanted to do something to change that. And her novel did make an everlasting impact on slavery. The point of view that she offered, I can argue, was written for white people. The way slavery was depicted was written for white people. It was written in a way for white people to feel empathy towards slaves and to feel anger towards those who were involved in slavery. It makes sense that Stowe, a white woman, would have more success writing for a white audience and that her message would get across better. As readers we can’t assume that the only true (true in the sense of valid) accounts of slavery can be written by former slaves or just African Americans in general. There is more than one story.

Following Uncle Tom’s Cabin, we read Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved. Another great American Novel that tackles race and slavery. This book was interesting and different when compared to novels I have typically read. The point of view switched all the time. Sometimes it took a while to even figure out who’s perspective we were in. A lot of passages were written using stream of consciousness, which is hard to follow enough without switching points of view. This story wasn’t always told in present time like UTC. A lot of this story was told in flashbacks. That was hard to read as well since it wasn’t always clear if we were in the past or the present. Regardless of the difficult narrative structure, this book told Sethe’s story of her time as a slave where she eventually escaped. Once she made it to a house, 124, she was safe and so were her children. When White men came to get her back and threatened her families safety she collapsed. She took her family into a shed and started injuring her kids and succeeded in murdering one of her children, Beloved. One this Morrison adds about the idea of slavery is that it doesn’t end when you escape to freedom. Your past comes back to haunt you. And it does. Beloved appears at 124 and shakes everything up. Upon her return more emotions and visions of the past come up as Sethe, Denver, and Beloved try to make sense of their past in order to find a future. In class we also discussed if Morrison telling this story was valid to the events from slavery. Morrison is a black Woman, but this book was written in the 1980’s. Long after slavery. At least Stowe wrote about slavery as it was happening. Morrison was a little late. Does her race have to do with her ability to describe slavery? After all the readings from this class I don’t think race has to do with writing at all, even when writing about slavery. Everyone has their own connection to slavery, no matter the race. Morrison showed us how cruel people were to slaves and what that did to the psyche of a former slave. She used ghost stories, intricate narrative, and switching points of view to illustrate the complex mindset a former slave had and how you never truly feel safe and that you always wished things were different. All of the themes and ideas regarding slavery were valid even though the book was written in the 1980s.

For part of the semester I did think that certain writers couldn’t claim they fully understood slavery enough to really be able to write about it in a true way. I thought the most realistic and valid writings on slavery would be from former slaves. But as the semester ends I’m left thinking about what I’m really saying. Is there one true way to write about a topic as horrible and complex as slavery? That would just be a single story. I now believe that to really capture slavery you need to look at it from several different voices. And that is what we did. Stowe was white, but that doesn’t take away from the version of slavery she depicted. She wrote about what she saw happening in America at that time. She shared her story. Morrison heard a story about a slave killing her children so they didn’t have to go back to slavery and created a novel. She used historical context and stories and then created her own to further describe slavery. She told her version of a story based on slavery. She even did it with several different points of view  to show the reader even more versions of a story. Stowe did the same thing. Each author provided numerous stories regarding slavery within their own story.

I think one of the biggest issues we have with race today deals with who is talking about it. White and Black people never reach a consensus on how prominent racial issues are in society because they both see it differently. Neither one is wrong, and neither is right. We can’t continue to look at issues like race with one mindset; one idea; one viewpoint; one story. To understand a problem you need to come at it at all angles. I think Stowe and Morrison both depicted slavery in a true way. Regardless of their own race or age, they talked about slavery in their own true way. Everyone gets to tell a story. There are no boundaries on what that story may be. And all of the stories will be different. But that is the way it should be. We should strive to understand others stories, because understanding more will broaden our minds and encourage cooperation. Beloved and Uncle Tom’s Cabin are single stories on their own. But by reading them both and understanding their differences and similarities I think we didn’t fall under the danger of a single story. The different perspectives allowed us to understand slavery in new ways. 

Reader Reviews on Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

            Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, is known as an American Classic and even won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It has been praised for decades and touches on key events and emotions that have engulfed America since the time of Slavery. Learning that this novel has been critically acclaimed and has won awards is a great starting point in telling whether the book is worth the read or not. It is also always helpful to see what other readers are saying about the book.

