Power: Rhetoric and Poetry

To express oneself is the greatest form of freedom. To question oneself is the worst. Poetry depicts our rawest emotions buried deep within the bosom of the soul. It frees the mind as the lead of the steady hand releases the anguish intertwined within the beating heart; swirling through the ever flowing veins of crimson. Audre Lorde depicts the foreshadow of events to come. The twelfth jury member, a woman of African descent, “lined her own womb with cement to make a graveyard for our children”(Lorde3373). Lorde also makes reference to “being ready to kill yourself instead of your children”(Lorde3372). The single African American woman gave up her voice and smothered herself within the burning coals of oppression. When a mother dies, whether metaphorically or physically, she cannot protect her kin. In giving up her voice, the woman allowed the murderer of a young boy to be set free on the streets with a gun in hand and the power to subjugate the the minority. Her only question was the rhetoric of was he guilty? It’s one thing to succumb to the persecutor, but yet another to give one’s self up in such a way that delivery of an innocent child to enemy is the outcome. 

The introduction sets the pace of the poetic stand. Lorde purposefully brings forth the idea of death instantaneously as she wants the reader to distinguish the difference between “murder” and the real death of a child. Murder is heard in all eras throughout history, yet death, finality, makes it real. It allows the reader to feel. Do you feel Lorde’s depiction is appropriate for the message of “Power?” Does the difference between poetry and rhetoric hold relevance in “Power?”

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Freeing the Virgin (DRAFT)

I apologize for this being so late.

                                                 Freeing The Virgin: a mental assassination

Reading Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Welcome to the Monkey house" you feel betrayed. The author takes the reader on a journey, filled with dark humor and satire that brings a smile to your face. Floating on this cloud you enjoy the dystopia story of the world during a population crisis, with solutions like suicide parlors and genital numbing pills you find yourself enthralled and diving deeper into the narration absorbing every moment. Until in the end you are dropped on your head and all you can do it try and pick up the pieces after the final period; just like the character Nancy must now pick up the pieces of her own life to decide for herself what she now believes. In this work of fiction written by the late Kurt Vonnegut he transitions from a story filled with dark humor and satire to one of serious content and a political and societal message in attempts to end the story leaving the audience in awe and alone with their thoughts searching within themselves for understanding and answers. By creating characters that transform in personality and characteristics we as an audience are transformed in opinion of these characters, changing the tone of the writing and inserting page breaks and dramatic pauses slows the reader and creates a deeper importance to really hone in on each sentiment coming from these characters. The jokes and humor end in this last excerpt of the story and in the end we are left just as Nancy is left, alone, uncertain and needing to search within ourselves for our own truth.

"Which he did." (Vonnegut 47). The page break following this sentence is the beginning of the end. Not only is this the last page break of the story but in this next excerpt the entire tone and voice of the writing changes. No longer are we as readers meant to laugh and enjoy this story, from here on out we are meant to think, analyze, and determine for ourselves the morality of the characters, the world of the past, our current culture and our plausible future. This is the turning point and from here we must take note and be prepared for the emotional warfare we are about to experience because Vonnegut spares no feelings. The page break on page 47 is not the only grammatical aspect that dictates meaning and creates an important element to the text. The use of the em-dash is essential in changing tone and determining dramatic importance in the story.  "On the contrary, he was terribly depressed, and said to Nancy, "Believe me if there'd been any other way---"' (Vonnegut 47). Billy does not finish this sentence, he interrupts himself with silence because there is nothing more to say. There is no other way, he knows that, Nancy knows that and him saying anything about that now is pointless. What's done is done and showing regret for that now is unnecessary. The use of the em-dash is prevalent through out the ending of the story and that's because the author wants us to slow down, we are supposed to read this last part carefully. This use of grammar is meant to show us that by taking this new pace it creates a more serious tone to the reading and ensures that we as the reader really understand and absorb the ending of the story. And the true difference between what we've read up to this point and everything here after. 

