Major American Authors
"I never lost as much but twice And that was in the sod Twice have I stood a beggar Before the door of God! Angels-- twice descending Reimbursed my store-- Burglar! Banker--Father! I am poor once more!"
"I Never Lost as Much But Twice" Emily Dickinson Third line is missing a syllable The last stanza completely collapses metrically It does not fit the structure that the first quatrain establishes Lost one blames God is reimbursed w 3 more But still feels that she has lost the three can be God in tripartrite structure Connecting the material world with the spiritual world
"I immediately rose, went on deck, and observed that she was too near the land, on account of a reef that lay off the head; and at the same time remarked to my people, that she must be a stranger, and I did not well understand what she was about. Some of them observed that they did not know who she was, or what she was doing; but that they were accustomed to see vessels shew their colors, when coming into a port."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville
Was it from foreseeing some possible interference like this, that Don Benito had, beforehand, given such a bad character of his sailors, while praising the negroes; though, indeed, the former seemed as docile as the latter the contrary? The whites, too, by nature, were the shrewder race. A man with some evil design, would he not be likely to speak well of that stupidity which was blind to his depravity, and malign that intelligence from which it might not be hidden? Not unlikely, perhaps. But if the whites had dark secrets concerning Don Benito, could then Don Benito be any way in complicity with the blacks? But they were too stupid. Besides, who ever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost, by leaguing in against it with negroes?
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Stereotypes: White=docile, superior race; Blacks= stupid Not perpetuating these stereotypes but diagnosing this as the problem of believing in ideas that don't really reflect the way people are.
"Mrs. March broke the silence that followed Jo's words, by saying in her cheery voice, 'Do you remember how you used to play Pilgrims Progress when you were little things? Nothing delighted you more than to have me tie my piece bags on your backs for burdens, give you hats and sticks and rolls of paper, and let you travel through the house from the cellar, which was the City of Destruction, up, up, to the housetop, where you had all the lovely things you could collect to make a Celestial City."
Louisa May Alcott Little Women Pilgrim's progress
" The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, 'We haven't got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.' She didn't say 'perhaps never,' but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was."
Louisa May Alcott Little Women The domestic, intimate feminine space, showcasing the inner workings of females.
"Mine is to stay at home safe with Father and Mother, and help take care of the family...since I had my little piano, I am perfectly satisfied. I only wish we may all keep well and be together...nothing else"
Lousia May Alcott Little Women Beth's Castle Burden: shy and has a difficult time interacting with people End: nobly makes her way to the lower echelons of society, but she dies at the end and she becomes this memory--almost like a mythological figure--that the sisters have to carry.
The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
"All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell."
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
Times and scenes like that put Janie to thinking about the inside state of her marriage. Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best she could, but it didn't do her any good. It just made Joe do more. He wanted her submission and he'd keep on fighting until he felt he had it. So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Words are wanting to come out of her body--almost like these tangible things and she hold them back. This development of almost physical words and her ability to control them (as she spoke up in defense of the mule in one part and now is silencing herself) is part of her beginning to have control over her own body and not let the men suppress her.
Time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a monstropolous old thing while Janie talked.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston New word: monstropolous Hurston's narrative voice creating a new word--> new world (monsters, new creatures, industrialization/newnewss)
Ah'm older than Tea Cake, yes. But he done showed me where it's de thought dat makes de difference in ages. If people thinks de same they can make it all right. So in the beginnin' new thoughts had tuh be thought and new words said. After Ah got used tub dat, we gits 'long jus' fine. He done taught me de maiden language all over. Wait till you see de new blue satin Tea Cake done picked out for me tuh stand up wid him in. High heel slippers, necklace, earrings, everything he wants tuh see me in. Some of dese mornin's and it won't be long, you gointuh wake up callin' me and Ah'll be gone."
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Joe dies and she marries Tea Cake
"Hicks, Ah'd git mad and say you wuz lyin' if Ah didn't know yuh so good. You just talkin' to consolate yo'self by word of mouth. You got uh willin' mind, but youse too light behind."
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Consolate=colsole people playing with words; coming up with new things
Ah don't want yo' feathers always crumpled by folks throwin' up things in yo' face. And Ah can't die easy thinkin' maybe de menfolks white or black is makin' a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me. Put me down easy, Janie, Ah'm a cracked plate."
