Martin's Af-Am Lit Blog

After finishing white boy shuffle I passed it on to my grandmother who has been visiting from England. I told her that it was written by an African-American Author because it was from by African-American Literature class as expected she said she hadn't read any novels written by African-American authors. A few days later I asked her what she thought of the book while she was halfway through the book, she said she liked it but felt uncomfortable with some of the parts of the book. I asked what made her uncomfortable and she said that the underlying story was off. It was like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", a movie where a man ages backward. For White Boy Shuffle the life of the narrator should, in a perfect world go like this, Gunnar starts in the "hood", does well in basketball, gets good grades, goes to college, and become successful like a white person, but instead it starts with Gunnar being successful in a white environment and ends with Gunnar not be

Toni Morrison’s way to seamlessly switch from character to character allows her to create a novel that keeps the reader guessing and provides an unexpected view on a story. Her use of the Schoolteacher’s perspective created a freakish, but original stance on the story being told. In many of our books this year the main characters have been oppressed, but for the first time we, the readers, have been transported into the minds of the oppressors. In many books viewing a story from a character’s perspective can lead to a sympathy towards that character i.e. Native Son, but I see Morrison using Schoolteacher simply to tell the story in the clearest form possible.                 Schoolteacher is a character that has proved to be unfazed by whatever is in front of them. The scene where Sethe is having her milk stolen by the boys has Schoolteacher simply recording his findings almost like an anthropologist. While Schoolteacher may be a very racist character Morrison has developed a trust

With Tue’s reading of “Family Affairs” by Maya Angelou, I saw two different themes in the two movements. The poem points out that white feminists complain about being put on a pedestal and locked what seems like a tower in a castle, much like Rapunzel (from arched Windows, Over hand cut stones of your cathedral, seas of golden hair). We also know that whatever tower they’re in was carefully made to both keep them there but also to make sure it’s nice.  While it may be a genuine concern for the white feminists, that tower is protecting them from the evils that lie on the ground. In no way do the white feminist complaints really compare with the history of hardship that African American feminists have to deal with. Having your flowing golden hair sucks if everybody's pulling on it from the windows of your castle, but would you rather be dragged by dusty braids to a foreign country and enslaved? She can’t accept that the other women are going to be able to recognize her. She says, “M

America by Henry Dumas, a poem that speaks about freedom and what it means to be American. Henry Dumas gives imagery of a coin being flipped in the air where one can see the American eagle flying in the air but not leaving the coin. This could be read as a metaphor for how liberty is controlled by money and how capitalism is what controls the United States of America. We already discussed this in class though… I was interested in the larger picture. What does the coin flip represent? I researched that Henry Dumas, before he himself was killed by police brutality, was an advocate for those of his own race that were being killed unjustly. It seemed like it was just a wrong place at the wrong time or being where the right racist cop was the feeling his right sentiments. While it may be premeditated or instinct for the killer there is nothing that the victim can do. The coin toss that is described in the poem can represent the seemingly odds-based way that the murders are committed. A c

Sambo and the coin bank Ellison portrays the narrator’s experiences with racist objects to provide insight into the black stereotypes plaguing the nation and how the narrator perceives them. The coin bank and Sambo are separated by many chapters yet share similar meanings. They both have racist connotations from times of slavery and infuriate the narrator. The stereotyped appearance of the coin bank that is introduced in the 15th chapter doesn’t appear until the narrator is leaving Mary’s place where he proceeds to smash it to smithereens. Sambo appears just as spontaneously as the piece of early Americana and makes the narrator just as transfixed as when he saw the bank. Both appeared to be right under his nose, “Then near the door I saw something which I’d never noticed there before: the cast-iron figure of a very black, red-lipped and wide-mouthed Negro, whose white eyes stared up at me from the floor...(319)” and when he sees Sambo he says, “Puzzled, I moved into the crowd and p

Being chased with a frying pan while you attempt to survive isn’t a life lived by many people, but it is a great metaphor for what life is like for Bigger and the people he lives with. We already discussed how like the rat, Bigger is just trying to survive and is being attacked for doing just that, but who are the others in the room and how do they fit into the metaphor being created? What is the Rat’s setting and actions be related towards what Bigger is experiencing?     Let us think about what the Rat’s life is like before his appointment with cast iron. The Rat has been living like Bigger for almost his whole life. The Rat is most likely forced to live in a very small area, in addition, Bigger has also been forced to live in a small apartment with his family due to artificial housing shortages, but there is plenty of space for both in Chicago. Also, why would the Rat steal food from a poor family? It’s like how Bigger has only robbed from other blacks.     We know that Bigger