Claude Mckay “America”

Throughout this poem, Mckay speaks about his negative and positive feelings towards America; he specifically talks about the 1920’s which is when struggles really occured. Within the first stanza, the poem is more on a negative aspect due to the fact that Mckay states “she feeds me bread of bitterness”. This shows that America seems to be the source of Mckays supplyness even though it is resentful in a way since he stated bitterness. But then again, it seems as though he enjoys the fact he lives in this country as well because he states “I love this culture hell that tests my youth!”. He seems to love this country and hate the country at the same time.

Tell Them Not to Kill Me !

            This story begins with a very interesting phrase that can catch one’s attention from the start; “Tell them not to kill me, Justino!” is stated by Juvencio Nava towards his son, Justino. The father begs the son to tell the sergeants not to kill him; the torture has been enough and he is too old to be killed. The son replies “No I don’t feel like going..Because if I do they’ll know I’m your son.. will decide to shoot me too” (page 285). Then his son goes and questions what will be done with his wife and kids if they decide to shoot him too and the father replies by saying “providence will take care of them, Justino.. You go there now and see what you can do for me.. That’s what matters”. (page 285).

            Now as a reader, we are taking a journey through Juvencio’s mind. He remembers why he is in the position he is in now; “Don Lupe..because he’d refused to let him pasture his animals” and he killed Don Lupe. Juvencio’s animals were so hungry that they would make a hole and sneak to Don Lupe’s land to have some grass; Don Lupe said that if it happened again, he would kill them. He did kill one of his animals. This event happened years ago. 

                 We find out that the Colonel’s father was Don Lupe.  Juvencio still pleads with him and the Colonel says that Juvencio can get drunk so the shots would not hurt as much. Justino walks in and ends the story with ““They’ll think the coyote has been eating on you when they see your face so full of holes from all those bullets they shot at you” (page 289). 

           

Langston Hughes

   The poem “Harlem” written by Langston Hughes caught my attention right away. This poem is telling the readers what the consequences are for not achieving your goals or dreams in life. Langston Hughes opens up the poem by stating “What happens to a dream deferred?.. Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore”. At this specific part, Hughes is comparing the raisin and fester to a dream for a specific reason. He is trying to tell us that if you let your dreams postpone, it will eventually undergo a change or transformation and will rot like the sore (just like the raisin and the sore that festered). I believe Hughes makes these specific comparisons to show that you have to attempt to go after you dreams or it will “fester like a sore”. 

  Throughout the second stanza, he states “maybe it just sags, like a heavy load”. I believe Hughes is trying to say that our dreams are a huge weight on our shoulders. If we do not accomplish then it will eventually become heavier and harder to fulfill. It can also imply that the dream has become a burden in a way or a load like it says due to the fact that the dream has no motivation in a way.

Lastly he questions wether or not the dream exploded. I personally believe that he means this in a negative aspect. He ends the poem with somewhat of an exasperation tone because when I think of explosions, I think of eruptions or as if one is getting enraged with anger. So I assumed that the dream was finally let go of; I believe that the dream was never successful. 

Langston Hughes wrote this poem to explain to his readers his feelings of thwarting. I feel as though he felt disappointed and frustrated throughout this poem. 

The Tropics In New York; extra credit

 In Claude Mckay’s poem, “The Tropics in New York”, there is a sense of grief throughout the poem. In the first stanza, Mckay gives an intense description about the tropical fruits in New York. He states, “Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root, cocoa in pods and alligator pears” (line 1 and 2, Mckay). His description is so vague that you can truly imagine the fruits. 

In the second stanza, Mckay is recalling memories which tend to make him gloomy. He states, “My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze” (line 9, Mckay). He is tearing up about how much he misses his native land. He misses the “dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies in benediction over nun-like hills” (line 7 and 8, Mckay). 

 Mckay claims that he is “hungry for the old, familiar ways”, which clearly portrays how much he yearns for his homeland. He starts off the poem in a somewhat exuberant tone but ends it with a despondent feeling. When I searched for Charles Mckay’s biography, I found out that he lived in Jamaica from 1890- 1912, and then moved to the United States; he wrote this specific poem in the United States. 

I enjoyed this poem and found it rather intriguing. He has an expressive way of writing and lets his readers picture what he is saying. Mckay wrote this poem to portray his emotions and show how much he misses his country of origin. 

Jean Toomer ; extra credit

I did some research on Jean Toomer and found some intriguing facts about him. Toomer was a writer and philosopher. He came from an African-American family. However, they all could of passed for a white family.

Jean Toomer’s poem “Harvest Song” is a bit bewildering but I  noticed significant points. Jean Toomer talks about a reaper who has been “in the fields all day”. He constantly states that his “throat is dry” and he hungers. I questioned what he exactly hungers. Is it only food or is it more than that? I believe that he definitely hungers for more.

One specific stanza that seemed extremely significant to me was the fifth stanza. Within that fifth stanza, Toomer states “I fear to call…. I fear I could not taste it. I fear knowledge of my hunger”.  I feel as though Toomer is clarifying for the readers how hard his life was as a reaper and how much he had struggled. At the end of the poem he realizes that his pain is his “sweet”, even though it still does not “bring me knowledge of my hunger”.

Internal and External Problems

Throughout reading chapters 12- 18, I found an internal problem that rises within the community. Ironically at Ezeudu’s funeral, his sixteen year old son was shot as well which causes Okonkwo to be forced to leave the clan. “Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boys heart” (page 124). Okonkwo went to his motherland known as Mbanta. After seven years, he can come back into the clan. However, I believe that this was very harsh of them because this happened as an accident. But one can believe that to the village, this was not just some accident; it was as if “some spell was cast” (page 124).

