The end of teh Renaissance for us...

I believe that studying the Harlem Renaissance in the 21st century is not only worthwhile but also necessary. I have taken so much information away from this class not just about the time period, but also about the people that influenced it and why. When we were reading the Brownies book a mother wrote in asking the editors to publish stories about African American heritage because no only did text book not include African American’s but she didn’t know the history herself to pass on to her child. This is how I feel about the Harlem Renaissance. In high school we learned briefly about slavery, but even then there was not much information presented about the movement of African American’s into society. In English classes we did not read McKay, Toomer, Hurston, and Larsen; instead we learned about Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby. So by making a class like the Harlem Renaissance Literature it allows for people to really understand what things were like during this Renaissance and why these authors wrote so deeply and emotionally. Not only were they getting the story across to whites and blacks of the time, but they were also laying history in black and white for people to read and remember for years and years to come.

Their Eyes Were Watching God...

I can’t believe that Tea Cake hit Janie! I really thought he was going to treat her differently than Jody. It seems that the men in her life insist on controlling her and try so hard to keep her submissive. As Tea Cake states that he needs to show Janie and the Turner’s who is boss because, “tuh bait Janie in and take her away from me.” So he decides to beat Janie to compensate for his jealousy and need to control her. The crazy thing is that is exactly why she stopped loving Jody because he treated her with overwhelming and bearing control. Maybe Mrs. Turner sent her brother to meet Janie because she felt he would treat Janie the way women should be treated. I wonder if this story is based on Zora’s relationships. As we talked in class many critics had much to say about her romantic preferences and situations. It sounds like Zora may have been in relationships with men like Jody and Tea Cake and this was her way of reflecting on her own life.
It seems that the three novels that we have read the authors depict very tumultuous relationships. In Auto biography the narrator didn’t have any real romance until the end and even then it was a very strained and uncertain relationship that had many secrets and shadows. In Passing Clare and Irene have a relationship that is based on happiness, sadness, jealousy, revenge, and anger? At no point is their relationship healthy and productive. And, now in Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie has been through three relationships that have not been surrounded and based on love and romance, instead they have centered on jealousy and control.I don’t think that this is a scenario simply relevant to the Harlem Renaissance; instead I think that these authors are writing about life in general and how relationships are so unpredictable at times no matter what your race or heritage is.

Their Eyes Were Watching God 2nd half

It is interesting that this book if following the story line of so many others that we have already read. Janie has feeling of not belonging or fitting in, being avoided, and just being different. It is an interesting twist for Janie though, she is in a town that is only black people and she has the same feelings that we saw from the narrator in Autobiography, from Claire in Passing, and even from poems from Hughes and McKay. But with everyone else they were living in a world amongst others that made them feel different and excluded. Janie has the opportunity to explore and make history with other people of her race, but she still has that feeling of not belonging.
Joe is interesting too; he is creating a town from the ground up but feels that the people in the town, his own people, are trashy and unworthy! Maybe he is simply saying that because he stepped in and convinced Janie to leaver her husband, quite easily, and possibly he feels that she will leave him with the same ease?
It seems that Janie has been on the hunt for a fairy tale romance since the beginning of the book and is in one unhappy relationship after another until she meets Tea Cake, and finds happiness. Huston continually refers to nature to express love and sexual desires. This is similar to Toomer’s references to lustful thoughts in nature.The porch sitters pass a lot of judgment in this book. At the beginning they are openly passing judgment on Janie and now passing judgment about her relationship with Tea Cake. I think this may be Hurston’s way of sending messages of African American being judged by others as well as writers of the Harlem Renaissance passing judgment about the works of writers of the same era and how they seem to pass judgment on what should be written about the African American race and how it should be represented.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

So far I am pretty intrigued by the story. I find it difficult to stay focused and follow at times due to the vernacular. I do find it interesting that Hurston is depicting African Americans in this manner. I was certainly expecting that since we have been progressing in a forward motion through the Harlem Renaissance that Zora Neale Huston's book would have shown a more educated upper class citizen rather than the stereo types that most of the writers have been trying to pull away from. I understand that many of the writers are writing African Americans back into the history, but I feel that the use of stereo types is not the best way to gain respect and put yourself back into the history.
I am interested to see how the story unfolds.

