The theme I am going to focus on in this blog post would be dehumanization in the poem "The Lynching". In the poem there are several lines I would really want to focus on. The first one would be "Hung pitifully o'er the swinging char."(8) and "the ghastly body swaying in the sun". (10) I think this poem really shows off the theme of dehumanization since its all about a lynching anyways.
Well with this theme we recently were talking about discrimination in history and in this class as well. In this class we would go over ways the US in the South would try and disenfranchise the black southerners. They would discourage them by also threatening them or scaring them by lynching them. Then in our class we talked about slavery with Uncle Toms Cabin in which slavery was the ultimate show of dehumanization. In my past blogs I talked about dehumanization in which that during a slave auction they would treat these human beings were treated as objects to sell.In that essay I used they talked about just that and that they were polished and trimmed and tested on their physical traits. Then they would be ripped away from their families like they were nothing to the buyers and they didn't care if they ripped away a mother and child. This is they stuff that show dehumanization that's also showed in this poem.
In these quotes it really shows the dehumanization of a human by lynching them for show. It talks about hung over the swinging char, which I assume is maybe charcoal which means they burned the body or had a fire going underneath them making the lynching so much more gruesome. Then the quote where it talks about the body swaying in a ghastly state. I think this is very spooky and one of the most powerful descriptive lines of the poem. It paints a picture in my mind that it just overall spooky and horrifying. I almost think of a scene from scooby doo with the spookiness but obviously the lynching is way more horrifying than any episode could produce. There was another line in the poem that I would want to touch up on. It states "And the little lads, lynchers that were to be,"(13). I think this line is very powerful and shows the characteristics of the time in the south. It means two things. The first is that these children were born white southerners and would be raised to terrify these black southerns, but I find something more powerful in the second thing I thought of. I was thinking these are children who are witnessing this. Usually children arent meant to see such terrible things you would think. So what makes it so that the children are there? Well it was made to be a public event. This was a spectacle that anyone would go to and would go see it as entertainment or something else. This shows the characteristics of these southerners treating something like this, like its no big deal. Almost like its a circus act, which in its own way is dehumanization towards the African American. They arent concerned with this lynching of this man because they are better and they treat him like an animal to be slaughtered in front of men, women and even children.
With this poem you can really see the discrimination of African Americans even after slavery was abolished. Lynching usually happened more after slavery but it did happen during slavery dont get me wrong but in most history classes we talk about in more in the years after slavery was abolished. These problems of dehumanization has taken new forms in the later years such as segregated facilities and hosing of African Americans. Things like this towards African Americans show dehumanization. All these acts make them seem less than the person in the act and this poem shows such thing.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Genre Blog Post:Drama
In this blog I am going to talk about a certain theme in the play A Streetcar named Desire. The theme I am going to explore is gender roles in the play and see what impacts it has on the play. I think a line that fits this pretty good is when Mitch says "Poker shouldn't be played in a house with women". (1137) I think when exploring this we will see this theme played out and how certain genders are portrayed by the other gender.
To connect this you see this theme presented in many works in many other classes. One I want to talk about that really was a jump start for the Women movement to give themselves independence is Margaret Sanger. I feel like I can connect her beliefs that I learned in History 102 to this play. She believed that with Birth Control a women would be able to control her own destiny and be her own persona and the man wouldn't control her. I can somewhat connect this to the play in a way. In the play the women seem to have little control of the household as the men seem to be in control of things, or at least act like they are. They look down on the women and it shows when they are told to do stuff or they cant have any secrets to themselves. For example, Blanches suitcase was looked through by Stanley because he didn't trust what she all had and had nothing from the estate. I feel like with Margaret arguments that women should be more independent and be less dependent on the men cause in the play it can show the consequences of this as the women seem to not have much power in this play.
When referring back to the quote from above you can see the women's discrimination shown in that line. When he says that, he basically is saying that women are not worthy to be around while to MEN are working a very strategic game of poker that women cannot be around or interfere at all. I fell like this is a shot at them seeing that Mitch thinks that the women are inferior and don't have the privilege to be around while the game is taking place. You can see these themes shown to in other parts of the play as well. For example when Stanley goes on his rant about the Napoleonic code on page 1129. He basically saying that whatever is hers is his. Showing that she has no power over him and that he can go and take whatever she owns because its his as well. Almost treating her in a way that she is his property and can do whatever he want with her and her stuff. Another thing that goes on within the play is the domestic violence of the relationships between the couples in the play. It always seems that someone is hitting another for an argument. For example, when Stella kept on turning on the radio during the poker game. Stanley eventually got mad and started hitting Stella showing his dominance over her.
