Song to a Negro Washwoman

Although the name of the poem is not in the packet, internet research says it is called Song to a Negro Wash woman. While reading this poem I could not help but think of Delia. She was a wash woman working hard everyday with no help or appreciation from her husband. I like the idea of the poem. It is about a wash woman who keeps singing and praising jesus and one day all her hard work will pay off because she will be right next to jesus forgetting all the hard labor that she encountered on earth and the clothes she had to wash. I think it’s nice and uplifting to believe that one day after all the hard work and sweat that you will finally achieve happiness and forget your troubles. Delia may not be sitting next to jesus, who knows? But she no longer has to deal with Sykes because he is dead. In a way both the poem and the story Sweat demonstrate Karma. The hard working washwoman who never stopped praising God will finally be able to sit near him, while the ungrateful, abusive husband died by his own weapon, and it was not a peaceful way to go. I’m not sure if it was good karma that Delia no longer has to deal with Sykes or just a stroke of good luck.

Silver by Langston Hughes

The poem Silver by Langston Hughes is a pretty short poem but it contains a lot of meaning. The poem speaks about the danger of words to a tune which can “cut a man’s/ Throat sometimes.” The poem is speaking about the power of songs, which is interesting because the poem sounds like it is a verse from a song. Music and dance was really important to people, especially Black people during that time period. It helped them get through a lot, and it was an increasing form of expression. Silver is not the only poem by Langston Hughes which deals with music. Silver speaks about the importance of rhymes or words to the tune. Words are powerful themselves, but when combined with a song something powerful can also emerge. Whether you are trying to remember something or shed light on social issues, while connecting different groups of people. “Cheap tunes and little rhymes” cannot literally cut someones throat. I think that this saying means that the rhymes along with the tune can leave someone speechless as if their throat was just cut. Hughes also says it’s “sometimes as dangerous as the silver of the moon.” I do not know for sure what this line means but I think that the beauty of the moon can be compared to the beauty of the song and sometimes beauty is too much to handle.

Love

The story “Love” is about a woman named Anna who reaches a “crisis” in her life after she  sees a blind man chewing gum. After witnessing this she reevaluates her life and see the evil and lack of compassion within her world. What confused me about the story was I do not understand why a blind man chewing gum would throw her whole world out of whack. Blind men can still chew gum. I think that maybe she wasn’t expecting it and when she saw it she was so confused and a lot of emotions were rushing to her and she did not know what to do. She realized she felt sorry for the blind man among other things. After the blind man, Anna begins to notice the bad in everything and seems a bit crazy, especially in the part when she is talking to her son. However, I do not believe she was crazy. I think that she was just having a bad day. In class we were discussing what the ending of the story might have meant. I believe that her husband was just trying to comfort her because of her bad day. I think that when she blows out the days flame that she will sleep and probably wake up feeling alright again.

Sweat

Zora Neale Hurtson’s sweat was interesting yet hard to read. The southern dialect she uses is hard to follow and at times requires a second reading. I wonder if it was as hard to understand when the story was first published as it is now. The story title “Sweat” can refer to Delia’s job as a wash woman and to her hard work that she puts into keeping her house together while her husband does nothing but cheat on her and use her for everything she has earned. Delia seems kind of timid almost as if she’d let her husband get away with anything, until she raises the skillet to him, but she did not hit him with it. This presents the reader with a “work in progress” idea. Maybe she is slowly gaining the courage to fight back. After Sykes leaves, Delia is getting ready to sleep and she says, “whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got to come under his belly.” I am not quite sure of the meaning but I think it means what happens behind his back will be seen when it comes to the front of him. Later Delia passes Sykes with his girlfriend and with her slowly growing courage one would expect her to go out and confront him, but that does not happen. Some people say she took action by letting the snake loose and letting Sykes die, but I think Sykes death was out of her control. The text states, “Delia could not move-her legs were gone flabby. She never moves, he called, and the sun kept rising.” At first she was frozen with fear. It was not her decision not to move it was out of her control. Even if she could get to him she would not be able to reach a doctor in time he would have died either way.

