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. 

An American Poet: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is considered one of the most important American Poets of all time. He lived in the 1800s and grew up in New York.  He mainly taught himself and read works of literature by Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare, and read the Bible. Throughout his life he worked as a teacher, journalist, printer, editor, and even founded his own newspaper. Later in life he moved down to New Orleans and there he started to really see first-hand the slavery in the South. He once wrote “You are either to abolish slavery or it will abolish you.” He clearly was disgusted by slavery and wanted a changed in the US. During the Civil War Whitman made his way back to New York and spent all of his time visiting wounded soldiers in the hospital. He wanted to live a cleansed life. Any money Whitman ever made, which wasn’t a lot, went to buying medical supplies for the patients he visited. 

His most famous piece of work is Leaves of Grass. It was a collection of his poems that was published several times during his life time, adding more poems with each publication. It was inspired by his travels around the US and the author Ralph Waldo Emerson. Leaves of Grass celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship. It was criticized immensely. Critics found the style and the subject matter unnerving. It was too open regarding sex, which has lead scholars today to believe Whitman was either gay or bisexual, people didn’t like the representation of himself as a rough looking working man, his stylistic innovations were not received well, and they didn’t like that he didn’t use regular meter or any rhyme patterns. He even lost his job in Washington DC because of Leaves of Grass being published. Today of course he is considered a genius and a very important figure in American Literature.

His other works also include similar themes as the ones that appear in Leaves of Grass. Other themes that show up frequently are the body and soul, found beauty, and reassurance, even in death. In terms of any religious aspects influencing his poetry, Whitman wasn’t particularly religious. He embraced all religions equally. He didn’t think any religion was more important than another. The one religion that scholars find the most influential in his works is Deism. Deism is a religion that looks at the relationship between a creator and the natural world. And we see that in many of his works, religion is represented through nature.

            To study Walt Whitman, we read his elegy for President Lincoln, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”.  Whitman was a huge supporter of the North winning the Civil War and wrote several poems to encourage the North to fight and win the War. Because of that viewpoint he was also a strong supporter of Lincoln and wrote other poems about him as well. Because of Whitman’s passionate view about the war, slavery, and democracy it makes sense that after Lincolns death Whitman would honor him with a poem. Throughout the poem there is a lot of nature references. For example Whitman describes lilacs, great star, a bird, skies, leaves, flowers, swamps, bushes, spring, land, woods, and more. The whole poem also doesn’t follow any specific meter or rhyme scheme which we know is common for Whitman. I believe this whole poem is a way for Whitman to grieve about Lincolns death. Lincolns assassination obviously struck the country and lead to some panic. The war just ended. Now what is going to happen to the country. Throughout this poem it seems like Whitman is suggesting that they still need Lincoln around. They need his wisdom, they weren’t ready for him to leave yet. Then as the poem goes on I feel like there is more acceptance in his death. This poem focuses on three symbols; the bird, flower, and star. All three represent Lincoln in some way and scholars argue over which symbol actually is representing Lincoln. I think it is a combination of the three. That combination of a star watching high in the night sky, a flower returning to bloom every spring, and a wise bird flying from spring to night, keep Lincoln alive and remembered which is what Whitman would have wanted. Whitman’s poems discuss death a lot, but always in a more uplifting way. It doesn’t have to be dark and depressing. There is reassurance in death which Whitman conveys. I find that the reassurance isn’t conveyed immediately but more towards the end of the poem. This represents true human emotions. No one is ok with death right away. But after grieving and coming to terms with the death we accept life for what it is and then we can move on.

            Whitman was a brilliant man in poetry and an extremely kind man in life. Whitman saw beauty in everything and transferred that beauty onto paper. He transferred his kindness onto paper. He was caring and selfless and fought for what was right in the country he loved. He really a timeless poet and one of the most important poets in American History. What I really found the most interesting about him is his view on religion. Most early American Poets were very religious and that was shown in their works. Whitman embraced all religions, a task most people can’t even do today. In my opinion his view points were ahead of his time and even ahead of our time. But that is what makes him and his poetry amazing. It’s all about beauty which he was able to find anywhere he went.