I think by looking at the play this way shows inequality between the genders and the roles the woman would have to play under the mans shadow. This gives the impression throughout the play of the discrimination of women and how their treated as objects through the play. My best examples are the treatment Stanley has towards the two women, Stella and Blanche. With this analysis and looking for this theme I can see the picture much more clearly when reading this play. I think this issue can lead to the whole inequality between men and women. This can be connected from today to the year this play was made and see the comparisons and differences of the time.
To connect this you see this theme presented in many works in many other classes. One I want to talk about that really was a jump start for the Women movement to give themselves independence is Margaret Sanger. I feel like I can connect her beliefs that I learned in History 102 to this play. She believed that with Birth Control a women would be able to control her own destiny and be her own persona and the man wouldn't control her. I can somewhat connect this to the play in a way. In the play the women seem to have little control of the household as the men seem to be in control of things, or at least act like they are. They look down on the women and it shows when they are told to do stuff or they cant have any secrets to themselves. For example, Blanches suitcase was looked through by Stanley because he didn't trust what she all had and had nothing from the estate. I feel like with Margaret arguments that women should be more independent and be less dependent on the men cause in the play it can show the consequences of this as the women seem to not have much power in this play.
When referring back to the quote from above you can see the women's discrimination shown in that line. When he says that, he basically is saying that women are not worthy to be around while to MEN are working a very strategic game of poker that women cannot be around or interfere at all. I fell like this is a shot at them seeing that Mitch thinks that the women are inferior and don't have the privilege to be around while the game is taking place. You can see these themes shown to in other parts of the play as well. For example when Stanley goes on his rant about the Napoleonic code on page 1129. He basically saying that whatever is hers is his. Showing that she has no power over him and that he can go and take whatever she owns because its his as well. Almost treating her in a way that she is his property and can do whatever he want with her and her stuff. Another thing that goes on within the play is the domestic violence of the relationships between the couples in the play. It always seems that someone is hitting another for an argument. For example, when Stella kept on turning on the radio during the poker game. Stanley eventually got mad and started hitting Stella showing his dominance over her.
I think by looking at the play this way shows inequality between the genders and the roles the woman would have to play under the mans shadow. This gives the impression throughout the play of the discrimination of women and how their treated as objects through the play. My best examples are the treatment Stanley has towards the two women, Stella and Blanche. With this analysis and looking for this theme I can see the picture much more clearly when reading this play. I think this issue can lead to the whole inequality between men and women. This can be connected from today to the year this play was made and see the comparisons and differences of the time.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Race in the American Novel: Literary Analysis
I think my theme is a significant part of the book. The book is practically about the treatment of slaves and how their are treated as things, not human beings. The book is about slavery first of all and slavery is basically the treatment of humans as an object. They "owe" this person and that's the biggest symbol of dehumanization in pretty much world history. I will no analyze some quotes from the book that shows such things. "He was possessed of a handsome person and pleasing manners, and was a general favorite in the factory. Nevertheless, as this young man was in the eye of the law not a man, but a thing, all these superior qualifications were subject to the control of a vulgar, narrow-minded, tyrannical master. This same gentleman, having heard of the fame of George's invention, took a ride over to the factory, to see what this intelligent chattel had been about. He was received with great enthusiasm by the employer, who congratulated him on possessing so valuable a slave.
He was waited upon over the factory, shown the machinery by George, who, in high spirits, talked so fluently, held himself so erect, looked so handsome and manly, that his master began to feel an uneasy consciousness of inferiority. What business had his slave to be marching round the country, inventing machines, and holding up his head among gentlemen? He'd soon put a stop to it. He'd take him back, and put him to hoeing and digging, and "see if he'd step about so smart." (10) This quote really shows how even though George was just as smart and hard working as any other white man he still would be considered a thing/object just cause of him being a slave and the color of his skin. George is one of the better workers at the factory and deserves to be in a better situation but because of his status as a slave he is not allowed to make his own choices which really makes a person human and that right is being taken away from him because of slavery. Another quote I would like to use is this one right here ""I hate him!" said Legree, that night, as he sat up in his bed; "I hate him! And isn't he MINE? Can't I do what I like with him? Who's to hinder, I wonder?" And Legree clenched his fist, and shook it, as if he had something in his hands that he could rend in pieces. (373). This line right here shows the mentality of a slave owner and thinking that these human beings are just their property. Legree even says "cant I do what I like with him" which really lowers a persons moral when they are treated like dirty and an object which is really demoralizing to a person when treated like this time and time again.
