The Color Purple

The beginning of the passage we read, you can tell that Celie definitely has some hostility towards God. She finally stopped writing to God because she figured he isn’t doing anything to help her with her problems. When her friend Shug pointed out that God helped bring all of the things she loved into this world, Celie was quick to point out that he also brought an awful step dad and a sister she probably won’t ever see again. She doesn’t feel like God has been all that useful in her life. She then goes on to complain about why people go to church. No one has ever actually found God in church so to her it doesn’t make sense to go. The negativity from Celie continues. She goes on to talk about how onceshe found out that God was a white man, she lost all interest in him. She didn’t understand how that white man would be any different from any other white man she has encountered. None of them pay any attention to the black people, so why should she be talking to him under her breath asking for help? She knows what the results will be. Finally, towards the end of the passage, we start to see Celie’s opinion on God change. Shug tells her to imagine God as It, not a man or a woman. Then she starts talking about God loves everything he has created, from feelings, all the way to the color purple, and he wants people to be able to enjoy everything around them. She starts thinking about all of the wonderful things God has made, especially in nature, and at the end of the passage, we feel a sense of peace coming from Celie. There is still some hostility coming from Celie because she still can’t get the white man image out of her head, but at least she is able to admit that because of this image she hasn’t been able to notice all the wonders God put on this earth.

Reflection 2

After finishing the movie, I am still filled with confusion. But I also feel very angry after watching this movie. The feeling of confusion comes from the multiple different sides of the story that is being told. The Jews are saying that one thing happened, but the African Americans of the community are certain that another thing happened, and a good portion of them happened to be eyewitnesses. I have a lot of anger after watching this movie because it makes me so mad to see that after something unbiased as a car accident there can be so much hatred that evolves. After the accident, there was a huge fued, and now when all of the people are telling there stories it is always one side against the other. There was very seldom a story that talked nice about both sides, or a Jew that talked nice about an African American and vice versa. The Jewish people would talk about how respectful the Jews were to the family of the African American boy but then they would turn right around and talk about how disrespectful the African Americans were. There were simple things that were done that the other side completely blew into proportions, and it was almost annoying after a certain point to hear them complain about each other over something that happened on accident. I think Anna Smith did this piece to show everyone how confusing and angry this incident really made everyone. It let the viewers know that while you could know what happened, the little boy was hit by a car, there are always 10 different sides to a story and all of them take different versions to get to the same ending.

Feelings over the Movie

Based on what I have seen so far throughout the movie I can tell there was a lot of confusion over just about everything. First off, there is confusion about individual’s identities. There are people who are supposed to be the most devoted of their kind subconsciously showing doubt about their culture. For example, the Jewish woman who is talking about the radio is supposed to be extremely devoted to her religion, but she doesn’t know the simple rules of a holiday that she celebrates every year, possibly multiple times a year. There is a sense of confusion given off in Al Sharptons section as well. He seems very adamant about saying the reason he has his hair straight was because of James Brown, but while listening to him talk about it, his reasoning didn’t seem very convincing. Mainly, there is confusion going on about the actual riot and the events surrounding the riot as well. Both groups gave different sides of the story, with different details, and different people to blame. The African Americans who spoke about the accident were angry at the Jew because he was apparently drunk. The rabbi was angry that there was no attention given to the Jewish man who was stabbed. Every time someone begins to talk about the incident, the story seems to change, which makes it even more confusing. As of right now, I don’t know who to feel worse for. I am tempted to say the Jewish people because accidents do happen, and that does not mean that there is a need for violence, but at the same point I don’t think it is right that the little kids didn’t get treatment before someone who was basically fine. In any case, this did not call for violence of this nature at all. If there were going to be a riot after every traffic accident, the world would be in absolute mayhem.

Malcom X

Malcom X’s piece was a lot more negative than Martin Luther King Jr’s. Through out MLKJ’s piece we focused mainly on working together. He wanted the whites and the blacks to be able to live together in harmony, without any more complications and negativity. Malcom X focused a lot more on letting people know about the “white man.” He didn’t want people to work together, but instead it seemed like he wanted to speak about the differences between the two types of people. What stood out to me was that he said the time when he realized his love for reading really blossomed was when we has in jail. This is surprising because when you think of jail, you do not think of a place were knowledge could be found. Also, I thought it was surprising that at first he was trying to side with his brother, but then When Muhammad talked to him about how if you begin to doubt something that you once believed in, it shows that you did not actually believe in it to begin with, he started changing his opinion. This knowledge made him begin to believe even more in the Muslim religion, and stop supporting your family. When you begin to believe in something so much that you disregard your family, that shows how strong your dedication to the cause.

