Bastard Out of Carolina

So far I have enjoyed Bastard Out of Carolina. I have read up to Chapter 10, and the book seems to be becoming more and more disturbing. Many things are having negative effects on Bone and her mental state. One thing that is bothering Bone right now is the fact that her family is very poor. It seems like her mother has taken up prostitution just to put food on the table. The book doesn’t say that this is the case, but it definitely implies it. Because of the poor conditions that the family is currently living in Bone ends up stealing from Woolworth’s. This makes it very obvious that the poor conditions that Bone is currently living in is having a negative effect on her.

Glen is becoming increasingly detrimental to the family, especially Bone. The primary reason that the family is so poor is because Glen cannot keep a job. He is not doing anything positive for the family, but Annie still loves him. Glen’s abusive tendencies towards Bone are having negative effects on her. She is very confused about love because of the things that Glen tells her. It seems that she doesn’t want to tell anyone about what Glen does to her because she doesn’t want to disappoint Annie. She continuously thinks about the effects that her actions would have on her mother, and only wants to make her mother proud and keep her happy.

I had mixed feelings about Bone being sent to live with Aunt Ruth. I liked this because I thought it was good to get Bone away from Glen. Bone seemed to have a good time with Ruth, and kept her company. I didn’t like this situation because I felt like Annie was choosing Glen over Bone. I think Annie is in denial about what has happened between Glen and Bone, and uses Ruth’s health as an excuse to keep Bone safe for a while. While I think this was a good idea, I think it would have been better if Annie decided that she should leave Glen.

I get increasingly upset at the characters in the story. I want them to start thinking about their situation and acting accordingly, but all of the characters seem to be one step away from admitting to themselves what is right. Ruth has a pretty good idea that Bone is being abused but doesn’t pursue the situation after Bone tells her that everything is fine. Annie also seems to know that the abuse is taking place but doesn’t want to admit herself that it is happening. Bone wants to tell someone about the abuse, but is scared of what will happen if she does. Everyone knows that Glen is a bad person, but nobody has stood up to make sure that it ends.

Cherrylog Road

The poem Cherrylog Road was much more straight forward than the rest of the poems that we read. It seemed to have a lot less of the story implying things that were left to interpretation. I enjoyed this more because it allowed me to understand exactly what was happening, instead of having to interpret it for myself and not getting the full understanding of what James Dickey was implying. The tone seemed to change a number of times throughout the story, mostly dependent on what was happening or about to happen with the characters.

The story had a number of lines that were implying sexual activities. The lines “I held her and held her and held her, Convoyed at terrific speed By the stalled, dreaming traffic around us, So the blacksnake, stiff With Inaction, curved back Into life, and hunted out mouse” are definitely an implied description of sexual behavior that Doris and the male character were having. It definitely seemed like the two characters were having a hidden sexual relationship that they didn’t want others to know about. It was based primarily on sex and emotion, and not heartfelt feelings for each other. The thrill of this relationship seemed to be that they were not supposed to be seeing each other.

My favorite line of the poem was “Drunk on the wind in my mouth.” When I was thinking about this line it made me think of the way that the male character had handled himself throughout the poem. The poem started with anticipation and continuously built up excitement. Now the man has left after his exciting evening, and proud of the events that occurred. He is now riding his motorcycle down the road and feels as though his successful evening could not have been better.

Poetry is confusing......

The poem “A Dog Sleeping On My Feet” by James Dickey, it starts with a man beginning to fall asleep in his chair with the dog sleeping on his feet, keeping them warm. It seems as though the dog has been here for a while, and the foot of the man is beginning to tingle. The poem continuously comes back to the mans foot, and how it feels under the dog. It seems as though the foot falls asleep the longer the dog lays there. I especially though this in the line “My legs of a dead thing, follow.” I was also thinking that the dog was probably dreaming, and portions of the poem referred to what the dog was thinking. Either that or possibly the man had fallen asleep and began to dream these things, but I felt as though the thoughts were the dogs not the man. The dog then seems to wake up and goes outside. The man gets out of his chair and then goes to bed. This part confused me though. Possibly the man was thinking of what the dog may have been dreaming about, as the man talks about the scent of the fox.

The end of the poem gets very confusing, and I couldn’t figure out an explanation for the line “Sleeping to grow back my legs.” The only thing I could think of was that by deciding to go to bed he no longer had the dog on his feet. Therefore his feet were able to wake up. This was the best explanation I could think of, but it seems far too simple for poetry.

