The "magical" 70's, being a young child and young teen through the seventies I watched much of this era unfold. I owned bell bottoms, hip huggers and clogs, and have since watched them come back to popularity again. As well as the Lava lamp and mood rings. I sat with my father and watched the very first Star Wars movie, and I must say the new Star War movies pale in comparison. I have witnessed the video game revolution from the first Atari video gaming system to the Wii, and I have to admit I have not improved my gaming skills in the last forty years. But with all things being equal I have also witnessed the worse of the seventies as well. I saw the disgraceful way Americans treated Vietnam veterans when they came back from war, most of whom did not choose to go to Vietnam. The importance of Martin Luther King's message will not be taught in schools during this decade, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The three stories that we read this time show the dynamics of a family. In particular the relationships between mother and child, with the father not being quite connected. In the first story, "Verona: A Young Woman Speaks" the father while present is the "Disney Dad" he showers his daughter with gifts and wants to show her museum and paintings, but with her mother she shares a "simple" moment that was true happiness. In the second story, "How to Win", the father is living outside reality while the mother is trying to cope with their son's autism. While he is living in denial, the mother is riddled with guilt because she feels they must have done something to deserve their son's autism. In the third story "Roses, Rhododendron", the father has ran off with his girlfriend leaving his wife and daughter behind. The mother in this story picks up and moves south to start an antique store on the whim of the Ouija board. The young girl develops a friendship with a young girl and her family that her mother becomes jealous of, and deals with that jealousy by talking badly about them.
"Verona: A Young Woman Speaks" by Harold Brodskey, a young girl and her parents are traveling to Salzburg for Christmas via the train stopping along the way. One gets the impression the story takes place right before WWII or shortly after, "the people had stern, sad faces, beautiful, unlaughing faces". The narrator tells the story in first person, through the eyes of the young girl. At this time in her life she felt loved, by her parents and by the strangers she encountered on her voyage, " I understood I was special. I understood it then." Her father indulged her with monetary items, he had saved for this special trip and splurged on her. He wanted to show her paintings and castles, but with her mother she shares a moment in the middle of the night on the train watching the mountains and the moon. Her father awakes, only to comment the scenery was "pretty" not really feeling the magnitude of what they were seeing and feeling. The story touches on the relationships between her and her parents, one on one, and how her parents relate to each other. While the love between adults have conditions, the love between a child and parent is unconditional. Her mother at times was jealous of the love the father showed the daughter, I could not help wondering if it was the love that the father gave the girl or the love that the girl gave her father that was the reason for the jealousy. "I fell asleep in her arms. That was happiness then".
"How to Win" by Rosellen Brown, is a sad story about the pain a mother feels watching her son deal with autism. The time was the 1970's when children with autism were forced into public schools with no real plan to deal with their special needs. The Individual Education Plan (IEP) was little more than a plan how to control these children, not educate and prepare them for the world. This story is told as a first person through the eyes of the mother as she is trying to cope with the every day traumas of living with a child that has autism. The father does not see what mom sees every day, he doesn't want to. It is easier to pretend that he is just an overactive boy than to deal with the reality of autism, this is evident when he wants to take his son on a trip to the Smithsonian. His son can't make it through the day without destroying everything in his path, his father was in complete denial. The incident in class on a day where she has given him "a favor" of not taking his medication, shows the true pain of this mother. The realization in order for her to win with her son she needs to break him. Which is what happens in the classroom that day, the other kids and the teacher pin him down breaking his momentum and his spirit. In order for one of them to win the other must lose.
"Roses, Rhododendron" by Alice Adams is the story of a young girl and her mother. When her father runs away with his girlfriend, her mother based on the advice of her ouija board moves the two of them to the south in order to set up an antique store. This story is done in first person with the young girl as the narrator of the story. The young girl meets another young girl, Harriett and her parents, Emily and Lawerence, she idolizes this family because they have the stablity in their home that she doesn't have in her own. The two girls become fast friends, and they spend much of their time at Harriett's house with her mother Emily. This friendship bothers Margot, the narrator's mother, she has become jealous of the relationship that our narrator has with Emily. Margot handles this jealousy by talking badly about the Farr family, in particular Emily making her to look like a weak woman. Later in the narrator's life she will have some of those same feelings regarding her daughter and one of her friend's mothers. After they move to be with her father in San Francisco, she loses touch with Harriett. She reaches out to Harriett later in life, when Harriett writes back she tells our narrator how her family felt she was as important to them as they were to her. Interestingly, while she thought her and Harriett were different, her husband comments how Harriett sounded like her.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
"The Ledge", "The German Refugee", and "The Defender of the Faith"
The 1960's brings about more change in American history, it was a turbulent time for Americans. Americans were coming to terms about what happened during WWII, the Korean War in the 50's, and the entry of the war in Vietnam. Civil Rights was a hot topic and weighed heavily on everyone's mind. In the 60's we saw the assassination of a president, as well as the assassination of his brother, and civil rights leaders Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. I was a child of the 1960's, on one of our travels as a family to NJ to see family my father accidentally drove us into Harlem during this time of unrest.