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Grandmother doesn't want men to have sexual dominance over her. Note that a spit cup is an object
""Dey wuz a sight er ******s in de naberhood er de vimya'd. Dere wuz ole Mars Henry Brayboy's ******s, en ole Mars Dunkin McLean's ******s, en Mars Dugal's own ******s; den dey wuz a settlement er free ******s en po' buckrahs down by de Wim'l'ton Road, en Mars Dugal' had de only vimya'd in de naberhood. I reckon it ain' so much so nowadays, but befo' de wah, in slab'ry times, er ****** didn' mine goin' fi' er ten mile in a night, w'en dey wuz sump'n good ter eat at de yuther een. "So atter a w'ile Mars Dugal' begin ter miss his scuppernon's. Co'se he 'cuse' de ******s er it, but dey all 'nied it ter de las'. Mars Dugal' sot spring guns en steel traps, en he en de oberseah sot up nights once't er twice't, tel one night Mars Dugal' -- he 'uz a monst'us keerless man -- got his leg shot full er cow-peas. But somehow er nudder dey couldn' nebber ketch none er de ******s. I dunner how it happen, but it happen des like I tell yer, en de grapes kep' on a-goin des de same. "But bimeby ole Mars Dugal' fix' up a plan ter stop it. Dey 'uz a cunjuh 'ooman livin' down mongs' de free ******s on de Wim'l'ton Road, en all de darkies fum Rockfish ter Beaver Crick wuz feared uv her. She could wuk de mos' powerfulles' kind er goopher, -- could make people hab fits er rheumatiz, er make 'em des dwinel away en die; en dey say she went out ridin' de ******s at night, for she wuz a witch 'sides bein' a cunjuh 'ooman."
"The Goophered Grapevine" Charles Chesnutt
"She sa'ntered 'roun' mongs' de vimes, en tuk a leaf fum dis one, en a grape-hull fum dat one, en a grape-seed fum anudder one; en den a little twig fum here, en a little pinch er dirt fum dere,--en put it all in a big black bottle, wid a snake's toof en a speckle' hen's gall en some ha'rs fum a black cat's tail, en den fill' de bottle wid scuppernon' wine. W'en she got de goopher all ready en fix', she tuk 'n went out in de woods en buried it under de root uv a red oak tree, en den come back en tole one er de ******s she done goopher de grapevimes, en a'er a ****** w'at eat dem grapes 'ud be sho ter die inside'n twel' mont's."
"The Goophered Grapevine" Charles Chesnutt
""De goopher didn' wuk no mo' tel de nex' summer, w'en 'long to'ds de middle er de season one er de fiel' han's died; en ez dat lef' Mars Dugal' sho't er han's, he went off ter town fer ter buy anudder. He fotch de noo ****** home wid 'im. He wuz er ole ******, er de color er a gingy-cake, en ball ez a hoss-apple on de top er his head. He wuz a peart ole ******, do', en could do a big day's wuk."
"The Goophered Grapevine" Charles Chesnutt The dialect is quaint and homely Creating an archive of knowledge of the past--the past of slavery
"These are the days when birds come back, a very few, a bird or two, To take a backward look. These are the days when skies put on, The old, old, sophistries of June,-- A blue and gold mistake. Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee, almost thy plausibility Induces my belief Till ranks of seeds their witness bear, And softly through their altered air Hurries a timid leaf! Oh, sacrament of summer days, Oh, last communion in the haze Permit a child to join, Thy sacred emblems to partake Thy consecrated bread to break, taste thine immortal wine"
"These Are the Days" Emily Dickinson Again, combines the material (natural world, birds) with the spiritual world (the Communion - religious practice by Puritans) First part is about the end of summer, but the weather is not really entering fall yet. The words "sophistry," "mistake" and "fraud" indicate that something just isn't right. The Communion/feasting represents the joy in Christ's resurrection, but also the gloom that comes that with that comes winter/death--but with that also comes the promise of summer.
"That moment, across the long-benighted mind of Captain Delano, a flash of revelation swept, illuminating in unanticipated clearness his host's whole mysterious demeanor, with every enigmatic event of the day, as well as the entire past voyage of the San Dominick. He smote Babo's hand down, but his own heart smote him harder. With infinite pity he withdrew his hold from Don Benito. Not Captain Delano, but Don Benito, the black, in leaping into the boat, had intended to stab. Both the black's hands were held, as, glancing up towards the San Dominick, Captain Delano, now with the scales dropped from his eyes, saw the negroes, not in misrule, not in tumult, not as if frantically concerned for Don Benito, but with mask torn away, flourishing hatchets and knives, in ferocious piratical revolt."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Babo is intending to kill Benito Cereno Captain Delano has this supernatural/religious experience where he realizes the slaves are in revolt--they are the pirates! It's a story with an unexpected twist and we can only experience this twist once.
