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.

Reading Response to Gilded Six-Bits - Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston

1891 - 1960

Reading Response toThe Guilded Six-Bits

This story represents a lot of symbolism.  The Guilded Six-Bits referring to money gilded (painted over) to make it look as if it was worth more than it was to make people believe you were wealthy.

Also, the reference: You makin' feet for shoes is a interesting narrative description of a woman being pregnant.  This is the first time I have ever heard this term referring to pregnancy.

The candy kisses in the story symbolize sweetness of love Joe has for his wife Missy May even after he caught her in the act of adultery with a stranger in their bed.