"The German Refugee" by Bernard Malamud is a sad story about a Jewish German immigrant, Oskar escaped to America during WWII. He was able to immigrate to America because he had been hired as a lecturer of German Poetry. Our narrator is the young college student who was trying to teach Oskar the English language. The struggle Oskar felt to learn the language and adapt to a new country was very real, while many immigrant's before him felt this anguish they embraced it because they chose to be here for a better life. Oskar chose to be here only because he would have surely been killed by the Nazi Germans. Bernard showed us Oskar's pain of losing his "voice". He a man of many words was unable to communicate because of the language barrier, but in addtion to that the very poems he once loved no longer held the same meaning because of what was happening in his native Germany. The author also showed us the relationship that Oskar and the narrator share, how Oskar's despair had become his despair as well. Oskar was finally able to lecture and communicate with others again, but the joy was short lived when he received the news that his wife had been executed by the Nazis. Oskar ends his own life.
"The Defender of the Faith", is a story about soldiers preparing for war during World War II. Sergeant Marx, a man of Jewish descent, was sent to be a drill sergeant for a group of new recruits. Sheldon, also a man of Jewish descent, was a new recruit under Marx's command. Having gone through Navy boot camp in the 1980's I find Sheldon to be very presumptuous when dealing with Sergeant Marx. And in the end when Sergeant Marx gets Sheldon's orders changed from a home post in NJ to the Pacific, I do not feel sadden for Sheldon. While Sheldon's intentions in the beginning were to get him, Fishbein, and Halpern prayer and food rights that they they were justified in having he took it too far. One might think Sheldon should be commended for his resourcefulness and that he was a protector of the other two men's well being, but in the end he only thought about Sheldon.
"The Ledge" when the story begins I couldn't help thinking what a wonderful coming of age piece, rite of passage. The boys received new guns for Christmas and they were going hunting with the fisherman, the 13 year old's father and the 15 year old's uncle, on the ledge. The ledge was only exposed during low tide and the boys had only hunted on land, it was going to be an adventure. The writer gives us the impression that the fisherman was a hard man, who strived for perfection and the best equipment was important to him. He was not a easy man to live with, his wife imagined that it would have been nice if the ocean "kept" him but felt guilty afterward for the thought.
Christmas Day was the perfect day for the hunt, the weather was good and the ducks were getting ready to migrate. A perfect day...we are first lead to believe. He first had thoughts of why don't I just stay in my warm bed with my wife, but he gets himself moving. He then forgot his pipe tobacco which made him cranky, and there are times that the boys wished he had not forgotten it as well. The day proceeded and the fisherman and the boys have a great day, they have shot many ducks and enjoyed the day together. While the fisherman had the best of equipment and kept his equipment in perfect condition, a simple insignificant skiff brings about their demise. Someone had not properly secured the skiff and it drifted away, stranding them on the ledge with the tide coming in. It was winter time and the ocean was frigid, so there was no way to get back to the boat. What happens next was the sacrifice of a father in order to prevent his son's death for as long as possible. All I could comment at the end of this story was my heart was broken. The image of the fisherman frozen with his foot twisted in order to hold his place on the ledge to keep his son above water as long as possible, with the boots sticking from his suspenders and his arms pulled back. The fisherman who was not an emotional man endured incredible pain in order to keep his son safe for a little longer.
"The German Refugee" by Bernard Malamud is a sad story about a Jewish German immigrant, Oskar escaped to America during WWII. He was able to immigrate to America because he had been hired as a lecturer of German Poetry. Our narrator is the young college student who was trying to teach Oskar the English language. The struggle Oskar felt to learn the language and adapt to a new country was very real, while many immigrant's before him felt this anguish they embraced it because they chose to be here for a better life. Oskar chose to be here only because he would have surely been killed by the Nazi Germans. Bernard showed us Oskar's pain of losing his "voice". He a man of many words was unable to communicate because of the language barrier, but in addtion to that the very poems he once loved no longer held the same meaning because of what was happening in his native Germany. The author also showed us the relationship that Oskar and the narrator share, how Oskar's despair had become his despair as well. Oskar was finally able to lecture and communicate with others again, but the joy was short lived when he received the news that his wife had been executed by the Nazis. Oskar ends his own life.