            After reading several reviews off Beloved on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads.com, the general consensus was that this was an amazing book, well worth the read. I did read one review from Goodreads.com where the reviewer just hated the book. He went on discussing  how the book was confusing and hard to follow. He said that “Beloved [was] incomprehensible to the point of absurdity”. His point was that he couldn’t follow the book at all due to the structure of the narrative. Several other reviewers praised the structure of the story while still admitting that it is difficult to follow. One review from Barnes and Noble said “If you are a Literature Major in life you will love this novel. But if not, be prepared to struggle through understanding this narrative of magical realism”. A lot of reviews said that it was a book to be read more than once and that originally they struggled with it, but by the end it was worth it. A review on Amazon.com offered this piece of advice, “Beloved is a horrendous, beautiful book too intricate to absorb in an isolated reading. It’s one for the collection, to take in slowly. Don’t give up on this deservedly acclaimed work of art”. There will always be bad reviews, no piece of literature is loved by all. However, with regards to Beloved, glowing reviews appear more than negative ones.

            I agreed with most of the reviews I read. To the writer of the negative review I mentioned, I don’t disagree. Yes, Beloved is hard to follow and tosses the reader into a realm of reality and make believe. Are the two distinguished in black and white in the book? No. But I find that writing style extremely intriguing and refreshing. The book really makes you think; it forces you to spend more time on the book. I think that is why so many positive reviews still touch on the difficulty of the book. It’s not a bad thing that Morrison weaves us in and out of different realities or different points of view. The narrative takes the reader along for a ride and in the end it is completely worth it. I really liked this book because it isn’t like anything else I have read before. I have read books by Faulkner and Virginia Woolf where the point of view switches and chapters are written with one sentence based on some characters stream of consciousness. But this book is different. I loved the ghost story intertwined with plot lines of the story. It was an intricately written book that has earned every ounce of praise it has gotten.

Reviews used:

Goodreads.com: 

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3860894?book_show_action=true&page=1

Barnes and Noble:

http://my.barnesandnoble.com/communityportal/Reviews.aspx?reviewid=6644005&pagestart=0&sort

Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1SS41YHRFGZ7I/ref=cm_cr_pr_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1400033411

Racial issues in American Society in 2015

It’s 2015. Nearly 400 years since blacks were first brought to America and sold as slaves, 150 years after the end of the civil war, 52 years since Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous “I have a dream speech”, 7 years since the first black president was elected president, and race is still a huge issue facing the United States. We like to think we have come far since slavery existed in our country, but recent events show our true colors. Race is an issue as prominent in our society as ever.

There have been several cases in the US regarding a white officer shooting, and killing unarmed black men. Recently, one account in Ferguson has outraged the public so much that protests and riots are becoming apart of daily life. Citizens of Ferguson are accusing white officers of being racist and claiming that that is why these black men are being shot for no reason. An article, written by journalist Rob Crilly, looks into these riots and how it reflects issues about race in the US. Crilly points out that a recent poll discovered that “while 80% of blacks believe the shooting raises issues of race, only 37% of whites agreed”. I think that statistic is very interesting and can connect to some of the points raised in Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved. The book looks into a black family that has recently escaped slavery. Any mention of white people is negative. Morrison really points out that white people didn’t think about slaves as actual human beings. They were disposable. They were dirty. They were animals. White people didn’t understand the cruelty they were inflicting on their slaves. They didn’t see the problems slaves were facing. I’m not saying that in today’s society people still treat African Americans like slaves or like animals. But generally if you ask a white person about racial issues, they won’t see race as an issue. But if you ask a black person, someone who would experience the issues full force, they see it more.

The article goes on to discuss racial profiling and the degree to which people will keep protesting. The riots have gotten violent, police are using more force to get a handle on the events. It’s a hard time for the people of Ferguson right now. One protestor said “We will keep demonstrating until justice is done. People just don’t know what else they can do”. What can you do to make your point clear? What can anyone do when faced with horrible options. Do you stay silent in a time where race is as evident as years ago? Do you spare you children’s lives with the risk of entering a lifetime of slavery? What do you do? Beloved points out the horrible events black people went through during a time of slavery. It’s hard to imagine living the lives that so many African Americans were forced into. I think society needs to reach a time where any issue doesn’t involve race. But I don’t know if we will ever get there. One thing Beloved really teachers the reader is that the past comes back to haunt you. Sethe murdered her child, Beloved, when she thought she was going to be forced into slavery again. Years later Beloved shows up at Sethe’s doorstep and soon all memories of the part are brought up to Sethe and everyone else in 124. We see this happening today. People think race is a thing of the past. But in reality it hasn’t left. It’s still around to haunt us.

