Race and the American Novel Part 2: Synthesis

America

      One prevalent theme that I saw permeating throughout American Literature is inequality, the way it was distributed through classes, sex, and race, and I think non white women got the absolute worst of it.  During slavery, unless you were a heterosexual white man, you had virtually no power within society, women being just above slaves and immigrants.  If you were a woman you took care of the house, children, and piety; if you were a slave, you were as good as livestock; but if you were a slave woman, you had it worst of all.  I think slave women had to be thought of as something akin to a person, because they were often sold into sex slavery (which was surprisingly busy business considering peoples views towards African Americans of the time), bred like barn animals for more slaves, or sometimes kept for the private "use" of their owners.  Even our fore fathers, great leaders and defenders of democracy and freedom, owned people, many of them even having children with their slaves.  Now, I can't imagine many of these women were willing participants, and combined with a knowledge of the way slave families were discouraged and ripped apart, I don't know how any African American women made it out of slavery intact.  I think this kind abuse contributed greatly to the problems of race and gender inequality we face today.  By stealing every slaves identity and ripping apart their families, history was taken away from African Americans both during and after slavery.  They no longer had a past to reflect upon, a family to depend on, leaving them isolated and helpless.  For most of us, when we have a problem we look to the past for advise; which leads me to believe that this unintentional effect of slavery was one of the most debilitating.  These are problems that persist today and weren't even acknowledged or acted upon until the 1960's.  

          Falling into the cult of domesticity, certain things were expected (and still are) of women.  They should be pious, pure, submissive, and domestic.  This is prevalent throughout many of the stories we read this semester.  I thought Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin complicated this paradigm, because slaves kind of took on all of these roles within slave owning homes.  For the most part, the slaves in Stowe's novel are very religious, submissive to their masters will, pure and faithful to their master, and often times took on the domestic duties of the home, cooking, cleaning, child rearing.  If the cult of domesticity is a definition of women, where does Stowe leave women? White and black.  Sethe in Toni Morrison's Beloved is also an interesting note here, because she possesses two of these qualities, or rather doesn't possess piousness or purity, but "home" still seems to be the best and only place for Sethe, she even works in a kitchen.  What does this mean for women? Is Sethe or any of the women in UTC real women?  Was Uncle Tom a woman?

          The cult of true womanhood led to a breakdown of women across the country, who were all unhappy, depressed, and otherwise longing; and the men couldn't figure it out, what else besides a big home with all the latest gadgets, a husband, and healthy children could a woman possibly want?  Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives readers a glimpse into this torture/oppression in The Yellow Wallpaper, which was later re articulated by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique as "the problem with no name.  Women needed more than a life provided for them, they wanted to choose, to decide whether or not to have a family, to get an education, a career, and to have these things be acceptable socially.

          But I think the largest problem faced in our country today is the way society would rather ignore or repress our problems and history.  I think we have made leaps and bounds since the days of slavery, and are continuing to make progress towards humanity.  But we still have a ways to go as evidenced by the current race riots, police brutality, and gender inequality that are going on today.  I think the first step on the road to recovery is society learning to accept people as people, not judging them by their race, sex, or preferences.  We are all people, men, women, black, white, and everyone in between, we all eat, breathe, love, cry, bleed, and live in this country.  I think we need to start focusing on our similarities instead of our differences.  

Works Cited:

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique / by Betty Friedan. 20th Anniversary ed. New York: Norton, 1983. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. 1865-Present. Ed. Nina 
     Baym. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 485-97. Print. 
     Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 2 vols.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1st Vintage Intl ed. New York: Vintage Book, 2004. 
     Print. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Ammons, Elizabeth, and Cairns Collection of American Women Writers. Uncle Tom's  Cabin : Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism / Harriet Beecher Stowe ; Edited by Elizabeth  Ammons. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print. Norton Critical Edition.