"Laughers" and thoughts on Hughes

Of all the poetry we have read, I am enjoying the works of Langston Hughes by far. His poetry is clearly lighter, easier to read, and just plain more up beat. Some of the things we have been reading are so heavy and depressing. I understand that it was a time of turmoil, struggles, and hardships for African American’s during the Harlem Renaissance, but these poems definitely lighten the mood a bit.
The other pieces of poetry we have read from McKay, Toomer, and Cullen use coded messages that require deep intellectual thought and without a doubt a dictionary! But, Hughes seems to be still sending a meaningful message, just without all of the smoke and mirrors.The poem that I particularly liked was “Laughers”. First I liked it simply for the name and then after reading it I liked how Hughes put the message out there that “my people” are just every day people. “My people” are essential in making the world go round. “My people” can laugh, dream, and sing like the rest of the world. The line “Loud laughers in the hands of Fate – My people” made me smile. I love people that can laugh at the good and the bad, and that seems to be what Hughes is saying. People can laugh and will laugh no matter their fate. Hughes gives a list of jobs that any person can hold regardless of their color, I feel like he is saying life is here for the taking, grab it, and laugh with it.

Cullen's poems make me scratch my head...

Cullen’s poems written in traditional formal style make it very difficult to understand them and figure out what he is saying. I find that I have to read, re-read, and read again the same lines and still I am not really sure what his point is.

It seems that he is very torn by religion. Some poems he seems to admire and look for guidance from Christianity but in other poems it seems that he is blatantly questioning Christianity and its beliefs.

We discussed in class that the Cullen writes with a universal theme of dealing with the issues of balancing race and appealing to the wider audience but it seems to me that there is a major theme of religion and balancing his beliefs between what he has been taught about a great God that had created a beautiful world and the reality of a real life filled with prejudice and inequality.

In our Cane reading Toomer was on a constant search for his spiritual roots and McKay also referred to God and spiritual awakenings. People seem to want the answer of life from God or a spiritual being, or maybe want to lay blame for life’s unfairness on someone besides mankind.
Maybe everyone is just asking the fundamental question of life, Why?

October 28th The Best of the Brownie's Book

I was eager to read some of these stories in the Brownie's book because I am in the group working on folklore for the final project. I do have to say though, in the aspect of stereo types, every time I read Brownie's I think of little girls in brown outfits, a sash with badges, selling girl scout cookies!

Anyway, I enjoyed reading the poems and short stories in this packet, but even more I enjoyed reading the "The little People of the Month" passage, this was so uplifting and positive to read. So many things we have been reading, including Nella Larsen's Passing depict such a negative and depressing view of African Americans and how they are treated and perceived, but this excerpt about a young African American doing a heroic saving of a young white girl really shows that people are people regardless of the color of the skin. This young man risked his life to save a person, not because of the color of her skin but because she was in danger and needed help immediately.

I also found "The Grown-Up's Corner" of interest. The mother writing in is asking for this magazine to teach about the great things black men and women have done. What I found interesting was when she wrote "When I tell her as much as I know about our folks, she says: "Well, that's just stories. Didn't they ever do anything in a book?"". The mother goes on to say that she is not educated formally and doesn't know where to find "book stories", but she doesn't realize that she is providing her daughter with the great things that "their folks" have done by sharing these stories with her. Also at the end of the article the mother states she wants her little girl to know that it isn't the color of ones skin that makes them great, I think that by sharing the stories the "their folks" as well as reading and discussing the stories of white achievements really teaches a child that no matter the color of your skin you can do what ever you put your mind to.
This Brownie's Magazine seems to be the change of the race that McKay and Toomer were talking about. Now African Americans are writing showing real progress, positive changes and strides.