"The Defender of the Faith", is a story about soldiers preparing for war during World War II. Sergeant Marx, a man of Jewish descent, was sent to be a drill sergeant for a group of new recruits. Sheldon, also a man of Jewish descent, was a new recruit under Marx's command. Having gone through Navy boot camp in the 1980's I find Sheldon to be very presumptuous when dealing with Sergeant Marx. And in the end when Sergeant Marx gets Sheldon's orders changed from a home post in NJ to the Pacific, I do not feel sadden for Sheldon. While Sheldon's intentions in the beginning were to get him, Fishbein, and Halpern prayer and food rights that they they were justified in having he took it too far. One might think Sheldon should be commended for his resourcefulness and that he was a protector of the other two men's well being, but in the end he only thought about Sheldon.
"The Ledge" when the story begins I couldn't help thinking what a wonderful coming of age piece, rite of passage. The boys received new guns for Christmas and they were going hunting with the fisherman, the 13 year old's father and the 15 year old's uncle, on the ledge. The ledge was only exposed during low tide and the boys had only hunted on land, it was going to be an adventure. The writer gives us the impression that the fisherman was a hard man, who strived for perfection and the best equipment was important to him. He was not a easy man to live with, his wife imagined that it would have been nice if the ocean "kept" him but felt guilty afterward for the thought.
Christmas Day was the perfect day for the hunt, the weather was good and the ducks were getting ready to migrate. A perfect day...we are first lead to believe. He first had thoughts of why don't I just stay in my warm bed with my wife, but he gets himself moving. He then forgot his pipe tobacco which made him cranky, and there are times that the boys wished he had not forgotten it as well. The day proceeded and the fisherman and the boys have a great day, they have shot many ducks and enjoyed the day together. While the fisherman had the best of equipment and kept his equipment in perfect condition, a simple insignificant skiff brings about their demise. Someone had not properly secured the skiff and it drifted away, stranding them on the ledge with the tide coming in. It was winter time and the ocean was frigid, so there was no way to get back to the boat. What happens next was the sacrifice of a father in order to prevent his son's death for as long as possible. All I could comment at the end of this story was my heart was broken. The image of the fisherman frozen with his foot twisted in order to hold his place on the ledge to keep his son above water as long as possible, with the boots sticking from his suspenders and his arms pulled back. The fisherman who was not an emotional man endured incredible pain in order to keep his son safe for a little longer.
Monday, September 27, 2010
"The Peach Stone", "Maimi-New York" and the "Hitchhikers"
We have hit the 1940's, and have entered into WWII. Americans are asked to make sacrifices in order to aid in the war effort, which includes recyling everything from metal and rubber to paper. The high school drop out rate soars as teens are entering the workplace.
In "Maimi-New York we encountered two strangers on a commerical air flight, traveling by plane which was not done as commonly as it is today. In the "Hitchhiker", Tom Harris is a traveling salesman who picks up two hitchhikers on the side of the road to entertain himself. Today, it would be considered foolish to pick up two bums on the side of the road, as we get into the story it should have been considered foolish then as well. In the "The Peach Stone" we encountered a family that was driving back to the woman's hometown to bury their daughter.
"The Peach Stone" is my favorite of this timeframe, even though it is one of the saddest. Cleotha, Jodey, Buddy (their nine year old son), and Arleen (their son's teacher) are traveling to Weed, Cleotha's hometown, in order to bury their 2 year old daughter. Their daughter was tragically killed in a freak fire the prior day. The author went into great detail painting us a picture of the area they traveled through, he also gave us a glimpse of the emotions and pain each were feeling. Buddy, who was looking for reassurance from his mother that everything will be alright, finally got that reassurance with a simple blinking of his mother's eyes. Arleen who started the journey thinking she was superior to this poor family, realized they have something much greater than she....they had each other. Jodey, whose guilt over not cleaning up the tumbleweeds was hurting him deeply, he tried to run over an object in the road to take out those angry feelings.
The importance of the peach tree comes up often in the story, not in the sense of peaches but comparing the peach pit as bringing about life. One of my favorite parts of the story is when they were driving by the old man that she had always looked away from with pity. He was that peach tree that was twisted and dying, but he still had some green leaves on his tree (life) and around him was the peach orchard that had grown from his peach stone. His children and grandchildren had surrounded him giving him love and support, and admist the past tradegies and pain in his life he still sang. The signficance of this is not lost on Cleotha. In the end Cleotha breaks her grief filled silence to rejoin her family, the power of love that comes from being a family brings her back.
