The Haunting

I wanted to also talk about slavery in African American literature as haunting. I think that all of the books we have read exhibit this feature. There is something completely eerie about the fact that this nation used to enslave an entire group of people. And eerier still, as depicted in Kindred, we are not too far removed from our oppressive past.

It is haunting to read Going to Meet the Man, and to be completely disturbed and troubled by the stories and know that they are all too real. If anything, all of these stories, novels, and novellas have simply reminded us that the ghost of our horrific past still haunt us today. We cannot too easily put behind us our awful past.

Another haunting book is The Known World. I believe the thing that was so haunting about this book is the spirituality that is brought into it. For some reason, whenever something is deeply spiritual, it feels like it never goes away. Like those that have been enslaved still exist. They may only exist in the spiritual world, but they are still here.

If anything, books like Kindred and The Known World, make one realize that our past as a slave nation still haunts each and everyone of us—black or white. More frightening still, as a modern nation we are still trying to find equality. We are still learning how to rise above oppression. And those that suppress others, are now learning how to put that part of themselves aside. Either way, are nation is the way it is because of slavery and the books that we have read this semester make that fact very, horrifically real.

The Real Space Traders

Not to be rude, but there was a student in class today who tried to argue that Bell’s story was not only bad literature, but was implausible. To be perfectly honest, I think that was rather ignorant of him to say so and it is that type of ignorance that does put our country in jeopardy of just that kind of attack. And although I don’t really believe that aliens are going to land on Earth anytime soon, we are selling out other races everyday for our profit.

To be honest, I see this happening most predominately with the Hispanic population. Everyday, thousands of immigrants (both legal and illegal), wake up in disgusting shacks, and go out to work the land for minimal (at best pay). Yes, many chose to work on the land, but we should also have the option of treating them better. This country is also constantly outsourcing to third world countries, in order to make their profit margins larger.

And then with other colored populations (mainly black, Hispanic, and Native American)—they are being exploited through a lack of education. For an example, I went to school in Phoenix, not exactly an inner-city school, but a school with a 90% Hispanic population. And low-and-behold, most the teachers there were indeed white, except for the principal who was Hispanic. Within my first week of school, my mother met with the principal to complain about the lack of respect my second grade teacher was showing both to the students and to the parents. My mother had gone to the parent-teacher night, and was appalled at the way the parents were treated by the teacher. The teacher showed up in sweats and only talked with the parents for about five minutes before dismissing them. My mother said that when she tried to talk with the teacher after the short meeting, my teacher responded rudely and said that she did not have time to my mother. The principal responded frankly to this story: she said that most teachers do not have time for Hispanic students. The principal said that she would talk to the teacher, but nothing really ever improved. The teacher continued to be disrespectful to the students and teachers. She said the only thing that she was really going to teach us was how to behave, because it is all we really needed to know. So why wasn’t this teacher fired… because there was no one else readily willing to take her place. Furthermore, this was also a school where most students where about 25% of students were apart of a gang by the sixth grade.

This is obviously just one experience. But one experience too many. Every child should have a right to an education. My second grade teacher believed all we needed to know was how to behave, after all what was a Hispanic kid going to do with math? Now that I am older, I realize that the problem with my second grade teacher was simple: she was a flat out racist. She believed that children of color did not deserve the same education as white students. To wrap up, we are selling out colored people right now. And we are doing that by not giving them the same chance to learn as we are white students. And people need to realize this before we really do sell off a whole population for the gain of white people.

The Significance of African American Lit. in the 21st century

It is my perfect hope, that African American literature will continue to have an impact on the masses in the 21st century. But, unfortunately, it is my experience (in the 20th century) that African American literature is not experienced enough by people to have a mass impact on the population.

Especially (although this is changing) when schools are still teaching the “classics”, most people do not have an opportunity to learn about African American literature. At least in my experience, most teachers donate a week or so to literature from different cultures. Or they donate one week fully (usually in February) to studying African American literature. It is in this week that I was briefly exposed to Hughes and Frederic Douglas. But that is the extent of my exposure to African American literature. After all, my teachers had to donate the chunk of their time to great novels such as The Scarlet Letter, in order to fully educate us (that is sarcasm).

