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”.
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