In our discussions in class I think we touched up on all these different subjects but I think we almost touched on the dehumanization of these slaves. In our fishbowl discussion we talked many different subjects like religion and discrimination on woman. We did touch up on my theme but briefly. We talked about how we haven't had that "Oh Shit" moment in the novel. However, we take that for granted in a book about slavery. In class we talked about how how the treatment of these slaves were inhumane and we all knew this already. We did discuss however, that this book was a good example of such treatment and its a realistic approach on the subject at hand. I assume we all take this for granted when we know that this book is going to be about slavery we raise our expectations of harsh treatment of these slaves when in reality everything in this book is incredible harsh to the slaves and treats these human beings as objects. Reading this book I took this for granted and was expecting more "exciting" type treatment but after thinking about it anything that went down in this novel was terrible treatment of a human being, and I am grateful that I'm not in this situation myself. In my project I saw this terrible treatment in the essay I read about with the auction of slaves. That was really eye opening on how they treat people as objects. They would polish them up and make them look good to sell and they tested each slave on what they could do or their skills. They would also examine them as an object and they would just touch them to make sure they were worth buying. To me that essay was one of the real eye opening experiences throughout that project and probably my favorite read of the class so far.
He was waited upon over the factory, shown the machinery by George, who, in high spirits, talked so fluently, held himself so erect, looked so handsome and manly, that his master began to feel an uneasy consciousness of inferiority. What business had his slave to be marching round the country, inventing machines, and holding up his head among gentlemen? He'd soon put a stop to it. He'd take him back, and put him to hoeing and digging, and "see if he'd step about so smart." (10) This quote really shows how even though George was just as smart and hard working as any other white man he still would be considered a thing/object just cause of him being a slave and the color of his skin. George is one of the better workers at the factory and deserves to be in a better situation but because of his status as a slave he is not allowed to make his own choices which really makes a person human and that right is being taken away from him because of slavery. Another quote I would like to use is this one right here ""I hate him!" said Legree, that night, as he sat up in his bed; "I hate him! And isn't he MINE? Can't I do what I like with him? Who's to hinder, I wonder?" And Legree clenched his fist, and shook it, as if he had something in his hands that he could rend in pieces. (373). This line right here shows the mentality of a slave owner and thinking that these human beings are just their property. Legree even says "cant I do what I like with him" which really lowers a persons moral when they are treated like dirty and an object which is really demoralizing to a person when treated like this time and time again.
In our discussions in class I think we touched up on all these different subjects but I think we almost touched on the dehumanization of these slaves. In our fishbowl discussion we talked many different subjects like religion and discrimination on woman. We did touch up on my theme but briefly. We talked about how we haven't had that "Oh Shit" moment in the novel. However, we take that for granted in a book about slavery. In class we talked about how how the treatment of these slaves were inhumane and we all knew this already. We did discuss however, that this book was a good example of such treatment and its a realistic approach on the subject at hand. I assume we all take this for granted when we know that this book is going to be about slavery we raise our expectations of harsh treatment of these slaves when in reality everything in this book is incredible harsh to the slaves and treats these human beings as objects. Reading this book I took this for granted and was expecting more "exciting" type treatment but after thinking about it anything that went down in this novel was terrible treatment of a human being, and I am grateful that I'm not in this situation myself. In my project I saw this terrible treatment in the essay I read about with the auction of slaves. That was really eye opening on how they treat people as objects. They would polish them up and make them look good to sell and they tested each slave on what they could do or their skills. They would also examine them as an object and they would just touch them to make sure they were worth buying. To me that essay was one of the real eye opening experiences throughout that project and probably my favorite read of the class so far.
Race of the American Novel
My theme will be the a combination of dehumanization. In these up coming blogs I will talk about how these things in the Novel will treat these slaves as products and not people.
