Journal #7

I have chosen to use the element of imagery to analyze the poem the slave mother by Frances Harper. The beginning of the poem begins with describing how the child "shrieked" and then goes on to describe a "broken heart". Even though the author is describing something as simple as a child being taken away from its mother she uses the words shrieking and broken heart to almost inflict the appearances that actual physical damage is being done to the individual. Later towards the middle of the poem she describes how the "boy clings to her side" this is something that could also be interpreted with two meanings. Although reading this may initially be a simple meaning of a baby being held as they usually cling to the mothers side, it is so much more than that. This also described how the baby is holding on to its mom as for fear of being taken and how a slave baby might hold on to the memory or their mother for their entire life. The last aspect of this poem I am going to bring up is how she describes that "he is not hers, although she bore For him a mothers pains; He is not hers, although her blood Is coursing through her veins!" The choice of wording she used in describing how her son is her biological property was words like "blood" and "pain". This is also symbolic of the pain and the sheer negative emotion a slave mother feels as her child is being ripped from her arms.

Journal #6

The Mulatto race was one that was stuck in between cultures, kind of suspended in this in between space in which they weren't necessarily strictly doomed to slavery as many African Americans were but they were not given the right of the white race either. The most key example that I observed being a large theme in both pieces was the marriage factor. both Jacob and Rosalie wanted to marry but if they were to do so they would not be able to be actually recognized as a marriage under law because of their suspended race. I took into consideration that maybe this problem of marriage was simply because Jacob was a slave which gave her no rights but Rosalie suffered from the same ideal issues of validity and she was not a slave. There was also the feeling of shame that was professed between Rosalie and her lover, she so wanted to be marries and even though he loves her and claims that she was his only love, he still married another because of the social ramifications of marrying a mulatto was too much for him to take, although he still ended up boring her child none the less.
Also just something to mention that i found very interesting as being kinda a mirrored effect between analyzing these two stories together is that Jacob was a slave throughout the story and then she was freed at the end, where as Rosalie was free through the entire story until her daughter was sold at the end. I just found that to be an interesting parallel.

Journal #5

The piece "An Indians looking glass for the white man" and "Indian Names" were both addressing the same issue only in different ways. That issue was that they were addressing tghe fact that the "Red Man" was never just going to go away, even in the whitemans brutality to dispose of such a race they were going to remain even if it were to only be in memory. The first piece "An Indians looking glass for the white man" used the took of reflection to show how hypocritical the white man was in going about their cause, even by attacking the bible in which the white men held as justification for their deeds; "He who loveth God loveth his brother" (John 4:21). The Piece Indian Names on the other hand used the tactic of memory and sorrow to elaborate the same theme. In the poem she reflected back amungst the race in a possitive manor by pointing things out such as the race being "noble and brave" (Sigourney, 1204). She also fought by stating that the indians memory was never to be forgotten, serving to try to defeat the purpose of the white man all together. Both these tactics served to be effective in putting up a fight and demonstrating the strength of the "red man"

Blog # 4

The Tenth of January struck me as being a little hard to follow. At the beginning it talked so much of sand and how the sand was described as "sand-heaps and sand-hillocks and-roads; for men digging sand, for women shaking off sand, for minute boys crawling in sand; for sand in the church-slips and the gingerbread-windows, for sand in your eyes, your nose, your mouth, down your neck, up your sleeves, under your chignon, down your throat. The symbol I am going to focus on in this piece is going to be sand. I felt that the way the sand was described as being something of such a hindrance just at the beginning of the piece had to prove to introduce the mood of the story. I think that this sand could serve to be many things but what I interpreted the meaning was of power. It spoke of men being the ones digging in sand and the women shaking off the sand, therefore they are the ones getting buried by what the men are digging. I just felt that the essence of women was being drowned in this story, it seemed to give the appearance that women are hurt women cry and women learn to cover it up in order to do their duties, women often get buried.

Blog #3 Question 1

I actually really likes Irving's short story "The Wife". When I first began to read this piece I thought that it was going to be just another piece about how a woman is nothing without her man or how the mans success is all that matters as so many stories from this time would depict. But this story rather showed how a woman is such support for a man even when he is not flourishing as he should. The couple in this story demonstrated a marriage based on love as she embraces her husband in relief in finding out that all that was bothering him was his fears of not being able to support the family. She showered him with love and compassion and this showed how the marriage was about love and support, not about power and convenience. I think this piece might have been written during a pivotal time in American history when marriage was developing more into the romantic love model rather than the convenience and child bearing model. The story was enjoyable for me to read as I was pleasantly surprised of the fact that it wasn't just another tail of how a woman is nothing without her man, but rather a man is nothing without the support and graces of a woman.

Journal #2

I have a class called Health and Fitness Managements where as a project the whole class had to elect a project manager and then from there the Project Manager would hire the rest of the class to fill positions available in the employment. In reading all the resumes to try to decide who I thought would be the best Project manager I came down to about three names but two of the three were women. Without even realizing at the time I had decided that a man would be best in such a position cause I felt that the class would not take a woman seriously if she was leading the class. I became aware of the little norms that had been engraved in society even still about women being the less dominant person to be in power. Reading the poem that referenced Pocahontas when she was bitterly talking about how she was really the one who was behind all her husbands success and how only because he was the man he culturally was viewed to the the one in power and to be viewed as the one with all the success. I am even a women and I fell into thinking of women as inferior. How ridiculous does that sound in retrospect?

Journal #1

The Military is something I viewed as positive when I was young. Soldiers were strangers to me, they were an icon of guardians that protected the things that I was granted in my country. I was previously very naive when I was blossoming. The world only contained my day to day pleasures and my only perception of the kayos outside of my bubble was the positive fibs and exaggerations that were portrayed to me on the television.
In the past several years I have been submerged into the realities of the military and the dangers and pains of the soldiers of this country as well as the stresses their families are put under. The military is far from the organized efficient model that the recruitment officers portray. It is disorganized. Realistically the men of the military don't even feel that they are contributing to anything of a greater good when they are deployed to areas in which war has been inflicted. They don't build lasting friendships because they go through this experience together (as perceived on militaristic programs). I came to this realization through the eyes of the man who I have been involved with for the past two years. He is a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Core. He was brainwashed under the same positive childish ideals of the military as being a force that bravely and passionately fights for the ones and the country that they love most when in reality the military has become just a place where kids go when they are not mature enough to actually make any decisions for themselves or to be responsible in adult situations.
I know that this article response may come across as offensive to some and I do appreciate the ones who have sacrificed limbs and lives for this country. I have simply developed a bitter sense of the military through personal experience and heart ache. The military cheats the people who are truly passionate about protecting this country by enlisting people who join for the wrong reasons are who contribute to the disorganization and negative aspects of today military.