         

Race and the American Novel Part 2: Reader Response

Love/Hate

          After reading several reader reviews on Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon, I found that there is a love/hate interpretation of Toni Morrison's Beloved.  By that I mean that readers either loved it or hated it, there didn't seem to be any in-between.  Those that hated it generally seemed to be annoyed or confused with the shifting narrative and psychological nuances.  As an example, aspiring author and Goodreads reviewer, Mark Stone, is one of the hate its, and in his opinion, "I found Beloved incomprehensible to the point of absurdity. It's one thing to have a book that is full of magic and poetry or to have a character's passion overwhelm their ability to describe the world from time to time, but I also need to know what is going on. For the story to grab me, I need to know what the story is." (Stone Goodreads)  I think he is missing the point, Morrison  wrote like this to demonstrate the lasting psychological effects of slavery, and to highlight that lack of story that an entire people do not have.  

          On the other end of the spectrum, those that loved Beloved tended to praise Morrison for the complexities, narrative, and emotion evident in her novel, and often times posting emotional reviews.  One anonymous review gave Beloved 5 stars and comments, "I didn't find it confusing-but it was deep and required you to sit with it sometimes to absorb it-which also seemed to me, intentional by the writer.  I loved that about it." (Anonymous Barnes&Noble)  A review on Amazon from A Customer states, "There are mini history lessons on every page, wonderful imagery and symbolism, beautifully drawn characters, and food for thought that should stay with you for the rest of your life." (Customer Amazon)  I agree with these two comments, because I had to sit with this novel at times and think about it, in fact it made much more sense after a class discussion, but with Morrison's talented hand, the characters, settings, and moods really came to life for me opening up a new perspective for me and a deeper understanding of U.S. history.  I am definitely on the love it side.

          I think to truly appreciate this novel, readers need some knowledge on slavery, its torments, and its lasting effects.  I got the impression that the academic world were the love its, and the everyday readers and those who were unfamiliar with Morrison were the hate its.  Beginning with a historical context and remembering to never judge a book by its cover, it is clear to me why Beloved is so highly acclaimed.   I think Goodreads reviewer Jessica, who gave Beloved 4 stars, says it pretty well, "I feel like people who haven't read her believe that Morrison writes these lovely, lyrical ladylike books that will soften the heart and elevate the soul... and I mean, I guess in a way she does, but these lovely books will give you seriously deranged nightmares." (Jessica Goodreads)  

Works Cited:

sorry I'm not sure how to cite these reviews, but I pulled them from Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon reader reviews of Toni Morrison's Beloved. 

Race and the American Novel Part 2: Contemporary Connections

History

          In an article for the Chicago Tribune, journalist John Kass covers a story entitled "Teacher's lesson about racism offends his bosses."  This story is about a Monroe, Michigan, 36 year veteran middle school history teacher who showed a video of a white entertainer in "blackface" during a lecture on racism and segregation in the U.S., and was subsequently suspended by administration.  Turns out, students and parents were outraged at his suspension, and organized on his behalf to get his job back.  He was eventually reinstated.  There has not yet been any discussion on his curriculum choices and nothing resembling an apology has been issued; we're just left with a talented educator with a bitter taste in his mouth.  In his own words, "Teaching history means that sometimes you teach things that happened that were offensive.  Racism is offensive, and the use of blackface was offensive, the crucifixion was offensive, wars are offensive, and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was offensive.  But it happened.  You don't skip history because it might offend.  It happened.  It's history.  That's what I do. I teach history." (Qtd in Kass)  I think this teacher makes an excellent point about history and the way it is taught, and I believe if we had more educators like this one in our country we might someday be able to acknowledge our past, grow from it, and eventually move forward. (I also think it could help the maturity level towards race in this country.)
          I believe that the way we teach U.S. history in the American public school system is an issue we face today.  While I do believe the history that is taught in schools today has gotten much better in recent years, it differs widely across the country because the way history is taught is debated controversially due to the many different thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, surrounding American's often times violent history.  There are some areas of the United States that stifle an accurate depiction of history, like up in Monroe, MI, and others that change and alter it to suit their beliefs: a county in Georgia that teaches Creationism alongside of Evolution in public schools, a county in Texas that now refers to the slave trade as the atlantic triangular trade, are just a couple of disturbing examples and articulate the way that this is a national issue and not just one for the slave states.  I believe that withholding knowledge, whether it's good or bad, holds society back, and before we can move forward we must acknowledge and learn from the past.
          History happened.  I know that most of the time U.S. history isn't all that pleasant to dwell on, and at times quite disturbing, but a consistent and accurate account of history needs to be taught in schools throughout the U.S. if we are ever going to attempt to heal old wounds and move forward as a nation.

