Ralph Ellison
“Invisible Man”
No one see the invisible man for what or who he is. People are not willing to see him in the light he feels they should. He wants to be respected and treated as he does exist and matters when in reality he is treated the opposite. He tries to play it off as if being invisible does not bother him by saying, “It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen,” but then he shows that it does bother him by finishing that sentence with. “although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves” (page 2298).
I think that being ignorant plays a great part in being invisible. Being ignorant is to be close-minded. Knowledge gives us light. “The truth is the light and light is the truth” (page 2300). Ignorance blocks us from the light, from being able to see and view things and people from a different angle. In the first part of this story when his picture was in the Daily News as a mugger he thought, “poor fool, poor blind fool” (page 2299). The blond man was ignorant to what had happened to him. He thought he was attacked for his possessions? He was attacked for lack of respect. He was attacked to show that he did not need all the control as a white man and that African Americans are here too. We all should be seen. Because the white man did not show this respect his life was threatened.
Another thing I noticed is that being invisible makes us ignorant as a civilization due to the fact that ever month we are giving our money to an “invisible man”. We do not know whom we pay for our mortgage, auto, or even our credit card. We just pay it to the invisible man whom at any moment could take everything away from us. Ellison says, “Several years ago (before I discovered that advantages of being invisible) I went through a routine process of buying service and paying their outrageous rates” (page 2299). “I also fight them for taking so much of my money before I learned to protect myself” (page 2300). He claims he protects himself by becoming invisible. If no one knows he is there then how can they take his money? “I have been carrying on a fight with Monopolated Light and Power for some time now. I use their service and pay then nothing at all, and they don’t even know it” (page 2299).
I believe the over view on this story is that in one way or another everyone used their power, freedom, or even physical attributes to get what they want or need out of life. His grandfather said, “Live with your head in the lion’s mouth” (page 2305). I understand that to mean, take chances! Challenge things and people, including you, all throughout life. Keep your goals even when you are the invisible man.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
#2, I am Ezra Pound
Dear Mr. Scott Weaver,
My name is Ezra pound. You may be familiar with my writings, but my reasoning for this letter is not to discuss my success or needs. I am writing this letter with the purpose of introducing to you a brilliant man whom you must publish in your magazine. He is hip, exciting, and someone whom I am certain will become a great American literature. And if anyone knows “hip and exciting”, it is me!
This gentleman’s name is Mark Twain. His dry sense of humor and love for literature is shown throughout his work. He has a way of speaking truth, but at the same time he makes you wonder if these words are his true feelings or does he just want to get his readers to question what is all around us? For example, “Letters from the Earth” he states, “More men go to church than want to. To forty-nine men in fifty the Sabbath Day is a dreary, dreary bore. Of all the men in a church on a Sunday, two-thirds are tired when the service is half over, and the rest before it is finished. The gladdest moment for all of them is when the preacher uplifts his hands for the benediction. You can hear the soft rustle of relief that sweeps the house, and you recognize that it is eloquent with gratitude.” As you can see he writes from the heart as if he is the only one who will ever read his poems.
I know that your magazine is a for sure way to get his opinion out and allow American hear his talented voice. If you give Twain a chance with your company by printing his literature in your magazine, I know you will be as pleased and pleasantly surprised with his extraordinary work well done!
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter! I will be in touch!
My name is Ezra pound. You may be familiar with my writings, but my reasoning for this letter is not to discuss my success or needs. I am writing this letter with the purpose of introducing to you a brilliant man whom you must publish in your magazine. He is hip, exciting, and someone whom I am certain will become a great American literature. And if anyone knows “hip and exciting”, it is me!
This gentleman’s name is Mark Twain. His dry sense of humor and love for literature is shown throughout his work. He has a way of speaking truth, but at the same time he makes you wonder if these words are his true feelings or does he just want to get his readers to question what is all around us? For example, “Letters from the Earth” he states, “More men go to church than want to. To forty-nine men in fifty the Sabbath Day is a dreary, dreary bore. Of all the men in a church on a Sunday, two-thirds are tired when the service is half over, and the rest before it is finished. The gladdest moment for all of them is when the preacher uplifts his hands for the benediction. You can hear the soft rustle of relief that sweeps the house, and you recognize that it is eloquent with gratitude.” As you can see he writes from the heart as if he is the only one who will ever read his poems.