In "Maimi-New York", the two characters in the story are sizing each up. They make assumptions about one another, by judging the looks of the other's face. Her marriage is in trouble and he is coming back from war. They connected with a kiss, and continued to have a make out session on the plane even though neither knew the other. When he realized who Kate was his attitude changed, she was older and more worldy not someone he could just play with. His intentions were to have a good time for the moment and hers were to continue the relationship when the plane landed, because she did not have casual relations with a man. John walks away from the airport not giving Kate another thought, and Kate leaves the airport in despair. I get from this story the assumptions people make about one another without knowing the other person. But also the persumption that a 35 year old woman is middle aged and no longer desirable which was how John made Kate feel in the end. I would like to think women of today are more empowered than that.
"The Hitchhikers" is the story of Tom Harris, a traveling salesman. I honestly did not enjoy this story very much. Tom seems very disjointed from the things and people around him. He picks up two bums on the side of the road and travels them to his next destination, and even attempted to get them a place to stay - the back porch of hotel. They repay him by stealing his car, and one of the guys clobbers the other with a beer bottle to the head. Tom seems to have this revered status amongst the local people of this town, but he seemed to just tolerate his relationship with them.
In "Maimi-New York we encountered two strangers on a commerical air flight, traveling by plane which was not done as commonly as it is today. In the "Hitchhiker", Tom Harris is a traveling salesman who picks up two hitchhikers on the side of the road to entertain himself. Today, it would be considered foolish to pick up two bums on the side of the road, as we get into the story it should have been considered foolish then as well. In the "The Peach Stone" we encountered a family that was driving back to the woman's hometown to bury their daughter.
"The Peach Stone" is my favorite of this timeframe, even though it is one of the saddest. Cleotha, Jodey, Buddy (their nine year old son), and Arleen (their son's teacher) are traveling to Weed, Cleotha's hometown, in order to bury their 2 year old daughter. Their daughter was tragically killed in a freak fire the prior day. The author went into great detail painting us a picture of the area they traveled through, he also gave us a glimpse of the emotions and pain each were feeling. Buddy, who was looking for reassurance from his mother that everything will be alright, finally got that reassurance with a simple blinking of his mother's eyes. Arleen who started the journey thinking she was superior to this poor family, realized they have something much greater than she....they had each other. Jodey, whose guilt over not cleaning up the tumbleweeds was hurting him deeply, he tried to run over an object in the road to take out those angry feelings.
The importance of the peach tree comes up often in the story, not in the sense of peaches but comparing the peach pit as bringing about life. One of my favorite parts of the story is when they were driving by the old man that she had always looked away from with pity. He was that peach tree that was twisted and dying, but he still had some green leaves on his tree (life) and around him was the peach orchard that had grown from his peach stone. His children and grandchildren had surrounded him giving him love and support, and admist the past tradegies and pain in his life he still sang. The signficance of this is not lost on Cleotha. In the end Cleotha breaks her grief filled silence to rejoin her family, the power of love that comes from being a family brings her back.
In "Maimi-New York", the two characters in the story are sizing each up. They make assumptions about one another, by judging the looks of the other's face. Her marriage is in trouble and he is coming back from war. They connected with a kiss, and continued to have a make out session on the plane even though neither knew the other. When he realized who Kate was his attitude changed, she was older and more worldy not someone he could just play with. His intentions were to have a good time for the moment and hers were to continue the relationship when the plane landed, because she did not have casual relations with a man. John walks away from the airport not giving Kate another thought, and Kate leaves the airport in despair. I get from this story the assumptions people make about one another without knowing the other person. But also the persumption that a 35 year old woman is middle aged and no longer desirable which was how John made Kate feel in the end. I would like to think women of today are more empowered than that.
"The Hitchhikers" is the story of Tom Harris, a traveling salesman. I honestly did not enjoy this story very much. Tom seems very disjointed from the things and people around him. He picks up two bums on the side of the road and travels them to his next destination, and even attempted to get them a place to stay - the back porch of hotel. They repay him by stealing his car, and one of the guys clobbers the other with a beer bottle to the head. Tom seems to have this revered status amongst the local people of this town, but he seemed to just tolerate his relationship with them.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
"That Evening Sun Go Down" and "Here We Are"
The 1930's brings us the Great Depression and a time of great uncertainty. In "That Evening Sun Go Down" Faulkner writes about the changes going on in the thirties, with automobiles and street lights everything has changed "even the Negro women who still take in white people's washing after the old custom, fetch and deliver it in automobiles".