"Sometimes the Negro gave his master his arm, or took his handkerchief out of his pocket for him; performing these and similar offices with that affectionate zeal which transmutes into something filial or fraternal acts in themselves but menial; and which has gained for the Negro the repute of making the most pleasing body-servant in the world; one, too, whom the master need be on no stiffly superior terms with, but may treat with familiar trust; less a servant than a devoted companion."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Because of the general assumption that the White race is in a superior position than the Blacks, Captain Delano thinks he knows what's going on--a loyal slave, not a pirating Black man...
"However unsuitable for the time and place, at least in the blunt thinking American's eyes, and however strangely surviving in the midst of all his afflictions, the toilette of Don Benito might not, in fashion at least, have gone beyond the style of the day among South Americans of his class."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Captain Delano is the blunt, dull one. He makes assumptions of South Americans and Africans--that each act a certain way.
""Wide, indeed," said Don Benito, sadly; "you were with me all day; stood with me, sat with me, talked with me, looked at me, ate with me, drank with me; and yet, your last act was to clutch for a monster, not only an innocent man, but the most pitiable of all men. To such degree may malign machinations and deceptions impose. So far may even the best man err, in judging the conduct of one with the recesses of whose condition he is not acquainted. But you were forced to it; and you were in time undeceived. Would that, in both respects, it was so ever, and with all men."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Cereno talking to Delano; he's the mouthpiece/advocate of rejecting stereotypes.
"His glance thus called away from the spectacle of disorder to the more pleasing one before him, Captain Delano could not avoid again congratulating his host upon possessing such a servant, who, though perhaps a little too forward now and then, must upon the whole be invaluable to one in the invalid's situation. 'Tell me, Don Benito,' he added, with a smile-- 'I should like to have your man here myself--what will you take for him? Would fifty doubloons be any object?' 'Master wouldn't part with Babo for a thousand doubloons,' murmured the black, overhearing the offer, and taking it in earnest, and, with the strange vanity of a faithful slave appreciated by his master, scorning to hear to patry a valuation put upon him by a stranger."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Craves what he sees through the rose-tinted glasses
"Perhaps it was some such influence as above is attempted to be described which, in Captain Delano's mind, heightened whatever, upon a staid scrutiny, might have seemed unusual; especially the conspicuous figures of four elderly grizzled Negroes, their heads like black, dodded willow tops, who, in venerable contrast to the tumult below them, were couched sphynx-like, one on the starboard cat-head, another on the larboard, and the remaining pair face-to-face on the opposite bulwarks above the main-chains. They each had bits of instranded old junk in their hands, and, with a sort of stoical self-content, were picking the junk into oakum, a small heap of which lay by their sides. They accompanied the task with a continuous, low, monotonous chant; droning and drooling away like so many grey-headed bag-pipers playing a funeral march."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Description of the Negors We, along with Captain Delano, have to figure out what's going on
"To Captain Delano's surprise, the stranger, viewed through the glass, showed no colors; though to do so upon entering a haven, however uninhabited in its shores, where but a single other ship might be lying, was the custom among peaceful seamen of all nations. Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated with those seas, Captain Delano's surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness had he not been a person of a singularly undistrustful good nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated incentives, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms, any way involving the imputation of malign evil in man. Whether, in view of what humanity is capable, such a trait implies, along with a benevolent heart, more than ordinary quickmess and accuracy of intellectual perception, may be left to the wise to determine."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville It's important to be distrustful with things we can so easily judge based on appearance.
"The morning was one peculiar to that coast. Everything was mute and calm; everything grey. The sea, though undulated into long roods of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter's mould. The sky seemed a grey mantle. Flights of troubled grey fowl, kith and kind with flights of troubled grey vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms. Shadows present, foreshadowing deep shadows to come"
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Shadows foreshadowing more shadows
"Upon a still nigher approach, this appearance was modified, and the true character of the vessel was plain--a Spanish merchantman of the first class; carrying Negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight, from one colonial port to another."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville Slaves are placed on the same level as the sugar and rum Example of an American not really attuned to what is going on with this strange entity and basing his judgment on preconceived stereotypes.
