August Wilson's "Fences"

Fences seem to encompass many facets of life, in its original time period but also in present day: financial distress, blended families, parental issues, mental issues to name a few, the hardships of everyday living.

I felt compassion for each character in its own individuality of the story. Each had their own issues they were dealing with as they tried to exist congenially as a family. Troy portrayed the harsh father, head of the household. The gruffness of his character could have come from the idea of Wilson’s own father, in his absence. I had felt Troy to be a man trying to make a living to support his family, even though I did not agree with all the choices he made. However, it was hard to accept his disloyalty to Rose after he had expressed such love and admiration for her. His reasons seemed compelling and one could almost feel sorry for him; however, my beliefs do not allow for such behavior regardless of reasons or excuses. What was most saddening was Rose’s commitment to Troy and his denial of her hurt and frustration. He never seemed to understand the pain which he had caused her or the idea of her experiencing the same feelings which caused him to seek out someone else. He thought he was the only one not happy, needing something else to fulfill a void he felt in his life and marriage. Wilson may have written of this topic from his experience of his father’s leaving.

Rose is to be admired for her commitment to her family and husband, to the point of being willing to restore the physical part of their relationship even after the infidelity Troy had committed. She was a strong woman, always trying to keep the peace in the family and take care of everyone. She was portrayed as a loving woman as she accepted the newborn baby to raise resulting from the extramarital affair of her husband.

I think the supporting characters were interesting. I believe their purpose was to include the many issues and problems families have to face from day to day.

Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl"

The reading of the biography of Jamaica Kincaid leads me to envision a sad, young girl feeling unloved and oppressed. It is heartbreaking to know that Kincaid doesn’t look for happiness, “absolutely not at all interested in…happiness”. It would make one wonder just how harsh life with her mother truly was. However, in life, we aren’t guaranteed to be happy, hopefully to find joy in what we have and contentment in it. It sounds as if this is what Kincaid was able to do. Many of us might be able to lead a less stressful life if we could resign ourselves to this belief.

Reading the account of the “Girl” made me think of my relationship with my daughters. As a parent, I have always been concerned how my girls feel about me as their mother. Some of the lines in the passage make me think of myself: I was always trying to help them learn what I felt was the right way to act to be an accepted member of society. They tell me sometimes I went overboard in this area of instruction. However, I know my coaching was done out of love for them. I am not sure about the feelings of the mother in this reading. I can’t fathom saying to my daughter “not like the slut you are so bent on becoming”. What a horrible thought to have about your child.

If “Girl” is a personal account of Kincaid’s life, I can understand some of the discontent she could have felt toward her mother. I would be curious as to the degree of difference in the relationship between her and her mother before the other children were born and afterwards. Was she loved and treated like a child before and then simply turned into a chore doer afterwards? What was the mother’s motivation in the story? The style of the writing, as constant commands, makes we wonder also if this is the way the mother sounded: constantly sounding off demands without any relief.

I would be curious as to the manner of Kincaid’s relationship with her children.

Amy Tan's "Half and Half"

I found Half and Half to be an enlightening cultured read from the standpoint of the difference views of faith and commitment. I wasn’t sure my interest would be met with a story concerning a Chinese family but there was enough plot and American twists that I enjoyed the narrative. Being a mother myself, I found it interesting Tan writes quite a bit concerning the “anguished experiences of mothers….and their daughters living in today’s America”. There is normally an abundance of material one could write about involving painful experiences concerning the mother/daughter relationships. I am thankful I have never had to endure anything as excruciating as the experience of the mother and daughter in this story. My heart would go out to anyone ever experiencing such a tragic event.

It does sadden me to read the mother lost her faith as a result of the death of her child. It is vital at such a time to gain strength from your faith. However, with the Chinese beliefs that she had, it would have been hard for her to trust when everything she knew should have brought her son back failed. It also pains me to think of her Bible as a wedge for her table. I appreciate the explanation the daughter gave as a correction to the imbalances in her life and the fact that she keeps it clean, but the Bible is what it is, THE BIBLE: handled with the most reverence!

