"Black Woman" by Georgia Douglas Johnson

It was a pretty sad poem, when I first read it I wanted to cry as I was answering the questions more images and feelings came to my mind. How could this woman end her child's life? How could she feel with the remorse? I admire her determination to end the baby's life. It helped me to understand that she felt she was doing the right thing, because she believed this world was cruel and sinful, that the baby was coming to suffer and not be happy. I really like the "How to close read a poem" structure, I will definitely save it and use it in the future, it helped me a lot. I put myself in the speaker's place and felt their words.

Midterm Essay...

For my midterm Essay I would like to compare Washington and DuBois, the negro culture before and after them. I really think they built a platform for the whole civil rights movement. I identify a lot with the "Writing "American" lives" section in the book. I would love to write a little bit about my experience as an immigrant and compare the different points of view of these great writers. For an immigrant, you don't only fight for the "American dream" everyday, you also fight for equality and identity, it's a constant fight.

I haven't decided if I want to focus only on Washington and DuBois writing or if I also want to include all the authors in the section.

"The land of the free..."

As a member of a minority in the so called "Land of the free..." I have to agree with Mr. Du Bois. I honestly believe there's no better way to obtain first class citizenship than to get yourself educated, period. We cannot get ourselves comfortable being servants and/or half men, like Du Bois said, we have to strive for more, fight to have a better life than the one our parents and ancestors had. 

"How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word." (454) Some of us don't know other feeling. You get used to be pointed at and get all kinds of looks. Why? Because you're different! Your skin color is different! ...and so is your history.

You were born here, on this land, but freedom is not a given right is something you have to fight for. 

    Washington wished for all his fellow men to be Negroes and Americans at the same time, but how can they be? If they didn't have their right to vote and access to higher education. "No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem" (443) I'm not saying that working in a field of cotton is not a worthy job, but why would someone want to work in deplorable conditions for the rest of one's life? Why would you surrender and kiss your boss's ass all the time? Strive for more, always do! Be the best you can be...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (470) Du Bois quoted on "The Souls of Black Folk" I can only imagine what went through his mind when he read this Constitutional passage, I wonder if it was the same thing that went through mine...BULLSHIT! How can you and your founder fathers tell me I have the right to be free if you're selling me like cattle, you work my ass from sunrise to sunset. How can you tell me I have the right to pursue my happiness if you don't give me access to higher education or to vote? 

That's why I believe Du Bois was a militant, he asked his race to fight for a better life, for something that you should have been given to them but by a conflict of interests they didn't have. Washington was a conservative, a conformist. I wonder if there's ever going to be a day where we can all be free at last...free of prejudice and hate.  

Response to Nathanael's Blog

http://nathanaelgracelovesliterature.blogspot.com/

As I was reading Nathanael's Blog I found this question very interesting: Is the story saying that Infidelity is not bad in itself if it is handled in a proper fashion? Infidelity is bad, period. No matter how you handle the situation, at some point in life the truth always comes out, no matter how hard you try to hide it.

That a woman/man just having a passionate encounter is just that?I really think Calixta and Alcee were victims of the circumstances. I'm not justifying what they did, I don't agree with it either. They had a past, the situation helped a lot. The storm, they were alone in a big house it was the perfect scenario to unveil an old passion. Both of them could have made the choice to walk away from this situation, but none of them did.

I would have to agree with Nathanael's there was a personal storm with each one of the characters, each of them dealt with their own fears and desires and in the end they managed to be happy and go on with their lives. Calixta and Alcee managed to keep their secret, Bobinot and Bibi didn't get in trouble and enjoyed a nice family dinner. Alcee wrote a nice love letter to his wife. It makes me wonder if this was their last and only encounter?

So the storm passed...

I read the story twice, I never thought it was going to be about an infidelity and I must say it surprised me a lot. Who hasn't been victim of an infidelity or better yet who hasn't seen an old flame and felt a burning sensation on their chest? To me it feels as if my heart goes directly to my throat, I loose my balance and millions of erotic thoughts cross my mind. I revive every caress and feeling, especially if the old flame was a prohibited relationship. 
I've also been a victim of betrayal, I guess what goes around comes back around or they say... all I know is that it submerged me in the darkest of darkness. I can't imagine what Bobinot would have felt if he found out Calixta slept with Alcée. I don't blame Calixta, maybe she wasn't completely happy with Bobinot or maybe she was just a victim of the circumstances, but again if she respected the compromise and respect a marriage involves she wouldn't have done it. Maybe she wasn't sexually satisfied, I've heard many wives complain about how passion and sexual desire decreases in marriage as time passes by. 
It is hard to block your mind and not think about anything else and just enjoy the moment you're living. How can they have the guts to just pretend nothing happened and go on with life? It is hard to be a hypocrite and live with the remorse, but it's not impossible as long as the secret stays between two. 

...and so the storm can pass and every one can be happy! :)