Works Cited

"Walt Whitman." Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2015. <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/walt-whitman>.

"Walt Whitman 1819-1892." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2015. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/walt-whitman#about>.

Modernism in the Early 20th Century

American Poet Amy Lowell, wrote the poem “September, 1918” during the height of Americas involvement in the first World War. The poem is also a great representation of modernism first appearing in poetry.

            This poem starts off with beautiful imagery. She’s describing a fall afternoon. The whole first stanza is filled with words that have positive connotation.

“The trees glittered…”

“The houses ran along them laughing…”

“The sidewalks shone…”

“the colour of water falling through sunlight…”

She then leads us to a park where two little boys are playing and gathering berries to put in their box. Everything is very light and happy. Then everything shifts in the next stanza. In the first line of the second stanza she immediately mentions war.

“Someday there will be no war”

That line alone changes the mood of the poem. Instead of being bombarded with beautiful, calming imagery, the mood changes to a sad, longing, defeated mood. The stanza goes on to express the feeling of hoping for a day without war. She’s hoping for a world like the one described in the first stanza. She saves the memories she has of a world full of beauty and hangs on to them.

“To-day I can only gather it

and put it into my lunch-box,

For I have time for nothing

But the endeavor to balance myself

Upon a broken world.”

She’s holding onto these memories but she understands that she isn’t living in that world anymore. The world that she lives in is broken. She lives in a world that is engulfed in war and despair. It’s not perfect and things don’t always make sense.

            After reading this I understood how it was an example of modernism. It is full of powerful imagery and it shares the idea of the world being chaotic instead of being perfect and full of order. As I went back to read it again I started to even notice in the first stanza that it isn’t as “happy” as I originally thought. There are darker ideas intertwined with the positive diction. Even though the poem depicts a beautiful fall scene, some words that she chooses are more negative.

“Water falling…”

“tumbling of the leaves…”

“dropped maple leaves…”

These negative words about things falling gives the impression that something is going to happen. She could be hinting at war that has started. Things are starting to fall apart. The fact that she even mentions two little boys playing may represent all the families being affected by the war. Men of all ages are being sent out to war. Young men are leaving, children’s fathers are leaving, families are changing. Apart from that, the actual idea of September represents change and death. September is the end of warm weather, leaves start falling, and everything becomes bare. The harshness of winter is right around the corner. Despite the positive imagery laced in the first stanza it is actually leading to the negativity and reality in the second stanza. The world is not perfect. Although there is beauty in this world there is also despair and depression. 

Final thoughts on Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

            After reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and looking at different essays providing additional context or critiques on the novel one primary theme that I am most interested is slavery. Of course the book is all about slavery. But I’m interested in how slavery is presented and how the different characters in the book react to slavery and how that in turn affects readers and the message that the book conveys.

            Uncle Tom’s Cabin presents us with several different depictions of slaves lives. We see positive and negative situations. Sometimes the slaves are in homes that they like and where they are treated well. Then suddenly they are ripped away and sold, or parts of their families are sold leaving them heartbroken and powerless. We see slaves risk their lives and attempt an escape to the north. Some slaves remain submissive, others commit suicide instead of remaining in a life of slavery. Some slaves are touched by the people around them and are given strength. Others are beaten down and left with almost nothing. Stowe really paints a wide picture of several different outcomes that happen in slaves lives. You never really know what life is going to put you through as a slave. Life is constant; it’s not stable. Stowe made it clear that life as a slave is not easy and day after day life tests their strength and faith.