I know that your magazine is a for sure way to get his opinion out and allow American hear his talented voice. If you give Twain a chance with your company by printing his literature in your magazine, I know you will be as pleased and pleasantly surprised with his extraordinary work well done!
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter! I will be in touch!
A Song in the Front Yard
Every child who is told not to do something or whom is expected to live/act a certain way, I think day dreams about being or seeing the opposite of what they are. This young girl wants to go to the back yard or into the alley way because her mother is against her doing this. If going into the back yard is going to make her bad then fine. She will be bad and accepts that possibility. She might as well play the part of a “bad woman” by dressing and looking like a “bad woman” as described, “And I’d like to be a bad woman, too, and wear the brave stockings of night-black lace and strut down the street with paint on my face” (p. 2412 lines 17-20).
Things that are “wonderful fun” or what might seem appropriate to children are not necessarily how parents/adults view it. “They do some wonderful things. They have some wonderful fun. My mother sneers, but I say it’s fine” (lines 9-11). The mother feels that if her daughter plays with or in the same area as where the charity children play then her daughter will be one of them. This ideal is where her attitude of her daughter becoming a bad woman, like Johnnie Mae, comes from. I admit that I do feel this way with some people. I keep referring to the saying, “Birds of a father flock together.” On the other hand, “opposites attract” right? If you hang out with people who are “bad” couldn’t the one who is out of their zone influence them as much as the bad would influence? If this is so, then the mother would be wrong about the daughter getting into trouble if she went into the back yard.
Being stuck in the same place your whole like seems boring and I think it does make one very closed minded. Not able to experience anything out of your normal actives. I understand that her mother doesn’t see how her daughter could possibly want to leave her beautiful surroundings in the front yard. She has everything there that she could ever want the beautiful roses. The daughter needs to see for herself that life is not always easy. She needs to see for herself that nice things should not be taken for granted. The joy, peace, and beauty may not always be here so close to her. She will never learn this if her mother doesn’t let her see the back yard and the children who don’t get to live in this daily.
Sometimes I wonder if we push our children to be the adults we never wanted them to become because we are so controlling or pushy for what we do want them to be. Would it be that difficult for us to give in and let them “Play in the back yard” once in awhile? Let them do something that they want so later in life they are not going to the extreme of wearing the stockings of night-black lace and strutting down the street with paint on their faces? When they say, “I want a good time today” (line 8); mother will smile and say, “YES, have fun with the others in the back yard, maybe even in the alley”.
Things that are “wonderful fun” or what might seem appropriate to children are not necessarily how parents/adults view it. “They do some wonderful things. They have some wonderful fun. My mother sneers, but I say it’s fine” (lines 9-11). The mother feels that if her daughter plays with or in the same area as where the charity children play then her daughter will be one of them. This ideal is where her attitude of her daughter becoming a bad woman, like Johnnie Mae, comes from. I admit that I do feel this way with some people. I keep referring to the saying, “Birds of a father flock together.” On the other hand, “opposites attract” right? If you hang out with people who are “bad” couldn’t the one who is out of their zone influence them as much as the bad would influence? If this is so, then the mother would be wrong about the daughter getting into trouble if she went into the back yard.
Being stuck in the same place your whole like seems boring and I think it does make one very closed minded. Not able to experience anything out of your normal actives. I understand that her mother doesn’t see how her daughter could possibly want to leave her beautiful surroundings in the front yard. She has everything there that she could ever want the beautiful roses. The daughter needs to see for herself that life is not always easy. She needs to see for herself that nice things should not be taken for granted. The joy, peace, and beauty may not always be here so close to her. She will never learn this if her mother doesn’t let her see the back yard and the children who don’t get to live in this daily.