Race of the American Novel: Critical Commentary
I choose the commentary from James Baldwin and his main argument is that Stowe didn't represent as well for a protest novel the realism of being human. He goes onto saying that "The failure of the protest novel lies in the rejection of life, the human being, the denial of his beauty, dread, power, in its insistence that it is his categorization alone which is real and which can not be transcended." What I think he means here is that the harsh realities that would of come out of the real world cannot be translated into a book. Yet I think its a good representation of what it might be like to be a slave, I don't think its as realistic as it truly was. I think that in order to truly write the horrors or tragic events you need to be in that situation and fell those emotions, you can never really know what that's truly like unless you experience it yourself and I think that's what James is trying to get at here is that when Stowe writes this novel, its not as realistic as it could be because she truly wasn't in those situations so she wouldn't know as much. You cant really imagine how these things could be unless you experience it yourself. As going back to my theme I think it helps me understand that its hard to write those emotions you would feel being torn apart from your loved ones and I think Stowe does a very good job of doing this but when I read this review I still feel this way however its true that you cant truly know what their feeling unless you're in the situation itself. I have to agree with him on this I do think that's its hard to write the harsh realities of the human nature and emotion and put it into pages. However, I do feel like Stowe does a good job with this even though its hard to do. So I would have to disagree with him on Stowe didn't do this completely.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Race and the American Novel Project: Reader Response
Here in this post I am going to explore different responses from different websites about Uncle Toms Cabin.
Goodreads-
On this website they tend to be all over the place it seems. Majority of it good though. I see a lot of 5 stars, but there are some negative reviews though. Most of the positive reviews say "its a life changing book" or how its moved them in some sort of way, that its a great historical piece that has stood the test of time but what I found most interesting is the negative reviews. Here's one of them. "I know, I know, it's a monumental artifact in American history, and the catalyst to the spread of the abolitionist movement to the masses. I totally appreciate the historical and cultural significance of this book. No question. But seriously, y'all? This book SUCKS as a piece of literature. For real. I just can't get past how bad the writing is" I find this interesting because this is what most of the negative reviews are like. The never say its not a historically significant piece but either the writing is boring or the story is slow moving, etc. I do somewhat agree with this that ts not the most exciting novel with a ton of action but that's what you have to expect when you read one of these novels.
Barnes and Noble- On this website I see mostly 5 star reviews. For example most of the reviews I see is that this is a work that shows great in depth look into the slave trade and even though that it was not 100% facts it was a great example of these things that was going on during the slave trade. For example one of the reviews go onto say "This incredible book opens a window into the seedier side of American slave trade history. Written with compassion and realism Uncle Toms Cabin exposes the harsh realities of plantation life in the south. Many of the fictional characters and their circumstances were developed by Ms. Stowe from actual individuals." Throughout these reviews this is the trend you see and I have to agree with these reviews when they talk about the in-depth look into the slave trade and I do have to agree with them there.
Amazon-Again it tends that this novel gets very good reviews. On amazon it shows that its a little higher than 4/5 stars. Most of the reviews are positive I saw one bad review but that was for a weird situation with a car ride and some reading aloud and it went to fast to understand, but the actual overall mood on these reviews were positive. For example, "This story written so very long ago, so many of the situations and comments were topical and relevant to the current event of the time it was written, and yet this story still has something valuable to say to people living in our modern world.
That there is value in every life, that hope and faith (either or both) will pull you through almost any tragedy or any horrific situation that cold heartless and thoughtless humans can throw at a person.
It is most incredible to me that at the time of publishing, even the church was confident in stating that slavery was not so bad, that there were "good masters" and that incidents of cruelty and harm were rare. But they were blind and false in their conclusions. There may have been some kind masters but as was shown many times in the story, the slave's life with them was tenuous at best. A kind master's death or debt would invariably mean every possession would be sold. And each of his slaves were as much a chattel as his furniture. It is difficult to assimilate that attitude now. Families were routinely ripped apart, babies and children taken from mothers, husbands or wives taken and sold separately and told they should just forget their spouse and marry another. Horribly violent beatings and living conditions bad enough to demoralize anyone and destroy any hope of kindness or relief.
Only a few people stood out as having any kindness and love or actively did and said things that would improve the lives of the slaves.
The characters depicted, were drawn from true life and experiences of the author and those known to her. The most incredible incidences of the tale are also depicitons of true events and all this makes Uncle Tom's Cabin a story that is worth anyone's time.
Even without those elements of truth, the story rolls along with colourful descriptions of both character and place so as to bring the whole tale to life in a most realistic way.
I am so glad that I read this book. Harriet Beacher Stowe is an amazing storyteller and a powerful teacher for what is right, just and good." This review pretty much sums up all the good ones combined and I have to agree with these. Yet this book is not the most exciting read to me but its story and historical significance makes it an incredible story that everyone should hear or read to get a better outlook on life.