Poetry always seems to be speaking on a different level than what I’m thinking. I really have no idea if any of this is what the Dickey was actually trying to portray, but I guess we’ll see how I did later on in class. I really have no idea what the poem is saying, but have at least analyzed some of the actions of it.

A Streetcar Named Desire - The Film

I enjoyed the watching the film A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as reading the play. I thought it was very interesting how similar my mental images from the play and the images from the movie were. This showed me that the descriptions that were written in the play were obviously very detailed and allowed me to receive a very good mental image of what Tennessee Williams was picturing when writing the play.

The movie did give certain aspects of the story a better image though. Blanche was much more believable in the movie than the play. I was unable to grasp how mentally disturbed Blanche was in the play. The movie shows very well how mentally disturbed Blanche becomes throughout the story. By the end of the movie Blanche looks horrible and completely out of her mind. Her hair was a mess, her facial expressions were desperate and she was no longer able to portray the southern belle that she displayed in the beginning. In the movie she looked like she was the perfect example of a person about to be put in a psychiatric hospital.

The character of Stanley seemed much more dramatic in the movie as well. It seemed like his yelling and screaming in the movie stood out more and showed how angry he was with the situation that he was currently stuck in. In the scene when they were eating dinner and Stella asked him to clean up his place he went completely insane. It was humorous, but also did a great job of showing exactly how fed up he was with the living arrangements.

The end of the movie was a little different than the play. I felt as though it gave a more accurate portrayal of what was happening around the house at the time. The men that were there playing poker seemed to look at Stanley as if they didn’t understand how he could be doing this. It seemed like they were all thinking in their heads that they knew Stanley had raped Blanche and were all accusing him in their thoughts. Stella also yelled at Stanley to never touch her again and leaves. This showed how much she didn’t believe Stanley at the time, and also showed that she had the intentions of leaving him.

Overall I liked both versions of A Streetcar Named Desire, but thought that the film gave me a little better grasp on what was happening. The rape scene in the film showed what was about to happen, but the book only led you to believe what may happen. I felt the detail showed in the movie did a better job showing the whole story.

A Streetcar Named Desire

In class we discussed the possibility that Stella knew that Blanche had been raped by Stanley, and was choosing her husband over her sister. I thought of this situation a little differently. I thought it was possible that Stella didn’t want to give up her current happiness and therefore didn’t want to accuse Stanley of what had occurred. I agree that Stella knew that Stanley was guilty of raping Blanche, but she was willing to accept this in order to make sure that no drastic changes occurred in her life. If Blanche was to go to a psychiatric hospital and the two sisters were no longer in contact, it would be no different than before Blanche showed up at their house. One reason that I believed this was the case was when Stella said “What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?” (p. 689). I took this as Stella feeling directly responsible for what was occurring. She didn’t seem to feel as though Stanley was a factor in this situation; she seemed to feel as if she directly made a decision to have her sister taken away.
Stella and Blanche obviously weren’t extremely close. It seemed as though they had rarely spoken in the last few years. While the dialogue in the story didn’t come right out and say it, Stella seemed to know that Blanche wasn’t the person that she made herself out to be. Stella may have made the decision to have Blanche put away because she thought that Blanche could only bring down Stella’s life. If she knew that Blanche consistently lied and made herself look like someone she wasn’t, why would she choose this liar over her own happiness? Stella also didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that Stanley hit her, because she was happy. I’m sure if she was unhappy with Stanley she wouldn’t stay in this situation and be beaten just to live a miserable life.
I guess this situation could easily be viewed either way. I would have to believe that most people reading this will disagree with me, but I just figured I would throw my thoughts out there for others to think about. In my eyes the most important thing to Stella was her happiness. She could set other issues aside as long as she was happy.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

While reading this book it was very apparent to me that Hurston was not displaying black people like any of the other readings we have read so far. The focus in this book as not the way that black people were being oppressed, it instead displayed the way that they lived their lives as if they did not face many of these problems. It displayed racism as if it were not a problem they had to deal with in this community they were in. This was in great contrast to the other writer’s stories we have read during this semester. For example Wright displayed many of the hardships that black people faced during the time of the Jim Crow laws. He displayed how unequal black people were and how badly they were treated by the white people. Their Eyes Were Watching God only had one example of this type of behavior. When Janie and Tea Cake went outside of the community, they briefly felt the problem of racism. Tea Cake was approached by two white men with rifles that wanted him to help clean up the mess left behind by the storm. They approached him by saying “Hello, there, Jim,” (p. 169) which Tea Cake obviously took as very disrespectful. They quickly made him start cleaning up the area and burying the dead bodies that were laying around. Eventually Tea Cake thought of Janie worrying about him, and took off running in order to escape the situation and find her.

