Sunday, September 23, 2007
Fitzgerald and Hemingway
The two stories that we read by Fitzgerald and Hemingway, "Winter Dreams" and "The Snows of Kilamanjaro," proved to be very much alike. Both dealt with two insecure and lonely people who were esentially unatainable by anyone who loved them. Judy in "Winter Dreams" and Harry in "The Snows of Kilamanjaro" seemed to constantly search for someone to love them, but whenever they attained anyone's love they were already on the search for someoen else. The two main victims in these stories were Dexter and Harry's wife. I thought that it was interesting how Judy ends up marrying someone who does not treat her well, since she dated so many men who would have done anything for her (especially Dexter). I've known a lot of people like Judy who break up or cheat on guys that treat them well and attempt to be with guys that treat them poorly. I think this approach to dating deals with one's own insecurity and the constant need for the approval of others. Many would say that courting a girl or guy is the most exciting part of a relationship. Once this part is over, people might say that there is nothing else to work for in the relationship, which could be boring.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Harris, Washington, and DuBois
Joel Chandler Harris’s “The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story” and “Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox”
The dialect in these two stories made them exceptionally hard to read, and I did not find much of a purpose to them on a level beyond mere child entertainment. Some of the people in our class related these stories to slavery. Unless they caught something that I missed (which is a definite possibility), Harris’s stories were neither offensive nor derogatory in any way. I thought that the way Uncle Remus exaggerated the southern dialect made the story humorous and more interesting. I could actually hear him speaking in my head.
Booker T. Washington’s “The Atlanta Exposition Address” and DuBois’s “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”
Upon reading Washington’s Exposition for the first time, I thought that he spoke delicately and graciously. He understood that prohibition would take time to completely change the social and economic status of blacks in America. His focus on primary education at Tuskegee should be acknowledged in a positive light; however, he shouldn’t have stopped there. Primary education is not enough. He could have encouraged the existence of secondary education for blacks. He also should have pushed more adamantly for free suffrage instead of merely stating his opinion on the matter. DuBois was correct in saying that Washington approached the matter too passively and could have accomplished more than he did. For the most part, I agree with DuBois that the nation should be held responsible for aiding in the economical advancement of blacks; whereas, Washington seemed to believe that blacks should be left to deal with the problem completely alone (which would have been impossible without the initial funding of the nation as a whole). The only real problem that I found with DuBois is that he expected his goals to be accomplished overnight. Unlike Washington, he wanted the nation to do everything and expected little to no work from the blacks. Overall, I thought that Washington and DuBois shared the same goals. While neither was 100% realistic, a mixture of their strategies would have been extremely affective. It kind of makes me wonder where we, as a nation, would be today if these men had collaborated during their time.
The dialect in these two stories made them exceptionally hard to read, and I did not find much of a purpose to them on a level beyond mere child entertainment. Some of the people in our class related these stories to slavery. Unless they caught something that I missed (which is a definite possibility), Harris’s stories were neither offensive nor derogatory in any way. I thought that the way Uncle Remus exaggerated the southern dialect made the story humorous and more interesting. I could actually hear him speaking in my head.
Booker T. Washington’s “The Atlanta Exposition Address” and DuBois’s “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”
Upon reading Washington’s Exposition for the first time, I thought that he spoke delicately and graciously. He understood that prohibition would take time to completely change the social and economic status of blacks in America. His focus on primary education at Tuskegee should be acknowledged in a positive light; however, he shouldn’t have stopped there. Primary education is not enough. He could have encouraged the existence of secondary education for blacks. He also should have pushed more adamantly for free suffrage instead of merely stating his opinion on the matter. DuBois was correct in saying that Washington approached the matter too passively and could have accomplished more than he did. For the most part, I agree with DuBois that the nation should be held responsible for aiding in the economical advancement of blacks; whereas, Washington seemed to believe that blacks should be left to deal with the problem completely alone (which would have been impossible without the initial funding of the nation as a whole). The only real problem that I found with DuBois is that he expected his goals to be accomplished overnight. Unlike Washington, he wanted the nation to do everything and expected little to no work from the blacks. Overall, I thought that Washington and DuBois shared the same goals. While neither was 100% realistic, a mixture of their strategies would have been extremely affective. It kind of makes me wonder where we, as a nation, would be today if these men had collaborated during their time.
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