James Baldwin

 James Baldwin

 My Reflection of “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

            James Baldwin lived from 1924-1987. He was known as the most important American black writer during the 20^th century. He supported himself at an early age and became a writer at an early age as well. He was a voice for black Americans often warning white Americans of what was to come. He was often considered militant for this.

            “Sonny’s Blues” was told from a first person point of view. The main character is a teacher, but his name is not mentioned in the short story.  The teacher is reminded of his brother Sonny one day in class. As he sees the young men going down a troubled path, he thinks of his brother. They remind him of Sonny. Apparently, the teacher had not seen Sonny in quite some time. 

            The teacher had memories of Sonny and his drug usage. He couldn’t believe Sonny had been caught with drugs.  Although Sonny was a drug addict, his brother still thought he was a good boy. The mother often worried about Sonny too. She asked the brother to take care of him once she was gone. The father had died when Sonny was only fifteen. 

            The teacher and Sonny are reunited at the mother’s funeral. That seems such a terrible place to reunite with a family member. The teacher soon remembers what he had promised his mother in regards to Sonny. So, he asks Sonny what type of work he has been doing. The teacher learns that Sonny has been playing the piano in a Jazz band. The teacher seemed disappointed that he was not going to school but instead hanging out in Greenwich Village with friends. 

            The teacher is consumed with everything that happened with his brother Sonny. He doesn’t realize his own feelings, but instead focuses on the troubled youth and adulthood of his brother Sonny. 

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath

My Reflections on the poetry of Sylvia Plath

            We were also assigned to read the poetry of Sylvia Plath this week. Sylvia was a poet that lived between1932-1963. She was only thirty-one when she died. She was a very talented poet publishing her first poem by age seventeen. She had a troubled life and hospitalized and received psychiatric therapy. Sylvia Plath committed suicide at age thirty-one. Many of her poems were published after her death.

            Only two of her poems were published in this area of our book. Those poems were “Lady Lazarus” and “Daddy.” “Daddy” talked of her father. His death seemed to really affect Sylvia so much so that she wanted to write a poem about him. I can understand feelings of missing a parent since my mother passed away 2 years ago. Although I am not a young girl that is the way you feel when a parent dies.

            Mentioning her father in the poem “Daddy,” Sylvia mentions being German. She mentions Jewish people. She mentions Nazi concentration camps. She mentions being scared of her father. She mentions her father has “Aryan” blue eyes. Swastikas are also mentioned. That seems to be some pretty serious subjects in a poem during that period of time.

            “Lady Lazarus” was the other poem in the book. Both of them were medium in length. She mentions Nazis in the poem as well. Her poetry has been known to sound like a suicide letter. This poem seems to have that theme in it. She mentions death in this poem as well. Many of the greatest artists always seem to feel tortured. It seems that quality seems to produce such interesting work. I found it to be sad that she committed suicide after treatment in a psychiatric facility failed to help her.

Randall Jarrell's Poetry

Poetry by Randall Jarrell

     For this week’s assignment, Randall Jarrell’s poetry was on the list. Mr. Jarrell lived during 1914-1965. He was a teacher, but he loved to write poetry. He also served in the military. I found this information interesting. I am sure the things he learned while serving in the military influenced his work. While reading his poetry, I noticed that many of them mentioned death. Death was a common theme among Randall Jarrell’s poetry.

            In the book were four poems by Randall Jarrell. Out of the poems in the book, “In Monetecito” was my favorite. In Montecito seemed to have a lighter theme to it. The poem mentions the city Santa Barbara. It also mentions fashion as well. The description of the city seemed to feel exciting and interesting by the words used to describe it. As the poem progresses, it seems to describe a missing woman. Then, a death theme pops back out. Reading on, you can see that the woman mentioned is no longer using her electric toothbrush. She has left her expensive car, a Bentley, behind.  She is no longer checking her safety deposit box. Her seat at the cricket match is no longer occupied by her. Her girdle is empty also. The poem mentions many nice things about the woman, her hair, and her figure. The poem also mentions the person who replaces this woman will not be as attractive as she was.

            I didn’t think Randall Jarrell’s poetry was as easy to read as other poems I have been assigned to read or even read for enjoyment. Reading the poems a few times did help to understand them a little better. His biography helped to explain the themes Randall Jarrell explored with his work.  Death was found in many of the poems, but he explained it in many different ways.

"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry

My Reflections on "A Raisin in the Sun"

 I agree with our instructor in that is this is a great read! It is one of my favorites and I really enjoyed the film as well. This drama is about a black man named Walter and the struggles he faces with his family as they want a better life. He has dreams and wants to see them come true so he can help his family. 

            When the story began, this family was waiting on the arrival of a life insurance check. The life insurance check was worth $10,000 and was the result of the father’s early death. The money meant a lot to the mother, Lena. Lena had hopes of changing the lives of her family with that money. She had watched her husband work himself to death on a daily basis

The son, Walter, had other ideas for the life insurance money. He was tired of being a servant to other people. He wanted to start a liquor business with his business partners. He thought working for himself would make him feel proud and provide a better life for his family. Lena did not want the money from her husband’s death to be spent on liquor though. She was against the entire idea. She and Walter had disagreements because of their differing opinions.

             Meanwhile, Ruth, Walter’s wife, is unhappy. Her son, Travis, has to sleep on the couch in their cramped home. She has to live in that little, stifling place. Her relationship with Walter is deteriorating as well. She is overcome with joy when the money arrives and has hopes of moving out of that place to a real house. She wants a better life. 