He remembers a time in the past, fifteen years ago, when Nancy used to do their families laundry. It was a time after blacks were freed from slavery, but they still were not "free" in the true sense of freedom. The story saddens me that in this era while white women were not treated as equals black women were treated much worse. Black women were forced to endure the violence of others without any recourse. When Nancy attempted to get payment from Mr. Stovall, he attacked her in the street even with a marshal present. She went to jail and he walked away. When she attempted to kill herself she was beaten by the jailer for it.
There was jesting amongst the three children about being scared and not being a nigger through out the story. But Nancy, a black woman, was experiencing real terror about the return of her rage filled husband, she could feel him around her. She was also feeling the despair of being a nigger, something she had no control over. She had been impregnated by a white man, quite possibly not of her choosing. Her husband was angry about the injustice of a white man going into his home and taking what was his, he could not retaliate and he could not go into a white man's home and do the same. That anger festered into a rage that would not go away until he retaliated against Nancy.
Quentin's father, Jason, was only willing to involve himself to a certain degree. He walked her home for several times and allowed her to stay in their home, but in the end separated himself and his family from her. He wasn't willing to do anymore for this black woman who brought this mess upon herself according to him.
"Here We Are" quite honestly made me laugh, I have two sets of these same people in my own life. The couple was on the train to New York for their honeymoon, the woman was frightened by the momentous step she had just taken. She felt alone and isolated, at this time in the 30's women were still kept under the protective wing of their families. How she reacted to these feelings was the kicker for me. She set her husband up to fail her by misleading him with her comments. Her bridesmaid was lovely today, he agreed with her and shortly after "he should have married her friend instead of her". He could not win with her, while he tried in earnest not to lose his temper he did end up arguing back about Joe.
One gets the impression that the two argued before the marriage, and that the couple felt once they were married that would magically disappear. One could not help wondering if she was worried she would be stuck with him forever, or this was how she handled her nervousness. Change is the big theme here, the scariness of changing from me to we. Even today young people who get to know each intimately often well before marriage and live together first have some of those same fears. I can only imagine in the 30's where the exploring of the relationship was much less likely to happen that it could be very frightening. What happens if we are so different that we can not live together? Scary!
He remembers a time in the past, fifteen years ago, when Nancy used to do their families laundry. It was a time after blacks were freed from slavery, but they still were not "free" in the true sense of freedom. The story saddens me that in this era while white women were not treated as equals black women were treated much worse. Black women were forced to endure the violence of others without any recourse. When Nancy attempted to get payment from Mr. Stovall, he attacked her in the street even with a marshal present. She went to jail and he walked away. When she attempted to kill herself she was beaten by the jailer for it.
There was jesting amongst the three children about being scared and not being a nigger through out the story. But Nancy, a black woman, was experiencing real terror about the return of her rage filled husband, she could feel him around her. She was also feeling the despair of being a nigger, something she had no control over. She had been impregnated by a white man, quite possibly not of her choosing. Her husband was angry about the injustice of a white man going into his home and taking what was his, he could not retaliate and he could not go into a white man's home and do the same. That anger festered into a rage that would not go away until he retaliated against Nancy.
Quentin's father, Jason, was only willing to involve himself to a certain degree. He walked her home for several times and allowed her to stay in their home, but in the end separated himself and his family from her. He wasn't willing to do anymore for this black woman who brought this mess upon herself according to him.
"Here We Are" quite honestly made me laugh, I have two sets of these same people in my own life. The couple was on the train to New York for their honeymoon, the woman was frightened by the momentous step she had just taken. She felt alone and isolated, at this time in the 30's women were still kept under the protective wing of their families. How she reacted to these feelings was the kicker for me. She set her husband up to fail her by misleading him with her comments. Her bridesmaid was lovely today, he agreed with her and shortly after "he should have married her friend instead of her". He could not win with her, while he tried in earnest not to lose his temper he did end up arguing back about Joe.
One gets the impression that the two argued before the marriage, and that the couple felt once they were married that would magically disappear. One could not help wondering if she was worried she would be stuck with him forever, or this was how she handled her nervousness. Change is the big theme here, the scariness of changing from me to we. Even today young people who get to know each intimately often well before marriage and live together first have some of those same fears. I can only imagine in the 30's where the exploring of the relationship was much less likely to happen that it could be very frightening. What happens if we are so different that we can not live together? Scary!
Monday, September 20, 2010
"Blood-Burning Moon" and "The Killers"
"Blood-Burning Moon" by Jean Toomer and "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway are two stories that take place in the roaring twenties. This is a time in America that the "times" are changing quickly. There is huge economic growth due to new machines, the new machines shorten work hours and the growth increases wages. This changed how much free time people have and what they did with it. The automobile allows people to become mobile, which increased the need for new highways, with the new highways the hospitality industry grew as well. The enactment of the 18th amendment of Prohibition brings about a whole new group of criminals.