Goodreads-
On this website they tend to be all over the place it seems. Majority of it good though. I see a lot of 5 stars, but there are some negative reviews though. Most of the positive reviews say "its a life changing book" or how its moved them in some sort of way, that its a great historical piece that has stood the test of time but what I found most interesting is the negative reviews. Here's one of them. "I know, I know, it's a monumental artifact in American history, and the catalyst to the spread of the abolitionist movement to the masses. I totally appreciate the historical and cultural significance of this book. No question. But seriously, y'all? This book SUCKS as a piece of literature. For real. I just can't get past how bad the writing is" I find this interesting because this is what most of the negative reviews are like. The never say its not a historically significant piece but either the writing is boring or the story is slow moving, etc. I do somewhat agree with this that ts not the most exciting novel with a ton of action but that's what you have to expect when you read one of these novels.
Barnes and Noble- On this website I see mostly 5 star reviews. For example most of the reviews I see is that this is a work that shows great in depth look into the slave trade and even though that it was not 100% facts it was a great example of these things that was going on during the slave trade. For example one of the reviews go onto say "This incredible book opens a window into the seedier side of American slave trade history. Written with compassion and realism Uncle Toms Cabin exposes the harsh realities of plantation life in the south. Many of the fictional characters and their circumstances were developed by Ms. Stowe from actual individuals." Throughout these reviews this is the trend you see and I have to agree with these reviews when they talk about the in-depth look into the slave trade and I do have to agree with them there.
Amazon-Again it tends that this novel gets very good reviews. On amazon it shows that its a little higher than 4/5 stars. Most of the reviews are positive I saw one bad review but that was for a weird situation with a car ride and some reading aloud and it went to fast to understand, but the actual overall mood on these reviews were positive. For example, "This story written so very long ago, so many of the situations and comments were topical and relevant to the current event of the time it was written, and yet this story still has something valuable to say to people living in our modern world.
That there is value in every life, that hope and faith (either or both) will pull you through almost any tragedy or any horrific situation that cold heartless and thoughtless humans can throw at a person.
It is most incredible to me that at the time of publishing, even the church was confident in stating that slavery was not so bad, that there were "good masters" and that incidents of cruelty and harm were rare. But they were blind and false in their conclusions. There may have been some kind masters but as was shown many times in the story, the slave's life with them was tenuous at best. A kind master's death or debt would invariably mean every possession would be sold. And each of his slaves were as much a chattel as his furniture. It is difficult to assimilate that attitude now. Families were routinely ripped apart, babies and children taken from mothers, husbands or wives taken and sold separately and told they should just forget their spouse and marry another. Horribly violent beatings and living conditions bad enough to demoralize anyone and destroy any hope of kindness or relief.
Only a few people stood out as having any kindness and love or actively did and said things that would improve the lives of the slaves.
The characters depicted, were drawn from true life and experiences of the author and those known to her. The most incredible incidences of the tale are also depicitons of true events and all this makes Uncle Tom's Cabin a story that is worth anyone's time.
Even without those elements of truth, the story rolls along with colourful descriptions of both character and place so as to bring the whole tale to life in a most realistic way.
I am so glad that I read this book. Harriet Beacher Stowe is an amazing storyteller and a powerful teacher for what is right, just and good." This review pretty much sums up all the good ones combined and I have to agree with these. Yet this book is not the most exciting read to me but its story and historical significance makes it an incredible story that everyone should hear or read to get a better outlook on life.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Race of the American Novel Project:Textual Background and Context
I am going to talk about an essay wrote by Solomon Northup called "A Slave Auction Described by a Slave 1841". In this essay it talks about the horror and treatment or human beings during a slave auction. They are treated like merchandise ready to be prepped and looking pretty for a sale. They are first shaven and cleansed. Usually this was the only time they were treated this way, only to look good for people to buy. They continue on to talk about how they one slave had to play music during it or some had other projects to do. They would then line up and buyers would inspect them and see and test what these slaves were capable of. A couple were bought together so they were happy to at least stay with each other but this one girl Eliza who had a young boy got sold and they were going to be separated and she cried and begged not to go and the new owner told her to knock it off and said he would give her something to cry about. Which then the little boy would say to her that it'll be okay mama don't cry. I think this piece is very powerful and shows the emotion that these slaves went through during an auction, but most importantly worrying about being separated from the ones they love. Which I think is a big theme in Uncle Tomes Cabin is dealing with good things come to an end and that most good things are taken away from you with slavery. For example in Uncle Toms Cabin how it seemed that every good thing would go away like at the beginning with Mr Shelby selling Uncle Tom to which seemed to a good group to be around to Tom meeting a wonderful little girl to only having her die and then eventually having Tom die in the end really put an exclamation point on this theme in the book. I think using this essay helps me understand the impacts of these events and how emotional and terrible being separated from the people you love. I think you cant truly know how it feels by reading it but only through experience you can truly know what its like to have this type of moment running through their head.