The author changes his characters in the end. Billy is no longer this idea, he's here and his purpose is no longer a joke. He has come to do a job and in doing it we are moved. "He deflowered her with a clinical skill she found ghastly." (Vonnegut 47). Billy the poet was cold, he was methodical and he knew what he was doing. Like a surgeon cutting into human flesh, Billy did his job with all seriousness and without wavering. This is important, because it signifies that Billy was not happy to be doing this and in this moment neither was he  destroyed by his actions. It was a job that needed done and one that he was capable and willing to do. We know all along Billy's ultimate driving force, we know his motives and yet we don't see it happening this way. Despite Nancy never wavering we just assume she'll give herself over. When Billy has to rape Nancy we feel unprepared. In a way as an audience we also feel taken advantage of.  The quote about Billy's depression is also relevant to the changing of Billy's character because of what it says about him. "On the contrary, he was terribly depressed, and said to Nancy, "Believe me if there'd been any other way---"' (Vonnegut 47). This passage is the first time we realize the effect that the plight of reawakening a sexual revolution has on Billy. He doesn't enjoy forcing himself on women, there is no part of this violation and rape that brings him joy. He is bothered by his actions but that doesn't change the fact that he believes in what he's doing and it's importance. This passage shows us that his beliefs come at an emotional price and that's something Billy can not get away from. But Billy isn't the only character suffering and he's certainly not the only one to make a dramatic change in behavior. "Her reply to this was a face like stone--and silent tears of humiliation." (Vonnegut 47). Again we see an em-dash used to signify the importance behind the second portion and it's true weight. This is the first time Nancy has ever shown weakness. She is broken, her confidence was taken from her and she's no longer the same woman. "Big as she was, like a double bass wedged onto that narrow shelf, she felt like a pitiful little thing." (Vonnegut 47). Up to this point in the story Nancy had the desire to fight, the confidence in herself and her ability to kick-ass, but now she's defeated, in the following sentence it says that she pulls the covers up to "hide her face" (Vonnegut 47). She feels shame, and we pity Nancy. This whole story we see her strength, Nancy reassures the audience she's strong and that she doesn't need any help with defending herself and now we see her defeated and it's painful to read. Nancy is full of shame and wants to just hide from the world. This is not the same woman we were introduced to in the suicide parlor. This woman has changed and it's unclear at this moment whether what was done to her truly was for the better.  

"And he left. And they all left but Nancy." (Vonnegut 50). At the end of this story Nancy is left alone to deal with what just happened to her. She must process her sexual awakening and how she feels about it, she must process what Billy tells her about the government and the lies she'd been fed in order to shape her life. Being left alone with her thoughts, now armed with the truth she can decide her own fate. This is also how we as an audience are left. The author doesn't tell us how to feel at the end, he doesn't tell us what to think or how to react. He just tells us the facts, he predicts a future filled with government mandates in order to control sexuality, and at the time this was written the government had already began a war on drugs during a time where experimenting with drugs was just as much apart of a culture as sex. So why should the freedom of sex not also be threatened? The way this story ends is pivotal in delivering it's message. The author tells no more jokes, describing Champagne as a drug as illegal as heroin is the last piece of humor we find (Vonnegut 46). This digression away from humor is so important in creating a serious message and ensuring that the audience is receptive to the new direction of the tone.  

In essence while reading "Welcome to the Monkey House" we are both being violated, the reader and Nancy. The author draws us in, makes us feel safe and then violates that trust creating this feeling of vulnerability. We don't know what to think, we are empathetic to a rapist and yet we understand his motives and have to question our own morals for understanding. This wasn't what we agreed to, this wasn't what we were sold in the beginning, Vonnegut promised us humor and witty quips and then he stole that away from us. He stole the innocence of the story away from us just as Billy the Poet stole away the innocence of Nancy. Forced the reader to see something ugly, something true. In order to find enlightenment. We are in a way just like Nancy, in order to understand we must be forced. The page breaks and grammar tell us that this passage is serious and that we are to take note, we are drawn in all along by humor but those jokes end and the serious nature of this story ensues. Billy the Poet becomes a monster and a hero in a matter of seconds and we are left unsure how to feel about him after all and Nancy transforms from the charismatic, beautiful, confident and strong woman to someone afraid so show her face. Unable to muster the will to even fight. She's confused and in the end she's left alone. This entire story Nancy is never alone, from the beginning with her co-worker and police officer to being kidnapped and guarded at all times. Even whilst being raped, she's surrounded by people holding her down, but in the end she's alone. Finally, to decide for herself what her truth is. We are like Nancy, the author is no longer telling a story, the facts are all laid before us and we are to determine our own truth. Are we to be empathetic to a rapist? Should we support this ideal of the sexual revolution and the reawakening of the population? Can this be a righteous cause if the solution is to violate women? These are what we are left with as an audience, self doubt, the need to find answers within. Vonnegut performs a mental assassination on his audience at the last minute in order to really get them to think and it's one of the most amazing pieces of literature that I've read in a long time.

So any feedback would be great, one thing I've unsure of is my use of the same quote twice. I think it's important in both grammatical context and character development but maybe structure wise I might set it up differently. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated in all aspects. 