Another internal problem that rises within the community is when the missionaries show up to the village Mbanta. The white man told the villagers that they believe in false Gods and that “the true God lived on high and that when all men died they went to him for Judgement” (page 145). He also states that they “have been sent by this great God to ask you to live your wicked ways and false Gods and turn to Him so that they may be saved when they die” (page 145). Nwoye seems to be very interested in this “new” God and seems to make sense to him as well; it stops all the confusion about the new-borns and Ikemefuna’s death. No one really seemed to believe the missionaries, except Nwoye. This eventually causes Okonkwo to become angry and he winds up choking him. Okonkwo did not believe the white man and questioned the white man about the fact that God had a son. Okonkwo stated that God must of had a wife then, refusing to believe the missionary.

Things Fall Apart (Ch 1-6)

In the first six chapters of Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, is definitely portrayed as a significant and powerful warrior in the village. This is already shown in the first sentence of the novel, “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (page 1). He even defeated Amalinze the cat, which was very arduous. His ambition comes from his unsuccessful father; Okonkwo does not want to be anything like his father.

Okonkwo and his father, Unoka, were complete opposites and there are many examples to back this up. “Unoka was never happy when it came to wars. He was in fact a coward and could not bear the sight of blood” (page 6). Unoka was also one known to owe a large amount of people money. He always borrowed money and never seemed to pay it back to anyone. His friend confronted him and he stated that he needed to pay off the large debts first.

Due to Unoka’s laziness, Okonkwo “ruled his household with a heavy hand” and was very tough on his children (page 13). He did not want his children to turn out anything like Okonkwo’s father so he made sure to be very stern and even harsh in a way. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was always beaten and yelled at because Okonkwo seemed to believe that he was lazy; Okonkwo did not tolerate laziness because that trait reminded him of his father.

Though Okonkwo is admired in society, even he has a flaw which is shown greatly during the Week of Peace. Okonkwo discovers that one of his wives has left the hut without cooking dinner and immediately beats her barbarously. Someone even tries to stop him, but he refuses to listen since “Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for the fear of a goddess” (page 30). It seems to me that this is Okonkwo’s main flaw and this is what will bring him down.

I personally believe Okonkwo is a coward because he believes that the societies opinions and judgements are more important than his own family. Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (page 13). This is definitely proven when he kills Ikemefuna with the machete. Ikemefuna felt protected when Okonkwo was there which really upsets me even more. He even looks at Okonkwo and says “Father, they have killed me”. Right after, Okonkwo continues swinging at him with his machete. I know we are suppose to feel some type of remorse for Okonkwo, but I personally do not feel any remorse for him. Even his close friend told him that he would not have done that himself.

The Real Story of Ah-Q

Ah-Q is portrayed as a “go to guy”. “If someone was needed to harvest wheat, he harvested wheat; if called upon to husk rice, he husked rice; if a boat wanted poling, that’s what he did…When people were in a hurry to get something done, therefore, they remembered Ah-Q – but only the odd jobs he could do for them, and not his life history” (page 84). Ah-Q seems to be an arrogant character in this novel and puts himself above everyone. He believes that the citizens of Weizhuang are foolish and do not know how to do anything right.
Ah-Q believes women are hypocrites and “he kept women he suspected of having designs on strange men under close surveillance, but they never smiled at him” (page 95). When women spoke to him, he would observe them carefully. They never tried to seduce them therefore proving female treachery. Ah-Q seems crazy and does not have a good head on his shoulders. He tells this girl randomly to sleep with him and she ran away crying. I feel as though he is not all up there and is harsh towards people because he feels that they are below his class. However, Ah-Q is not of high-class so I do not seem to understand why he believes he can treat people the way he does.

Raskolnikov’s article

I did not understand Raskolnikov’s article that much on the crime. However, I will try to interpret it as best as I can. I noticed that he made a point about how people are divided into two classes, which are the “ordinary” and “extraordinary”. He states that “the ordinary ones must live in submission and have no right to transgress the laws”. He also states that “the extraordinary have the right to commit the crime and break every kind of law”. Raskolnikov then goes into the comparison of Kepler and Newton and states that all men have equal rights. He keeps trying to cover his back by constantly lying and going on about his theories. Raskolnikov literally seems mentally ill because the way he thinks is out of the ordinary. That’s also why he is considered under the extraordinary category. I still do not understand the article that much but this is how I analyzed it.

Billy Budd’s Innocence

Billy Budd is portrayed as a young and good-looking character in the novel. As soon as the other sailors got to know him, they all liked him so much that they called him “Handsome Sailor”. Everybody enjoys Billy’s presence, except a malicious group known as, “The Red Whiskers”. The main character in the story that seems to despise Billy extremely, is John Claggart.

One can say John Claggart seems to be a hypocrite due to the fact that he acts nice towards Billy and does not show his true colors. He knows that Billy is so naive and innocent; Claggart takes advantage of Billy’s innocence and constantly uses his wickedness to attempt to hurt Billy. There is one specific situation where Billy accidently spills his soup, and Clagart believes that Billy did this on purpose. There are other malicious characters like Squeaky for instance, who tells Claggart that Billy says bad things about Claggart behind his back; this makes Claggart envy and hate Billy even more.

Claggart can represent the serpent from the story of Adam and Eve. Throughout the novel Claggart still is a hypocrite, and acts nice towards Billy; meanwhile all he wants to do, is plan wicked things to hurt Billy and Billy does not see this because Billy is so pure and would never think such a thing. Overall, Billy portrays good and Claggart portrays evil. Claggart is envious for the simple fact that Billy is so innocent and doesn’t have an ounce of wickedness inside of him. He is also envious because of Billy’s charming self and maybe even because everyone likes Billy and no one has ever showed Claggart the same attention.