After reading several poems written by Claude McKay, and "As the Lord lives, He is One of Our Mother's Children" by Pauline Hopkins, I asked myself if there were any connections or relating views regarding the value of a noble death. In "As the Lord Lives...", we find a fugitive man who is partially African American, and because of that, his punishment was more severe than that of a white man if he were in the same situation. We found out that this fugitive had lied to the Reverand who found him. He tells the reverend that the sole reason for his lying and alias was to avoid the same awful death that he watched and heard when his best friend was savagely lynched by white people. In the story, he claims "'Jones was lynched! God, can I ever forget that hooting, yelling crowd, and the terrible fight to get away!'" which explains how this type of death is among the worst that could happen, and how Jones couldn't bear to hear the awful cheer of the crowd. In "If We Must Die", the narrator describes how if we must die (as in african americans), it should be a dignified, glorified and meek death. In her poem she uses many images such as animals being penned and hunted, and refers to white people as monsters who outnumber them. She also discusses how white people cheer and yell at them when they are about to die and uses the imagery of dogs. "While around us bark the mad hungry dogs". This image specifically parallels with Stone's description of the white people hollering and cheering for his friend's lynching. Clearly, both authors find it disturbing (unsurprsingly) that the lack of manners and respect of the white people make these kinds of deaths brutal, and they find it important that each and every person who does die, should be able to die peacefully and with respect. From both of these texts, we see the importance of having the oppurtunity as an African American to have a calm and peaceful death. In McKay's story, we have proof of this because after Stone gets his second chance from the Reverend, he also gets a second chance with his fate, and even though he dies, he is able to die as a hero who is respectfully viewed as opposed to being lynched. 

Blog Entry #10

My own process of coming to a significant insight mostly came from reading "The Wife of his Youth" by Charles W. Chestnutt, and a little from Frances Harpers "Learning to Read" poem. In "The Wife of his Youth", I was questioning where the story was going to go just after the first section, mainly because it had seemed so random to me. However, I had realized who the old woman was when Mr. Ryder continued to ask her discouraging questions about the man she once knew. His questions were also very reflective of him which led me to believe that he must know the man she was talking about, or he was the man she was talking about. Some of the advice Mr. Ryder gives to Liza Jane (the old woman) seemed like some type of suggestion or foreshadow to the reader  about what really happened to this man. Mr. Ryder tells her "Perhaps he's outgrown you, and climbed up in the world where he wouldn't care to have you find him". This was an example of advice that Mr. Ryder gives Liza, which allowed me to realize he definitely had something to do with her, and must know who she is. This story to me overall was a bit shocking and different from our typical readings, but it definitely shows me the importance of skin color just after the civil war, and the value that Mr. Ryder puts on how light he is. Any association with Liza Jane would be extremely negative for him seeing that she is a dark African American who clearly does not have much money (judging by her clothes) and not nearly the same education as Mr. Ryder (you can tell this by Liza's diction). It's shocking to me how after the Civil War, any lighter skin African American would do anything they could to get closer to obtaining something even the slightest bit like the White man's social status. Mr. Ryder was willing to put someone important into his past in order to get himself ahead, and though he redeems himself by introducing his friends to Liza Jane as the wife of his youth, I still don't think he would have introduced her unless the majority of the society had agreed that he should have in fact, acknowledged her. In Frances Harper's poem, "Learning to Read" seemed mostly like an easy, understandable poem to me, but I liked how in the end she compares herself to being like a queen on her throne, because it shows us how much learning means to her and how much better she feels about herself knowing that she is able to read. "And I felt independent As the queen upon her throne".  Harper see's herself as a woman who is educated and able to read--also, as someone independent who does not need to rely on others in order to make herself happy or go through everyday life. Clearly, Harper places a huge amount of importance on reading which is not surprising seeing as how hard it would have been for her as a child and young adult to attain such an education during slavery. Being able to read gives her power--the power of knowledge. (Queen imagery hints this). This poem made me realize how important we all are in today's world to think that in today's world we don't even think twice about being able to read. Even some children in today's world know how to read as early as age 5. As any American today, we should be greatful and realize the privlleges we have (more than just literacy) compared to other countries. 