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Some Women Wait

This poem said a lot to me, the poet begins by inferring or better yet stating that "some women love to wait" (3375). Lorde then starts to list the things women "love" to wait for, some things that shouldn't be waited for like someone else to make them whole again, somethings that you're expected to wait for like a marriage proposal. She talks about waiting, or not living isn't always worth it. That "the opposite of living is only not living and the stars do not care" (3376). What you chose to make up your life is your decision. To wait for change or to change yourselves as in the ending of the poem (3376). But the poet doesn't say whether this decision for changing oneself is for the good or the bad. And I don't think these stations of waiting are necessarily bad, they seem to be. It seems to be that these women she describes are putting their lives on hold or holding back from something. Women wait for such tremendous things, things that just take time. Waiting isn't an awful thing, waiting for a husbands return is an empowering and independent time in my life, waiting for the birth of a child is huge for a mother. The growth, development, all the stages for becoming a mother. This waiting is important to the process. I think Lorde lightly touches these times but I don't know it just didn't feel right to me. The beginning of the poem reflects the rest of the poem for me in that she believes some of these women love the waiting, that's certainly not true. Depsite the waiting being a necessity these women don't love it. I thought the desciption of Audre Lorde as being a black lesbian feminist warrior poet empowering, I'm not one for lables. And this was riddled with them because I feel like it can give you a negative impression of somebody. Just like this poem felt like a label, the patient women, always waiting for a life that doesn't come. Waiting for love, waiting for a baby, waiting for acceptance, equality, waiting for all these things and her patience is her down fall because she will wait until eventually she gives up her waiting and accepts defeat, changing herself in the end. Maybe I missed the point of this poem, I don't know. But I see strenght in waiting, I see perseverance, I see some wonderful things and I'd hate such a negative lable to be placed on diligent women waiting for something important to them. 

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Power

Audre Lorde's poem, "Power," is quite an incredible piece. Detailing the killing of a ten year old black child, Lorde creates a nightmarish landscape. "I am trapped in a desert of raw gunshot wounds," Lorde writes, setting the scene as she continues: "a dead child dragging his shattered black/face off the edge of my sleep" (3372). The opening two stanzas are so full of this raw, powerful energy, that really seem to make obvious how tragically Lorde feels for this child. In the little bio on Lorde, it mentions "Lorde insisted that she wrote to fulfill her responsibility 'to speak the truth as [she felt] it" (3372). What it does not mention, however, is just how incredibly vivid her words are. The scene she creates is so wicked, so vile, and yet, not so hard to believe. The beginning line had me thinking a lot about what exactly Lorde means; "The difference between poetry and rhetoric/ is being/ready to kill/yourself/instead of your children" (3372). Poetry is expression, pure emotion transferred to a page, as where rhetoric is being being persuasive, usually without any compassion or sincerity. I suppose she means, poetry is giving every piece of yourself for another; a poet tends to be very in touch with their emotions, as well as others, and they live for a more picturesque world, one of love. As to where rhetoric is the complete opposite, it seems to add a sense of selfishness. Where Lorde is a poet, the cop might be a rhetoric, willing to murder a child and then defend himself, with no remorse for his actions or the loss of life suffered.

Overall, this poem left me speechless. I read it over and over again, each time focusing more on a different stanza, jaw half dropping, because it felt like I could see it. I felt like I could have been there, at the scene, in the court room; Lorde makes it all feel so real. And all the while, I sympathize with her, as we all get upset when these things happen. Justice is rarely served. But one thing Lorde does realize, is even though we can necessarily obtain justice, we can remember these people through our expression.

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(Very) Rough Draft

**Please let it be known I have this vigorous writing agenda. This is the first step, which is essentially a stream-of-consciousness form; and also a skeleton of a draft.

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            When one pictures the idea of a true American, the first thoughts that pop into their head will be the different symbols we chose to represent ourselves, such as the cowboy. However, if that person is Jack Kerouac, he might give a different answer. That is because in Kerouac’s essay, “The Great American Hobo,” he builds up the homeless as an American symbol of their own. Instead of leaving the hobos “in the dumps,” he chose to idolize them, and give the world a new perspective of them. Through his dreamy descriptions, his various connections made throughout, and his stints of dialogue, Kerouac creates a piece which solidifies the American homeless as an asset to our country, signifying some of our greatest aspects.

            The idea of being homeless has the most negative feeling attached to it. In the media, the homeless are often displayed as drug addicts, psychotics and those who are just too lazy to make anything of themselves. This is not entirely false, but after reading this essay, it is hard to settle with that. Kerouac, throughout the essay, creates the idea of the hobo representing freedom. He does this by using very appealing language, turning the hobo into a wise, respectable character. He describes the hobo as being on this long endeavor, this “idealistic lope to freedom and the hills of holy silence and holy privacy” (2976). Kerouac also describes the homeless lifestyle as “a definite special idea of footwalking freedom” (2977). This use of freedom really solidifies his point. The American hobo is truly the idea of freedom—they have nothing to hold them back, only looking forward to whatever adventure awaits them.

            Throughout “The Vanishing American Hobo,” Kerouac relates the homeless to many famous American idols as a means to break this negative stigma around them. Some of the examples he uses are Johnny Appleseed and Jim Bridger, both important historical figures that led a somewhat hobo lifestyle. Kerouac also relates the hobo to Benjamin Franklin: “Benjamin Franklin was like a hobo in Pennsylvania, he walked through Philly with three big rolls under his arms and a Massachusetts halfpenny on his hat” (2977). This is quite a significant relation, as Benjamin Franklin is one of the founding fathers of our country. He is also an American symbol, not just for his appearance on the hundred-dollar bill, but because of his legacy as a freedom fighter. Relating the hobo to Franklin paints a clear image of what Kerouac sees; a hobo is wise and seeks to learn the truths that one must search for. Kerouac further mentions Walt Whitman and John Muir, a poet and a naturalist/preservationist respectably. He even goes as far to name Teddy Roosevelt—a “political hobo”—and Vachel Lindsay. These connections are not accidental, Kerouac is purposefully relating the homeless to such intelligent, influential figures as a means to solidify their place; these men and women are not losers, and they’re not junkies: they are the artists, they are the geniuses, who strive for more than what they are given. Kerouac describes a hobo smoking his pipe as being similar to men in Japan, who isolate themselves in huts in order to find enlightenment. From this one can assess that Kerouac believes, wholeheartedly, that these people are truly the enlightened ones. When you break from society—a home, a car, taxes, jobs—you find inner peace, this otherwise unattainable sense of being.