The full article can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11052845/Michael-Brown-What-the-Ferguson-riots-tell-us-about-race-in-America-today.html 

A Critical Commentary on Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

            In Sheldon George’s article “Approaching the Thing of Slavery: A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison’s Beloved”, he explores African American literature and the concepts that typically accompany that literature all through a Lacanian viewpoint. Lacanianism ideas gave rise to new psychoanalytic theories of humankind. One interesting idea that George discusses in this article is the role Denver plays in this novel.

            Denver is a child who has really only had one adult figure in her life, her mother Sethe. As a child she is dependent on her mother, but like any child is longing for a father figure. As Denver is caught in this stage of dependency and longing she attempts to make do with what she has. As a result she tries to understand Sethe and the choices she has made in her life. George explains that Denver is trying to cope with Sethe’s “trauma” (the time spent as a slave, and killing her child). Denver “simultaneously fears and seeks both the symbolic and the real” (125, George). Denver wants to understand the reality of what made her mother want to kill her children but is still terrified because she is still one of Sethe’s kids. The symbolic fear that Denver seems to possess comes from Sethe and her time away from 124. She thinks that whatever drove Sethe to kill her children came from away from 124 and could come back at any time. In Lacanian viewpoints, Denver is the true hero of this story. While Denver is very similar to Sethe, personality wise, she is different in the choices she has for her future. Sethe is stuck at 124 having killed her children and scared off any other family. Denver is stuck in the middle of a strange dynamic relationship between Sethe and Beloved. Denver finds strength and persistence in the hope that Halle will come for her. Denver’s connection to her mother allows her to escape “from Sethe’s presence and her retreat from the overwhelming jouissance of Beloved and the Real” (126). George adds that Denver identifies with Sethe and in order to not end up like her she leaves 124 and forms her own path for herself.

            To me I found Denver as a main character of course, but more in the background of the story. I always saw her as being left out and sort of forcing herself into the relationship between Sethe and Beloved. To think of her as a hero and driving force of the story is a very interesting outlook. The separation between Denver and her mother Sethe is very crucial I think. 124 and Sethe are clearly being haunted and manipulated by the past, which has taken form in Beloved. Morrison is pointing out that the past comes to haunt you and that for escaped slaves in this time period, the past is always chasing you. You don’t every feel safe. That takes a toll on an individual’s psyche. Denver was never a slave. So she differs from her mother there. She didn’t experience any of the horrible things that happened to her mother. And that is why she is afraid to really understand her mother and why she could kill her child. As George points out Denver wants to make sense of the situation but is scared. She is scared to leave 124 because something could happen to her out there that would in turn make her want to kill her own children one day. But eventually she does leave, she separates herself from 124 and the past that haunts that place. I think that the separation is something that is needed. You have to break clear of the past to fully move on. I think that is a point Morrison could be making. 124 no longer has the happy, safe, free, family oriented vibe that it originally possessed when Baby Suggs was there. Now it is full of death and horrible memories. To get away from the memories of slavery you need to leave it all behind. You can’t be held down by the past. 

"We are all trying to leave our bodies behind... It is hard to make yourself die forever..." - Beloved, A Slaves Journey to America

Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, follows the story of escaped slaves living at a house, 124. Here at 124 Sethe and her daughter Denver are visited by Beloved, a character that may or may not be real. Beloved just happens to be the name of Sethe’s daughter, whom she killed years ago. Regardless of the actual state of being Beloved seems to be, she changes things at 124 and provides insight into the past.

            Towards the end of the book Beloved describes an event where she is crouching in a crowded room, surrounded by people who are crouching as well or who are dead. This passage starts on page 248. She is watching all the people around her. Some people have faces, some don’t, some are trying to die, and some are already dead. Beloved describes these just horrible, gruesome conditions. The “rats do not wait for [them] to sleep” (248). Everyone in this room are “trying to leave [their] bodies behind” (249). The people here are trying to die because death is a better option than their current situation. Beloved also mentions getting “food” (which is a loose term to what they actually receive) from the men without skin. These men, though not specified, most likely refer to white men.

