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.