            Not only does Stowe show us how slavery effects slaves but she also shows us several different white families and how they deal with slavery. Stowe shows us several different families that are in favor of slavery and treat slaves horribly, families that are anti-slavery and do their best to help slaves, or families that own slaves but treat them well. What interests me is that each type of family is still religious and use religion to explain their various viewpoints on slavery. There’s Christians that use the bible to prove that men are supposed to own slaves and there’s Christians who believe that if you believe in slavery you aren’t acting as a good Christian. As I was first reading the book I was curious as to why Stowe would have characters use religion to defend both sides of an argument. Stowe herself came from a religious family with several members of her family being in the ministry. So why would she depict religion as a force behind slavery and anti-slavery? In the White families the women are typically the ones preaching religion and the men don’t really have anything to do with religion. And then among the slaves a majority of them are faithful. I think this is done to show that the slaves are the ones that are relying on religion. They need someone to pray to in the hopes that life will get better for them. White people are not living in terrible conditions and being treated like animals.  It’s hard to read about characters that are slaves and are repeated being treated poorly but still try to keep faith. It’s uplifting and as a reader you just want their prayers to be answered and for them to have a happy ending. When looking at the white families in comparison you want all of them to find religion and to realize that owning other individuals is not something that the bible encourages. Everyone has their own schema for how Christians should act. But I think most people can agree that, at the very least, today, Christians are good to almost all people and are kind and respectable. They believe in being good to their neighbors.  Reading UTC today I don’t understand how people behaved the way they used to and I’m amazed that any slave was able to hang onto their faith. I think that is a one way UTC can still be interpreted today. I think it’s easier to look at how religion is presented in the book today.

            Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an American treasure that helped the anti-slavery moment in the 1800s. It’s a book that showcases several different characters and their involvement in slavery. Although the book was incredibly successful in its time, today the actual depiction of slavery is questioned and to me the book was clearly written for its intended purpose. I do believe that it is necessary to showcase events like slavery so that readers are “comfortable enough” reading about the difficult subject matter. I think today, we deserve to read pieces of literature that aren’t written for white people or so that it’s “readable”.  Literature shouldn’t be written because readers can’t handle harsh realities. I know Stowe wrote UTC the way she did because she wanted to convey the message that slavery should be stopped. I’m not saying the way she wrote it was bad or that she was unsuccessful. I just think that after reading the book and reading different critiques, that slavery shouldn’t be sugar coated. Slavery is a piece of all Americans history and is able to be written by all people, white or black, as long as it is done well and honestly.   

"Unspeakable things do remain unspoken and the worst of the slave experience continues to search for its words" - A critical take on the Representation of Slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a very significant piece of American Literature. However, there are always critics out there that dig under the surface of a story to really look at what is happening and how the author expresses the novel. Sophia Cantave digs into Stowe’s novel in her critical essay “Who Gets to Create the Lasting Images? The Problem of Black Representation in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

            In Cantave’s essay she focuses on how black people are presented in Stowe’s novel and how that effects how the novel is interpreted in modern day context.  Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman living in the Midwest during the time of slavery. Her family was well-off and was highly religious. One argument that Cantave repeated brings up is how can someone like Stowe, a white, middle class, woman, write about the harshness and cruelty of slavery? How can that be an accurate interpretation? Cantave points out that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written the way it was so the topic could be readable. Josephine Donovan adds that Stowe once said that “the book is a very inadequate representation of slavery [because] slavery, in some of its workings, is too dreadful for the purposes of art. A work which should represent it strictly as it is would be a work which could not be read; all works which ever mean to give pleasure must draw a veil somewhere, or they cannot succeed,” (585). Slavery is a very harsh subject. No one can adequately portray the cruel nature of slavery on a piece of paper. And if you could, who would read it? Who would want to? To write about slavery one needs to mix pain and pleasure; include both sides of any spectrum. “By mixing the tragic and the laughable, Uncle Tom’s Cabin gives white people and black people a way to read slavery together,” (585). To discuss such horrible events in time you almost have to joke about it. People do it for all different types of horrific events. People need comic relief moments. Cantave, who agrees with Stowe making slavery readable, also thinks that these comic moments reinforce black subordination. It also takes away from the actual slave experience. All of this as done so “the nation as a whole felt more comfortable reading [about slavery],” (585). But at what cost?

            Cantave narrows in on this representation of black people and how it has been used in modern times. She begins to question how useful this book is today and whether or not it should be used in classes or not. Pairing slavery and black people with comic moments has had repercussions on our society. “Stowe inadvertently provided a way for white people, when threatened or challenged, to regulate black achievement, black national mobility, and black cultural expression,” (586). Black culture is always being defined by slavery. When tragic events are paired with comic events it takes away from the actual tragedy. It allows the tragedy to be overlooked or not taken as seriously. It’s an outlet for white people who can’t read about what actually happened in the South.