It was much different to read about a community of black people that did not have to face the hardships of racism. It was a much more positive representation of way black people were able to live during this time period. However, it seems as though this was only the case because no white people lived in this community. I liked reading about a situation during this time that didn’t focus on the hardships that black people faced. Instead it showed how some people were able to settle in areas that allowed them to live life with almost complete freedom. It also focused more on other hardships such as gender relations and physical abuse. I’m sure if this situation were analyzed further racism still was a factor in their life, but this community they lived in seemed to have sheltered them from the problems that other areas were dealing with.

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

I found The Ethics of Living Jim Crow to be a very interesting writing about the way things were after slavery had been abolished. Black men and women were now free and able to make many choices on their own, yet were far from equal and very restricted in their actions. Black people were expected uphold great respect for the white people, while they were shown no respect in return. When Mr. Morrie told Mr. Pease that he had been disrespected and called Pease, it showed the manipulative problems that could still occur. It also showed the control that the white men still had over the black man. They were making things up because the narrator wanted to advance in the work place, and they were threatened by his actions. Unfortunately their tactics worked, the boy had no option but to leave the job or receive a beating. From this point on he gained a better understanding of the way that the world worked for a black man in a society controlled by white men.
Throughout the rest of the story the boy learned of the ways that the world worked at this point in time. I found it unfortunate that even though he was “free”, he had to adapt to the way that the world currently worked and the way that black people were expected to act. While black people were no longer slaves, it seemed as though they were still able to be mistreated at any time. One of the worst situations in the story was when one of the bell-boys was forced to marry the negro maid because she was pregnant. When the child was born it was much lighter in complexion, and obviously it was a white mans child. This was possibly one of the sickest jokes I could imagine, the humiliation involved and the distress put on these two “supposedly legal parents” was disgusting.
White people in the story constantly referred to the boy as being “lucky” when he finds himself in a precarious situation. I found it interesting in the choice of words here, considering it didn’t seem to me as though luck was involved in any sense. He may have been lucky that he wasn’t treated worse, but the way that he was being treated was in no sense lucky.
This writing can best be compared to Frederick Douglas’ writings about his experiences with slavery. Both writings show the first hand experiences with the way people were treated during these times. While Frederick Douglas’ writings were during the times of slavery and explained the problems during those times, Richard Wright explains what types of problems were encountered after slavery had been abolished. Both writings were disturbing in the sense that people were mistreated for no ethical reason.

The Source

While I was reading The Source by Katherine Anne Porter I began to think of how different this story was in comparison to other southern literature we have read.

The slave quarters seemed to be treated well when the Grandmother, Sophia Jane, was in town. The story states that while she is not there the slaves were denied their minimal rations of food and supplies, but things change quickly when she arrives. Immediately she takes to the slaves concerns and helps them by replenishing supplies, fixing the living quarters to a more acceptable standard, and making sure they all were supplied with the clothing they badly needed. It seemed to me that Sophia Jane did seem to want to help the slaves, but at the same time more concerned with control over the situation.

I found this much different from other southern literature we have read in that normally the women had very little control over their surroundings. For example, in the story Barn Burning the women had no control at all; they were kept silent and were told what to do. Even while the father was attempting to burn down the barn, the mother did what she was instructed and held the son so that he could not alarm anyone.

Sophia Jane kept control over her situation while she was around. She wanted everything in order exactly to her specifications. When one area of the property suited her, she would move on to the next and begin giving orders to be performed there. It seemed as though she really only visited this property in order to let it be known that she was still in control, and others would do as she instructed

One thing I found interesting about the writing was that the Sophia Jane was not mentioned of possibly scolding Mister Harry or Mister Miller. I thought that since they had allowed such disarray she may be angry with these men. Instead she used her power to get her goals accomplished, and the men are not mentioned. This made me believe more about her control issues and less of her concern for her property. If her main concern was the condition of the property she would be angry with these men for not making sure that her expectations were met all year round. Instead it seems that the rest of the year did not matter, but when she came to town change was in order.