            Towards the end of the essay, Kerouac incorporates bits of dialogue, which seem to be his way of giving us a direct example of what a hobo is. Except, instead of coming off as sophisticated, intelligent people, they come off as being rather simple.

            Although Kerouac does not necessarily make the homeless out to be something they’re not, he still manages to solidify their place as an American symbol. They may not be the cleanest, but overall, after reading this essay, one can definitely see how they are the freest people. Isn’t that what everyone really wants: to be free?

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Draft

In the Bible, Jesus calls to the disciples they put away their jobs and material things to follow him:  "And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.…" (Mark:1:17-18)  

They cannot have these things if they want to fully devote themselves to Christ.  The grandmother must put away her affectations and air of Christianity before she can truly accept grace.  Throughout the beginning of the story, we see the Grandmother's less than Christian approach to her fellow man; she criticizes people at just about every turn, "People certainly aren't nice like they used to be" (2778), she lies to get her way (2779), and she's entirely concerned with appearances. She sees beauty in things she knows nothing about, like the poor boy on the steps of a shack and the graveyard plantation (2777).  There is nothing romantic about these places she wants to paint and sighs lovingly over, she simply cannot see them as people such as herself.  Tossing blame around at everyone but those she likes, "The old lady said that in her opinion Europe was entirely to blame for the way things were now." (2779)  

Before becoming a disciple, Matthew was a tax collector (Matthew 9:9) something that was, and still is, considered one of the most hated of professions.  When others confronted Jesus as to why he would bring someone like that into his fold he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."  The Grandmother is not a perfect Christian, just as the Misfit says at the very end, "She would of been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."(2786) She has to become good, become a disciple before she dies at peace.  

The reader first sees this change in her with regards to her appearance, at the beginning of the story, O'Conner clearly makes a point to make sure we get a full picture of what kind of a woman the grandmother is "...but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim...In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." (2776)  She is vain and preoccupied, worried about keeping up her image and dolling out criticism.  However, when she if faced with The Misfit - when first confronted with the very real possibility of her death, she withdraws this pretense, "The grandmother reached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground." (2783)  Suddenly, the idea of dying "a lady" doesn't matter anymore, because it's not important.  For a woman her age, at this time to cast aside the hat at all was just not done.  To drop the ornamentation, the status and civility it represents, is to "leave her net", to leave what tells others who she is and makes her, her.  She is now free to "follow" God; to become his messenger.  At no point in the story does she actually pray.  It is only when she has her moment of revelation towards the Misfit that the reader sees her understand God.  When she realizes her death is drawing near, just before her exclamation, "She sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her" (2786) She falls down to her knees, almost in prayer.  “Humbled” is something we read about a lot in the Bible in the presence of Jesus and God, and she experiences this effect with The Misfit himself.  During most of their talk, as his associates are taking her family into the woods, he is kneeling below her and she literally "...was standing up looking down on him" (2784) and then he is standing above her when she first falls to her knees.  Just before her moment of grace however, "She saw the man's face twisted close to her own..." (2786) This is the first time she is "equal" to The Misfit; this is the stance they are in when she is killed, at equal height.  

In the same verse from Matthew describing tax collectors, Jesus says, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:11) The Misfit is there to bring this sinner towards Christ.  Even if he doesn’t mean to, even if he doesn’t realize his purpose, he seems to be sent to deliver her salvation. Like Pontius Pilate washing his hands after whipping Jesus Christ, The Misfit wipes her away, “Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them."(2786)  The Bible verse goes, “When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves." (Matthew 27:24).  By washing them away, the two men attempt to cleanse themselves of their demise.  

I'm not very good at rough draft's so I want to be sure I'm heading in the right direction, also I want to use the quote about the Grandmother smiling when she dies but I don't quite know how to fit it in. 

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Power

The difference between poetry and rhetoric

is being ready to kill

yourself

instead of your children.