Sometimes I wonder if we push our children to be the adults we never wanted them to become because we are so controlling or pushy for what we do want them to be. Would it be that difficult for us to give in and let them “Play in the back yard” once in awhile? Let them do something that they want so later in life they are not going to the extreme of wearing the stockings of night-black lace and strutting down the street with paint on their faces? When they say, “I want a good time today” (line 8); mother will smile and say, “YES, have fun with the others in the back yard, maybe even in the alley”.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Hollow Men
T.S Elliot
As I was reading T.S. Eliot’s writings I noticed that he uses a lot of references to other people and what they write about. For example in The Hollow Men he uses the “multifoliate rose” which is a referenced to Part 3 of the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri being used to describe heaven (line 64). He speaks a lot about heaven and uses references to the Lord (and the Lord’s Prayer, “for Thine is the Kingdom” line 77) quit a bit throughout his writings, not just in The Hollow Men.
I liked reading the Hollow Men for a few different reasons. One, it made me think and use my imagination and two, I think that T.S. Eliot has a fantastic way of using his words to describe the feelings and views that these men, who were not the best of men, seemed to have on hope and religion.
He starts this poem with talking about the effigies that the children made used to insult Guy Fawkes on the day of his execution. He writes, “Leaning together headpiece filled with straw” (line 3-4). He goes on to describe it as, “Shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion” (line 11-12). I thought about this, paralysed force, gesture without motion. How can you gesture without motion, since the definition of gesture is a movement made with a part of the body in order to express meaning or emotion? Not to mention they are comparing a dummy to Fawkes and Kurtz.
My favorite lines through the whole poem are 14-17 that says, “Remember us-if at all-not as lost violent souls, but only as the hollow men the stuffed men”. If you remember the men please do not have ill thoughts as them being violent, even though they are.
When I read the section on the prickly pear (line 68-71), it made me laugh a little bit because I was finally able to know where this came from! I heard this rhyme when I was in Jr. High from some friends who were singing it. I just thought they made this up themselves.
As I was reading T.S. Eliot’s writings I noticed that he uses a lot of references to other people and what they write about. For example in The Hollow Men he uses the “multifoliate rose” which is a referenced to Part 3 of the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri being used to describe heaven (line 64). He speaks a lot about heaven and uses references to the Lord (and the Lord’s Prayer, “for Thine is the Kingdom” line 77) quit a bit throughout his writings, not just in The Hollow Men.
I liked reading the Hollow Men for a few different reasons. One, it made me think and use my imagination and two, I think that T.S. Eliot has a fantastic way of using his words to describe the feelings and views that these men, who were not the best of men, seemed to have on hope and religion.
He starts this poem with talking about the effigies that the children made used to insult Guy Fawkes on the day of his execution. He writes, “Leaning together headpiece filled with straw” (line 3-4). He goes on to describe it as, “Shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion” (line 11-12). I thought about this, paralysed force, gesture without motion. How can you gesture without motion, since the definition of gesture is a movement made with a part of the body in order to express meaning or emotion? Not to mention they are comparing a dummy to Fawkes and Kurtz.
My favorite lines through the whole poem are 14-17 that says, “Remember us-if at all-not as lost violent souls, but only as the hollow men the stuffed men”. If you remember the men please do not have ill thoughts as them being violent, even though they are.
When I read the section on the prickly pear (line 68-71), it made me laugh a little bit because I was finally able to know where this came from! I heard this rhyme when I was in Jr. High from some friends who were singing it. I just thought they made this up themselves.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Feminist Manifesto
Mina Loy
I had many thoughts go through my mind as I read this piece on feminism. I have been both, a stay at home mother (for 3 years to 2 daughters) as well as the working single mom. I don’t want to make this all about my personal experience, but I do want to share some of the similarities I saw in her writing compared to my views with my life.
I understand the importance of being able to stay home and raise your own children, yet at the same time a lot of mothers who do this, lose themselves. We get caught up in being “mom/wife” that we don’t remember to take care of us.