Dry September

While reading Dry September I immediately thought of a comparison between Thomas Jefferson and Hawkshaw. While Thomas Jefferson was obviously a hypocrite for his statements of anti-slavery yet still owning slaves, I felt that Hawkshaw wasn’t much better. When reading the story I first felt that Hawkshaw was a good guy. He was standing up for this black man that others were making immediate assumptions about. He wanted to convince others that they should act rationally and first find the facts before overreacting and making conclusions based on the color of skin. When I reread some of the text, it seems as though he did very little to actually help the situation. While speaking of Will Mayes, Hawkshaw referred to him as “He’s a good nigger” (439). I felt as though this statement as hypocritical to the situation occurring. He may have been sticking up for this man but at the same time he was degrading him. It led me to believe that he was not at all sticking up for the black race, and was only connecting on a personal level. I began to think that Hawkshaw may not have thought this was generally wrong, but in this situation he knew the man so he was against it.

Later on in the writing while McClendon and others were beating up Will Mayes, Hawkshaw joins in with the beating. I found this disturbing since moments ago he was trying to make a stand for the truth to be told before overreactions occurred. It was as if he had to participate in some way since all of the others were.

I felt that Hawkshaw had good intentions as did Jefferson, yet when it all came down to it they both hurt their goal by saying and doing things that did not completely portray their intentions. Jefferson took a stand against slavery, and he owned slaves. Hawkshaw took a stand against hurting Will Mayes, and when it all came down to it degraded him and physically beat him. While both may have had good intentions, neither took the stance they needed to help their goals succeed.

Kate Chopin

I thought that The ‘Cadian Ball and The Storm by Kate Chopin were both very interesting writings and descriptions of Louisiana. I found it interesting that the Cajuns and Creoles had issues with one another and thought of each other so differently. I never knew of this issue, generally in the south you think much more of black vs. white or north vs. south. While both groups used a French dialect and got along to a certain extent, it eventually became obvious that the Creoles were thought of as dominant in the community.
While Clarisse was asking Bruce where Alcee had gone, it seemed as though she already knew what he was up to and had to save him from his foolish mistake. Alcee had gone to the ‘Cadian Ball because it would be an easy place for him to pick up a lower class woman. Here they would flock to him due to his social status and he seemed to know this would be the case. Clarisse eventually stopped Alcee from leaving with Calixta, and when she spoke he knew immediately that he better listen. I don’t believe that he was necessarily listening due to his feelings for Clarisse, but more due to his embarrassment of being around this inferior woman.
In The Storm the continuation of Alcee and Calixtas fling eventually led to where they both had wanted all along. While they both knew what they were doing was wrong, it was as if they could finally concede to their passion for each other without the public telling them what they were doing was wrong. I found this part very interesting, now that they had waited until they were married, what they were doing really was wrong. Originally society would have judged them for something that was considered socially wrong, now they must judge themselves for for actually committing something morally wrong.

Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas gave me a different perspective to think about slavery and the hardships that the slaves went through. When I think of slavery I think of many of the hard physically enduring things they had to go through, but I often don’t think of smaller things that bothered Frederick Douglas, and I’m sure bothered many others as well.

The first detail that I had never thought of was the fact that he didn’t know his birth date, or even how old he was. At first I didn’t look at this as a big deal, but began to think of the way that the slaves were treated. This was just a minor detail as far as I’m concerned, but when you relate it to the whole problem it gives it much more meaning. Frederick Douglas knew that the white people of the area knew their birthday, and I think that was why this bothered him so much. It probably gave him a worthless feeling, and an understanding that he is not allowed to be equal. I don’t necessarily think it would have affected him positively if he did know his birthday, but I do believe that it was easy to dwell on the negative due to the fact that he was not given the chance to be equal with others.

Another issue that I thought was minor but made a very big impact was when he learned the word abolition. While you wouldn’t think that learning the meaning of one word could be so important, this word may be what eventually led to his freedom. This word changed Frederick Douglas’ entire outlook on his future. It allowed him to listen to the comments made around him by white people, and better understand what was going on. Once he learned that slaves were escaping, and others were trying to free the slaves, it allowed him to think very differently. As he stated, “From this time I understood the words abolition and abolitionist, and always drew near when that word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves.” (p.190) I believe from this point on he had a much more positive outlook on escaping, as he did not want to be a slave for life.

