week 11 "A Raisin in the Sun" movie

"A Raisin in the Sun"

This movie was a great movie.  Although I had already watched it a couple of times throughout high school and in college, it never lost its meaning.  The setting begins with a family of five living in a small two bedroom apartment.  The father is Walter Lee Young he is a driver for a rich white man in town.  This is not at all what he thought his life would be like, and he has big dreams.  He wants to open up a liquor store and he is convinced that the insurance money his mother (Lena Younger) is getting is going to solve all his problems.  His wife Ruth Younger is a very strong woman.  She has just found out she is pregnant and has decided upon abortion.  She knows that it is already hard enough raising their son Travis and fears they can not handle the financial burden of caring for another.  Ruth loves her husband very much and is trying to deal with the struggle of letting him be the man of the house, she prays he can make the right choices.  Beneatha Younger is the sister of Walter and also has big plans for her life.  She is hoping that the insurance money will pay for her college.  She is very much about African culture even though she really does not understand it.  She fights to make more of herself than the previous generation.  She is kind of caught up in herself and struggles between two men.  One who is rich and has completely conformed to white ways and another who wants her to move to Africa with him.  Mama is caught in the middle of everything.  She is the glue which holds the family together.  She feels empathy for Ruth and tries to console her.  Mama decides to use the insurance money to buy a house in an all white neighborhood.  She only wants the best for her family.  Although she knows that society frowns upon them living there she wants to be happy. Mr. Lindner arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood. All the while Walter has been given the remaining amount of the money to use wisely and save some for Beneatha's college tuition.  He loses all the money when one of the men runs off with it all.  Even though he mad such a huge mistake, mama still leaves the decisions in his hands.  It is up to him to decide if they will move into the house or take the money.  In the end Walter does the right thing and grows up a little.  They all move into the wonderful house and their is a feeling of happiness.  Ruth finally feels at ease and they decide to have the baby.  Everyone realizes what Mama was trying to do, she wanted to keep the family together.

Eudora Welty

"Powerhouse"

A story that really shows the different idea's between black and white society.  How each group interacts with one another and the values that each community hold important.  Powerhouse is a black band playing at an all-white dance.  The story is set during a time of segregation.  Although the band is playing their hearts out, the audience is not really dancing.  Music is everything to Powerhouse, and no matter where they are playing.  They have left there family at home and play shows all over.  The only communication they have is through the phone.  I can not imagine the hardship they felt.  It is not easy for anyone to be away from their family and loved ones.
 This band wasn't exactly in their comfort zone.  The white community simply viewed them as entertainment for them even though it meant so much more to them than that.  The people at the dance seemed like it was almost an embarrassment to have some black guy playing his heart out.  They were so wrapped up in segregation they couldn't just see them as people and appreciate what they were doing.  People had their song request, but he only referred to them as numbers.  I think that symbolized how they felt.  They were being treated as "blacks" not humans.  The songs were announced by number and not their real names.  When they took a break and went to the all-black cafe, you could really see the difference in the two cultures.  Overall this story really got the point across about racism of the time and how it affected people.
They are all the same, no one is better or worse, but they could not see through the color of skin to know that.

10-2 John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck grew up with a drive to be successful.  As a young boy he supported himself taking numerous jobs just to make it through.  When he finally began writing he showed deep empathy for migrate workers and those who struggle to survive.  He felt that they lost the enjoyment and the feeling of living with all the manual labor.  Steinbeck was able to write about these things because he fully understood them and experienced it first hand.

I Steinbeck's story, "Flight" he tells the story of a young man who wants to be considered a man. He is the oldest child of the family and his father has deserted them.  He now feels like it is his job to be a man.  His mother cares for him and her other children very much.  She wants him to act more mature and grow up a little, but at the same time he is her son and she loves him regardless.  One thing that was left behind from his father was a knife. Pepe loved that knife and he carried it around everywhere.  One day his mother sent him into town to get some medicine.  He was exposed to an entirely different world at that point in his life.  He got into an argument and ended up killing a man.  He has finally become a man, but at what cost?  He was forced to run out into the mountainside to try and flee.  In the end he was killed anyway.  He could escape what he has done, and had to face it like a man.  A very sad story that when all he wanted was to be a man like his father.  Everyone has to realize their are consequences to every action.

10-1 Richard Wright

Richard Wright came from a very troubled past.  Throughout  his life he struggled with the ideals of racism and felt its effects.  He was abandoned by his father at a young age, but still pushed forward and excelled in school.  Although he was a very talented writer he had trouble getting established.  He fled up north first to Tennessee and then later to Chicago.  He became and member of the communist party and they supported many of his works.  He writing reflected much of his life and he used his experiences to write his stories.  In the excerpt from, "Native Son" Wright mentions the communist party and what there goals were.  The story picks up as Bigger Thomas is getting ready for a job interview.  He lives with his mother and sister in a one bedroom apartment for eighty dollars a month.  He is nervous and skeptical about taking this job because he is extremely uncomfortable in a white neighborhood.  He lives in a place where black and white people rarely mix.  He goes anyway heavily armed with a knife and a gun to give himself peace of mind.  He arrives and finds the Dalton family warm and inviting.  Bigger's expectations of the family were far from what he expected.  They are warm and inviting considering they are " white people" and he feels angry.  I think his anger stemmed from just not understanding their way of life.  He finds himself taking their daughter Mary to school that very same evening, but when they arrive she tells him to keep going.  She instead goes to a communist party meeting and meets up with her boyfriend (I am assuming) Jan.  Jan and Mary are full of spirit and drive to change the world, but at the same time they are arrogant.  They make Bigger very uneasy and should have been more understanding of his view of the situation.  Although Bigger is highly uncomfortable and angry he finds himself going along with their plans for the night.  They ask to go to a local color restaurant to eat and he finds himself the butt of the joke among his fellow color people.  Everyone wants to know why he is eating with two white devils.  Soon the anger fades as they all three become drunk with shots of rum, and they head for a drive.  Bigger finds himself attracted to Mary and hates her for it, and likewise she shows a slight attraction toward him.  The sexual tension and anger build throughout the story. When Bigger and Mary arrive back at the home, Bigger realizes how drunk Mary really is.  He tries to resist temptation time and time again, but in the end he can not.  Bigger carries Mary to her room and in their drunken states inhibition is lost.  They begin to kiss and kissing leads to touching.  Bigger is startled by Mrs. Dalton and  he dosent want her to know he is there.  Mary is being loud so he accidently smothers her in order to keep his presence a secret.  A black man with a white woman was not acceptable.  He was so worried about being caught her killed her.  It was shocking and ironic.