On page 1502 it reads, “Cease to place your confidence in economic legislation, vice-crusades and uniform education- you are glossing over REALITY”. The education in this sentence is the part that stuck out to me. I was a teen mom and did not finish high school due to decisions I made. I wanted to get my GED and continue on to college, but I was told by my ex-husband that I didn’t need to do any of this because he would always take care of me. Being young and only knowing the example of my mom, who was also a stay at home mom all of my growing up years and “taken care of” by my dad, I didn’t pursue what I felt I should have done at that time. (Years later I did get my GED and went on to do what I wanted/needed to do.) Education and growth is very important and we should strive for intelligence, married or not married. I like how in different parts of Mina’s writings she will say things like, “every well-balanced and developed woman knows …” (p.1503) I also like that she is encouraging women who think it’s okay to be pushed around by the men to open their eyes.
I could relate to this next section that I read, because after my divorce I felt that I was not important without a husband. “The value of man is assessed entirely according to his use or interest to the community, the value of woman, depends entirely on chance, her success or insuccess in maneuvering a man into taking the life-long responsibility of her” (p.1504) I got the impression that women need to “trick” a man into wanting to be with them and if she does this then she will be important. I thought EVERY woman needs to know that she is of value and important. It is NOT based on any man!
I agree with a lot of Mina’s opinions. Especially when she was talking about how women need to retain their appearance, to be strong, always look perfect, be brave, and do right at all times (p.1505). If I were living back in the days when feminism first started, I wonder if I would have been like Mina Loy.
I had many thoughts go through my mind as I read this piece on feminism. I have been both, a stay at home mother (for 3 years to 2 daughters) as well as the working single mom. I don’t want to make this all about my personal experience, but I do want to share some of the similarities I saw in her writing compared to my views with my life.
I understand the importance of being able to stay home and raise your own children, yet at the same time a lot of mothers who do this, lose themselves. We get caught up in being “mom/wife” that we don’t remember to take care of us.
On page 1502 it reads, “Cease to place your confidence in economic legislation, vice-crusades and uniform education- you are glossing over REALITY”. The education in this sentence is the part that stuck out to me. I was a teen mom and did not finish high school due to decisions I made. I wanted to get my GED and continue on to college, but I was told by my ex-husband that I didn’t need to do any of this because he would always take care of me. Being young and only knowing the example of my mom, who was also a stay at home mom all of my growing up years and “taken care of” by my dad, I didn’t pursue what I felt I should have done at that time. (Years later I did get my GED and went on to do what I wanted/needed to do.) Education and growth is very important and we should strive for intelligence, married or not married. I like how in different parts of Mina’s writings she will say things like, “every well-balanced and developed woman knows …” (p.1503) I also like that she is encouraging women who think it’s okay to be pushed around by the men to open their eyes.
I could relate to this next section that I read, because after my divorce I felt that I was not important without a husband. “The value of man is assessed entirely according to his use or interest to the community, the value of woman, depends entirely on chance, her success or insuccess in maneuvering a man into taking the life-long responsibility of her” (p.1504) I got the impression that women need to “trick” a man into wanting to be with them and if she does this then she will be important. I thought EVERY woman needs to know that she is of value and important. It is NOT based on any man!
I agree with a lot of Mina’s opinions. Especially when she was talking about how women need to retain their appearance, to be strong, always look perfect, be brave, and do right at all times (p.1505). If I were living back in the days when feminism first started, I wonder if I would have been like Mina Loy.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Up From Slavery
Booker T. Washington
Page 665
I have to admit that I was surprised by this reading. I want to focus on the first half of this read, only because it opened my eyes to a way of feeling and life of the slaves during slavery and the Civil War. I thought I had a clear understanding about how they were treated. But, after reading this I understand that not all slaves were treated as bad as others. Also, a lot of the slaves respected and cared for their masters. But, on the other hand this was still heart breaking for me to read and hear about the atmosphere and surroundings he was raised in. That any children would have to be in the middle of this and experience the pain he had to.
Washington starts this story out by giving some back ground on him and his life. He tells us that he is not sure what day he was born to his mother. He picked his birthday once he was an adult.
Washington tells about his childhood and that it was miserable, desolate, and discouraging, although, his owners or master was not cruel to them compared to others that they knew of.