Jefferson vs. Fitzhugh

After reading Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, and George Fitzhugh’s points of view on slavery in the world, an interesting topic was discovered that many would think absurd. Is Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite? Without knowing outside facts, you would think that Jefferson was the “stand up” guy, while Fitzhugh was a confused individual whose twisted mental state left him completely convinced that the world should not continue without slavery.

After the class discussion, it became apparent that things were not necessarily as they appear. While Thomas Jefferson seems to be standing up against slavery, and conceptually working to make things right, he owns slaves for his own and discredits his own thoughts. How can someone work to make a point to improve the quality of living for these people, yet own slaves himself? This leads me to believe that Jefferson was working to impress others and make himself look good within his writing, yet couldn’t even back up his own point of view. Was Thomas Jefferson really the leader that the American public may think? As a President of our country and the principle author to the Declaration of Independence I never expected to find that his remarks and his actions would differ from each other to such an extent. I would hold a man of this magnitude to a higher level than Jefferson held for himself.

Fitzhugh was much different from Thomas Jefferson. His thoughts on slavery were that “Southern thought and Southern example must rule the world.” He was very outspoken in what in his mind were the qualities of slavery. Fitzhugh was able to solidly back up his perspective. He said “All kinds of slavery are right”, and showed that he believed it by speaking of the ways that it helped the community, as well as explaining that other races should be slaves if the “inferior race” were not already enslaved. He did not contradict his own perspective by describing the situation and doing the exact opposite.

I still believe that Jefferson did believe in his thoughts and had good intentions but it was too convenient for him to sway to the other side. Fitzhugh, on the other hand had an infinite number of flaws that left him with sick thoughts of the way that the world should work. Overall, I found Jefferson was a hypocrite, but Fitzhugh proved himself to be nauseating.

John Smith

I enjoyed readings by John Smith to be interesting. While I found much of A Description of New England hard to follow and understand, the class discussion clarified much of the writing for me. I found it interesting that John Smith seemed to have forgotten the reasons that made him leave England, and ended up treating others the same way that he was treated. Obviously this made him a hypocrite, and overall did not lead the way to change, but instead continued the problem. This showed that he was not necessarily a true leader, but was only hungry for control.

A Description of New England in my eyes was difficult to read, as I felt it was hard to understand. This was due to the language used and the way that it was written. In this work, Smith tried to manipulate people into believing that America was a great new world, where you could accomplish the unthinkable. In reality his goal was to attract people to colonizing America in order to accomplish his own goals, as well as his disgust for England.

The Generall Historie of Virgins was Smith’s writings of his near execution by the Indians. This writing was much more enjoyable to read, although I am not completely convinced of the authenticity of the story. It seems to me that because of Smith’s attitude and his need to be important, this story was probably more fabricated.

First Day of Class

The first day of class we have already had a great discussion on what comes to mind when we think of the south. When asked about what came to mind, I wrote about St. Simon’s Island, GA, where my girlfriend grew up. I visited the area with her a few years ago. This was my first real trip to the south, and it gave me many common perspectives of how many people from the class thought of the south. During my trip my two main thoughts of the south were “southern hospitality”, and racism.

Before you ever visit the south you hear the term southern hospitality. In my visit I learned exactly what this term meant. People of this area were much more outgoing and friendly than I felt I had ever experienced in the north. When I entered the local Chick-fil-A, I was greated by multiple people, whom gave me the friendliest greeting I could ever remember entering a fast food restaurant, or any other place of business. I immediately thought of the way that I was generally treated walking into a store or restaurant around Albany, and it didn't even compare to the friendly feeling I got walking into this fast food restaurant.

Racism was the other thing that initially came to mind, but I am still not sure if it was ever really a factor while I was there, or if I was just expecting it to be an issue. The only real racist factor that I felt I encountered were the confederate flags that were on what seemed to be every truck on the highway. I never really saw these around the area I was staying, but I know that when I was driving on I-95 from Jacksonville, Fl to St. Simon’s Island, Ga, every truck stop I encountered was packed full of confederate flags.

Overall these were the two main factors that I thought of from my experience in the south. Some day I would love to move to the south because of the easy going lifestyle people seem to live. Not that life is without stress in the south, but people of the area seemed to enjoy life more, and overall, smile more.