Even after reading the rest of her work, much of it for the third or fourth time, I keep coming back to this stanza.  Thea idea of the destruction that can be inflicted using either form of writing/speaking is what makes me stop.  The idea that putting yourself down on the page, your true self and pouring over these words can be equated with laying down your life is a frightening thought.  Almost as frightening I think as saying that empty promises or colorful, meaningless language can kill your children.  I think it's more frightening because rhetoric already has a negative connotation, we already know that pomposity can be detrimental and harmful.  Poetry we see as a form of self expression, something that can help us say things we might not be able to in a straightforward way.  We think of poetry as something that can be an extension of our own souls.  To say that to be able to express these deep innermost feelings about yourself means that you are "ready to kill yourself" is a frightening idea.  It makes it that much scarier of an idea.  

Do you agree with Lorde's sentiment?   

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Signs

The scene showing Twyla's response to Roberta's "MOTHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO" sign is an interesting insight into the influence each other their mothers had over them.  Roberta emphasizing the mother's rights in a school case remind us of her god fearing mother.  A woman who would have been probably a strict, structured mother to her daughter had she not been so ill.  We also see that Roberta's opposition to busing has nothing to do with the racial implications, she's simply concerned about what she feels is right by the families. Just like when she was a child and didn't understand why her mother didn't shake Mary's hand.  She doesn't think in terms of the differences of people, just in certain moral ideals that she probably isn't even sure why she possesses.
Twyla's sign on the other had ("AND SO DO CHILDREN***") marks her soreness for the encounter with Roberta's mother when they were children.  Also, she has always viewed her own mother as childish, the way she was oblivious or uncaring to how she dressed and not able to keep composure during the church service.  She seems to be saying not only do the literal children have rights, but also the mothers who may act less than motherly still have feelings too.  They are still worth something despite what Roberta's mother (and now Roberta) may think.  The way she vindictively writes "HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?" shows us she still holds Roberta more responsible for her mothers actions than her mother, because Twyla always had to be the one looking out for and corralling her own mother - she expected others to do the same.
Does this encounter prove to you that Twyla is the black character and Roberta the white?  Or are you still unsure?  There were plenty of African Americans that protested integration because they didn't want their children going to school with people they assumed would all be bigots.  

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rough first draft

                                                                     The Mother

                                                            By Gwendolyn Brooks

        The poem “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks evokes a myriad of emotions in the reader. 

 The title itself brings to mind a singularity that she is “the mother” not a mother but emphasis on the mother.  Brooks by using this title makes the reader identify with the image of our own mothers. The title can also refer to a negative connotation as in the derogatory abbreviation of  Motherf**ker.   This interpretation would be a bit absurd but to each his/her own. That is the beauty of poetry it suggests but does not give graphic descriptions of each event.

            The first stanza and in particular the first line: “Abortions will not let you forget”  

(Brooks 1).  This line changes the universality of mother into directly addressing you (the reader).  The slang or vernacular of the next line states that “you remember the children you got that you didn’t get”. (Brooks 2). This suggests that you were pregnant and expecting a child but you never got it because of an abortion?  The poem goes on to describe the fetus as “small pulps with little or no hair” (Brooks 3). Is Brooks deliberately deemphasizing the humanity of the fetus by referring them as meaty scraps?  The first stanza of the poem Brooks has rhyming couplets: forget, get, hair, air, beat, sweet, thumb, come sigh, and eye.  

 “You will never neglect or beat” (Brooks 5).  Is this a rationalization to mitigate guilt over the abortion? Brooks paints a picture of a mother that would dote on her children with a “gobbling mother-eye.” (Brooks 10). The mother would buy sweets and never leave them (the children) but this negates what her first line of the poem states. Abortion is the mother choosing not to bear responsibility the babies that would come. This stanza is make-believe of what an ideal mother would do and that she would cherish each memory of motherhood.

            The second stanza lines 11-33 are significant because Brooks ends the rhyming couplets.  This stanza is about anguish and regrets.  Brooks twice depicts the children as “dim”. Does  Brooks suggest that since these children never saw the light of day that they are dim because their life force or inner light was stolen by the decision of the mother to abort? In this stanza Brooks starts with the pronoun I and uses it frequently in the stanza. Brooks also first mentions the word “sinned” and crime. Does this mother now admit if only to herself that she feels guilty over the abortions?  “I have stolen you births and your names”. (Brooks 18). The mother will never know of each baby’s loves, marriages and life itself.  Her babies will never cry “straight baby tears.” (Brooks 19).  Brooks in line 23-24 of the poem denotes that the mother “poisoned their breaths but even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate”.  The mother is communicating that she made the decision to abort but it wasn’t personal? She did not view them as people at the time maybe only as a malignant growth?  The mother is remorseful and questioning her decision but maybe she had no choice in the matter and abortion was kinder than life would have been for the children.  She mourns the lack of existence of her children that she got but didn’t get.  The mother reluctantly states that the truth is the babies were born and died but “never giggled or cried.” (Brooks 31).  Maybe the mother is now too old for childbirth and she wonders what her children would have accomplished in life.  Did she have the right to decide their fate?  Did she make mistakes?    Brooks in this stanza is verbalizes what every woman might think after an abortion. It is a life-changing decision whether you decide to abort or to have the baby.  Personal shame and sorrow mark this stanza. Grief is apparent in the lamentations of the mother.