He makes a statement about how he felt he wasn’t a good slave because of his small size and “would have been a more useful man if I had had time for sports” (page 667).
Washington was intrigued with the schoolhouse since he had never had any schooling what so ever. “I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into PARDISE”. I have never heard anyone say this while I was growing up. It made me stop and think about how lucky I am and others in this day and age was that we are able to take advantage of learning.
The part of his childhood that really touched me and melted my heart was when he was talking about how many of the slaves truly loved and cared about their masters. Some of them even took care of their masters who were in need. Page 669 Washington states, “During the Civil War one of my young maters was killed, and two were severely wounded. I recall the feeling of sorrow which existed among the slaves when they heard of the death of ‘Mar’s Billy’. It was no sham sorrow, BUT REAL.” Another one on page 670 that really shocked me is when he’s talking about protecting the maters’ family. “In order to defend and protect the woman and children who were left on the plantations when the white males went to war, the slaves would have laid down their lives. The slave who was selected to sleep in the “big house” during the absence of the males was considered to have a place of honour. Any one attempting to harm “young mistress or “old mistress” during the night would have had to cross the dead body of the slave to do so.” I find this very interesting because all that I have ever been taught in school was that the slaves hated the white man for what they did to them and their race. This story tells me otherwise. I love the fact that Washington says more than once that the black man feels that his word means more to them than anything else. Most of them said that they would not imagine breaking their word. Even though they were not treated always as they would have wanted to be, they always had that moral of keeping their word!
Page 665
I have to admit that I was surprised by this reading. I want to focus on the first half of this read, only because it opened my eyes to a way of feeling and life of the slaves during slavery and the Civil War. I thought I had a clear understanding about how they were treated. But, after reading this I understand that not all slaves were treated as bad as others. Also, a lot of the slaves respected and cared for their masters. But, on the other hand this was still heart breaking for me to read and hear about the atmosphere and surroundings he was raised in. That any children would have to be in the middle of this and experience the pain he had to.
Washington starts this story out by giving some back ground on him and his life. He tells us that he is not sure what day he was born to his mother. He picked his birthday once he was an adult.
Washington tells about his childhood and that it was miserable, desolate, and discouraging, although, his owners or master was not cruel to them compared to others that they knew of.
He makes a statement about how he felt he wasn’t a good slave because of his small size and “would have been a more useful man if I had had time for sports” (page 667).
Washington was intrigued with the schoolhouse since he had never had any schooling what so ever. “I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into PARDISE”. I have never heard anyone say this while I was growing up. It made me stop and think about how lucky I am and others in this day and age was that we are able to take advantage of learning.
The part of his childhood that really touched me and melted my heart was when he was talking about how many of the slaves truly loved and cared about their masters. Some of them even took care of their masters who were in need. Page 669 Washington states, “During the Civil War one of my young maters was killed, and two were severely wounded. I recall the feeling of sorrow which existed among the slaves when they heard of the death of ‘Mar’s Billy’. It was no sham sorrow, BUT REAL.” Another one on page 670 that really shocked me is when he’s talking about protecting the maters’ family. “In order to defend and protect the woman and children who were left on the plantations when the white males went to war, the slaves would have laid down their lives. The slave who was selected to sleep in the “big house” during the absence of the males was considered to have a place of honour. Any one attempting to harm “young mistress or “old mistress” during the night would have had to cross the dead body of the slave to do so.” I find this very interesting because all that I have ever been taught in school was that the slaves hated the white man for what they did to them and their race. This story tells me otherwise. I love the fact that Washington says more than once that the black man feels that his word means more to them than anything else. Most of them said that they would not imagine breaking their word. Even though they were not treated always as they would have wanted to be, they always had that moral of keeping their word!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
[He has filled graves with our bones] Charlot page 385
Charlots’ father had an agreement with the American government to allow the tribe to live on Bitterroot Valley, but the government did not keep the agreement and sent the tribe somewhere else. Charlot wouldn’t leave the land; he stayed without violence until the white man made him leave. This speech given by Charlot was about the white mans’ greed in wanting the Indians to pay him taxes. Charlot felt it was outrageous. I could hear and feel the pain and concern for the people in his tribe through his tone.