In the "Blood-Burning Moon" Bob Stone thinks the following about Louisa: "She was worth it. Beautiful nigger gal. Why nigger? Why not, just gal? No, it was because she was a nigger that he went to her." Bob Stone is conflicted in his love for Louisa and what he feels is his entitlement because he is white and she is black. While Bob walked to meet Louisa and he was trying to justify his relationship with Louisa. Why should he sneak around, if he was a master he could just take what is his. He may truly love her but he could never be openly with her because it wasn't acceptable in this time frame of history. It was not acceptable for blacks and whites to have romantic relationship, Jean Toomer, the author, experienced this firsthand. Jean's light skin allowed him to move between the white and black worlds, until he married a white woman. Bob wasn't willing to risk the embarrassment or harassment of being with a black woman openly.
When Louisa did not meet him in the clearing as planned, Bob believed she was with Tom, he went to her spoiling for a fight with Tom. The author paints the reader a picture of anger and rage that both of these men feel towards each other. This leaves me the reader wondering if Bob was angry about Louisa being with Tom because he truly loved her or that he did not want Tom touching what he considered his property. Bob attacked Tom first and Tom tried to send him off, dismissing him. He eventually defends himself against Bob, again Bob was the one who pulled out the knife first, and Tom defended himself by killing Bob. Tom was lynched and killed by an angry white mob, it did not matter to them that Tom was attacked first. The other blacks that witnessed the scene hid in their homes, they were not willing to step in because it would not have made a difference in Tom's outcome but it would have subjected them to harm. Today this would have been considered self defense and Tom would have walked away, but in the twenties blacks were still considered second rate citizens. How dare this black man defend himself against a white man? "Two deaths for a goddamn nigger", this statement brings to life how insignificant Louisa is as a person. She was not worthy of being consoled even though she watched both men she cared about die.
Ernest Hemingway's style of writing is very different from Jean Toome's, Jean paints a picture for the reader with his details the reader can "see" the rage between the men in his story. I had a hard time following "The Killers" the first time through, I got tangled up in the dialogue and lost the point of the story. Once I was able to separate out the dialogue and the characters in the story, I felt like I was "watching" an old black and white movie.
Two guys from the big city slide into to a small town in order to kill someone, this is made possible by the automobile boom people can now move in and out of an town quickly. Ernest tells us how the two men have "different faces but they were dressed like twins" and he tells us how they were dressed with little detail other than what articles of clothing they are wearing. He does not need to give more detail their manner of dress implies they are gangsters. They are waiting for Ole Andreson in what had once been a saloon but now was a lunch-counter, a lunch counter because of Prohibition.
When George is caught watching Max and Al eat with their gloves on the banter changes; Nick, George and Sam are told why the two men are there. Max and Al toy with the three men while they wait for Ole Andreson, they argue amongst themselves about "talking too much". I would be freaking out but you don't get that sense about George, he appears to be staying calm in the face of danger. The impression I got of this era was keep your head low, Sam says it best "you better not have anything to do with it at all. You better stay out of it". If you were unfortunate enough to get caught in the middle of something like this but yet fortunate enough to walk away without harm that is what you should do, walk away and forget it.
Ernest's depiction of the Ole Andreson, "a heavyweight prizefighter and he was too long for the bed" tells us that he is large man that might have been able to defend himself but he has given up. Where once he might have been able to move far enough away that he wouldn't have been pursued was no longer the case because of the automobile. People were able to move about more freely and quickly with the automobile. With today's technology it is even harder to "hide". Also Ole's acceptance "there ain't anything to do", speaks of a time when the mob ruled the streets and there was not much the police could do to protect someone like Ole.
The 20's was a time of great changes, modernization of items we take for granted today but also a dangerous time because of Prohibition. Prohibition was passed to stop immoral behavior but incited even more immoral and illegal behavior, go figure.
In the "Blood-Burning Moon" Bob Stone thinks the following about Louisa: "She was worth it. Beautiful nigger gal. Why nigger? Why not, just gal? No, it was because she was a nigger that he went to her." Bob Stone is conflicted in his love for Louisa and what he feels is his entitlement because he is white and she is black. While Bob walked to meet Louisa and he was trying to justify his relationship with Louisa. Why should he sneak around, if he was a master he could just take what is his. He may truly love her but he could never be openly with her because it wasn't acceptable in this time frame of history. It was not acceptable for blacks and whites to have romantic relationship, Jean Toomer, the author, experienced this firsthand. Jean's light skin allowed him to move between the white and black worlds, until he married a white woman. Bob wasn't willing to risk the embarrassment or harassment of being with a black woman openly.