Basically, it is my hope that African American literature has an even greater impact on the masses in the 21st century than it did on the 20th century. Anyone who reads African American literature is impacted by it. They are impacted by the honesty, the words, and the reality behind the story, regardless of whether it is fact or fiction… it all stems from truth. Thus, I believe that African American literature may have a huge impact on the 21st century, if it is taught in schools. And not just taught in a week, but is taught the same way any other classic would be taught. Students need to understand how our past as a slave nation, still greatly affects us today. And I believe the best way of teaching students about the impact of slavery is through literature. Thus, this type of lesson can don’t be accomplished through Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but can be done by studying the African American Classics.

Th Memory of Slavery

I believe that Kindred, best depicts the significance of slavery as memory. In today’s world, we all like to think that we are past slavery, that it is distant. But Kindred showed how slavery as memory is something that is still something that is in all of our minds. As much as we would like to put slavery behind us, we are living in a country that is covered with the blood and sweat of slaves. Dana, the main character in Kindred, fully recognizes this fact when she travels back in time.

Dana viewed herself as a strong independent woman who would not be held down by anyone. However, she soon found out that the memory of slavery is not too far-gone when she travels back in time to the Antebellum South. We talked a lot in class about the memory of African American history and how it is broken because there is the history is Africa and then the history in America. But another type of memory broken seems to also exist between slavery and emancipation. Kindred exploits the memory of slavery within the modern world. In the beginning of the novel, it almost seems as if Dana (and definitely Kevin) does not want to recognize the memory of slavery. This is obvious when they first go back and attempt to live their lives like they would in the modern world. But as much as they both try, they cannot erase the memory of slavery.

The grip that the memory of slavery has on both of them is even more evident, when Dana’s injuries carry over into the modern world. Especially when she loses her arm, the reader realizes that the memory, as much as she tries, will not go away. She will always be affected by the memory of slavery. And likewise, are entire modern civilization will always be affected by the memory of slavery.

My Favorite Book

My favorite book of the course is Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin. My reason for liking this book is two-fold. First, I enjoyed the style in which it was written. This book read so quickly because the stories were engaging and easy to follow. I especially liked that if I wasn’t that into one story, I didn’t have to worry because it would soon be over.

Second, I really enjoyed the diversity in the stories. Baldwin covered all types: white and black, adults and children. By doing this, Baldwin really showed how we are all inner-connected. I especially loved Baldwin’s ability to connect so many different parts of this world to his stories. For an example, in “Sonny’s Blues” Baldwin intertwined the theme of music in his story. Music was even reflected in his sentence structure. When he talks about Sonny playing, each sentence reflects the speed that Sonny is playing at. For an example, when Sonny is playing quickly, the sentences are short and also read quickly.

I also really liked how Baldwin told stories about white people. It was nice to see how he has “imagined us”. Furthermore, Baldwin was truly able to change the voice to fit different characters. So often, writers have a difficult time changing their voice when the story changes. But with Baldwin, each story had a different sound and a different feel.

Overall, Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin is my favorite book so far because it was easy to read and had a lot of diversity in the stories. Needless to say, Baldwin is one author I plan to pick up and read again and again.

Walter Ellis Mosely

Walter Ellis Mosley was born January 12, 1952 in Los Angeles. He is also an only child. He was born to a black father form Louisiana and a Polish Jewish mother. Mosley graduated from Hamilton High School in 1970. Shortly after graduated, he became part of bohemian life in Santa Cruz. He then went on to earn a degree in political science at the University of Vermont.

Mosely did not begin writing until the age of 39, after being greatly influenced by Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Mosley’s first published book was “Devil in a Blue Dress”, which became a movie in 1995 starring Denzil Washington. He is best known for his series of best-selling historical mysteries. The story centers around detective Easy Rawlins who is a black private investigator and a World War II veteran. President Bill Clinton has also names Mosely as one of his favorite authors.

Mosely’s most current passion is for the racism that has followed September 11. He has mentioned that he has been stopped and questioned every time he goes through security at an airport. “I guess I look vaguely Arabic,” he says, “but it gives you an even more heightened awareness of the suspicion that Muslims, even American Muslims, feel under at the moment. Many of these people consider themselves patriotic Americans and suddenly it’s, ‘Whoah! America doesn’t want us” (O’Hagan, 2003).