I love the commitment of the mother concerning her desire to save the things which are important: she hardly was able to give up on finding her child and even the attempt to retrieve the body but also the marriage of her daughter. The daughter knew her mother would insist she “save it”. Even though the mother had not approved of the marriage from the beginning, once the couple had taken their vows, it became sacred, a commitment to be honored.

At first I wasn’t sure of the significance of the two stories, the divorce and the death of the child. But I believe Tan was writing about losses. In the story she talks about “when something that violent hits you, you can’t help but lose your balance and fall.” I believe this is what happened to her husband and also her mother. I do agree with your statement that you can’t trust anyone to save you to some degree: part of survival comes from finding the inner strength to deal with losses. However, I do disagree with the part that others can’t help you and especially the idea that God can’t. I am witness personally how God can lift you from the darkest places and can be fully trusted to restore one’s balance. As a Christian, this aspect of the story was hard to handle. We can’t just believe in God when everything goes smoothly all the time, we have to trust and have faith in him even when the hard times come along.

It would be hard to understand the death of a child such as Bing, and one might believe it was fate. We could discuss the “what-ifs” of the day’s happenings but nothing will change the facts of what happened. I also don’t believe it had anything to do with luck, as the family had believed “their luck would never run out, that God was on their side, that the house gods had only benevolent things to report and our ancestors were pleased, that life-time warranties meant out lucky streak would never break”. The only thing anyone is sure of in life is that one day they will die. Other than that, there are no warranties. We have to live with the faith that whatever happens there is a plan in it for God’s glory which is why we are here in the first place.

I think the title of the story comes from description of the cove “like a giant bowl, cracked in half”. One half was clean and safe, protecting the beach from the surf and wind. The other half was jagged, pitted with crevices. This was a good description of life: there are places where we can be protected but then we can wander into the other half where the crevices can be “full of wet shadows… and specks... (that) made it hard for us to see the dangers”. The dangers in our lives sometimes lie in the strangest and most invisible places. If one believed in fate, it would seem in abundance that day: the tug of the father’s fishing line at just the right moment, the confusion with the fight between the older boys, and the slip of Bing’s feet on the reef all within seconds of each other.

The love of the family was strong and evident as each one began to take the blame for what happened; even though it truly was no one’s fault. Just as things happen in our lives, as Bing disappeared into the water, as the daughter had seen her marriage falling apart, we find it hard or impossible to fix things or try to save things before they are too far gone to rescue. We have to find a way to live with the events that happen in our lives and try to maintain a strength to carry us through, because there will surely be more storms to weather.

Nikki Giovanni's Poetry

After reading a brief biography of Nikki Giovanni, I understood her poetry a little better. She is recognized for her outspokenness and speaking the truth. She is a strong supporter of civil rights and equality. She is known for speaking to the individual, not so much the group, as to the power one person has to make a difference in one’s own life as well as the lives of others. Her work has been widely acclaimed receiving many awards and recognitions. She as an individual has also been recognized by many, including Oprah Winfrey who includes Giovanni in her group of “Living Legends”.

The first poem Nikki-Rosa leads to me to wonder if she is comparing and/or talking about herself and Rosa Parks, an activist she wrote much about. Parks lived during the time of the 50s when times were very difficult for the American black person. If Giovanni was writing of her own childhood, she divulged some sincere information about her family. However, I believe this could have been ideas for many of the black race during this time. I also believe this too could have come from many white people during this time. I like her ending of the poem, though, stating “all the while I was quite happy”. I think she is expressing the idea that for the most part it doesn’t take a lot to make a child happy. Sometimes just having the love and presence of your family is all a child needs, even when bad things are going on or there isn’t enough means to provide for all the needs.

Poems for Black Boys was somewhat disturbing for me as I read it. I do not like confrontation and in many ways, I believe this speaks of blacks standing up against their oppressors. Even though this may have been necessary for their safety at the time, it still makes me very uncomfortable to think about. I am very thankful I don’t live in the times when riots were commonplace. It sounds as if she is talking about the ways in which the blacks physically sought revenge against those fighting to take their freedoms and chances of equality from them. She is encouraging the young men to think of new ideas of violence and to teach them to the older people, the old ways weren’t working or had been figured out by the white man. For me, this was a harsh poem in content even though I know it represented the emotions of the time period.

Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh"

It is strange to look at the dates and see the author is still living; we have read about so many that are deceased. This one has lived in the times of my life. It is appealing she would write about common people and their life happenings, but many readers want to read about people and lifestyles which stretch their imagination and take them out of their every day routine lives. I found “Shiloh” readable, but not very exciting. This could possibly be from the fact that divorce is such a common place happening today. Even though the sanctity of marriage had begun its decline in the early eighties, rates have soared in the twenty-first century.

Norma Jean reminds me of Mary Freeman’s Louisa. Her fiancée’ had been gone for fourteen years, trying to make his fortune, while Louisa waited patiently at home for his return. However, during those years, she had become very independent and set in her ways. It was very difficult for her to allow him into her life and daily routine without some annoyance. Norma Jean seems to be dealing with the same circumstances. While I believe she cared for her husband, I think she was able to handle the short visits while he was home between trips. I have known several truck driver wives who have had to learn to become independent and strong managers of the home in the extended absences of their husbands. Norma Jean seems to fit this description as well. Her life when her husband was gone seemed to have been very organized. Now that he is home, her routine has been disrupted and the facets of the relationship begin to irritate her. I find it sad that her husband is finally able to devote some time and attention to her and she doesn’t know how to adjust and accept it. I think she feels he is trying to control her while she feels she has been doing fine all the time.

This is a heartbreaking account of a relationship gone bad, due to no specific reason or circumstance. It is a preview of things to come in the area of marriages ending. Today, many people separate and divorce simply because they decide they don’t like each other anymore. It is a sad state of affairs in this modern day of free choice and no accountability.

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"

Alice Walker’s story Everyday Use was an emotional account of a visit back home. It illustrates the different views of life people can have. Some of us can be content in the same lifestyle in which we were raised while others are always seeking something bigger and better. There is frequently the strife between the two thinking their way is better and how pitiful the other is. I sense the simplistic manner of writing in this story in which critics accuse Walker of writing. However, it contains the elements of writing that make a story successful. The plot revolves around a visit back home of a daughter that has moved away. The problem is the difference in the way of thinking between the mother and daughters that makes one feel successful.

One could feel Dee has come home to flaunt her success by the description of her attire for the visit. The dress she chooses to wear home to this quant area speaks of her crassness. A dress so showy, bright and colorful it “hurt her eyes” as described by her mother. Why would she not have just worn simple clothes that would have made her family feel comfortable and welcoming of her?

It seems from the Polaroid pictures, the name change, to the requests of the family heirlooms, she is only there to capture the idea of her past, not to appreciate it for its natural value but to have it to boast “this is where I came from, see how far I have come”.

The outlook Dee has of her sister is sad. Even though the sister has obviously led a difficult life with her burn injuries, Dee has no sympathy, compassion, or concern for her. I don’t really understand the resentfulness unless Maggie has become an embarrassment to her or a reminder of her past.

I was proud of the mother’s revelation at the end of the hatefulness of Dee and the stance she finally took for Maggie. Even though Dee tried to make them feel bad about not understanding their “heritage” as she did, they finally felt better about themselves having stood up to Dee and found a way to tell her no. They enjoyed the life they led and felt good about themselves. They lived their heritage every day; it wasn’t something just to talk about and show to others.

The title comes from the use of the items Dee found only to be pieces of history, while the mother and Maggie appreciated them for their value in their everyday lives. The mother told of the sinks in the wood from the everyday use of them while Dee was simply planning to use them as decoration pieces.

Sylvia Plath's Poetry

Sylvia Plath sounds like a woman who spent her life in turmoil, possibly trying to attain something she just couldn’t get, relentlessly hoping for something outside her reach. She sounds to be a very educated and intelligent person but not able to keep her psychological person in check. It’s sad to know she spent her life viewing the world as “bad dream”. One would wonder if there were ever any happy days and how much influence her parents actually had on her or if there was something simply neurologically wrong with her.

