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.

8-3 Willa Cather

Willa Cather was a seemingly strange woman.  She was born in 1873 and at the age of nine her family migrated to Nebraska.  She grew up among European immigrants who were full of courage, sensitivity, and perseverance which she used in her novels.  She challenged gender roles by dressing unconventionally.  she wore her hair short and dressed in men's clothing.  In 1900 Cather began publishing poems and short stories.  She published many poems and short stories among those were,"A Wagnor Matinee" and "Paul's Case."

The first short story "A Wagnor Matinee" was the story of a women and how she became lost in life.  Her nephew received a letter in the mail informing him that he was to take care of her for a bit.  His Aunt Georgiana the woman who raised him was coming to town and he wanted to show her a wonderful time.  As a young woman his aunt was a music teacher and had a great passion for music.  She met her husband and he convinced her to run away and elope.  She went from having a wonderful life to having nothing.  I do not think she hated her life life or her husband by any means, but she did regret it to a point.  They got land and lived on a small farm.  She spent the rest of her days working on the farm and raising children.  He was very close with his aunt and she had shared her loved of music with him.  She spent a lot of time teaching him many different works and taught him to play the piano.  There was a time when she told him not love the music too much or it might be taken away.  There was a deep sadness created by that scene for me, the thing she loved the most had been taken from her.

When his aunt arrived he decided to take her to the Oprah house.  She was not at all now like she was before, she had aged considerably.  He was worried she would not enjoy the Symphony Orchestra.  At first it seemed like she did not want to go, but I am guessing because it had been so long since she had been she felt a little uneasy.  Once in the Oprah house they sat together as the show began and as the songs played his aunt was moved.  They shared moments of sadness and happiness.  He was reminded of many times as a child and their time spent together.  She was in bliss and enjoyed every moment of the Oprah.  It took her back to a time way before the farm and before she was taken away from her music.  When the Oprah was over she did not want to leave.  It was back to reality, and back to what her life had become.

Often times I think that happens to many people.  Life sweeps us away.  In the business of life we lose our passions, goals, and dreams and before you know it life is almost at an end. 

The second story was Paul's Case.  Paul was a misunderstood teenager that desperately wanted attention.  He was a teenager that was basically hated by all his teachers.  They had a right not to like him, because he was constantly causing trouble in his classes.  He would tell elaborate stories about being friends with the actors at the music hall and things he did that never happened.  He felt his life was plain and boring.  He sat dreaming of a life he didn't have, and resenting his family for being so plain.  His father was no help and certainly did not encourage any of his hopes and dreams.  His family was not poor by any means, but his father did not like to give him money.  He let him work at Carnegie Hall as an usher to make some extra money.  It was there he became obsessed with he lives of the musicians and actors that graced the stage night after night.  He felt at home during the performances and was swept away.  He was a very peculiar person though.  After he was off work he would often follow the performers to their hotel and imagine what it was like to be there. 

One day at school he decided to take his smart little comments too far with one of his teachers.  Normally he gets out of trouble and normally he can go back to his life without much consequence, but not today.  That comment was the last straw.  He was taken out of school and away from his job.  His father told the people he worked for not to let him in anymore.  Paul was pulled out of his fantasy world and into reality.  This did not set well with Paul, and soon he was headed to New York.  He had stolen deposit money from his dad’s business.  He wanted to venture into the hotels he dreamed about and live the life of the famous.  He wanted to escape reality and be someone else.  He rented a wonderful room and enjoyed all the amenities of being rich and famous.  This bliss could not last for too long of course and soon all the money he had stolen was spent.  His name was in the newspaper and his father was looking for him.  He soon realized that he number was up.  He began to run with the little money he had left, and when he realized there was nowhere to run he took his own life.

8-2 Zora Hurston

Zora Neal Hurston was born in the small town of Notasulga, Alabama.  It was thought that she was born in 1891, but she claims she was born in 1901 or 1903.  She lived in an all-black town called Eatonville, Florida until she was thirteen years of age.  Her father was a carpenter and a Baptist preacher.  Her mother was a former school teacher and greatly encouraged her.  At the age of thirteen her mother passed away and she was sent away to live with relatives.  Her father sent them money to take care of her, but when he has trouble with his finances she was left on her own.  She worked as a maid and ended up going to college on her own dime.  She aspired to be a writer and in school she was awarded a fellowship to collect folklore.  She was often criticized by black activists for her work.  Her goal was not to lash out against racism or to cry for change.  Her goal was simply to portray the culture of black Americans.  Her aim was to write about human beings and not about race. 

