Adit's Blog

Paul Beatty's White Boy shuffle is a novel navigating through Gunnar Kaufman's delicate growing up process and along the way, addressing the various stereotypes pertaining to African Americans. Among these, include the 'black people are good at basketball'. Beatty applies the stereotype to her two main characters Gunnar and Scoby, one of whom somehow literally can't miss a jump shot. Our author, like we've discussed in class, loves to twist popular culture into something almost unrecognizable. Poetry takes the place of modern Hip-Hop in basketball and gangster culture for example. Weird to even think about in the real world. I found the most crucial impact of the sport was when Gunnar finally realizes the power that he has over the school crowd when at the free-throw line. With the score tied he finds himself with the chance to ice the game, a position that is dreamt of by young adults throughout America. Ironically, it is in this position, at this moment, th...

Beloved's death. The gruesome details finally uncovered. Morrison finally brought it back full circle. Sethe murdered her child. In this moment of vulnerability, she swore she would never let her children go through what she had, and decided they would be "safe" this way. Not only can we compare this moment to abortion, but we can also realize Beloved's implications. Why is she so infatuated with the one who killed her? Why exactly is she back? Now, onto the topic of this post. The young Beloved, had her life halted without her consent. Her mother made the choice to 'protect' her. What if she would've preferred the chance at life? The same goes for a conceived child. Pro-Life arguers use this same argument when speaking against abortion. The baby was never given a choice but basically murdered by their own mother. However, what this argument fails to comprehend is the anguish the mother feels when forced to kill her child. It also brings up this idea of...

Just recently in class, we discussed Richard Wright's criticism of Zora-Neale Hurston's  Their Eyes Were Watching God  and in turn, brought up some key differences between that novel and Wright's  Native Son . Today, I want to discuss these points and break down each novel's message. On one hand, we have someone who makes their protest clear using Bigger Thomas' experiences in the "white world". On the other hand, we have a romance novel describing Janie Crawford's navigation through love and ending with a touch of female empowerment. The way I see it, there are two overarching differences in these works. The role of racism and message each protagonist carries. Wright wrote a work that is obviously thrusting the effect of racism at its reader. Bigger feels like he's in a cage, can't get out, etc. Hurston, on the other hand, is much more reserved in her expression of racism, but she does present the theme. Mrs. Turner for example. She gets a l...

We touched on this idea a little bit in class. The role of racism in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Or lack thereof. Thinking back on Native Son and Invisible Man  the authors made it very clear that our protagonists were pitted against societal oppression. Bigger with his revelation about becoming a pilot and the Narrator with his scholarship receiving experience. Here though, like Mr. Mitchell said, it looks like racism "takes a step back". Everyone Janie has met so far has been black and so we are given a novel that is more focused on economic situations and value systems of a people from the humble town of Eatonville. We can see this idea of contrasting values in the relationship between Janie and her grandmother. Both have radically different versions of the 'ideal' marriage. Janie wants romance, something that no amount of money can buy, someone to love for his person. The grandmother wants something tangible, something that shows her marriage was 'worth it...

Reading Invisible Man  up until now, I cannot help but notice that Ralph Ellison puts an emphasis on the representation of his characters rather than their development. He is methodical about his characters' traits and seems to have an obsession with putting the reader through a gauntlet of metaphors. For example, we recently discussed how Wright subtly refers to Odysseus through Brother Jack and the description of a blonde girl the Narrator happens to glimpse on the street. As Jack's eyeball falls into the glass of water, the word cyclopean gets thrown around. The blonde serves as the personification of the Greek Sirens Odysseus encounters on one of his adventures. Noticing these little references to other works changed the way I read the words on the page. And these allusions are only half of the way Ellison constructed these individuals. He also has his characters serve as a symbol of the racial and societal ideologies present at the time. The fetishization of Tod Clifton...

As we see from a pivotal Chapter 11, the Narrator undergoes a dramatic change in character and outlook on life. He goes from this docile, and 'always following instructions' kinda guy to an almost rebellious character. After undergoing a Lobotomy procedure and getting electrocuted several times, the narrator wakes up forgetting key details about who he is. He forgets his name, why he was in New York, and most of his upbringing. He is vaguely able to remember Dr. Bledsoe and Mr. Norton but again, no details. It's as if he was respawned in a video game, reborn in a way. The doctors gave him a new identity and he was set free. The narrator leaves the hospital feeling alien in his own body. It's as if something was taking over his persona. Forgetting his childhood and parents is crucial because it invokes the memory of the veteran's words stating "You should be your own father". He takes this advice and now looks to form his own identity, not do what he is t...