The feeling I get from reading “The Bee Meeting” is of a death, visitation, and funeral. It sounds as if the subject has died, not realizing it though, and see the people coming, possibly a vision of those from the village that have gone on before her. I think possibly the bees represent the people and their day to day business; how they simply go about their business as bees do: busy as bees. Even though this person has died, the people come to take care of the body and prepare it for burial. In the end she feels the coldness of death after everyone has visited and the burial has taken place and now she is alone in the “white box in the grove”.

“Lazy Lazarus” is an interesting account of her attempts at suicide. The reference to Lazarus I believe to be Lazarus in the Bible, the only man to be resurrected from the dead. He had died, been wrapped, and placed in the tomb. Upon Jesus’ arrival four days after his death, Jesus called him forth from the cave. Lazarus came out still wrapped in his burial clothes, alive as everyone else. Plath makes reference to this account in her poem. This is a sad account as it states she tries continuously to take her life, once every ten years, but as Lazarus did, arises from what others belief is death to her. It sounds as if she has become a spectacle of others and they come to witness yet another unsuccessful effort at suicide. This account implies she has burned herself possibly beyond some recognition, mentioning the scars and ash. Also, the wedding ring or gold filling may have been the only identifying items of who she is.

Plath’s poetry is intensely morbid in most of its content. It would not be something I would enjoy reading at any length. Her poem “Daddy” is a sad account of the relationship with her father. It sounds as if whatever relationship they had before he died was dreadful and she carried that with her throughout the rest of her life, encouraging the attempts of suicide until she was finally successful at the young age of thirty-one.

Randy Jarrell's Poetry

Randall Jarrell sounds like a man committed to his love of literature. His biography doesn’t mention the reason he was raised by his grandparents; I wonder if there were any happenings which led to his dedication and subject matter, of painful realism and change. Evidently his time spent in the air force presented some ideas for many of his poems. My brother-in-law, an avid lover of wartime aircraft and pilots, would love to have met him to hear his stories. I will introduce him to his poetry.

“Losses” and “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” are both poems which would have come from his time in the air force. Even though I don’t understand everything he is saying in his lyrics, I understand he is speaking of missions and flying. I think he is speaking of the swiftness of change among troops. Men go out on missions; some come back and some do not. They don’t have time to mourn. They have to quickly replace them and move on. Even though someone may physically die in a crash, they have already died psychologically in situations before. The missions just became a routine; something they had to do regardless of the toil it may have taken upon their emotions and senses. The five lines about the gunner, although short in nature, represents the reality and gruesomeness of wartime. This would have been a very dangerous assignment, with only some sort of glass between one and the ammunition of the planes seeking them out. The horror of the death of such a soldier is graphically described in the line talking of washing him out of the turret; after being hit by a torpedo in a gunner nothing would be left except bits and pieces to be washed out.

The poem “A Girl in a Library” was harder for me to understand. I was looking forward to reading this as I see my daughter as being this girl. She loves books and could find a lifetime of enjoyment and fulfillment spending her time there. I think he is talking of the many thoughts and dreams one could read about in the many books in a library. One could get lost and live a life of others’ experiences from the writings in the books on the shelves.

Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing"

Tillie Olsen was a writer representing the everyday person. How many stories have been written about a woman performing the daily task of ironing? Not many! Even though the plot of this story did not center on that task, it was mentioned several times speaking of the necessity and importance of it in a woman’s daily routine as other menial tasks consuming the hours in any given day.

I thought this to be a very touching story from a mother’s point of view. One might look at the mother and think, how could she treat her daughter in such a way. I would have thought that way myself several years ago. However, after working in an elementary school for eleven years and experiencing many different family styles and circumstances, I have come to realize that sometimes all people can do is the best they can do.