In her story, “How It Feels to Be a Colored Me” Hurston gives us a taste of her life as a young girl.  She was once just a girl who didn’t have a care in the world.  She lived in the small, all black, town of Eatonville.  She told of the people passing through, and the way the neighbors acted.    She told of the white people who passed through and frequently had pleasant conversation with her.  She mentions remembering the day she became colored.  The day race became something more than just a different skin color; it was a different way of living all together.  In her thirteenth year she became colored when she was moved to Orlando, Florida.  She was once everybody’s Zora and soon became the little colored girl.  It was apparent that she was not ashamed of her race in fact she was proud.  She did not care that her former relatives were slaves and did not feel ashamed or sorry.  She speaks of the times she does not feel colored, but often times it is thrown in her face.  Rather it is her in an all-white crowd or maybe one person who is white in an all-black crowd she feels her race. She says, “I feel my race.  Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, over swept by a creamy sea.  I am surged upon and over swept, but through it all, I remain myself.” 

Another story Hurston wrote seems very different from the first, “The Gilded Six-Bits.”  A young black couple lives in a cute little house in an all-black neighborhood.  There is Missie May and Joe.   The picture painted in the opening of the story was perfect.  Everything used to describe the setting was cheerful.  Missie May is introduced to us as a happy young woman.  Her husband is due home any minute and she hurries to make sure everything is ready for him.  She takes great pride in making sure dinner is ready and her husband’s clothes are set out.  When she hears his arrival she takes off down the steps and answers the door with so much excitement.  Joe greets her with pockets full of little gifts.  She searches his pockets and they play back and forth while she searches through his pockets.  He brings her kisses and always chucks nine dollars at the door.  They had a playful way with each other and seemed just absolutely head over hills for each other.  Over dinner Joe tells Missie May that he wants to take her to the ice cream parlor.  It was a new place that a man from Chicago had just opened up.  Joe talked about how rich he was and she mentioned she had seen the man.  They talked about his gold teeth and his gold pieces.  Joe kept saying how he wished he could have things like that, and Missie May told him she would much rather have Joe than any rich man.  Joe made Missie May his world and every Saturday night he was off work he took her to the new ice cream parlor.  Missie May insisted over and over how great Joe was and he loved her so much.  One night he got off work early and headed home to see Missie May.  As he headed home he thought of the money they had saved and how he was ready to have a child with her.  When he arrived home he decided to sneak up on her and surprise her.  As he came into their bedroom he was shocked with what he had found.  He went through every possibility in his head murderer or robber.  He was in absolute disbelief.  The man was rushing to get his pants back on and Missie May was yelling and screaming.  Joe hit him a few good times and realized that was the rich man that owned the ice cream parlor.  During the altercation Joe got a hold of the gold piece that he always flaunted around and shoved it in his pocket.  There was a part during all this that really got to me, “Oh Joe, honey, he said he wuz gointer give me dat gold money and he jes’ kept on after me-…Joe was very still and silent for a long time.  Then he said, “Well, don’t cry no mo’ Missie May.  Ah got yo’ gold piece for you.”

After that night the gold piece became the symbol of betrayal.  The best part was is that the gold piece was only a gold plated piece.  It reminded me of the saying the grass is greener on the other side.  Missie May longed for the money that Slemmons had, and there really was not ever any money.  She had a wonderful thing with Joe and that just wasn't enough for her. From that moment on she just wanted things to be better and she knew she did not deserve it.  Joe just wasn't himself anymore and did not come home with kisses and presents anymore.  He kept putting that coin in Missie May's sight just to remind her of what she had done over and over again.  Soon Missie May realized that she was pregnant and Joe did not really care either way.  Months and months pass by and their relationship does not get any better or worse.  When the baby was finally born he did not really want to have anything to do with it.  His mother talked with him and insisted how the child was a spitting image of him, a boy.  This is the moment when the story takes another turn, he begins visiting her bedside.  He starts to check on her and inquire about her health.  In the end Joe finally heads to the store and uses the gilded six-piece to buy kisses.  When he returns home he chucks money at the door and even though Missie May was sick she came to the door. 

This story really shows the struggles of marriage and how a couple overcame even the worst of betrayals. 

