November 2009 Archives
The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, "I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas."
"That is because you have no brains" answered the girl.
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of
flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country,
be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."
Well, I think that pretty much sums up the feeling toward America during late 1800's and early 1900's. No matter how gray or dismal the American landscape was, there was freedom! I think that is what Baum was making comparisons toward throughout the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
In the late 1800's, tensions were high. While World War I actually started in 1914, many events preceded the violence. Starting in the 1880's, European countries were making treaties and allegiances with one another. Now, does that sound a little like the four witches from Oz? The two from the North and South are considered "good" while the East and West witches were the "wicked" ones.
American patriotism during WWI soared and this was the first war we fought as a united nation after the Civil War. Many teachers infused the curriculum with American ideals, having their students learn patriotic songs such as, "Yankee Doodle," "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America."
Even though this work was published in 1900, fourteen years before the war, I can still see the beginning of Patriotism and unrest in the storyline.
American Literature
"It startled and won the applause of the South, it interested and won the admiration of the North; and after a confused murmur of protest, it silenced if it did not convert the Negroes themselves" (Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, chapter 3, para 2)
Wow. I am so surprised to hear these words coming from W.E.B. Du Bois. The first parts of this chapter are nothing but praise for Booker T. Washington and his struggles to get the African American population onto its feet.
I guess I had always thought of Du Bois and Washington as enemies because of their difference in opinions. Du Bois was a well educated northern man, while Booker T. Washington came from a slave family in the south. Both men were free and making great advances for the African American community, but differed in opinions about how to educate their peers. Du Bois lobbied for a professional education and as his Wikipedia article suggests, Du Bois was the "father of Pan-Africanism."
This praise was short lived, as Du Bois later goes on to say:
Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things,--
First, political power,
Second, insistence on civil rights,
Third, higher education of Negro youth,--
and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South. This policy has been courageously and insistently advocated for over fifteen years, and has been triumphant for perhaps ten years. As a result of this tender of the palm-branch, what has been the return? In these years there have occurred:
- The disfranchisement of the Negro.
- The legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro.
- The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the Negro
Wow..... What a transformation from his earlier praise. W.E.B. Du Bois took his argument full force by first complimenting Washington and then by breaking down his achievements.
"How could someone so talented be so blind, so arrogant, so bigoted?" (Foster 233)
Yes, I agree. But are they really being blind, arrogant and bigoted? Maybe we are not looking at the work in full context.
I fell like, as I was reading literary criticism of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn people were saying this about Mark Twain. Some people who did not recognize the satire in his story took him as being racist. I think this is a bunch of crap.
Seriously? I mean, the guy made some great jokes on society. Lighten up, take a second look.
No. The answer is no. That is all I can think of as I read this passage. Honestly, I don't believe in "last chance for change" because there is truly never a last chance when it comes to change. People are continually changing. Sometimes that change comes to late, but there is never a last chance.
Another part of me wants to say that some people just don't change. Foster referenced a story which the narrator's brother served time for drugs and has since changed his life to become a jazz musician. The narrator only reconnected with his brother after the death of his daughter. While this sounds nice and wonderful, this is not real life. I hate that people always talk about the "last chance for change" stories when they speak about drug culture. That is how lives get ruined.
Talk to any relative of a drug user and they still refer the previous drug user as an addict. Once an addict, always an addict. Believing in the last chance for change will only hurt you more. I used to be one of those people who was always looking for the happy ending. It took many years to realize that sometimes there just aren't happy endings. You can't waste your life on someone who cannot help them self. "Last chance for change" stories simply add to the addicts plea for sympathy. When they say they are doing better, that they have changed, you can never truly be sure.
I'm not sure why I decided to take this into a rant, but I guess I have a hatred for "last chance for change" stories.
"Racial discourse maintains that the 'Negro' exterior is all that a Negro really has" (Smith 365)
Which is exactly why Jim goes against the idea of a "negro." By including Jim in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twian shows that Jim is more than simply a "nigger." Jim has a family that he cares for, intelligence to question Tom Sawyer's foolish plot and the compassion to take care of Huck Finn. Jim has much more than the "Negro exterior."
However it is important to note that, "Jim is not Uncle Tom" (Smith 367). Yes, he patiently endures the afflictions placed upon him by Tom Sawyer, but he is not being portrayed as a figurehead for Chirst. On the contrary, Jim has hs own faults. I think Twain's representation of Jim was a very "middle of the road" type. Jim is not a saint, but he is certainly not just a slave.
Many schools ban the work because it uses the word, "nigger," but I think this is a fantastic time to bring up the discussion of racism. If teachers would include the study of Jim as a person, and the actual contextual use of the word, they would be able to discuss the satire of Twain's language. On the other hand, that may be too tough for a high school class....
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