            Cantave also discusses what Black people thought about the characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A general consensus was that Tom was unrealistic. In reality someone in Tom’s position wouldn’t speak out against their masters. Others thought that Stowe did a remarkable job is shedding “light upon the horrible and inhuman agency of slavery,” (589). Another former slave said that Stowe “didn’t know what slavery was so left out the worst of it” (589). Black people were either in favor of Stowe’s work or not. It’s still debated among white and black people whether or not Stowe’s representation was accurate or not. Regardless of the debate Stowe’s novel was very powerful for the time period. The main question is what effect does it have today?

            As Americans I personally feel like Black history and slavery is told by White people. If we just look at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it was written by a white woman. I understand that she wrote it the way she did because slavery is impossible to describe down to each gruesome detail. And what white person would buy a book about slavery written by a black person (in that time)? To get Stowe’s point across and to the audience that could do something about it she needed to write the novel so white people would read it and interpret it the way she hoped for; to see that slavery should be stopped and that black lives matter. But I do agree with Cantave. What does this sugar-coated representation of slavery do for us today? We can’t keep giving ourselves comic relief moments because we are either too ashamed of our ancestors or because we can’t stomach the truth of what slavery was actually like. We can’t keep turning to white authors to interpret black lives. When studying slavery we shouldn’t look at how it affected white peoples’ lives or how it changed American life. Slavery is about African Americans and what they went through, not what Americans went through while watching the harsh ways of slavery. I think that Stowe did a remarkable job depicting slavery in a way that made white people empathize with slaves and showed slaves as strong, determined, individuals. She accomplished what she set out to do. But as we look onto the novel today it should be with a more observant eye. We can’t just look at the surface, there’s more to uncover about slavery. The words just haven’t come out yet. 

"It was a Mournful Scene Indeed" - A Slave Auction Described by a Slave - Textual Background and Context to Uncle Tom's Cabin

In the critical edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, there are several short essays and images following the novel to provide more background and context to the story. One short essay “A Slave Auction Described by a Slave, 1841” by Solomon Northup, provides more insight into what it actually felt like to be in a slave auction.  

            Slave auctions were very common during this time period. Slaves changed hands all the time. They were bought, sold and traded. It was all just a business for white families to make money. These slaves weren’t seen as human beings to the whites. Solomon Northup describes his experience in a slave auction. They were forced to clean themselves up to look presentable for the sale.      

        

            “We were then furnished with a new suit each, cheap, but clean. The men had hat, coat, shirt, pants, and shoes; the women frocks of calico, and handkerchief to bind about their heads.” (435).

It’s interesting that they were required to dress up and wear clothes to make them seem more human and respectable. They weren’t bought because of how nice they would look in a suit. They were picked based on size, muscle, weight, and whether or not they would work hard and be obedient. It seems to me that slaves were dressed up for two reasons. One it seems more degrading. White people are literally playing dress up with these other human beings. Slaves don’t have control over anything in their lives. This is just one more thing that they are forced to depend on white people for. I think they are dressed up for the convenience of White people. To me it could be for their conscious. It’s easier to buy human life when they are trying to represent white people. They try to look proper and were taught “the art of ‘looking smart’’” (435). All this is done to make white peoples’ lives easier.

            Northup goes on to depict what runs through his mind, and all slaves minds, when being picked over by Whites. Slaves hope to be bought by certain people more than others. Is this new master going to be a harsh master, kind, respectable, terrifying? Where would they be sent to? Would their family be bought with them? Are they going to be separated? And of course slaves have no control over any of the various outcomes. Northup wanted to be bought by a particular man because he was from the city and Northup “conceived with would not be difficult to make [his] escape from New Orleans on some northern vessel” (436). Some slaves just want that chance to escape. It’s sad that they are hoping and praying to be bought by particular people when they shouldn’t have to be in situations to be bought in the first place. Northup is concerned with escaping from his next master as he watches other slaves at this auction just pray that they won’t be separated from their families. He watched one family get ripped apart.