            The last stanza where the mother is pleading with the reader to believe that she loved you (the children) she is begging for their forgiveness. She knew them faintly but she loved them.  Is it possible for a mother to terminate her pregnancy and still feel the right to mourn the nonexistent babies?  Is the last word in the poem “All” (Brooks 35) meant to encompass every woman who has had an abortion?  Is she asking the reader to understand that the choice of an abortion was difficult and she did not make the decision out of convenience but out of necessity?

            The poem asks forgiveness but does the mother ever forgive herself. She makes excuses for her decision until the end and she states that her babies were killed.  The mother acknowledges that she made decisions and that she grieves for all that might have been.  The poem does not tell the reader what factors weighed in the termination of the fetus.  Was the child a consequence of rape?  Was the child the result of incest and sexual abuse?  Was the mother already burdened with too many children to care for properly?  The use of the word all is significant because it suggests a universal forgiveness regardless of the action.  Remorse is the end result of all abortions and compassion for the difficult choices by the mother. 

            It is interesting to note that nowhere in the poem is the father mentioned, it leads the reader to assume that the decision is the woman’s right and not the father’s decision to bear the child.  Is Brooks leading the reader to believe in choice and not condemnation for the mother?

             

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Rough Draft Essay 1

     In Jack Kerouac's essay entitled, The Vanishing American Hobo, he uses the words hobo and bum but not interchangeably  He has created a hierarchy of hobos to symbolize the difference between individuals who through non-conformity to society remain healthy and spiritually enlightened and individuals who go along with the prevailing beliefs without questioning anything.  The hobo is depicted as healthy.  He lives out of doors, camps under the stars, and he is free to move from town to town.  The skid row bum on the other hand is depicted as sickly and spiritually depleted.  He spends his nights n doorways looking for hand outs and drinks too much.  Kerouac's use of this hierarchy is a metaphor for the effects of blindly following the conventions and norms of society.

     The hobo in Kerouac's essay signifies the individual who lives in freedom and is spiritually enlightened.  When he describes the hobo he uses language that is positive like,"...the hobo in his idealistic lope to freedom and the hills of holy silence and holy privacy.-There's nothing nobler than to put up with a few inconveniences like snakes and dust for the sake of absolute freedom." (2976)  He is painting a picture of an individual who is free rom convention an is seeking something spiritual.  He also says, "...Poverty is considered a virtue among the monk of civilized nations-..."(2977)  He is telling the reader that the hobo is on a path to enlightenment only obtainable through the freedom of individualism.  A person must be unhampered by the prevailing ideologies that society asks individuals to subscribe to.

     Then there is the skid row bum who Kerouac says, "...sometimes hobos were inconsiderate, but not always, but when they were, they no longer held their pride, they became bums-..." (2979) The bum has no pride in himself and infers an apathetic view toward life.  He is a symbol of man who is part of society who follows all the rules and lives his life as he has ben told to.  The bum has lost his way. "I'm too tired now of everything else, I've had enough, I give up, I quit, I want to go home, take me home..." (2982)  The quote is about the despair that is felt by the bum who symbolizes individuals in society. He is seeking a return to a spiritual home.  A place that is comfortable and warm and familiar-a return to his "roots". Not the alienation of a big city where they are a no body.  The bum as a metaphor for society in general is saying that society has lost its way.

    Another way Kerouac helps create this hierarchy is through his use of examples of people who are hobos and who are bums.  The hobos are people like Jesus and Buddha and Beethoven and Einstein.  The skid row bums are people who are not known they are just common people. "...but Oh the poor bum of the skid row! There he sleeps in the doorway, back to wall, head down..." (2982) Kerouac use of famous people as examples of hobos are those people who thought for themselves and lived in ways that did not necessarily conform to society of their day.  The skid row bum is the common man who blindly accepts what comes to him.   Kerouac wants us to have pity on him for his blind ignorance.

    Kerouac has created the hierarchy of hobos and bums in his essay to let the reader know that giving up individuality for sake of conformity and living in society will inevitably make a person spiritually sick.  Without spirituality and individualism we become sick and alone.  The key to overcoming the illness of society is through the individual seeking enlightenment and non-conformity.

    
    

    

    

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Recitatif

In Toni Morrison's "Recitatif," it is difficult to discern which of the girls, Roberta and Twyla, is black and which is white. I did pick up on what I thought were certain clues as to which is which, but even still I am not 100%. One of the instances that made me think maybe Twyla was white was early in the story, when Twyla notes "it didn't matter that we looked like salt and pepper standing there" (3542). I thought this implied that Twyna was white and Roberta was black, as people generally make a point to put themselves first when speaking. Yet this wasn't absolute proof. When the mothers met, it had me feeling a different way. Roberta's mother does not speak to Twyla or her mother, and has them walk away from her and her mother. This made me think Roberta may be white, as it signifies racism on her mother's part. Another clue was a little further into the story, where Roberta is going to see Jimi Hendrix. I couldn't take much from that, but Morrison later writes, "A black girl and a white girl meeting in a Howard Johnson's on the road and having nothing to say. One in a blue-and-white triangle waitress hat, the other on her way to see Hendrix" (3549). This made me think, since she has it in order, that Twyla is black.