Mosely currently resides in New York City.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an influential Harlem Renaissance poet. He was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902. Both of Hughes’ parents were bookkeepers. His parents separated when Hughes was young. After his parent’s separation, Hughes’ father moved to Mexico and Hughes’ grandmother helped raise him. When Hughes was 12, his mother moved him to Illinois. Shortly after their move to Illinois, Hughes’ mother moved their family to Ohio. It was here, that Hughes was said to gain an appreciation/interest in the human struggle.

Hughes began writing poetry in high school. However, Hughes did not gain recognition until he was working as a busboy at the Wardman Hotel in Washington, D.C. when he gave three poems to Vachel Lindsay, a famous critic.

As mentioned before, much of Hughes inspiration came from the human struggle. He used the term “low-down” folk to describe these people, and was said to be most inspired by their acceptance of their own beauty without question. More than anything, Hughes was inspired by the “low-down” folk’s music. This was apparent in his stories, “Songs Called the Blues”.

One year after Lindsay’s positive critique Hughes enrolled in Lincoln University. There he also joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the first black fraternal organization. Hughes received a B.A. degree form Lincoln University in 1929, after which he lived most of his life in Harlem.

Hughes died on May 22, 1967 after complication from an abdominal surgery. He was 65 years old. However, Hughes influence still lives on today. Not only was he a great poet, he still brings recognition to human struggles today.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

www.vanderbilt.edu

Although Hortense Spillers is not the most understandable writer, I really did get a lot out of her essay. Spillers brought up several things in her essay that I believe are important to know and understand in order to fully understand the culture we now live in as American citizens. As American citizens we enjoy throwing around words like "freedom", "liberty", "justice", "American Dream", etc. But what is America really about? I think that Spillers appropriately addresses (black) American identity through her exploration of the "American Grammar".

It is interesting to think about the idea of African (American) history being interrupted. As Americans, we pride ourselves on the idea that we all, for the most part, immigrated from somewhere and came to America for a fresh start. We kind of like to think of ourselves as a group of people that picked themselves up by their boot straps, came here and sweat, worked, and died to make America what it is.... "land of the free, home of the brave." It is in this self-made identity then, that we for get to include those who did not want to come here, who had no intention of making this apart of their history. What about those who were not considered human, or at least "full human"? Where does their history begin? Does it begin when they were captured in their home lands? Or when they landed on the American shores? Or does it begin when they were finally considered "fully human"? Thus, we, as Americans (white?) continually attempted to define exactly what "they" are. (I am beginning to feel as though I am writing about an episode of LOST, who are the others?) Are they fully human? What are they like? What do they speak like? Are they beasts? Do they have families? Thus, because we stripped meaning from them, identity was lost, we do not know who they are... and "they" have had to re-define themselves, and re-understand their history.

Vertical, horizontal, "unmade", matriarchal.... these are just words. And frankly, I do not know whether they really matter. The bottom-line is, and what Spellers is addressing, is that a history(identity) was stripped from a group of people. And thus, the words that we like to throw around like--freedom, family, justice-- those mean nothing to a part of the population, and so "American Grammar" does need to be redefined.



Octavia Butler

Class discussion continued...

I absolutely love Barbara Christen’s essay The Race for Theory. One thing that I really agree with was the idea that critics too often rush to put a label on things. One thing that has always bothered me was that it always seems as though critics are—in a way—the one’s with no literary talent (at least not anymore), yet they critique and criticize those who actually put themselves out there with their literature. Critics also seem obsessed with putting a label or a name on everything. I think it may be the need to understand that which is “foreign” to them. But in doing this, many critics seem to translate others ideas into a language that few can understand. Thus, critics theorize about African American literature, put a label on their literature, than translate that label into something that few can understand. Thus the original purpose of the literature is nearly washed out, and something that was meant to set others free, critics seem to turn into something that only suppresses.

One other thing that I enjoyed about Christen’s essay was what she had to say on pg. 353, “I was supposed to know them, while they had no interest in knowing me.” Here, Christen seems to have pin pointed one of the ways that whites seem to suppress others the most. White’s (at least in a historical context) expect people to focus on them, serve them… while not really having any concern for anyone else. This idea is important to realize because it is an ideology that still seems to be present today—America is the best, American ideas are the best, America can solve other people’s problems—we are still an individualist society. Americans still expect others to know them, and they still have very little concern with knowing others.