Sonny's Blues

For a majority of Sonny’s life he has succumbed to using drugs as a way to feel better. He was not happy about his life or in life, and using drugs was something that helped him feel better even for a brief period of time. What isn’t appeasing to taking something that will make you feel better about your life? After Sonny got really into heroin, and began to get into trouble, he started playing the piano. At first the brother didn’t really understand what fascinated Sonny so much about playing music. He would get letters from his wife explaining how Sonny would play whenever he had a spare second. At the end of the story, once Sonny plays for his brother, the brother realizes that music is Sonny’s new high. He plays it as a way to express himself. Also, just as music makes everyone else feel better, it makes Sonny feel better too. When he is playing the piano, he is able to separate himself from reality, and go into his own little world. He can briefly forget about the Harlem that has held him back his entire life. Also, music helps everyone around Sonny as well. The horrible past Sonny has had is what makes his music so much deeper and full of so much emotion. These emotions that Sonny lets out while playing his music helps send the message to the people around him not to go down the same path he went down.

Ethics

Throughout my childhood the main ethic that I have been taught was that you get more from honey than you do with vinegar. This just means if you are nice to people, you will get more in the long run than if you were mean to people. From a very early age my parents started teaching me this. I can see this not only from my parents, who taught me the idea and who try and instill that idea in the things they do, but also from my peers around me. I witness cases of both honey and vinegar throughout a regular day at University High School. There are students that are known to be really nice kids. In general, they are the students that are given the most respect from students and teachers alike. There are also students at the school that have a bad reputation for being mean and rude jerks. This image radiates off of them, and even new people are able to tell this fact about them. Whenever they get into trouble, everyone is quick to say that it was probably their fault, even if they didn’t here the whole story. When asking for a favor, people are less inclined to do it for them, based on the fact that they know the student isn’t very nice. If you just take the time and notice things happening around you, you are able to see this idea be carried out all of the time throughout the day. There are many other ethics of my life, for example, do not steal, respect your elders, and always say please and thank you, but out of all of the ethics of my life, this is the one that is most important.

Langston Hughes and McKay

There are many things that are different between the two poets. The first is that Claude McKay has a specific style of writing that he uses in a majority of the poems we read. This style is a sonnet. He does this because it makes the people see that these African Americans aren’t all uneducated like the whites thought they were, but instead they are writing poems in the same style as the famous Shakespeare. Langston Hughes incorporates many different styles of writing in his poems. They are similar in the topics they discuss. Both Langston and McKay make connections between the white and black race. They both have a sort of bitterness about them when it comes to the white race. For example, in “To My White Friends,” McKay talks about how black people can be just as awful to white people as whites are to black people, but they are choosing to be better people than that, and not succumb to the savagery that the whites have become. In Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B,” Hughes writes about how he wants to be a separate person from the whites. He realizes that he doesn’t want to be a part of the whites, and the whites don’t want to be a part of a black man, but Hughes realizes that that is a part of being in America. Also, both poets write about Africa. Langston Hughes mentions it in his poem, “ The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and McKay speaks of it in “Africa.” They also each have a poem discussing individuals and the actions they are doing because of the opportunities they are given, or I guess not given.

Booker T Washington

Fredrick Douglas argued that African American should stop trying to move to the north because of multiple reasons. He felt as though the north couldn’t handle large increases of new people, the jobs that the African Americans were used to were in the south and the African Americans could demand better pay, and also moving to the South wouldn’t be enforcing the idea of freedom in the South. Washington also supports the idea of staying in the South instead of moving to the North to get away from everything. He makes the argument that plowing fields is just as useful as using our brains. African Americans are almost embarrassed to use their hands because they think that their old jobs are less worthy than going to the north and learning to write poetry or use their brains in other ways. He talks about the how the African American race will never be able to succeed until they learn that there is as much dignity in working in the fields as doing anything else. He also talks about how African Americans can’t just automatically start at the top. They have to be able to work up their ranks in order to succeed. These are the arguments he used to encourage African Americans to stay in the South instead of automatically moving to the north because they feel like that is the better place to live, and the place they will be guaranteed to succeed.

