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.

Nella Larsen's Passing

I found several similarities between Passing and The Auto-biography of an Ex-Coloured Man. One of the passages that I found interesting was on page 102 when Irene is speaking to Clare about mothers are responsible for the security and happiness of their children. Irene says; "Think of what it would mean to your Margery if Mr. Bellew should find out. You'd probably lose her. And even if you didn't, nothing that concerned her would ever be the same again. He'd never forget that she had Negro blood. And if she should learn-Well, I believe that after twelve it is too late to learn a thing like that" (p.102).
In Ex-Coloured Man he found out that he was black, even though it is not stated, about the same age and he was never really the same after that. He never felt like he fit in to either the white or the black race and struggled all of his life to find his place in society and really to find an inner peace. It seems that Irene has a sense of this also, that if one is to find out after years of thinking that they are white and then suddenly are told that they belong to a completely different race, and a race that is looked at negatively, then one really is forced out of their realm of comfort. One is pretty much forced into a limbo between two different lives. At this point in a child's life they have made friends and bonds to different aspects of society and in a sense at this age you are just learning who you are. If Margery were to find out now, her life would most likely be turned upside down and she could very well find her life spent searching for who she truly is just like the narrator in Ex-Coloured Man.

Words! Word! by Fauset

I have to say that Fauset's poetry has been much more uplifting than anything else we have read so far.
I enjoyed this poem in particular because everyone can relate to its meaning. It doesn't matter what color you are or what part of the world you live in. Everyone has been in and out of love and typically words get you into trouble at some point in any relationship.
I like how Fauset doesn't really use any names in her poetry, because you can put any face, gender, or race on each and everyone. For some reason this quality makes things more real for me and allows me to better relate to what we are reading.
Same as Johnson did in Autobiography. He did not give anyone a name, which allowed for the reader to create their own mental picture of the story.
This poem words also has that underlying irony that we discussed with Fauset's writings. But aren't relationships ironic. Things seem so beautiful and blissful in the beginning, but as time goes on words get in the way or create obstacles to overcome.
In the line "In the power of the tongue are life and death!" This just rings so true. I guess thinking about being a future teacher of a elementary students our words to them are really going to influence some of the paths that they take, yes life and death may be a little dramatic, but good choices and bad choices could fall into that line also.

Mary Elizabeth

I enjoyed reading Mary Elizabeth by Fauset. At the very beginning I found it striking that Sally really didn’t seem like she could function without the assistance of Mary Elizabeth and Roger, unless he is grumpy every morning, seemed to be struggling also to get through his morning routine without Mary Elizabeth’s presence and or assistance. I find it interesting that these two people cannot seem to function with out a servants assistance. It made me think that these two people have taken for granted that they would not need to learn to do the simple things in life, like making coffee or cooking breakfast because they would always depend on a servant to do these things for them. Maybe Fauset was giving these people a reality check on life.
Mary Elizabeth is described as being a small, aged, dark woman with confidence. This is striking description because he does not give Roger and Sally that descriptive background but just from the opening paragraph you know that they lack confidence that comes with age and knowledge of the world. This use of a couple of just a couple of words to describe her really brings Mary Elizabeth to life and gives her some depth. Fauset seems to give Mary Elizabeth more background and depth than did Toomer and McKay. All of these writers seem to speak fondly of the power, diligence, and grace of African American women, however Fauset doesn’t’ speak of them in terms of nature nor as an over all race. Fauset seemed to pick one woman who may have been fictional or non fictional and really used this one person to give us a look at an African American woman.

The Real McKay?

After reading the second batch of McKay poems and learning a little more about him as person, I can understand why he was considered one of the more prominent or moving writers of the era.
The fact that McKay took a strong interest and standing in the socialist party really explains some of his poems; such as “Exhortation: Summer of 1919”, “The Dominant White”, and “Invocation”. However, learning that he came to America of his own free will and then reading poems of pure demise for America makes me wonder why he never returned to his homeland that his writings professed that he longed so much for.

This made me wonder if I interpreted his poems correctly. McKay is known for writing on racial issues of the working class and his use of frank directness really moved and awakened people. So I started to think maybe McKay personally didn’t long for Africa as we interpreted from many of his poems, maybe he was using these references to culture, heritage, jungle songs, homeland, self-heritage, and native clime; to awaken people and make them conscious of who they are and where their roots lie. I don’t necessarily just mean roots to Africa but roots to a place in society.
He was a socialist and wanted to make the working class pay attention to increase social and economic equality, so what better way to do that then to bring people back to the reality of their roots and empower them with courage and force to uplift their culture and hold themselves at a higher level.

We discussed that many of his poems really have that masculine force behind them, but what better way to evoke change then to pump people up and stir feeling of pride, dignity, and spiritual awakening.
So I think all the longings for “home” were really just a cover to get people to think about who they are and what they want from this life.

Claude McKay

The poem that struck me was Home Thoughts. After reading it I felt like this poem could have been written by anyone. African American, Chinese, or Caucasian. This poem is simply about the feelings of missing home. Everyone misses home no matter who you are. I liked how McKay talks about all the simple things that one may do. Going for a swim, picking fruit, bringing groceries home. We all do these things and sometimes when we do things it triggers memories of home or when we were young. But, what I liked about this poem is that it is about just being you and not about being prejudice or treated unfairly.
I think this poem was in McKay's selected poems just for that reason. To show that we are all people no matter the color of our skin and we all do the same things in life; whether they are simple or intricate. People feel sadness and happiness regardless of the color of their skin. People take pleasure in reminiscing regardless of the color of their skin. People are just people regardless of the color of their skin.

page 115....I found quite pompous!

I will say that so far this book is quite enjoyable. I find the title to be interesting since this is not an autobiography at all, but it grabs you initially because, for me it is always interesting to read about other people.
Anyway, we had talked in class a little about how the narrator isn't really a person who really goes above and beyond even though he appears to be quite intelligent and seems to have had a fortunate life where he could attain higher things. So we read a lot about how much he loved his music. That even it was so good it drove him to tears as a child. But, he never really seems to do anything with it. He is in NYC and needs a job, but comes across as having no skills at all. I would think a person with a good education and other skills would have a few more choices then rolling cigars. So as for page 115 the narrator goes on about what a "natural talent and perseverance", "remarkable player of rag-time". He even states he was the best player of rag-time. So if he has so much confidence and "perseverance" why does he seem to be kind of lazy and not really interested in achieving or finding a better life for himself? I don't know if I really like his attitude at this point in the book. He knows he is good and talented, others obviously encourage him to continue and share his talents, but he still just seems sort of lame in a sense. A few chapters back I really thought that "shiny" may have inspired him to be a go getter, but I think really he is much more a follower than a leader of any sort.

Hi, I'm Angie

Hello Everyone,

Well I have never blogged before so this is all new and slightly overwhelming.

So a little bit about me. Well I am a full time student, part time worker, and a full time mom and wife. I am hoping to finish up my degree in 3 more semesters, as long as life doesn't get in the way!

Good luck everyone!