            This chapter is describing the horrible transition black people were forced to make between Africa and the Americas. The people of Africa were taken from their homes and were later transported on boats, with terrible conditions, to America where their lives would be changed forever. I went to Africa last summer and while I was there I visited two different slave castles on the coast of Ghana. This is where slaves were kept before being put on a boat. We toured the castles and learned about what life was like for a slave while staying in these castles. Despite the term “castle”, their stay there was horrible. Most slaves would stay in the dungeons. These were large rooms that were made completely out of stone. It was cold, there was horrible air circulation, and almost no light being let into the room. Slaves would have no choice but to constantly stand due to the over-crowed rooms. There were some rooms where the owner of the castle could look down at all the slaves. Here is where the owner would chose women to rape. Apart from the main dungeons there were also rooms which slaves knew, once you were forced in that room you didn’t come out. Those rooms were completely dark, and very small. They even had skulls engraved over the entrance. These rooms were kept for slaves who misbehaved. Most slaves spent the most of a few weeks in these castles before they were shipped out to America. There the boats were just as bad. They were crowded. People died of diseases. Beloved seems to be describing the time on the boats. She watches people die and is frequently looking for a face in the crowds. She sees the face but then loses it again. She is worried and says that she “cannot lose her again” (250). She chases after the face and then she “is gone  now [she] is her face [her] own face has left” (252). The end of the chapter has Beloved coming out of the water and realizing that she isn’t not dead. It is then uncovered that it was Sethe’s face she was looking for. To me Beloved coming out of this water is her actually coming out of the river and finding 124 where Sethe is waiting for her.

            This chapter was very interesting to me having actually experienced being in a slave castle. I stood in the dungeons where women were chosen to be raped. I stood where slaves were pressed against each other with no room to sit or even to go to the bathroom. I stood in the rooms where slaves were left to die after misbehaving. I could really picture the gruesome events being described in this chapter. Although this chapter is being told through Beloved’s perspective, which can’t always be trusted, I think it resonates well with the reader. Slaves really went through horrible conditions to just get to America where they were treated even worse. It really gets you to think about how horrible it must have been to leave your home and travel across oceans where all you care about in those moments is finding your family. It is horrible to read about how poorly other human beings were treated.

This is one of the slave castles in Ghana, Africa. 

 

"Dying is an art, like everything else." - Sylvia Plath, "Lady Lazarus"

Sylvia Plath’s, “Lady Lazarus”, is a poem straight out of the confessional poetry movement. It is a very emotional piece that discusses death and suicide. It is a dark poem and somewhat depressing. I found myself loving this poem and the emotion it conveyed.

            Throughout the poem Plath is discussing death and taking her own life. Although the material is dark the poem to me doesn’t seem like a cry for help. She isn’t reaching out through her poetry in the hopes of being saved. She seems to enjoy the fact that she is trying to kill herself. She is “like the cat [having] nine times to die” (1419). She is talking about how she is on life number three, meaning she’s tried to die 2 other times already but was unsuccessful. Her other attempts led her to laugh at the world around her. She isn’t ashamed of herself. She doesn’t seem to care about how others see her. She doesn’t think she is sick.

“The Peanut-crunching crowd

Shoves in to see

Them unwrap me hand and foot –

The big strip tease.

Gentlemen, ladies

These are my hands

My knees.

I may be skin and bone,

Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman” (1419)

            I just picture her being forced into getting help in an institution, being brought back to life (Lazarus), but against her wishes. It’s not some show to watch in awe that she was saved. She hasn’t been helped. She is the same woman, wanting to escape this reality.

            Plath describes dying as an art. She does “it exceptionally well”, (1419). It’s something that she is proud of. She sees herself as someone who is dying and as someone who wants to die. She described her own skin to be as “bright as a Nazi lampshade” (1418), which refers to the Nazi death camps making lampshades out of the victims’ skin. These lamps are made out of dead skin, dead see-through skin. Her body parts aren’t important. They are dying away and soon so will her soul.

            She talks about why she goes through what she does.

“I do it so it feels like hell.

I do it so it feels real.

I guess you could say I’ve a call.” (1419)

            She has a calling for dying. She goes through these suicide attempts (which we know, one was eventually successful), so she can feel reality. She wants to feel death. I think that makes sense. For someone who may have lost touch with reality by going through extensive medical treatments to cure her depression, or even as a great writer may be lost in her own mind, her grip on reality may not be as strong as she is used to. The only way to know for sure what is real and what isn’t is to go through death or a near death experience. Then you can tell what is real and what isn’t. I think that line is the most powerful line in the poem.

“I do it so it feels real”

            It’s sad because you have to imagine the mindset she is in. She is so lost in her own mind and death is the only answer. But it’s also powerful and powering to her. She has the power in her life to distinguish between what is real and what isn’t. Technically, it’s in her hands. Yes there are doctors and family members in her life that are trying to get in the way of what she wants to do. They are putting her in institutions and making her go through painful medical treatments. When really she just wants out. This is why so much anger comes out through the poem. If people would just let her have her own way out, as sad as it may be, then she wouldn’t suffer anymore.