            When Walter finds out that Lena spent the money on a house, he is very upset. Beneatha, his sister, always argues with Walter about the money as well. She is a college girl with bigger ideas about the world. She is wrapped up in African heritage which is the source behind her character in the story. As Lena sees that Walter can’t feel like a man or the head of their family, she gives him the rest of the money to handle. She trusts him to do what is right for their family and put aside money for Beneatha’s college.

Walter decides to use the money for the liquor business with hopes of making money for their family. His shady business partner Willie steals the money and disappears though. The entire family is devastated and doesn’t feel like they can move into the new house when this happens.

Along with the pressure from the white neighborhood to stay out of their neighborhood and the news that their money was stolen is a little too much for this family. They do not know what to do now. Ruth doesn’t want to stay where they are. Lena feels sad and angry that her husband’s hard work was for nothing. Beneatha is mad that Walter just gave the money away. Walter just feels devastated and feels the pressure of being the head of the family. He knows he has let his family down.

The family comes together in the end. Walter makes the decision as he runs the family to move into the white neighborhood although it will be difficult. Lena still gets to make a difference for her family through this decision. Ruth gets to move into a real house. This black family suffering through tough times again forges ahead at end of drama in hopes for a better life.

"The Man Who Was Almost A Man" by RIchard Wright

My Reflections on “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” by Richard Wright

            “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” was written by Richard Wright. This story is about a young black kid named Dave that wishes to be a man. He is only seventeen years old. He seems to feel overworked and doesn’t get to have any benefits from working so much since his mother receives his pay. As he struggles to feel more like a man, he runs into trouble in this story. 

            Dave really wants to buy a gun in this story. Since Dave does not feel very power as a young black male, he feels like a gun would bring respect. In fact, he thinks he could kill any man with a gun no matter how young he is. He seems to want the gun to feel more like a man. His mother wants no part of it though. He won’t even discuss it in front of his father. Dave nags at his mother so much till he gets her to give him the two dollars that the store owner wants for a gun.

            Reluctantly Dave’s mother gives him the two dollars with specific instructions to bring it back. Dave is so excited to have the gun that he puts off relinquishing it to his mother. No one suspects something may be wrong with the gun only be two dollars which is much cheaper than the ones in the Sears catalog that Dave carries around.

            As Dave works with the mule of his employer, he feels like that is the perfect opportunity to try out his gun. Dave wants to feel the power someone would get from shooting the gun. He seems to be a little afraid, but wants to try out the gun so badly. He ends up shooting the mule and getting into trouble for having a gun at the end of the story. The gun didn’t seem to work right. 

            Being told that he has to pay back fifty dollars for a dead mule and work even harder for that as people laughed at him seem to be too much for Dave. He leaves before he could become a man after firing off the last few shots of the gun.

           

"Powerhouse" by Eudora Welty

My Reflections on “Powerhouse” by Eudora Welty

            “Powerhouse” is written by Eudora Welty. It is a little difficult to understand but she uses great description. This story is about a black musician and the troubles he faces in life. He is a powerhouse and nothing seems to bother him much.

            Powerhouse is described as being a very talented musician. He plays the piano and bangs on the keys like a powerhouse. His fellow musicians seem to really respect him. The audience seems to appreciate his talents as well. His fellow musicians seem to support Powerhouse. They talk over what he has been told about his wife not being alive. They also listen to his instructions on how to play.

            I found it rather interesting that they began a conversation during a performance. The discussion involved whether or not his wife had died. It seemed unclear to me where she had went and why he didn’t know she was missing and presumed dead. I thought that was a little odd. It seemed hard for Powerhouse to believe that she was dead. He kept stating scenarios in which it could have happened. He didn’t seem to like the person that delivered the information as well. 

            The end of the story has the song “Somebody Loves Me” being requested. Powerhouse seems to think this song has meaning and appears to be missing his wife. He doesn’t seem to think she is dead. He finds the person that delivered him the information to not be a very trustworthy person. 

            This story seemed to be the most difficult for me to understand. I am not sure why. I have enjoyed reading all of them though. This is definitely a different style of writing. I think it may take reading a few times to really understand the symbolism in the story.

"Flight" by John Steinbeck

My Reflections on “Flight” by John Steinbeck

 

             “Flight” was written by John Steinbeck. It is a story of a young black boy named Pepe who is nineteen years old. Pepe lives with his mother and two younger siblings. Becoming a man is a theme explored in this story. It also foreshadows a knife in the story. 

            Pepe’s father is deceased so he is the man of the family. His mother depends on him for many things. The day he killed a man he was sent to the store by his mother to fetch medicine for the family. She had no one to make these trips since she had to take care of the other children. With Pepe being nineteen, she needed him to become more of a man instead of being so lazy like it mentions in the story.

            Pepe spend a lot of time being lazy to his mother’s disgust. She finds him playing around with a knife like a toy. He seems to take delight in playing with the knife and how well he could kill something with it. It was mentioned in the story in a way that one must think it will be used again. Pepe’s mother was angry by his actions that day and asked him to stop being lazy and go into town on his father’s horse and help her.

            Pepe didn’t seem to like all the responsibilities of being the oldest male at his house. He wanted to be a man though. When he returned after his trip to town his mother told him in a sad way that he was a man now. Even though he was now considered to be a “man,” he was still a boy that needed to be told what to do by his mother. His mother seemed very worried about Pepe and tried to help him know what to do now that he was in so much trouble.