Monday, March 6, 2017
Harlem Rensissance
Harlem Renaissance-
In researching this topic I found out some very interesting ideas and new views on the subject. In my high school AP US History class we talked about briefly about the subject at hand and I wanted to learn more about it. In my research I found some very interesting things that I never really thought about. I knew the Harlem Renaissance was a artistic movement based in Harlem with African American ideals, but it was much more than art and literacy to African Americans. What I found out that it was more of a finding of self identity and a celebration of African American culture and that's what I found most interesting of it all.
Connecting this to the readings I feel like the reading connect to the theme that I found in my research about how these pieces of art and readings go about the daily lives of a African American in our Society in America. I feel like in "How it feels to be colored me" it talks about some of the differences she felt even in a more diverse community and I think one of the biggest things that showed from this is that when and her white friend went out and listened to the music she was very moved by the music but when her friend also tuned in she didn't feel the same emotion as she did. I feel that shows how the different styles of music or art within the Harlem community differed from the white community on the outside and how African Americans took pride in their work and that's what the Harlem Renaissance was all about.
I think with this new background knowledge and research I did for the topic helped me understand the whole goal of the piece and understand what each reading stood for. Usually I just look at the story and learn the morals from that but when you look at something like this and loo from the outside in, you can find a lot more details and morals than you would of got with just reading the story itself which I found very interesting.
In this last paragraph I am going to talk about the poem America. I find this one very interesting to read as it describes a lady that really is being quite brutal to the author of the poem. "She feeds me bread of bitterness, and sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth". I feel obviously that this Lady is America or even Lady Liberty. I think both would fit into the description of the piece since their almost the same thing but depicted a little differently. I think in this poem it talks about the obvious discrimination against African Americans through the Jim Crow Laws. Limiting the culture and rights they do want. At the end of the poem I think is the most important part of the whole thing. After countless lines of depicting what I think is what she feels and knows about being an African American in the United States but in the end the last two lines are the most powerful. To me it describes the time to fight for their rights needs to be now or it will slip away through time which is described in the last line of the poem. "Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand"
Sources:
In researching this topic I found out some very interesting ideas and new views on the subject. In my high school AP US History class we talked about briefly about the subject at hand and I wanted to learn more about it. In my research I found some very interesting things that I never really thought about. I knew the Harlem Renaissance was a artistic movement based in Harlem with African American ideals, but it was much more than art and literacy to African Americans. What I found out that it was more of a finding of self identity and a celebration of African American culture and that's what I found most interesting of it all.
Connecting this to the readings I feel like the reading connect to the theme that I found in my research about how these pieces of art and readings go about the daily lives of a African American in our Society in America. I feel like in "How it feels to be colored me" it talks about some of the differences she felt even in a more diverse community and I think one of the biggest things that showed from this is that when and her white friend went out and listened to the music she was very moved by the music but when her friend also tuned in she didn't feel the same emotion as she did. I feel that shows how the different styles of music or art within the Harlem community differed from the white community on the outside and how African Americans took pride in their work and that's what the Harlem Renaissance was all about.
I think with this new background knowledge and research I did for the topic helped me understand the whole goal of the piece and understand what each reading stood for. Usually I just look at the story and learn the morals from that but when you look at something like this and loo from the outside in, you can find a lot more details and morals than you would of got with just reading the story itself which I found very interesting.
In this last paragraph I am going to talk about the poem America. I find this one very interesting to read as it describes a lady that really is being quite brutal to the author of the poem. "She feeds me bread of bitterness, and sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth". I feel obviously that this Lady is America or even Lady Liberty. I think both would fit into the description of the piece since their almost the same thing but depicted a little differently. I think in this poem it talks about the obvious discrimination against African Americans through the Jim Crow Laws. Limiting the culture and rights they do want. At the end of the poem I think is the most important part of the whole thing. After countless lines of depicting what I think is what she feels and knows about being an African American in the United States but in the end the last two lines are the most powerful. To me it describes the time to fight for their rights needs to be now or it will slip away through time which is described in the last line of the poem. "Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand"
Sources:
"Harlem Renaissance." History, www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance.
"The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Harlem Renaissance." PBS, www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_harlem.html."Claude McKay." Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/claude-mckay."Langston Hughes." Poets, www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/langston-hughes.
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