Venture Smith and Equiano

Venture Smith and Equiano are alike and different in many ways. Both of them are the sons of very important men in their tribes. They both also share the same love of their tribe and countrymen. In the beginning of both of their stories, there is a section briefly describing some facts about their tribe. In Equiano’s story, this section is much larger. He goes into great detail about every aspect of his tribes life, from what the tribes rituals look like, to the type of clothing the tribe wears. He even talks about examples of what of the magicians did from curing sickness to hunting out the guilty. From reading both of these stories, the impression is given off that Equiano is much more attached to his tribe than Venture Smith was to his, but that isn’t saying that Venture Smith didn’t love his tribe. Also, both men took more than memories from their tribe. Venture Smith took the trait of being trustworthy, however this trait soon faded. When he was first captured, he was an extremely trustworthy boy, just like his tribe was. He kept his masters keys, and later returned back to his plantation after running away. This trait soon started to fade away because after he gained his freedom, he started treating others around him poorly. Equiano said that his tribe was known for being friendly and cheerful. After Equiano got over the shock of being captured, I would say he kept this trait as well. This is especially true once he reached London. These men also learned a lot from the environments they were forced to live in, however what they chose to learn was much different. They both learned how to write. Venture Smith learned, throughout his many years as a slave, the value of the dollar. Once he gained his freedom, he began caring about money and how important it was just like his masters did. He began buying people’s freedom, only to have them work for him, and when they disappeared or died he would be upset about how much money he lost. Equiano decided to learn in a different context. He learned the language of the people, and about their traditions. This was especially true once he made it to England, where he even began learning about their religion. These men are also different in that Venture Smith went almost directly to North America, whereas Equiano stayed in different parts of Africa before he went to Barbados and then to North America briefly, but he spent a majority of his time in England. These men are smiliar in the fact that they both started in the same general spot, and were forced into servitude, but how they handled the situation was different.

Values 2

Throughout all of the stories, songs, and ballads we have read there has been a constant theme of perseverance and the idea of getting through all of the hard times that the individual is going through. In all of the pieces we have read, the people have been placed in a hard situation. The man in “The Message” lived in an environment that was full of bad influences, violence and drugs. The slaves in the all of the work songs were all being treated unjustly. Shine was told to stay in the bowels of the ship while it was going down in order to try and keep it afloat. All of these characters are placed in awful situations, but for the most part, they all have the mindset of believing that things can get better, and they won’t stop until that is done. If that isn’t the case, then they at least have the mindset of deciding not to take stuff from anyone. In “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” the theme of not letting anyone tell them what was going to happen was very evident. This theme showed up in Shine and John Henry as well. Shine kept telling his captain that he needed to get out of the boat, but the captain never listened. Once Shine took matters into his own hands, he escaped the boat, while everyone else died. This gives the impression that being a strong independent person is what will save you in life. In John Henry, he wasn’t going to let his white boss beat him. He worked as hard as he could so he could get ahead. These themes are seen throughout many different pieces we have read, but hope is another value. The story of Ezekial saw the Wheel gave the slaves hope while they were working. It told them that everything was in God’s hands and that everything was going to be alright. This theme was also seen in some of the songs for social change. Just saying the phrase “We shall over come” over and over again like in the song “We Shall Overcome,” hope is spread. These themes have been evident in all of he pieces we have read so far.

John Henry and The Message/N.Y State of Mind

“John Henry” and “The Message”or “New York State of Mind” are not about the same things, but they all three share a similar concept and have similar values. In the ballad “John Henry,” John Henry appears to be a younger man, who is living his life everyday within the difficult conditions that come with steel driving. He has to work everyday doing extremely dangerous work, and everyone expects this of him. At one point in the ballad, it says “Shaker you better pray; For if I ever miss this piece of steel, Tomorrow’ll be your burial day.” This just represents how dangerous the conditions John Henry had to face everyday were. If he made on false move, he was at risk of killing himself and anyone else that was close to his work area. John Henry spent everyday doing what he could to survive the day, and working hard because that is what he was told must be done since he was a little boy. The writers of “The Message” and New York State of Mind” could have taken many values from this song. While “John Henry” didn’t involve excessive drug use, violence, city life, or guns, it was still about the hardships John Henry had to face on a daily bases. Everyday John Henry had to go to work and lift that heavy hammer, and constantly hit that piece of steel, because if he made one mistake he would damage himself and others. That is like the men represented in the other songs as well. They had to go through their lives doing things that were a struggle for them, but they continued to do them everyday because they knew they were, for the most part, the right things to do even if it meant being a struggle. The authors could take the value of realizing that you are in a difficult situation, but still working through it and trying not to snap.