            “What has become of the lad, God knows. It was a mournful scene indeed. I would have cried myself if I had dared,” (437).

If you got separated in an auction you almost never saw your family again. You didn’t hear from them, you didn’t know where they went. It was over. But White people didn’t care. They didn’t understand why slaves would be crying over something like that. They would threaten the slaves to stop crying. Saying that they “would soon give [them] something to cry about,” (437). Apparently losing your children, or husband, or siblings wasn’t something to cry about. White people had their own agenda at slave auctions and didn’t care about the slaves or what they could possibly be putting them through. It was all just business.

            When reading this essay and thinking about “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, it makes you just relish the slave market and that period of time. In “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” there are several examples of slaves being taken from their “home” and sold to new masters. Tom is sold away from his family and Eliza and George are fighting to escape together. It’s terrible to realize that white people didn’t care that they were responsible for breaking up a family. In this day and age it doesn’t make sense to me how human beings couldn’t understand what they were doing. How would anyone feel to be torn away from their family forever without knowing what may happen to each other? Slavery was brutal. The disregard for human life and it’s capacity for cruelty was evident throughout the south. I think that how Stowe depicted different slave families and the hardships they were forced to go through help her get through to people that what Americans are doing to Blacks is wrong. Human life is human life. 

"There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind That Outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day" - The Yellow Wallpaper

           Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is a commentary on mental health in the late 1800s. You can connect the story to how mental health was treated, how women in general were treated, and different themes dealing with isolation or confinement. There are countless discussion points one could make about this story. I want to take a closer look into the actual wallpaper and what it symbolizes throughout the story.

            Before Gilman even brings us into the room with yellow wallpaper we get the sense that there is something off in this house. The house is surprisingly available for John and his wife to live in. The narrator explains that “there was some legal trouble… anyhow, the place has been empty for years” (486). Even when the narrator is describing the house in a positive way I got the sense that there was more to the story.

“The Most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock…” (486).

            So it’s a beautiful old house. But it’s secluded from everything around them. Even on the grounds the landscaping and the architecture is closing you in and keeping you away from the outside world. The hedges act as a barriers, the walls close you in, things lock you out, or most likely, in. It gives the reader an uneasy feeling and the narrator is left feeling uneasy about it.

“There is something strange about the house – I can feel it.” (486).

 As we move into the house we are introduced to the room upstairs where John and the narrator will be sleeping. The narrator implies that it used to be a nursery and that’s why the windows have bars over them. That may be true, it may be some lie she tells herself to better her situation. Regardless, the bars over the window add to the isolation of the house and can contain her in her room easier. But what stands out to the narrator is the wallpaper in the room.

“The paint and paper look as if a boys’ school had used it. It is stripped off – the paper – in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down. I never saw a worse paper in my life.” (487).

She goes onto describe is as patterns that “[commit] every artistic sin” (487), “smoldering unclean yellow” (487), and patterns that look like “they suddenly commit suicide” (487). It is not a pleasant wallpaper. It seems that the wallpaper is really distracting her from his sickness, whatever it may be, and the fact that she is stuck in this secluded house in a room with bars on the window. She begins to think that wallpaper is growing on her and that she likes her room so much because of it. It starts to become an obsession of hers. And soon it starts to mirror her own situation.