9-3 Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois.  His father was a physician.  He was taught the ways of hunting and fishing by his father.  Hemingway like many other writers worked for some time as a journalist.  Hemingway sought out to join the military, but was rejected due to poor vision.  He found a way on by volunteering as a driver and was later transferred over to work in the Italian front.  Unfortunately for him he was wounded in an explosion.  Upon his recovery he worked as a foreign correspondent.  Hemingway’s writing help create a revolution in literary style.  He used precise imagery, and an impersonal dramatic tone.  Hemingway became the spokesperson for a lost generation.

Ernest Hemingway's story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" was a whirlwind of surprises for me. Mr. and Mrs. Macomber are on an African safari hunting trip.  At a glance Francis Macomber seems like a strong man, but it becomes apparent he is a coward in so many ways.  His wife Margot is very beautiful and takes full advantage of his inability to be assertive and stand up for himself.  Robert Wilson is there guide for the trip.  Robert Wilson was a very unconventional man, he defiantly did not follow the rules.  He like to do things his own way rather it broke the law or not.  He even brought a double cot along when he thought he could sleep with women.  As he guided them on their hunting trip, Margot began showing interest in Wilson.  As the story progresses her interest becomes more open and she does not even try to hide it from Macomber.  She even kisses Wilson in front of Macomber and eventually she sleeps with Wilson.  She is dominant over him and uses his cowardice to her advantage.  When they were hunting lions, Macomber became very scared and fled.  I think that just was a symbol of how cowardly he really was.  Throughout the story he began to transform from a boy to a man.  Another opportunity arises and they are hunting water buffalo.  Margot at first was enjoying the hunt, until she saw a change in Macomber.  He was gaining confidence and she was losing control.  When he does not flee the scene this time she loses it and shoots him.  Wilson is shocked and knows this was not an accident.  He is in a position where he can not say anything.  She has too much dirt on him.  Now they are even.  Even though Macomber dies and Margot gets away with it, the story ends on a happy note.  Macomber finally got his manhood and he died a real man.

9-2 William Faulkner

He received a noble prize for his literature in 1949. Faulkner began his career as a poet instead of a fiction writer.  As a young man he wanted to join the military but like Hemingway he was rejected.  Instead he ventured to Canada and by that time it was too late.  He published many works in his time and is now a topic in every American Literature classroom.

In the short story "That Evening Sun" we see the story from two different points of view.  Quentin tells his story from the view of a 24 year old and then he tells the story from how he remembers as a nine year old.  His mother and father have a maid by the name of Nancy.  She is very afraid of her husband Jesus.  She is convinced that he is going to kill her.  She begs night after night for people to walk her home so she does not have to be in the dark.  She thinks he is waiting with a razor blade ready to slice her throat open.  It gets so bad that she even wants to stay the night and begs the children to come and stay with her.  The children are so young that even though they here what the situation is, they do not understand it.  They are not really concerned  with her situation but more concerned with what they wont have if she dies.  They dont really undertsand death. 

Nancy and Jesus had a very rocky relationship.  I am assuming their were many reasons.  It was mentioned how she was always around the white men and it was infered that she was pregnant by one.  The "watermelon" under her dress was indeed a baby.  This story portrayed the severe inequalites between black and white people.  How the white people view the black people and their horrible perception of people of color.

9-1 Langston Hughs

Langston Hugh's was born in 1902.  He had always had an interest in writing poetry.  He attended Columbia University.  Throughout his life he worked as a cook’s helper, a busboy, and a seaman.  Hugh’s was a humorist and a historian on the lives of black Americans.  Hugh’s wrote everything from short stories to lyrics.  As a young man he was even elected class poet.  Hugh’s used his work to speak out for the black community and its culture.  In his poem, “The Weary Blues” Hugh’s puts rhythm and structure into wonderful jazz inspired lyrics.  A picture is painted of an old man playing the blues.  He is lonely and music is his mistress.  He uses the blues to deal with the world and society.  He has a sad way about him and his lyrics bring it all together. In the poem he sings, “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self.”  He is isolated in this world.   The music is his connection to this world and keeps his troubles at bay.  Hugh’s uses the last few lyrics to portray the mood and the sadness that is felt by the lonely jazz player.

Another poem I enjoyed was “Harlem.”  Hugh’s shows a vivid portrayal of hopes and dreams.  In that point and time many black Americans probably felt this way because equality wasn’t exactly on the minds of every American.  “What happens to a dream deferred?  Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?  Or fester like a sore and then run?  Does it stink like rotten meat?  Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?  Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.”  Many people have their hopes and dreams, but they never happen.  So what happens to the hopes and dreams that we put off?  Do they wither away and become forgotten?  Or do they stay in the make of your mind and cause resentment?  How do you handle those broken dreams and how do they affect your life.  This poem makes me feel a slight bit of sadness for everyone who has succumb to watching their dreams and aspirations disappear.