Martin's Af-Am Lit Blog

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 Sc...

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...