Tell Them Not to Kill Me

I think that “Tell them Not to Kill Me” was one of the most interesting stories we have read. It is not really confusing but I think that it is open to varying interpretations. The story opens with Juvencio begging his son Justino to tell the sergeant not to kill him. At first You may pity Juvencio but soon after the pity starts to fade. Justino objects to telling the sergeant not to kill his father because then they will know that he is Juvencio’s son and he may possibly be shot too. But Juvencio does not seem to care about that. He values his life more. But still, I questioned why they wanted him dead. In the story we learn that Juvencio would help his animals sneak on to his neighbor Don Lupe’s farm and when Don Lupe killed one of them Juvencio killed him. The fact that he would cut a hole in the fence for his animals makes Juvencio seem devious, but the way that he killed Don Lupe, “by being hacked first with a machete and then an ox goad stuck in his belly…he lasted more than two days,”  This makes him seem even more devious and deceitful. Rather than turn himself in Juvencio was hiding with his son and his family until he was found. Even when being led to the colonel Juvencio lies and says he has never hurt anybody. The colonel turns out to be Don Lupe’s son and in an act of revenge, not justice, orders Juvencio to be shot but allows him to be drunk so the shots don’t hurt. The story ends with Justino speaking to his father telling him how his daughter in law and grand children will miss him but he does not say if he will miss him. I do not believe that he will.

The Night Face Up

To me the Night Face Up was kind of confusing because it alternates between a dream state and reality. In the beginning it seems as if the reality is the character getting into a motorcycle accident and being taken to a hospital, as well as his treatment in the hospital. The dream states seems to be the character in the middle of a war trying to escape from the Aztecs. At the end of the story it is apparent that the motorcycle accident was the dream while running from the Aztecs was the reality. During the first reading I thought that the two “dreams” were completely unrelated. But Cortazar intertwined the two “dreams” at points. For example while in the forest Cortazar states, “The sound was not repeated. It had been like a broken limb.” Although I am not quite sure what it means I took it as the sound had stopped just as a broken limb stops moving. The motorcycle accident, seemingly irrelevant to running away from war can actually work to symbolize the war. After the accident the character feels the need to be justified, he states “His single solace was was to hear someone else confirm that the lights had indeed been in his favor.” To me this relates to war because the character is looking for someone to tell him he did the right thing. That his decisions that led up to him running from the Aztecs were justifiable and the events that will occur, including his inevitable death, are not in vain. But he cannot accept his situation just yet and finds comfort in a dream of something less dangerous and life threatening.

Langston Hughes

Before the reading, the only thing I really Knew about Langston Hughes was that he was an important writer during the Harlem Renaissance. I think that through his poetry I have learned more about him. Throughout his poems there is repetition of dancing, music and also colors. In “Weary Blues” Hughes speaks about a man singing a “sad raggy tune.” The way he is describing it in the poem is almost as if you cannot turn away from it. The song itself could be a reflection on the Black people during the time period. The song is pretty depressing ending with, “I ain’t happy no mo’/ And I wish I had died.” Not only that but instead the piano playing the tune it “moaned.” To me, the poem represents sadness, but it also represents music as the thing to turn to no matter what you’re feeling. We can see the idea of music and dancing again in ” Boogie Segue To Bop” In this poem, the poet is dancing, which in appearance seems happy. However if you look beneath it you might hear something else but I think the poet is in denial about it when he says, “what did I say?/  Sure i’m happy!/Take it away!” Colors is an important part of Hughes work. He describes “White-days,”  “Pale evenings.” Golden girl,” etc. While color seems important, I think that skin color becomes much more essential in “Theme for English B” Hughes speaks about being the only colored person in his class and he is thinking about how being colored makes him different, and what color paper he will have. I think the “color” of the paper reflects the content of his paper and what ideals it represents. But Hughes comes to a conclusion that “being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.” Another thing I find interesting about this poem is that I think this is one of the only poems that I feel Hughes is speaking as himself or giving us insight into his personal experience rather than speaking for a group of people and giving us the group perspective on it.