            To me this poem is her longing for the sweet release of death and then finding power in that death. She doesn’t fear death but rather welcomes it. It’s her light at the end of the tunnel. It’s interesting that the piece is named Lady Lazarus. I don’t think it implies that she wants to keep being brought back to life. But rather it refers to all the times she has been unwillingly brought back. Whether it was from failed suicide attempts or just being shocked so many times in the institutions to try and cure her depression. Regardless, she has been brought back but sooner or later her nine cat lives will run out and she will rise

“out of the ash

I rise with my red hair

And I eat men like air” (1420)

            And she will finally have power over those who looked down on the poor sick girl. She will have conquered life and in death she will be reborn. 

"Yes. [During the pause she looks up at the sky.] There’s so much – so much confusion in the world…" - Blanche, A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire is an American classic play by Tennessee Williams. It showcases three main characters: Stanley, Stella, and Blanche. Stanley and Stella are a married working class couple. Blanche is Stella’s older sister who comes to visit because her family estate was just repossessed and she lost everything. The play presents several different themes and issues that are present in everyday life. One main theme that I want to look at is the how each character represents their stereotypical gender roles and how it leads to how we as readers feel about each character.

            Stanley is the head of the household. He works hard to be where he is at and represents a man who most likely fought in WWII. He is depicted as a dirty, aggressive, selfish know-it-all. As soon as Blanche comes to his house he doesn’t trust her at all. She supposedly lost all of her families money but has no paperwork to prove it. He feels entitled to his wife’s families money, even though Blanche has told him that it is all gone. From there on it’s a constant battle between Stanley and Blanche. I think it’s mainly because Blanche is higher class then he is and that she doesn’t just sit down and take whatever Stanley says. She isn’t his wife so she doesn’t have to listen to him. To a controlling man like Stanley it must be aggravating to have this woman in his life and his house that won’t listen to him. We even see Stanley become violent with Stella which causes Blanche to try and get Stella to leave him. As the play goes on Stanley’s aggression increases and he ends up raping Blanche. Stanley wants control, however he can get it. I think the rape was a way to finally beat Blanche and to gain control over her. Stanley is definitely a man who is very one-sided and strives to be the one in charge. He deserves respect from those around him, being someone who fought in the war and who is working hard to support his growing family.

            Stella, Stanley’s husband is, in my opinion, a minor character. She has strong ties to each other main character, either a wife or a sister, but generally stays out of the bulk of the fighting. The true dynamic is between Stanley and Blanche. To me Stella just represents a brain washed (for lack of a better term) housewife. She always listens to Stanley, she comes back to him after he hits her, and she’s pregnant with his child. She even sends Blanche off to a mental institution because she believes anything Stanley tells her. She is persuaded easily. Honestly, she most likely sides with Stanley because she knows that it is better for her unborn child. She can’t raise this kid on her own and she can’t run away with Blanche and the kid because Blanche doesn’t have any money either. I think Stella is there to represent the 1950s wife who does what she’s told and stands by her husband’s side.

            Blanche is a very interesting character. She is supposed to represent the Southern Belle figure. She is upper class and flaunts that at Stanley. She is obsessed with her appearance and goes out of her way to never be seen in full light because she feels that she looks old at age 30. She constantly bathes and likes feeling like a new person. Apart from that she seems to drink a lot and tries to hide it. She also has an interesting past involving a husband who shot himself because of the things Blanche said to him. Blanche has a way of saying just the right things that irritate the person she is talking to. We see this repeatedly with Stanley. She refers to him as an animal, makes fun of his Polish heritage, and that he is working class. These are obviously things that Stanley can’t stand. But Blanche knows how to hurt his male pride. Blanche apart from being just generally mean is manipulative. She tries to control people around her. It’s interesting to compare the traits found in Stanley and Blanche because a lot of them are very similar. Both of them want money and power, they both want to control those around them to get what they want, and they both are just mean to each other. But somehow each one is different when represented in a man and in a woman. Stanley is just seen as the stereotypical man of the age. Those are traits that men have. But when a woman has them she is displayed as crazy. Granted there are other characteristics that makes Blanche seem delusional but the similarities between the two are still there. Blanche even seems a lot meaner then Stanley is in my opinion. She is just trying to get under his skin and have things the way she wants. Stanley deep down most likely just wants things back to the way things were between him and Stella. He just wants a family and to maintain order in his life. Blanche throws it off. So in the end he gets rid of her.

            The strong dynamics between the characters in this play offer an interesting look into gender roles of that era and how similar characters mean different things in men and women. We do still see that today as well. Women who are controlling or try to take charge are seen as bitches as opposed to men who are just being leaders. It is a very interesting commentary on the inequalities between men and women.