These are just some of clues I picked up on, and I know there are probably way more. Yet from what I interpreted, Twyla was black, and Roberta was white. Thoughts?

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Recitatif

This weeks assignment-to determine the race of each girl-was difficult. I read Recitatif, by Toni Morrison several times to make a determination about who was Black and who was White.  I thought Twyla was Black and Roberta was White.  The first sign of racism was when the girls' mothers met at the shelter.  Roberta's mother, "...looked down at me and the looked down at Mary too." (3545) She grabs Roberta's hand and walks to the back of the line.  The inference to me was Roberts's mother was looking down on them not only because she was so tall but because of Twyla's race. Later, when the girls are older they met at Howard Johnsons were Twyla is a waitress.  Several things in this encounter pointed to race. The first was Roberta was on her way to the coast to see Hendrix, which had a mostly white following.  Twyla is once again in the position of being looked down on, she is snubbed by Roberta.  Roberta  does not seem to want to talk to Twyla.  She laughs about the town Twyla lives in.  She doesn't invite her to sit down with them,"A silence it was her turn to fill up. With introductions, maybe, to her boyfriends or an invitation to sit down and have a Coke." (3546)  Roberta seems to be uncomfortable and embarrassed by Twyla and their friendship.  The next meeting between them is at the gourment grocery store, not the kind of grocery store that Twyla normally shops in.  As they are talking and catching up, Roberta says she lives in Annandale. Twyla wonders to herself how did Roberta go from Hendrix to a,"...neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives."(3548) Roberta and her husband are probably white because of the neighborhood they live in and he is executive at IBM, there were not many if any Black executives at IBM in the 1970s. Twyla also thinks to herself,"Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world." (3548) I took that as a reference to living in a world dominated by White people and how they seem to be able to have whatever they want. The next exchange between the two is the picket line where Roberta is opposed to busing and integration. Roberta says, "Well, it is a free country." (3551) Twyla's response is," Not yet, but it will be."(3551).  Twyla does not see the world as free because of racism but she is hopeful that things will change.  The last meeting between the two women at the diner has Roberta asking what happened to Maggie.  Roberta is feeling guilty about her prejudge toward Maggie, who is Black, and that fact she never helped Maggie.  A collective guilt of one race regarding the other race.

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Angry woman

Audre Lorde is the original angry black women.  In the poem, “Power” she could be talking about the situation in Ferguson.  She talks about how a policemen shot a child down and shouted at him “Die you little motherfucker. (Lorde 24)   She is convinced that justice was not served. She writes about coercing a small black woman to vote with the rest of the white male jurors. Her words are violent and extreme. “and lined her own womb with cement to make a graveyard for our children” (Lorde 37-38). I think Lorde demonstrates her feminism in the poem “Stations.”  See writes of women waiting for another person to fulfill their dreams and not be an agent of change in their own lives.  Until the last line of the poem, “Some women wait for something to change and nothing does change so they change themselves.”(Lorde 41-45). All of Lorde’s poems in this week’s presentation are intense and not pleasant, light reading. She evokes powerful feelings of racial injustices and women’s issues of inequality.

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What is race?

Black or white was the question that went through my mind as I first read Morrison’s “Recitatif” Is Twyla or Roberta black or white.  I started thinking what would leave me to believe one way or the other and I realized that by making any assumptions you were showing your cultural generalizations.  I think Morrison was very clever in making the reader believe one way or the other without specifically identifying one race.  In the beginning of the story Morrison writes, “It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the morning-it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race.” (Morrison 3541). Nowhere was it identified that the races were black and white. It could have been White, Hispanic, Asian, or black.  Did Morrison deliberately not clarify the races of Twyla and Roberta so that the individual reader would have to define their own stereotypical ideas of race?   In the middle of the story it also seems to take a detour about the characters themselves. Twyla seemed to be the street wise kid where Roberta was the simple-minded naïve girl but later in the story suddenly Roberta is the hardened free-wild child and Twyla is the conservative hardworking waitress. I didn’t know what to make of Maggie and the different version that each remember. Does it show that your interpretation depends on your race?  Twyla remembers Maggie as “Sandy-colored” but Roberta insists that she is black. Why is this significant?