When Louisa did not meet him in the clearing as planned, Bob believed she was with Tom, he went to her spoiling for a fight with Tom. The author paints the reader a picture of anger and rage that both of these men feel towards each other. This leaves me the reader wondering if Bob was angry about Louisa being with Tom because he truly loved her or that he did not want Tom touching what he considered his property. Bob attacked Tom first and Tom tried to send him off, dismissing him. He eventually defends himself against Bob, again Bob was the one who pulled out the knife first, and Tom defended himself by killing Bob. Tom was lynched and killed by an angry white mob, it did not matter to them that Tom was attacked first. The other blacks that witnessed the scene hid in their homes, they were not willing to step in because it would not have made a difference in Tom's outcome but it would have subjected them to harm. Today this would have been considered self defense and Tom would have walked away, but in the twenties blacks were still considered second rate citizens. How dare this black man defend himself against a white man? "Two deaths for a goddamn nigger", this statement brings to life how insignificant Louisa is as a person. She was not worthy of being consoled even though she watched both men she cared about die.
Ernest Hemingway's style of writing is very different from Jean Toome's, Jean paints a picture for the reader with his details the reader can "see" the rage between the men in his story. I had a hard time following "The Killers" the first time through, I got tangled up in the dialogue and lost the point of the story. Once I was able to separate out the dialogue and the characters in the story, I felt like I was "watching" an old black and white movie.
Two guys from the big city slide into to a small town in order to kill someone, this is made possible by the automobile boom people can now move in and out of an town quickly. Ernest tells us how the two men have "different faces but they were dressed like twins" and he tells us how they were dressed with little detail other than what articles of clothing they are wearing. He does not need to give more detail their manner of dress implies they are gangsters. They are waiting for Ole Andreson in what had once been a saloon but now was a lunch-counter, a lunch counter because of Prohibition.
When George is caught watching Max and Al eat with their gloves on the banter changes; Nick, George and Sam are told why the two men are there. Max and Al toy with the three men while they wait for Ole Andreson, they argue amongst themselves about "talking too much". I would be freaking out but you don't get that sense about George, he appears to be staying calm in the face of danger. The impression I got of this era was keep your head low, Sam says it best "you better not have anything to do with it at all. You better stay out of it". If you were unfortunate enough to get caught in the middle of something like this but yet fortunate enough to walk away without harm that is what you should do, walk away and forget it.
Ernest's depiction of the Ole Andreson, "a heavyweight prizefighter and he was too long for the bed" tells us that he is large man that might have been able to defend himself but he has given up. Where once he might have been able to move far enough away that he wouldn't have been pursued was no longer the case because of the automobile. People were able to move about more freely and quickly with the automobile. With today's technology it is even harder to "hide". Also Ole's acceptance "there ain't anything to do", speaks of a time when the mob ruled the streets and there was not much the police could do to protect someone like Ole.
The 20's was a time of great changes, modernization of items we take for granted today but also a dangerous time because of Prohibition. Prohibition was passed to stop immoral behavior but incited even more immoral and illegal behavior, go figure.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
"Little Selves" and "Jury of Her Peers"
When I first started reading "Little Selves" I thought "great" eleven pages about an old woman dying, but by the second and third pages I felt like I was being drawn in from "outside the magic circle of comprehension". Often it is assumed that towards the end of an older person's life that they are worrying themselves about what they would have done differently, as the young woman points out about her own aunt "if I could be twenty again, wouldn't I do it different". As I got involved in Margaret's story I realized that she was not concerned with her death in the traditional sense or regrets of past choices, she had accepted her pending death and she did not regret her choices. Margaret was trying to get back to the memories of when she was small in Ireland, "gone past! I must be getting back to the beginning".
The author tells us that Margaret immigrated to America by herself, "her lone pilgrimage". Her memories tell the reader she is from Ireland, the memory of her father and the leprechaun and her mother and the fairies tells the reader about a simpler life in Ireland. All four sets of my great grandparents immigrated to America around that same time, from Canada (two sets), Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Two sets of my grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island, my great grandmother passed through Ellis Island twice on her own. I often wondered what that experience was for her. I do know that she felt it was very important for her children to learn English and to be Americans. She was independent, accumulated property, worked in the woolen mill until she was seventy, and was the first in her neighboorhood to own a television.
Margaret is worried that her younger self, her family and customs will be "lost" when she dies, the connection with her niece allows her to share those joyful memories of the past. "She recreated her earlier selves and passed them on, happy in the thought that she was saving them from oblivion". I have often thought with sadness how much of my great grandparents' families, history, language, and cultural customs have been lost with their deaths. With every generation we become Americans we lose our families culture. How scary for those immigrants whose lives were changing so quickly to leave this world with the knowledge in 2 or 3 generations their stories will be silent.