As this story begins, it tells of school administration trying to schedule a conference time with the parent. We are faced with this issue quite often, parents not seeming to have the time to deal with their children’s education. It seems negligent to me when the children don’t receive the help at home with practice and assignments they need. But I have had to get past the judgmental feelings I have of them. Sometimes parents aren’t able to find the time or don’t understand the need for it, as the mother in this story seems to feel.

This story represents the more common family. Even though it was written in 1956, it would describe many families today. This single parent family may have been in the minority then, but today it would represent the multitude. Many young mothers are left to raise the children as the father’s find themselves looking for others things and not taking on the responsibility. Many mothers also face having to leave their children in day care situations that are not acceptable. The laws today for child caregivers are more stringent today than in the days of the story, but one always run the risk of having someone who just doesn’t treat their child in an acceptable manner. The description of the child’s time at home alone was the hardest for me. My heart would literally break in two to find my child in the situation described of Emily.

I can’t imagine being in the situation this young mother found herself in. She truly loved her daughter but had to make decisions as to what she felt was best for both of them. The outcome did not seem as if it could be good but, in the end, the daughter seemed to have found her niche.

Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

Wow what a story! I can’t say I enjoyed this reading but it was catching. I would have to say, however, this is the kind of story I read a lot of: James Patterson and Ted Dekker who write about psychotic, evil people. I like to read something with a mystery to try and figure out what is going to happen next. I can see where the perspective of antitheses used by O’Connor in response to her “sacramental view of life” is evident in this story. Life, which is considered to be sacred and valued given by God, is taken so quickly without as much as a thought by the villains in this story. The characters are exposed to the evil of “the Misfit” and his gang. Even though they were aware of this man’s persona and never thought they would be confronted by it, they found themselves right in the middle of their presence. No amount of pleading or encouragement of being able to be a “good man” by the grandmother made any difference to the misfit.

I was completely appalled as most people would be at the manner in which the men murdered the family. They seemed to never have had any chance against these men, and to kill the children in such a manner. They were even asked politely if they would go into the woods with them, naïve to the evil in which they were surrounded by. However, it just proves the wickedness that exists in this world, even during the early years in which this piece of literature was written.

I did find O’Connor’s use of “victim and assailant” idea in this story as she also used in Wise Blood. The Misfit tells how he grew up being told by his father of “being a different breed of dog” and continues with the different activities he had fulfilled in his life: gospel singer being one of them. He states he can’t remember why he was sent to the penitentiary but from that point on was “buried alive”. He sounds to have possibly been a “good man” caught up in the wrong circumstances but then treated as a criminal from that point on. The idea of if you are going to be treated as one, you might as well act like one. He seemed to be unhappy in his way of life as he stated in the end “it’s no real pleasure in life” he just didn’t know any other way to live. He had been labeled as a bad boy and a criminal and that is how he saw himself.

Some of her use of irony is shown by the grandmother trying to get the family to change their trip so as not to run into this escapee. As with most of us, she probably didn’t really think they would but was using the idea to get her way. Then, by a simple mistake of her own, they found themselves on this wrong dirt road eventually face to face with the dreaded man. The other characters did not seem to comprehend the plight they were in either by the display of disrespectfulness by Bailey toward his mother and the comments by Wesley and June Star toward the men calling one a “pig”, those whose hands their lives were in.

James Baldwin's "Sonny Blues"

James Baldwin’s Sonny is another character which captured my compassion. While written during the early 60s, his lifestyle captured what was yet to come for a lot of people. While Baldwin used a Negro character living in Harlem for this story, a modern version could be written by someone of almost any race in the United States. Baldwin seemed to anticipate the current state of society as he wrote of the “complex fate” and the idea that the concerns and conditions of the blacks during the time would soon become the same for whites and other races in the present America. Drugs, poverty, and poor living conditions are not isolated to one single race in today’s world; they cross over all ethical and cultural boundaries without consideration for anyone.

This is a story of two brothers, though raised in the same home by the same two parents, whose lives have taken them in completely different directions. The narrator is leading the all-American life: having secured a good job as a school teacher with a wife and a family. Sonny, the younger brother, has taken the more daring, searching lifestyle which has now led him to a serious encounter with the law. How many times does this happen within families with no explanation as to the difference in the siblings; each living their lives aware of the other but not wanting to be accountable or coupled to the other.