Work Cited:

Kass, John. "Teacher's Lesson about Racism Offends His Bosses." Chicago Tribune. 
     Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2014. Web. 14 May 2015. 

Click here to check out the article

Race and the American Novel Part 2: Beloved Critical Commentary

Identity

          In his essay, "Is Hell a Pretty Place?  A White-Supremacist Eden in Toni Morrison's Beloved," one point author David Cosca argues is that the lack of information and communication given (or not given) to African Americans during slavery worked to break them down emotionally, psychologically and contributed greatly to the lasting effects of slavery.  Cosca believes, "whatever the reality of history is-and the point is, really, that we cannot know with any certainty, due to both the period which these events took place and the indifference of those who were transporting kidnapped humans across the Atlantic [...]  Morrison's text also urges us to understand the consequences that this history has had on the society that we live in, and portrays that this sense of historical loss can cast a shadow on not just one generation, but on an entire society over several hundred years." (Cosca 12)  In other words Cosca is saying that wanton neglect and nearly a complete lack of documentation during the slave trade ripped away the history of an entire people, and left them without the hope, because without a family, who will help you?  Cosca notes that Beloved, "portrays the perceived necessity of obscuring the familial relationships between slaves, both as a means of making slaves feel alienated and as a means to attempt to eliminate natural feelings of love and affection between family members." (Cosca 11)  This relates to the way slaves were bred like livestock and their children were forced into slavery (often times being taken far away never to be heard from again), so slave owners discouraged families among slaves to weaken emotional bonds and reduce trust between slaves.  Cosca believes one reason we still deal with this issue today is because, "society endeavors to obstruct the propagation of stories and facts that reflect shameful and humiliating aspects of the history of our society, but which are easier or more comforting for many people to dismiss, ignore, repress, or revise." (Cosca 10)  I agree with Cosca, the disturbing lack of documentation, records, or first person accounts of slavery, combined with an insight into the ways slaves were isolated, alienated, and dehumanized is another way African Americans were brutalized, and does not portray the United States in a very positive light, and because our society would rather not talk about that "unpleasant" part of history these issues endure today.  

          I think Cosca raises a good point that shows up repeatedly throughout Toni Morrison's Beloved, and helps me empathize with the main characters.  All of the characters in Beloved have a less than traditional view of families, and share some of their experiences and memories throughout.             Sethe offers a vague memory of her mother while talking with Beloved, "You mean my Mother?  If she did I don't remember.  I didn't see her but a few times in the fields and once when she was working indigo.  By the time I woke up in the morning, she was in line. [...]  She must of nursed me two or three weeks-that's what the others did.  Then she went back in the rice and sucked from another woman whose job it was." (Morrison 72)  The casual manner with which Sethe discussed these horrific memories is heart breaking, and to think that this detachment from familial bonds was intentionally forced onto African Americans is unbelievable and unforgivable.  If I saw my mother hanging from a tree mutilated, I would have a lot of very strong feelings, and would probably harbor emotional memories.
          Having spent the majority of her life within the institution of slavery, Baby Suggs holds an equally distorted view towards family.  She recalls her own children, "The last of her children, whom she barely glanced at when he was born because it wasn't worth the trouble to try to learn the features you would never see change into adulthood anyway.  Seven times she had done that [...] All seven were gone or dead.  What would be the point of looking too hard at that youngest one? (Morrison 163-164)  Baby Suggs also is pretty casual about a pretty traumatic situation( she never would have been able to get any kind of closure good or bad), and is a prime example of the way slaves were bred like livestock, and the detachment they felt towards their families.  It was imposed not only by the slave owners, but probably also as a sort of macabre defense mechanism of an oppressed people. It makes me wonder how many times a heart can broken before a persons mind and spirit is lost.
           Even though she was born outside of the institution of slavery, Denver is still a victim of its after effects.  Denver remembers what little education she was able to obtain, "She was seven, and those two hours in the afternoon were precious to her.  Especially so because she had done it on her own and was pleased and surprised by the pleasure and surprise it created in her mother and her brothers.  For a nickel a month, Lady Jones did what whitepeople thought unnecessary if not illegal: crowded her little parlor with colored children who had time for and interest in book learning." (Morrison 120)  Denver was leaps and bounds ahead, because she learned to spell and count.  Slaves were usually put to hard labor and for generations were forced to use their backs and not their minds, so education was generally not a part of a their life, and did not value "book learning" very much.  The slave owners on the other hand discouraged education among African Americans as another way to keep them complacent without a means to help themselves or each other.
          Out of context, these stories, feelings, and memories would be hard to empathize with, but with all this context, even a woman who kills her baby with a hand saw can be redeemable.