Blog Entry #9

After reading the introduction about the time after the Civil War, I noticed a contemporary connection between today and the years 1865-1914. Something that stuck out to me was the new focus on "muckrackers" in this time period and it immediately made me think of us in today's world. "Muckrackers" were articles written by journalists that referred to getting the dirt on companies or politics in order to uncover corruptions. This same idea of getting the dirt on someone or something and writing about it is something very prevalent in today's world as well. For example, any type of magazine, newspaper or news channel today will give the community any type of muckracking information if there is any. It is mainly because something important like corrupt politicians, factories with terrible work conditions, or even restaurants with salmonella outbreaks are a concern for us, and even if information isn't what we want to hear, any information is good information. However in today's world, we have taken this muckracking style and have placed it in many other forms of literature as well as on the internet. We also have begun to use it for not just general information, but for a source of entertainment.  For example The Enquirer is a magazine specifically written in order to get the dirt on celebrities or any well-known person in the news (such as Brittney Spears or  Casey Anthony). In this magazine, they even exaggerate stories in order for people to be more entertained. We also have gossiping websites like the one created by Perez Hilton, where his job is to get the dirt on celebrities and their downfalls. Documentaries like "Supersize me" are examples of other types of media used in order to "muckrack" certain franchises.  In the late 1800's and early 1900's, people didn't necessarily get the dirt on people for entertainment, but no matter what purpose we read it for, we still love to read it and even if it is about something that is dangerous or corrupt, as humans we still have this fascination with "muckracking" and finding flaws in the system. 

Sarah Piatt and Mary Boykin Chestnut both came from very similar backgrounds, though as they grew up and married, they both went in very separate directions. Both were born into slaveholding families in the south, but Sarah moved north with him to Washington D.C., where her ideas on slavery took a turn; she began to support the northerners. However as Mary Chestnut grew older she stayed in the south, and had a plantation and a life filled with slavery and confederate ideology. As the Civil War went into full swing, this obviously allowed them to have very different opinions about the war and their views on slavery and politics. An example of this is their views on General Lee. Mary Chestnut wrote a Diary called "A Diary from Dixie", where she describes the scene in her life when she, her friends, and confederate soldiers have just found news of General Lee's death. "I saw it reflected in Mary Darby's face before I heard him speak. She staggered to the table, sat down, and wept allowed. Mr. Clay's eyes were not dry. Quite beside herself Mary shrieked 'Now we belong to negroes and Yankees!....How different from ours of them is their estimate of us. How contradictory is their attitude toward us'". Clearly Mary and her friends are startled by the news of General Lee, and as we see Mary's thoughts unfold we notice her anxiety; she is scared of what will become of them, and she can't bare to handle the fact that one of the biggest and best leaders of the south was dead. Mr. Clay's tearing eyes show us the importance of General Lee in the south and how much they depended on him--this is much different than it was in the north, and only a southerner would relate emotionally to that scene. Sarah Piatt had opposite views of General Lee and actually blames him for all the lives taken and destruction that occured during the war. This is not surprising for someone who believes in the north; but very interesting to see the difference of opinion between these two women. In "Arlington Heights", she describes the war and gives many depictions of dead men in fields, moving masses of men covered in blood, and at the end describes one single person "And there is one who comes alone and stands at his dim fireless hearth--chill'd and opprest by something he has summon'd to his lands, while the weird pallor of its many hands points at his rusted sword in his own breast" Here she is describing all the dead men blaming General Lee for their death by describing pale and deathly hands pointing at the sword worn by a man. She also describes in the stanza before how at night there are cries coming from mothers and daughters to the dead, while he stands alone. There are many northerners who would relate with Sarah on that as opposed to Mary. These two women had different opinions of General Lee obviously because of the war but there is more to see than just that. These women wanted different things out of their life; it shows us that they both had different dreams in America and were looking for something different. Mary wanted the dream for herself and her family, but Sarah wanted the dream for all of America, slaves and freemen alike. From today's standpoint, Sarah's is much more convincing and I think that even southerners today would agree with Sarah Piatt more solely because slavery is no longer a value in this country and hasn't been for quite some time.