I found it interesting the description of the students in the algebra class and their apathetic outlook on education. It reminds me of so many today, not understanding the importance of securing a good education and positive outlook in preparation for the life which is without question ahead of them.

The story was very interesting and kept my attention to the end. The conversation and recollection of the past between the two and the unveiling of feelings and emotions they had experienced throughout their lives was humbling. It helps one remember we can never know why and how someone acts until we truly try to understand their lives and the paths they have taken to get where they currently are.

Eudora Welty "Powerhouse"

Powerhouse, to me, by his description, represents something for everyone. He seems to possess an array of physical characteristics and presentational qualities. He appears to be a performer for the people, not a “show-off”, but drawing the audience in, even if it’s just for that moment in time. This is an element Eudora Welty is known to include in her writings: the appropriate location of the appropriate action. She writes with great description and expression. Powerhouse is a character connecting with the audience as he performs at the moment at any given location before he moves on to the next location. However, it seems in this instance, he is performing before an audience who doesn’t seem to care for his presentation. But, nonetheless, he and his band give it their all just as they would for an encouraging and participating group of people.

As the band breaks for intermission after playing the dreaded requested waltz of the white audience, Powerhouse and his crew leave for an establishment for their break. As they leave, they are confronted by a group of Negros, his true followers. He then seems to go into full performer mode. He begins to tell what he believes an account of his wife’s death, but with emotion and sensation. The crowd stands in awe, then presenting their gift, or offering, to this man they see as a god. They present a man who had pulled drowned white victims from a creek after their boat sank. Powerhouse acknowledges him and continues telling his story, as if a prize to the man.

I have to declare I really did not understand this short story. I can appreciate the entertainment from the writing but I would not be able to explain to someone the author’s purpose or the true plot of it. I was not able to know the true situation with Gypsy and what happened with her. I will be looking to the blogs for enlightenment from others.

Richard Wright's "Native Son"

It is easy to detect some of Wright’s own personal thoughts in his writing of Native Son. The comparison of growing up without a father, exposure to racial prejudice, and his involvement with the Communist Party are very evident within the story. I can understand why this story would have brought him much attention and acclamation. Thus far in our readings, I believe it to be the most interesting and intriguing for me personally. As I tried to determine where the story was going as I read, the ending was not what I would have predicted. With our assignment being only an excerpt from the novel, I plan on reading the entire book.

Bigger Thomas is an attention-grabbing character to say the least. It was easy to feel compassion for the young man as he was thrown into quite a different world from what he had experienced thus far. I believe he represents the intuitive side of most of us, always looking to seek more but not quite understanding how to handle it when we get it. It equates to successful celebrities today. Many grew up without so much, and once they become successful with the millions earned today, they find themselves making poor choices and ending up either in trouble or losing their fortunes. I believe Bigger, even though he seemed to be on the defensive at times, let himself get caught up in the moment with Mary physically which caused his downfall.

Throughout the story, he is a victim of circumstances of temptation presented by those more fortunate. He seems to be treated very well by Mr. and Mrs. Dalton and Peggy, but then Mary comes onto the scene. It is easy to understand his confusion as to how to handle himself in the situation. I felt anger at Mary and Jan as I read the account of the evening out. I felt they were toying with Bigger and using him for their own entertainment. I think in their minds they felt they may have wanted to do good through the Communist party; however, many join these organizations just to be able to appear interested in others’ wellbeing simply for appearance sake. Bigger represented man today in his plight to please employers and others by doing what we believe we must to maintain our jobs and place in society. Many times we are expected to perform tasks which, although they may not be illegal, they are immoral.

Mary’s demise was not only a surprise to the reader but I am sure to her as well. She was out for a fun night on the town at the expense of the new “negro”. She let bad choices get the better of her and, as many young people do, they don’t realize how one can cause such destruction.

I do plan on reading the rest of the story to discover what happened to Bigger following Mary’s death.