Works Cited:
Cosca, David. "Is Hell a Pretty Place?  A White Supremacist Eden in Toni Morrison's     Beloved." Interdisciplinary      Humanities 30.2 (2013): 9-23. MLA International Bibliography.Web. 5   May 2015.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1st Vintage Intl ed. New York: Vintage Book, 2004. 
     Print. 

Blog 6: The Way To Rainy Mountain

The Great Outdoors

          The settings, and stories of historical settings, of N. Scott Momaday's "The Way to Rainy Mountain" are described in such detail that they become the most important part of the story, and reveal a deep connection and reverence to nature and the land.  With a sense of awe, Momaday describes Rainy Mountain, "To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion.  Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where creation was begun."  (Momaday 1465)  This description hints at a belief that life comes from the land, and I get a sense that he loves the land in the same way that most people love their parents, grateful for life, guidance, and knowledge.  With an equally reverent tone, Momaday tells of how the Kiowas came to the plains, "Descending eastward, the highland meadows are a stairway to the plain.  In July the inland slope of the Rockies is luxuriant with flax and buckwheat, stonecrop and larkspur.  The earth unfolds and the limit of the land recedes. [..]  The Sun is at home on the plains.  Precisely there does it have the certain character of a god."  (Momaday 1466)  This story is about the Kiowas and their pilgrimage to be as close to their god as possible, and as they reach the plains, Momaday's description gets more and more focused on the beautiful and lush surroundings, making their new home/land a heaven on earth.  One of the Kiowas oldest rituals, the Sun Dance, is no longer performed, but an elder woman, Ko-sahn, remembers the last one, and one of the key components was land, "The old woman had a bag full of earth on her back.  It was a certain kind of sandy earth.  This is what they must have in the lodge.  The dancers must dance upon the sandy earth."  (Momaday 1473)  The land is of such importance to the Kiowas that even dirt had many different categories and was so important as to be crucial in rituals, revealing a deeply symbolic connection to all of the land.  Even though this is a story about a man dealing with the death of a loved one, her death becomes secondary to the landscape, the memories and knowledge she left him of the land, and the void left by her in the land.

          I can relate to this connection with nature, because, growing up in northeast Wisconsin I spend/spent a lot of time outdoors, developed a healthy respect for nature, and truly value my time and memories there.  Just about everything life needs comes from nature: food, water, shelter, light, warmth, and I believe that we should all do what we can to take care of nature the way nature takes care of us, by not littering, putting out camp fires, and generally trying to leave nature the way you found it.  I also believe that it's important to remember that nature is in charge.  No matter how well you plan, weather, wildlife, or natural disasters can ruin anything.  So, plan for the worst, and hope for the best.  I have never associated my love of the outdoors with a religious design, but nature is a great place to unwind, relax, and forget all of your troubles.  Everything just sort of washes away with the breeze and the birds and the crackle of a fire or the lap of water on a beach.  

          I think the U.S. is doing a better job in recent years in acknowledging and teaching a more realistic version of our history to students, especially at the college level.  When I was in grade school I was led to believe that slavery and manifest destiny weren't all that bad.  I later found out that they were both filled with physical, psychological, biological, emotional, and cultural warfare.  Native and African Americans weren't just beat, they were destroyed on every human level and everything was taken from them.  Even though I do think we are doing a better job recognizing these parts of our history, we still have a ways to go, as evidenced by the story we discussed in class of the sacred native mountain that is going to be leveled during the mining process.  I just couldn't believe this story when I heard it.  How can a company be allowed to destroy a peoples monument?  Comparing it to a non spiritual "white" monument, what would Americans have to say if someone decided to scrap out the Statue of Liberty?  I bet an awful lot.

Works Cited:

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Way to Rainy Mountain." 1969. 1865-Present. Ed. Nina 
     Baym. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 1463-1473. Print. 
     Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 2 vols.