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Humanity: People First

The story of Twyla and Roberta is simply profound. As recent events within our home town shows, race is still, unfortunately, a large issue in our society. The powerful nature of Morrison’s short story derives from the fact that she does not entail the race of either girl, yet race is subtly mentioned throughout the story. From the introductions of Twyla, I pictured her as a caucasian in my head. As Roberta talks to Twyla she says, “Maybe I’m different now, Twyla. But you’re not. You’re the same little state kid who kicked the poor old black lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you have the nerve to call me a bigot”(Morrison3552). I felt Roberta’s condescending tone as well as the emphasis of Maggie being a “black lady” made my perception of Twyla more concrete. It was almost as if Roberta was saying Twyla was twice as guilty for kicking a black lady because she is white. It felt as though a crime against another race was doubly as bad. I believe that Roberta was African American. Several times within the short story, Roberta mentions “blacks and whites,” but the word black is always put before the word white in her dialect. Often times, we put self first in our own dialect out of natural habit. When talking to Twyla, Roberta says, “you know how it was in those days: black-white”(Morrison3550). Roberta’s repetition of the the sequence in which she stated “black and white” made me believe she was African American. 

I find that class issues are equally as divisive as racial issues. Unfortunately, there is still a separation amongst differing people of our country and the world. There are many stereotypes that follow the many races as well. Racism and as well as the convinced superiority of oneself will not dissipate until we teach our children tolerance and understanding. We need to become a people first society. Bring forth humanity and we will have peace. 

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Should Color Matter?

~Is Twyla White or Black? Is Roberta White or Black? 

I don't think we are supposed to be able to answer this, at times I thought I clearly had this figured out but then I realized it seems like in the second half of the story Morrison might have actually flipped their races in order to make the context even more confusing. Because I believe as a writer she had characters race in mind but flipped them to make sure that it wasn't something we could distinguish. Let me explain, "they never wash their hair" (3541) this is something that Twyla's mother told her about people like Roberta. I assumed to begin with this meant that Roberta was black and Twyla was white because well white girls HAVE to wash their hair daily otherwise it looks disgusting and that's not really a stereotype of the white race but growing up white people tend to be extremely confused about black hair and how it's treated, whether or not it's washed, how often and how. Of course everyone washes themselves but this sentence at the beginning I thought would create such a clear picture because that's just not a stereotype I've ever heard attributed to white people. Next was the sentence about the food Roberta refused to eat but Twyla liked "...Spam, Salisbury Steak, - even Jell-O with fruit cocktail in it..." (3542). This seemed that it could solidify the original idea that Twyla is white because Spam, Salisbury Steak and Jell-O are pretty regular meals in caucasian households. Of course not every household, and this example isn't perfect because anyone black, white, asian purple, anyone can eat this food and like or hate it but that's something I thought might be a sign. But then the script flips in the third encounter at the supermarket. When Twyla thinks to herself about Roberta "Easy I thought. Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world." (3548). This is the point that I felt the race was switched and that she was creating this white preferential idea and painting this entitled race inequality picture that makes Roberta now look like she's the white character and the Twyla is in fact the black one. Then Twyla asks if Roberta "...married a Chinaman?" (3548). I'd actually never heard anyone in the white community use this phrase before. I honestly thought it was the name of a restaurant for the longest time in high school until someone explained to me that it's just something that black people tend to call all Chinese people and their businesses. It's a racist term and something I'd never really heard until I got to a diverse high school and heard someone outside of my race say. When they talk about "black and white" in the next few pages the girls really make no kind of distinction whom is which and I think that's because truly they each are both. The story ends with Maggie and I think if there is a race to these girls that Maggie is the determining factor. Both girls attribute Maggie to being like their mother, because Twyla doesn't see Maggie as black and Roberta does that made me think that maybe I was right from the beginning, maybe the girls saw Maggie's race as being their mothers race, as being their mother and as being their race. That's the only real thing I can think that would solidly explain a clear race but I honestly don't think we're supposed to. I don't think Toni Morrison want's us to define them to a race because it defeats the purpose. 

~How do we "read" race in society? What difference does race make and how? Are class issues ultimately as divisive as racial issues?

Race is "read" in society through stereotypes. I went to an extremely diverse high school. And there are things I noticed that taught be how little the color of your skin really means in the real scope of things. Race can make an initial opinion in someone's mind about you if they attribute a stereotype to your character before ever having talked to you but those can be immediately dispelled through a conversation and close attention. African American's are not the only people in this country that fail/drop out of school, sag their pants and belong to gangs. To think that is ignorant. I truly believe that class issues is a much more relevant way to determine issues in our society. Single mothers are in every single race and poverty doesn't have a color. But when people look at these classes you will find much more commonalities, even between a "black ghetto thug" and a "white-trash redneck" because I know that people run a spectrum and to lap everyone into one side of the pool creates more confusion than anything. I think if we dealt more with class issues than race issues we'd have less problems as a society and people that really needed the help would get it and the segregation in our country would end. Sometimes we have to stop talking about the difference between black and white and teach our children equality instead because we're all just American's but for some reason in this country we always feel the need to attach a race or color to everything. We don't have a president, we have a black president. Michael Brown wasn't shot by a cop he was shot by a white cop. We are obsessed with race and making sure people know the differences between them when really there aren't any beside what we chose to believe are differences worth separating us. I think focusing on class issues would put us in a better place as a whole but like I said that won't happen until race is no longer a box we have to check on a test or college application to distinguish who we are as a person when honestly it shouldn't matter. 

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