8-1 Susan Glaspell

Susan Glaspell was a playwright who told stories about real women.   Glaspell portrayed women in a real way showing their emotions and their struggles.  This was an era when men often portrayed women’s characters as stereotypes.  Glaspell was brought up in middle class society.  Many of her earlier works were based on her upbringing in her hometown of Davenport, Iowa.  As Glaspell became older she became more aware of the world around her and of the inequalities that women were suffering from at the time.  Glaspell wrote many plays throughout her life and eleven of them were featured in the Provincetown Players.  Among the many plays that Glaspell wrote “Trifles” was one of the plays that gained the most recognition.

This particular play opens up in an abandoned kitchen in the home of John and Minnie Wright.  There in the house stands Henry Peters (the sheriff), Mrs. Peters (his wife), George Henderson (County Attorney), Lewis Hale (County Attorney), and Mrs. Hale (his wife).  They are investigating the murder of John Wright.  Lewis Hale tells the sheriff and the county attorney what he saw when he came to the home the night before.  Mrs. Wright was sitting in her rocking chair as calm as ever when Mr. Hale came to visit.  He had intended on asking her husband about getting a phone.  In those times it was possible to get a group line where they could all talk to one another.   As he searched the house he found Mr. Wright dead, he had been strangled by a rope around his neck.

While the men search the home the following day the women were left to look around the downstairs alone, the men told them they could take some of Mrs. Wright’s things to the jailhouse.  They all noticed how untidy the home was, but the men were more critical.  As the men criticized the home over and over you could feel the women becoming defensive.  As the story progressed the women began to take on a more sympathetic role for Mrs. Wright.  They began searching through the downstairs and found her quilt.  It was beautiful, but the last few stitches were done very poorly as if she was nervous.  Instead of turning this over to their husbands as evidence, they decided to undo the stitching.  They also found an empty birdcage, and when they began searching found the dead bird in a box.  When they took a good look at the bird, they realized that the bird’s neck had been broken.   The women began putting the pieces together.  Mrs. Wright’s husband had not been the nicest man.  As a young girl Minnie was lively and loved to sing, but after marrying Mr. Wright her light had fizzled out.  The women began feeling sorry for her, and decided to hide the evidence.  The men searched the house over and over looking for some kind of evidence or motive, but they could not find any.  The women came to realize that Mrs. Wright did kill her husband and in the end they protected her.

Glaspell was much like many famous writers of her time like Kate Chopin.  She explored the lives of women, and portrayed them as real people.  She looked at the differences between the roles of men and women.  Both the women obviously knew the law, but they had so much empathy for Mrs. Wright they hid everything.  They felt she has suffered enough and did not feel she should be punished any further.

7-1 Robert Frost and his poetry

Robert Frost was born in 1874.  Frost wrote poetry as a teenager and graduated high school as valedictorian and class poet. Frost attempted college a couple of times but had a strong dislike for academic convention.  He made a living teaching and farming.  Frost continued to write his poetry and get many of them published.  He had a deep concern with nature and had little faith in religious dogma.  He wrote many wonderful poems.  Who knew all of those great works could come from a man who was just a farmer.

Frost has many well known poems ,but there are a few that stand out in my mind.  His poem "Home Burial" was a very intriguing and sad poem.  A husband and wife have lost their child.  They have since become distance and blame each other for there loss.  She does not understand him and he does not understand her.  The wife wants him to talk about their child more, but he deals with death differently than she does.  They are both greiving and the wife is shutting down.  Her husband wants to help and wants them to have a relationship.  The man uses threats to convey his emotions to his wife.  Over time it gets worse and worse.  She becomes so emotionally distant she can not take it and she leaves.  The husband is left alone is his house, without his wife and child.  His own home burial.

Another poem I really enjoyed was "Fire and Ice."  Frost uses the comparison of fire and ice to describe the end of the world.  Fire is our desires and our lust.  The thing that gives us our passion.  Ice is the hatred and bitterness humanity holds on to.  Bringing our passions, hatred, and sins will be the end of the world.

The third poem I found a lot of meaning in was "The Road not Taken."  There are many people who have different opinions about this poem.  On the surface it seems so easy.  The narrator is confused about which path to take.  He does not know what the outcome of either will be.  In the end he decides to take the path less traveled.  Who knows really which path is less traveled.  It can stand for a metaphor about life.  The famous saying of taking the road less traveled is something that I have heard my entire life.  Many times taking the road less traveled is more difficult, but in the end it is the most rewarding.