Reading Response to Yellow Woman - Leslie Marmon Silko

Leslie Marmon Silko

born: 1948

The Yellow Woman

The story seems to be about a woman in search of something other than what she already has.  She seems to be fascinated by the legend of Kochininako, Yellow Woman.  It was a legend of a powerful woman.  And who doesn't want to be a powerful woman?  Since this was told to her many times by her grandfather, I believe he put the idea in her head that she is the Yellow Woman and she firmly believed it.  So, she set out to be the woman she believed in.  I think she wanted to live out the legend as it was told to her, to make it real to her.  She used her imagination to play her role of the Yellow Woman and the role of the mountain spirit  Ka'tsina was also played out by the man on the beach.

It seems that she falls in and out of character while living out the legend with Ka'tsina.  One minute she is in full character believing she is the Yellow Woman and he is Ka'tsina, then the next minute, she is asking him his name, or if he uses the same tricks on other women.  It's like she's second guessing herself the whole time of living out the legend.

The author tells us that she was not a woman fleeing from domination, powerlessness, inferior status, vis-a-vis the husband and that those types of forces are not happening.  So, I think she was a woman that wanted to go into the depths of her spirituality to experience the legend of the Yellow Woman in the only way that she knew how.

Reading Response to: Everyday Use - Alice Walker

Alice Walker

born: 1944

The story Everyday Use is about the traditions being passed down from generation to generation and what they mean to us.  I believe that traditions have the purpose of reminding us of where we came from as well as tell us the story of our beginnings. Traditions can come in the form of heirlooms being passed down to sons or daughters.  Also cultural celebrations are traditions that are passed down within families for several generations. 

In this story, the form of tradition was an heirloom quilt being passed down.  Mama had two daughters and had planned to pass down a cherished heirloom quilt to her beloved daughter Maggie whenever she would marry.  She had not considered her other daughter Dee because, as the author tells us: Dee wanted nice things, described as things being just to her liking as she was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts; At sixteen she had a style of her own: and knew what style was, page: 1493.   

I believe Mama didn't think Dee would appreciate the heirloom quilt because she didn't consider it being in the category of nice things as Dee once did.  She had once offered her the quilt, but Dee turned her nose up saying the quilt was too old and out of style.  Now it turns out that Dee has changed her mind and is now making her plea to have the quilt.  But only for materialistic reasons. The quilt had scraps of old clothes worn generations before by her mother, father and great grandfather stitched by the hand of Big Dee and symbolized where they had come from.  

Dhe only appreciates the quilt for its monetary value and its view as a status symbol.  She has this uppity attitude that she would show more appreciation for having the quilt than her sister would, because her sister would have the audacity to actually put it to everyday use.  Mama can appreciate the quilt being put to everyday use more than the materialistic value Dee is placing on the heirloom.  Dee doesn't place any value on her own heritage nor appreciating where she came from, the very thing this quilt represents. She had never brought friends to her home because she was ashamed of where she came from.  She's been ashamed of her heritage for most of her life and now she comes back home on a whim just to poach her family's most cherished family heirloom.  

People put values on things for their own reasons, whether it be for personal gain or true respect for tradition.

Reading Response to: Dutchman - Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka

1934-2014

The Dutchman was a component to post modernism aligned with the Black Power movement.  Amiri Baraka's goal was to reach the community through the arts.   He was a very provocative poet that did not spare or mince words when telling his story.

The Dutchman shows us how people of other races view one another.  What a white woman's view of a uncle tom black man is.  The white woman, Lula pinpoints the black man, Clay and immediately makes every assumption about him and clings to them as she believes her assumptions are true.  She starts out by making sexual advances towards Clay.  At first, Clay didn't seem to mind and thought she may be interested in him.

However, when he doesn't make any reciperical advances towards her, Lula becomes increasingly hostile in her attacks against Clay's manhood and identity making a mockery of him.  Clay becomes agitated by her advances and stands up for himself.  Lula does not take well to his realization that he does not have to take this type of treatment from her or any white person any longer.  I think Lula was a little frightened by this because she suddenly realized that she would not have dominance over this black man like she thought she would.  In her mind, this was unacceptable and she then stabs him to death.

Reading Response to: Recitatif - Toni Morrison

born: 1931

Toni Morrison

This story about two girls that grew up in an orphanage.  Both girls of a different race.  The author gives us clues about each character, however does not reveal which is white, or black.  She helps us to see that we are all human beings and makes us wonder why race even matters.

The characters names: Roberta and Twyla don't give us a clue to their race.  Either of these names could be a white woman or black woman.  She also gives us descriptions of the lives that each character came from. There were some stereotypical things that suggest that one could be black like the fact that during the sixties a mother dancing as a profession seems to be a white woman, in the sixties.  But then again, I can't say for certain because there were professional dancers like Josephine Baker performing in the 1920's.  Another stereotype was that Roberta's mother is described as a large woman towering like a giant that brought a home cooked meal of fried chicken for a lunch visit at the orphanage.  Fried chicken is a stereotype meal that has been attached to black families for years.  It does lead me to believe that Roberta is black.  Twyla's mother is described as wearing tight green pants with a big protruding posterior that also leads me to believe that Twyla is also black.

This story is very elusive to giving us definitive answer to the all the images of our imagination as to which girl is white and which girl is black.  I think the author does this purposely to make the reader focus their attention on the characters' identity and how they react to each other and the society they are living in during the sixties.  All people live human lives and why does it matter what their race is.  All people have different views about things and how they evolve and effect our lives.

Reading Response to The Lynching - Claude McKay

Claude McKay

1849 - 1948

Reading Response to The Lynching

This poem reflects regionalism coming from the times of Jim Crow laws when it was legal to lynch a man in broad daylight.  Line 10 describing the how the charred remains are swinging from a tree limb describes the horrific scene of what people would be subjected to seeing during this time period of history.  

Lines 11 - 14 describe how women look at the body swaying in the sun and how they do not feel any remorse or sorrow for what has happened to the individual who once lived and now lynched to death for all to see.  And how there are children dancing around this scene unaware of how horrible the scene really is, and looking at it with fiendish glee.  

Reading Response to Almos' a Man - Richard Wright

Richard Wright

1908-1960

Reading Response to Almos' a Man

This story deals with realism in that Dave felt like he was not respected in that he was almost a man. His mother said he was still a boy even though he was almost seventeen.  

Dave was desperate to feel like he was a man.  The best way he thought he could do that is to have his own gun.  Then folks won't talk to him like he was a little boy.  He wanted to have access to his own money so he could buy this gun.  The only way his mother agreed for him to buy this gun is that Dave must promise to bring the gun home for his father.  She trusted him to buy the gun on his own and bring it home.  

Dave was so excited to get that gun, he slept with it under his pillow that night and lied to his mother about having it.  Having that gun made him feel like a man.

When he accidentally shoots the mule he finds out that he is still in fact just a boy.  He was in a mess of a situation not knowing what to do about the mule.  When the mule died, he didn't have a clue how to explain what he had done, so made up an unbelievable story.  

When he was found out he was devastated, and ran away from home to escape his troubling debt he would never be able to pay off for killing that mule.

Reading Response to Dream Boogie - Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

1902 - 1967

Reading Response to Dream Boogie

This poem seems to have an upbeat and happy tone.  The words chosen seem like lyrics to the song the Boogie Woogie.  When I read it, I read it to the rhythm and beats to that song.  It seems that it is being performed by a entertainer who is arousing a crowd to join in the singing of the lyrics.

The social consciousness of this makes you aware of how it makes you feel while you are reading it.  This poem uses the form of B-bop to represent the urban black American life during the 1920s.