            She starts to see this woman in the wallpaper. The woman moves around in the wallpaper; she is “stooping down and creeping about behind the pattern” (491). She starts to think that the woman wants to get out from behind the paper. As the story progresses the woman in the wallpaper becomes clearer and clearer to the narrator. It sort of has an inverse relationship with the narrators mental health. As she digresses the hallucinations progress. She starts to notice at night that the patterns “becomes bars! The outside pattern… and the woman behind it is as plain as could be.” (492). I feel that this reflects the narrators actual situation. She is barred into her room. The outside of the house could be like the outside pattern that keeps her trapped in this room. And she’s the woman stuck in there wanting to get out. More and more the narrator starts to draw parallels with the woman in the wallpaper. “By daylight she is subdued, quiet…. It keeps me quiet by the hour.” (493). Both the wallpaper woman and the narrator are active at night and quiet during the day. As the story goes on it seems that the two merge to become one. By the end of the story the two are indistinguishable. The narrator becomes her hallucination. It makes me wonder if the whole time she has been this woman in the wallpaper. Maybe she just didn’t realize what she was doing at night and she created this other woman to explain everything. This just goes to explain how difficult mental health problems can be to the individual. When reality is out of the question what does someone have left? Should someone in this state of mind be left alone in an old house at all? No one should feel like they are trapped behind anything forced to “creep” around in the hopes of getting out one day. People shouldn’t be forced to feel this way. There needs to be other ways to help people who are not in the right state of mind. 

Religion is Always Open to Interpretations

            So far I am roughly 150 pages into Harriet Beecher Stowe’s American novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Although there are many themes that have appeared in my readings so far, there is one that has me intrigued and confused. And that is Stowe’s use of religion throughout the text.

            This book takes place in the United States mid to late 1800’s. The primary religion of that time period being Christianity. This time period also expressed different ideologies with which religion is intertwined with. There were public spheres designated for men and business. Then there were also private spheres for the home and for family, and specifically for women. Women were domestic beings who were also in charge of maintaining religion in the household. They were the ones who needed to have a good influence on other women or children and needed to have spiritual morals. In some ways it seemed like religion was a way to keep women busy while men went out in the real world and made real decisions for his own household. As Stowe introduces the reader to more and more characters we start to see each characters take on religion. Often than not it’s the women talking about being a good Christian as opposed to men.

            “I an’t a Christian like you, Eliza; my heart’s full of bitterness; I can’t trust in God. Why does he let things be so?”

            “O, George, we must have faith. Mistress says that when all things go wrong to us, we must believe that God is doing the very best.” (15).

            Here we have two counts of women preaching Christianity and a man not involving himself in religion.

“Mrs. Shelby was a woman of a high class… she added high moral and religious sensibility and principle… Her husband, who made no professions to any particular religious character, nevertheless reverenced and respected the consistency of hers…” (9).

            “Now, John, I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and Christian?” (72).

 “It’s undoubtedly the intention of Providence that the African race should be servants, - kept in a low condition,” said a grave-looking gentlemen in black, a clergyman, seated by the cabin door.     “’Cursed by Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be,’ the scripture says.” (112).

These quotes use Christianity to either say that slavery is bad or that it is just the natural way things should be. How can religion explain two different sides of slavery? Why would Stowe use religion as a tool in each defense?

            As I think about different reasons for Stowe to use religion as a tool no matter which side of the debate you are on, it really confuses me. When I think about this time period I think that everyone is deeply religious and people expect you to be a “good Christian” to prove that you are actually religious. But here what some people think is being Christian and following the bible is different then what other people may think. I think that one reason that could explain these different viewpoints is that during this time period people started viewing slavery differently. Those who were starting to be against slavery and the treatment of slaves seem to be more religious in the sense of how I  think of Christians during this time period. They were more kind and empathized with slaves. Then there were others who still saw slavery as business and didn’t think of slaves like they were people. These people I believe had could justify their actions with religion because slaves weren’t worth the same. They were only slaves. Nothing more. They could be replaced or disposed of; just like an animal. I think Stowe also uses these different takes on religion to show the reader how some people, like slaves, clung to religion or dismissed it because of the terrible life they had been living. Wives use religion to argue with their husbands because it’s all they have. They don’t have real power in the household so they try and persuade their husbands with religion and guilt for not being as Christian as they should be. Then the men need to handle business and their families security so they partake in slave trade and justify it with religion.

It just goes to say that anyone can find ways to justify what they are doing so they can feel right and put down others opinions as wrong. Stowe uses religion to depict this idea. People find anyway to prove they are right even when it seems completely wrong to other people around them. Maybe it’s her way of showing how absurd it was for people to justify the horrible treatment and trading of human lives with religion.