A Doll’s House

A Doll’s House was one of the most interesting assigned reading so far. As I was reading it at first I was confused about the relationship between Nora and Torvald. I knew she was his wife, but there were moments when I thought maybe she was his daughter, or a child. He did not speak to her as if she were his equal, throughout the play it seemed as if she were just a pretty object to maintain appearances. Torvald was not the only person who believed Nora was child like, even her friend Mrs. Linde believes Nora doesn’t have a worry in the world. However she proves them all wrong. In an effort to save her husband’s life Nora borrowed money and forged her father’s signature. Hearing the story I did not see a problem with it. She borrowed it for a good cause and she is working hard to pay it back. I agreed with Torvald finding out because I thought that maybe it would strengthen their relationship if he realized she helped save his life.

When Torvald found out it was nothing like I expected. He was angry, but he did not factor in her reasons or seem like he even cared about them. He is not willing to sacrifice himself to save Nora but he is willing to pay off Krogstad and keep up false happiness. I guess in the end it was crucial for Nora to tell Torvald about the loan. It made Nora realize the reality of her marriage and her childlike state. She decides to leave her roles of mother and wife and instead focus on herself. In a way I commend her for striving for independence and for not giving up and staying in the marriage, but I also can’t help but compare it to modern times. I don’t know how to view it in this story, but usually when a mother decides to leave her children she is viewed as a “bad mother,” but for some reason I do not think of her as a horrible person. Before she can help anyone else, even her kids, she must work on herself.

Billy Budd and the Ancient Mariner

While reading Billy Budd I did not notice many similarities to the “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The similarities that were easier to notice include setting. Both take place at sea on a ship. Both are of stories of events that once happened or someone claims has happened. Both Billy Budd, and the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” show that actions have consequences. In Billy Budd, he is accused of staging a mutiny and instead of defending himself he hits his accuser, Claggart, who ends up dying. Billy Budd is then put on trial. The Mariner kills the albatross, which in turn causes the sailors to become stranded without water, and the ship to be haunted. Soon the Mariner has to watch as his fellow sailors die. What I don’t really understand is why the sailors died instead of the Mariner. In Billy Budd it seems as if everyone who deserved punishment were the ones who received it. Claggart falsely accused Billy Budd of mutiny and he was killed, and Billy Budd kills Claggart and he is put on trial. The mariner killed the albatross and he gets to live to tell the tale of how the other sailors died.

I think that Billy Budd demonstrates that no matter how perfect something seems, there’s always an imperfection that can lead to downfall. Billy Budd was described as handsome, but he has a stutter. The stutter led him to violence rather than using his words to defend himself. But Billy Budd presents the themes of imperfections and consequences in a more realistic way than the “Ancient Mariner.” I’m sure as I read more there will be more similarities to discuss, I just haven’t found them yet.

The Joys of Memory

While reading Wordsworth’s “Lines,” it became apparent that memory plays an important role in our lives. Wordsworth is visiting a place he has been to before. A place that he has kept alive in his mind for the five years since he had been there. Wordsworth states, “But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid din/ Of towns and cities, I have owed to them/ In hours of weariness, sensations sweet” (110).  Whenever he feels lonely or even has moments of despair he uses the memory of this beautiful place to raise his spirits.Wordsworth believed that his memory was all he had to keep his special place alive. He had no idea that he’d ever see it again. This is shown when he compares his years away from the banks to “landscape to a blind mans eye.” A blind man most likely will never see a landscape again, they have to rely on their other senses to keep them going.

Wordsworth’s “lines” also reflect change. When he revisits the banks, everything is not how it once was. The banks have changed, as nature does, but he has changed as well. He is not the same person he was five years ago. But rather than mourn what was, he accepts it. He states, ” Not for this faint I, nor mourn, nor murmur.” While change can be tough, Wordsworth seems optimistic. Through change other “gifts” can come. While nature altered the environment, it could change the love he had for his sister who he shared past moments with at the banks.The changes also can not alter his past memory. As he stands at the at the banks he states, “I stand, not only with the sense/ Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts/ That in this moment there is life and food/ For future years”(111).  As he stands there he realizes that he has great memories of the banks. Memories that have comforted him, and even though things have changed the joy of finding the banks again mixed with memory provide him with a lifetime supply of comfort. No matter what happens he’ll always have these memories to look back on.

Time plays a crucial role in Wordsworth’s poem. As time goes on, things change. People change. But if changed never occurred our memories would have much less value. Rather than mourn what was, live in the present. Continue on with life but keep your memories alive.