In "Jury of Her Peers", the author takes us to the scene of a murder, a wife has murdered her cruel husband. The story takes place in a time where outside of the "city" people are still isolated, they don't have cars and phones are rare. It is a time where a woman is kept so busy in her home doing daily tasks that she doesn't have time to gather with other women. Women didn't have the rights we do today, they are often treated as property.
In the beginning of the story the two women are not keen on each other, they are not friends. By the end of the story the women share a common bond, protecting another woman that they know has had a painful life at the hands of a cruel man. They are protecting her in the only way they can during this era, they are silent.
The two women are tasked with gathering the suspected woman's belongings to bring to her in jail, while the "wise" men search out details of the murder. This is a time in our history that women were considered mindless and that they belonged in the house taking care of their husband and children, men were the smart ones. It becomes evident in the story that while the same clues were under the men's noses, the women were able to piece together the story of what happened and why it happened. The dead man had been cruel to his wife, the brutal killing of her cherished bird had been the final act to push her to murder. While she could have picked up the gun that was kept in the house she killed her husband in the same way he killed her bird. A poetic justice.
The two women bond in the knowledge that the bird is symbolic of all this woman's dreams, dreams that her husband had killed. He had silenced her song. While the two women had not been friends in the beginning, in the end they will share a bond of protection to the accused woman. They come to an understanding that were not going to aid the men in finding the motive for this murder, they would "protect" the accused woman now where they had not been able to before. "I should have visited..."
While women's rights have changed drastically in the last century since this story was written, the unfortunate truth is there are still woman who are abused by their husbands. Today there is an understanding about how an abused person can be pushed to the point of killing their abuser but that was not the case in this time.
The author tells us that Margaret immigrated to America by herself, "her lone pilgrimage". Her memories tell the reader she is from Ireland, the memory of her father and the leprechaun and her mother and the fairies tells the reader about a simpler life in Ireland. All four sets of my great grandparents immigrated to America around that same time, from Canada (two sets), Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Two sets of my grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island, my great grandmother passed through Ellis Island twice on her own. I often wondered what that experience was for her. I do know that she felt it was very important for her children to learn English and to be Americans. She was independent, accumulated property, worked in the woolen mill until she was seventy, and was the first in her neighboorhood to own a television.
Margaret is worried that her younger self, her family and customs will be "lost" when she dies, the connection with her niece allows her to share those joyful memories of the past. "She recreated her earlier selves and passed them on, happy in the thought that she was saving them from oblivion". I have often thought with sadness how much of my great grandparents' families, history, language, and cultural customs have been lost with their deaths. With every generation we become Americans we lose our families culture. How scary for those immigrants whose lives were changing so quickly to leave this world with the knowledge in 2 or 3 generations their stories will be silent.
In "Jury of Her Peers", the author takes us to the scene of a murder, a wife has murdered her cruel husband. The story takes place in a time where outside of the "city" people are still isolated, they don't have cars and phones are rare. It is a time where a woman is kept so busy in her home doing daily tasks that she doesn't have time to gather with other women. Women didn't have the rights we do today, they are often treated as property.
In the beginning of the story the two women are not keen on each other, they are not friends. By the end of the story the women share a common bond, protecting another woman that they know has had a painful life at the hands of a cruel man. They are protecting her in the only way they can during this era, they are silent.
The two women are tasked with gathering the suspected woman's belongings to bring to her in jail, while the "wise" men search out details of the murder. This is a time in our history that women were considered mindless and that they belonged in the house taking care of their husband and children, men were the smart ones. It becomes evident in the story that while the same clues were under the men's noses, the women were able to piece together the story of what happened and why it happened. The dead man had been cruel to his wife, the brutal killing of her cherished bird had been the final act to push her to murder. While she could have picked up the gun that was kept in the house she killed her husband in the same way he killed her bird. A poetic justice.
The two women bond in the knowledge that the bird is symbolic of all this woman's dreams, dreams that her husband had killed. He had silenced her song. While the two women had not been friends in the beginning, in the end they will share a bond of protection to the accused woman. They come to an understanding that were not going to aid the men in finding the motive for this murder, they would "protect" the accused woman now where they had not been able to before. "I should have visited..."
While women's rights have changed drastically in the last century since this story was written, the unfortunate truth is there are still woman who are abused by their husbands. Today there is an understanding about how an abused person can be pushed to the point of killing their abuser but that was not the case in this time.
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