It ain’t easy being the only man in a house full of lazy women. “Nobody in this house is ever going to understand me”. I have to get up every mornin’’, knowing that I am 35 years old, with my own boy having to sleep in the living room- and I can only tell him stories of how “rich white people live”. Now Mama is gonna get a check in the mail worth TEN THOUSAND dollars. Its funny because Willie, Bobo, and I got this whole business planned out. Were gonna open a liquor store and each of us are contributing 10 thousand dollars. Now lemme tell you baby, lemme tell you that a man can not live, when he’s got to drive around a rich white man all day while sayin’ “yes sir” and “no sir”. NO! A man needs to be a head of the household, someone his son can look up to and be proud of. Thats why the women need to understand that I need to take the money to Springfield. With the income I will be making we can live in a huge house, with a garden for Mama, and easily pay for Beneatha’s medical school. Now I have been drinking much lately, but Ruth done got herself pregnant and she is threatening to kill my baby. A father can’t deal with that pain, thats why I need to drink some to ease it away. So now if some black women can understand me, I would be much better.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Nate-ish?
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Puzzle Paragraph
Langston Hughes gives his poem "The Weary Blues" a "syncopated" rhythm-to convey the jazz feel of the piece- similar to Jimi Hendrix's rendition of 70s music incorporated both a blues feel with and upbeat style. While others might say that Hughes wrote his poems solely to convey slavery, in actuality they had several meanings. In all of Hughes' pieces he incorporates repetition of words and phrases, this compares to the book The Glass Castle in which Jeanette Walls uses the repetition of fire to emphasis one of her themes. The never ending themes to be constructed from his poems include: heritage runs "deep", the blues began with the blacks, everyone is the same on the inside, blacks deserve rights, and what all Americans should deserve(privileges). These possibilities are as vast as outer space, but all meanings are similar to African American's struggle which the Greeks would say was decided by the Fates. Hughes uses his poems to convey themes about African American struggles, however; these themes can be related to other topics including music, racism, and America.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Gender and Relationships
In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, gender pours an important
role into the "pool" of relationships seen throughout the story. Most noticeably, the women in this story are
never seen without a man. Daisy has Tom, Myrtle has Wilson, and even Jordan
begins to peruse a relationship with Nick. (Even though they were "set up" by the Buchanan's). Since this book was written before the rise of women’s rights, it
demonstrates that the social normality was to assume that every woman depended
on a man.
There are always
relationships that occur between the same genders as well. Gatsby and Nick learn to understand each
other greater than any other pair of people in the story- independent of
gender. There is a difference in
relationships between all men, all women, and then a mix. Similar to Lord of the Flies, by William Golding who stated in an interview
that including men and women in a story adds the underlying possibility of
reproduction- which takes away from real and focused conversation.
Gatsby-a man-becomes successful by himself. Yet, the women in this story all rely on
family or married in wealth to become successful. Not surprisingly this story
does not pass the Bechdel Test. To pass
this test a piece of literature has to have at least two woman characters-who
are named-that must carry on an extended conversation that doesn't have to do
with men. This demonstrates that in the
1920s women were still seen as inferior, and evidently influence the outcome of
The Great Gatsby- yet they remain static characters throughout.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Analyze or Bust
It seems today that all teachers talk about is analyzing. Analyze this or that situation. Analyze a picture. Analyze this movie. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby's appearance and description in the story could deem him as having something to hide. Though many times out of English class, analyzing seems out of place. In some ways, analyzing in everyday lives removes a person's focus from key things. For example; if people are watching a movie and you decide to analyze a scene, you will most likely miss an important line that's either important to the movie- or just flat out funny. Google defines analyze as to discover or reveal (something) through detailed examination. That brings about an important question, is analysis dependent on opinions? If you’re attempting to analyze a situation that constantly changes, is it even possible to analyze? The first situation that comes to mind that flows with this idea is analyzing a person. People’s opinions are constantly changing. To analyze a person in a story is simple, they only have one personality in which the author portrays exactly how they want you to see the character. However, in everyday life you will not be able to fully understand what another person is feeling or thinking about. Its impossible to create one analysis of a person without having to constantly change it to match situations. If you had it would be considered stereotyping. Therefore, analyzing in literature is great and relevant, yet if you analyze a person- you just might end up “putting words in their mouth.”
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Punctuation: Changing or Not?
In a constantly changing world punctuation rules must change with different interpretations as time and language evolves. Punctuation changes with language and culture because different dialects, words and discoveries come about. (Source A). Punctuation should change between different literatures depending on the context. For Example; the poem On Punctuation, source B, contains no punctuation and yet still clearly conveys a message. Poems, songs, and stream of consciousness writing should not necessarily need punctuation. What does punctuation really do? Quite honestly punctuation could be compared to the same as a rest in sheet music. It serves for a break in flow which allows time to breath and adds some effect. If a literary work was read aloud, a person listening wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a period at the end of a sentence or 12 parentheses. (Source D). Since time and punctuation change, it should thereby be used as an option. In a formal write-up punctuation may be useful to convey ideas, however, in a song it might be more dramatic to refrain from using punctuation. It is an interpretation, just as the oxford commas use is constantly debated, punctuation should be debated as opinions and language change.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
The Bluest Eye: An In Depth Look
“I got blues in my mealbarrel
Blues up on the shelf
I got blues in my mealbarrel
Blues up on the shelf
Blues in my bedroom
‘Cause I’m sleepin’ by myself”
(Morrison 51).
Blues is a reoccurring theme in The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. The
section above is but one quote of many examples of that musical style. Blues is a form of gospel music derived from
the “deep south” (Google sources). The
characters in The Bluest Eye move to the north in order to find more peace but discover
it is no different than the south.
Morrison includes the reference to the Blues Music in order to convey
that the south is still very present in the characters and brings about the
theme of heritage. No matter what skin
color a person is, everyone has some sort of past or heritage. Heritage is one thing that unites every
person. Lastly, Morrison connected the
theme of blues into the opening of the book.
The story describes a “cat” and “dog” which are actually nicknames that originated
from blues/jazz artists (Blues and Jazz History). Therefore, Morrison uses the blues musical
genre-throughout her novel- in order to serve as a heritage trait from the
south that unites all people: white or black.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Flowers
Several stories describe flowers for imagery or as a
symbol. Flowers are all unique and all
contribute to a story in their own way.
If someone is described as having rosy cheeks, that beautiful appearance
is actually derived from the Rose flower.
Yet, color affects the meaning of a flower as well. A dark colored Rose would have a more
negative connotation than a light colored Rose.
Flowers are important because they “[remove] carbon dioxides and toxins in the air” while “feed[ing]
the honeybee population” and “provide soothing sympathy to many of life’s ceremonies”(Pro-flowers.com). When a person brings a flower into their
house, it represents the outdoors and indoors coinciding. It shows how nature
and humans can interact without destruction.
To another point, a flowers smell is a powerful as a potent drug that
comes over you, and lulls through your mouth, and deep into your throat. In the story The Bluest Eye, by Toni
Morrison, she describes “marigolds” in the prologue of her book. By researching
the meaning of Marigolds the definition is “pain and grief”(Google-dictionary/search). Morrison uses this flower which ties into the
rest of the book which also has much pain and grief throughout it. Therefore, flowers are one of the most
symbolic references in nature, and can be used in any context.
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