Charlot states that this land that they live on is given to them from their God and their forefathers, not by the white man. It was never his so why should they pay the white man for it? Charlot seems to be amazed that these men are not even shameful for demanding this of the Indians. The white men see nothing wrong in wanting, possibly even forcing the Indians to pay him.
Charlot, like Cochise, is questioning why the white man is doing this when they were always kind to him. “No; we did not refuse him in his weakness; in his poverty we fed, we cherished him- yes, befriended him, and showed [him] the fords and defiles of our lands.” (p.386) He goes on to say that the Indian people fed them their own cattle on their own land. The white men swore to God and to the president of the U.S. to give the Indians land that he has not given them and never intended on giving them.
Charlot compares the American government to an “unsatisfied beggar” (p.386). He is always needing and wanting more. “He is cold, and stealth and envy are with him” (p.387). Charlot tells his people, “We owe him nothing; he owes us more that he will pay, yet says there is a God” (p.387)
There are two stories in his speech that stand out in my mind. The first is an old Indian man who was refused shelter by four different white men. It was cold and they left the old man out there to meet his fate. The second story was an Indian man, wife, and their daughter who welcomed two white men into their lodge because they were out in the cold and pitiful. The wife and daughter gave them new shoes to keep them warm, soup to eat with deer and beaver meat. They had saved these men because they were kind people. They left the lodge, only to return that night and kill all three of them and take their beaver skins and horses. I was so disappointed when I read this. I had to tell myself, “This could not have really happened. Did it?” What was the point of this? Were power, control, money, and the growth in land honestly more important than friendship, integrity, loyalty, and trust? I had feelings of embarrassment for the white men, for the American people. I can see the view point of the Indians feeling that they did not owe the white men anything. They gave them all they could! They opened their house and land up to them for the soldiers to run them out and kill their tribes. He ends his speech by saying, “His laws never gave us a blade not a tree, nor a duck; nor a grouse, nor a trout” (p. 387). They had good reason for feeling the way they felt of being used and taken advantage of.
Charlot states that this land that they live on is given to them from their God and their forefathers, not by the white man. It was never his so why should they pay the white man for it? Charlot seems to be amazed that these men are not even shameful for demanding this of the Indians. The white men see nothing wrong in wanting, possibly even forcing the Indians to pay him.
Charlot, like Cochise, is questioning why the white man is doing this when they were always kind to him. “No; we did not refuse him in his weakness; in his poverty we fed, we cherished him- yes, befriended him, and showed [him] the fords and defiles of our lands.” (p.386) He goes on to say that the Indian people fed them their own cattle on their own land. The white men swore to God and to the president of the U.S. to give the Indians land that he has not given them and never intended on giving them.
Charlot compares the American government to an “unsatisfied beggar” (p.386). He is always needing and wanting more. “He is cold, and stealth and envy are with him” (p.387). Charlot tells his people, “We owe him nothing; he owes us more that he will pay, yet says there is a God” (p.387)
There are two stories in his speech that stand out in my mind. The first is an old Indian man who was refused shelter by four different white men. It was cold and they left the old man out there to meet his fate. The second story was an Indian man, wife, and their daughter who welcomed two white men into their lodge because they were out in the cold and pitiful. The wife and daughter gave them new shoes to keep them warm, soup to eat with deer and beaver meat. They had saved these men because they were kind people. They left the lodge, only to return that night and kill all three of them and take their beaver skins and horses. I was so disappointed when I read this. I had to tell myself, “This could not have really happened. Did it?” What was the point of this? Were power, control, money, and the growth in land honestly more important than friendship, integrity, loyalty, and trust? I had feelings of embarrassment for the white men, for the American people. I can see the view point of the Indians feeling that they did not owe the white men anything. They gave them all they could! They opened their house and land up to them for the soldiers to run them out and kill their tribes. He ends his speech by saying, “His laws never gave us a blade not a tree, nor a duck; nor a grouse, nor a trout” (p. 387). They had good reason for feeling the way they felt of being used and taken advantage of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)