Truth

I found last Tuesday's discussion on Structuralism and Post-Structuralism incredibly interesting. I do understand the idea that there is no absolute truth, just the name we put on something. But when the Post-Structuralist moved this idea to social and racial concepts, my mind is truly boggled.

I understand the idea that beautiful is what we say it is. And that if we, as a society decide that something should be in style, than it is in style. The problem (for me) with race falling into Post-Structuralism, is that then as a collective society, at one point or another, we would have to had decided that white is better. Now, the thing that I have a hard time understanding here, is that that means that other races, other than white, would have had to concede to this idea at one point or another. TO be continued…

Violence

Question: Using the first two novels of the course as examples, how do you see suffering and/or violence operating in African American literature?

Thus far suffering and/or violence seems to play an essential part in African American literature. Larsen's novella seems to portray suffering and Baldwin's collection of short stories seems to mostly portray violence.

In Quicksand, Helga Crane suffers immensely from lack of contentment and struggle to find an identity. She suffers because of the battle that she has within herself, and also because of the difficulty that society places of her because she is mixed. Larsen makes it apparent that, at least for the time being, writing about the African American experience includes writing about suffering.

However, where Larsen seems to mostly delve into human suffering, Baldwin explores both suffering and violence. Baldwin writes about what is real to the African American experience as far as he knows it. And what Baldwin knows (or seems to know) is a life intertwined with suffering and violence. It is important to note, however, that Baldwin does not simply explore violence within (or toward) the African American culture, but violence as a human culture. His short stories are careful to not neglect those outside his own race and the horror that can come from the human spirit. It is also important to note that suffering and violence are nearly essential to African American literature because it is what they, as a race, were forced to endure for so long. At least as far as one can tell from Baldwin the difference in the suffering of a grown white man and a grown black man is that the suffering of a grown white man seems self-inflicted (I am thinking of the white man in “Going to Meet the Man” here), whereas the suffering that a grown black man experiences seems to be because of what the white man has forced upon him. The same goes for violence, the white man is committing the violent acts and the black man is the one whom the violent acts are being carried out on.

In the end, suffering and/or violence seems to play an essential role in African American literature for two reasons. First, suffering and/or violence is something that all experience, thus it is a part of the “human experience”. And so whether or not it is Larsen writing about Helga Crane’s self-inflicted problems or Baldwin writing about poor Sonny suffering seems to be the one thing that all can count on as being universal. Violence also seems to play an essential role in African American literature, then, because it is apart of African American history. As so brutally described by Baldwin, African American’s history is enveloped with violent acts being carried out on them. It is only “natural” then that violence would play an important part in African American literature.

Class discussion

The first time I ever read James Baldwin was in an introductory course here at WSU. I read "Sonny's Blues" for my class and was frankly bored. This time it was different. Perhaps there is something to having matured a bit, or maybe it was understanding Baldwin in a different way, but given the honesty that Baldwin brings to his work--I simply do not see how one could even begin to negatively criticize "Going to Meet the Man." I feel as though criticizing his work would be like criticizing the truth.

It was discussed in class that "Going to Meet the Man" was not an immediate success. But the power of Baldwin's work is in his ability to embody different people, different races, different point of views and exploit them for what they really are. He looks into the beauty as well as the ugliness of the human spirit. I believe that this is why he was not immediately accepted and liked. It is a difficult thing for one face the worst part of ourselves. Humans tend to look at other's flaws to escape facing their own flaws. Baldwin forces the reader to face the ugliness of their heart, and the reader is often embarrassed by the revelation. For an example, in the last short story when Baldwin discusses the family picnic and how the families would get together to watch a lynching I am both horrified and terribly afraid that I too could ever be part of such travesties. I would like to think that as even a young child I would be horrified to have grown up in such a setting, that I would be the one who would stand up and realize that what my parents, what those in my community were doing is wrong. But the truth be told, even if I thought it was wrong, I do not know whether or not I could be brave enough to face the giants.

I think this is something that the Baldwin forces us to confront. Who are we in the story? Are we the brave one, or the coward? What have we built are identity on? In my opinion it is quite clear why those who first read Baldwin didn’t like him (or at least his stories). It is most likely because they didn’t want to read the truth. It is ugly and it is embarrassing as to what humans in a “civilized world” act like. The tables are turned and the reader is forced to realize that most of us—when it comes to injustice—have blood on our hands.