"Whether the ship had a figure-head, or only a plain beak, was not quite certain, owing to canvas wrapped about that part, either to protect it while undergoing a refurbishing, or else decently to hide its decay. Rudely painted or chalked, as in a sailor freak, along the forward side of a sort of pedastal below the canvas, was the sentence, "Seguid vuestro jefe" (follow your leader); while upon the tarnished head-boards, near by, appeared, in stately capitals, once gilt, the ship's name, "San Dominick," each letter streakingly corroded with tricklings of copper-spike rust; while, like mourning weeds, dark festoons of sea-grass simply swept to and fro over the name, with every hearse-like roll of the hull."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville The ship is decrepit and in want of repair This is the beginning of Captain Delano not knowing what's going to happen Beginning to see things in these rose-tinted glasses; not seeing things for what they really are
"Faithful fellow!" cried Captain Delano. "Don Benito, I envy you such a friend; slave I cannot call him." As master and man stood before him, the black upholding the white, Captain Delano could not but bethink him of the beauty of that relationship which could present such a spectacle of fidelity one the one hand and confidence on the other. The scene was heightened by the contrast in dress, denoting their relative positions."
Benito Cereno Herman Melville viewing something with rose-tinted glasses is the American way of viewing things
"I have ever so many wishes, but the pet one is to be an artist, and go to Rome, and do fine pictures, and be the best artist in the whole world"
Louisa May Alcott Little Women Amy's castle burden: at first too focused on external appearances, such as her nose and has a want to be the best artist in the world end: manages to turn her artistic ambitions into something that serves her family
"Touched to the heart, Mrs. March could only stretch out her arms, as if to gather children and grandchildren to herself, and say, with face and voice full of motherly love, gratitude, and humility... 'Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!'
Louisa May Alcott Little Women Begins with domestic space and ends with domestic space. I don't think the emphasis is so much that she thinks a woman's greatest success is to marry and have children, as the men are located in the periphery of the novel. Instead, there's an emphasis in the importance of having a strong domestic foundation because it contributes to success in societal interactions and betterment. Novel ends with the sense that it all begins with a solid, intimate, feminine space--the nurturing, teaching space.
"Wouldn't I though? I'd have a stable full of Arabian seeds, rooms piled high with books, and I'd write out of a magic inkstand, so that my works should be as famous as Laurie's music. I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream"
Louisa May Alcott Little Women Jo's Castle Burden: temper, ambition to do something great and impressive End: wants to do something generous
"I should like a lovely house, full of all sorts of luxurious things--nice food, pretty clothes, handsome furniture, pleasant people, and heaps of money. I am to be mistress of it, and manage it as I like, with plenty of servants, so I never need to work a bit. How I should enjoy it! For I wouldn't be idle, but do good, and make everyone love me dearly."
Louisa May Alcott Little Women Meg's castle Burden: vanity; materialistic focus By the end: fixated on family and love
Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, 'If you give a ****** an inch, he will take an ell. A ****** should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best ****** in the world. Now,' said he, 'if you teach that ****** (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.' These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man"
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
"I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them. The mere recurrence to those songs, even now, afflicts me; and while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek. To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery. I can never get rid of that conception. Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds. If any one wishes to be impressed with the soul-killing effects of slavery, let him go to Colonel Lloyd's plantation, and, on allowance-day, place himself in the deep pine woods, and there let him, in silence, analyze the sounds that shall pass through the chambers of his soul,—and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because 'there is no flesh in his obdurate heart'"
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas Indicating that it is the UNHAPPY people that sing and slave songs usually mean something more than the words themselves. This is a rare occasion, because he's telling/teaching us how to read these songs and how we're supposed to react and in most of his account he grants readers the freedom to read and interpret as they please.
"I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man."
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas Instead of better treatment making him happier, it only gave him more of a desire to be free because these instances gave him a taste of freedom.
"The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain my slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men"
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man"
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass A slave is made a "man" through literacy
"Every moment they spent in that school, they were liable to be taken up, and given thirty-nine lashes. They came because they wished to learn. Their minds had starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness. I taught them, because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race. I kept up my school nearly the whole year I lived with Mr. Freeland; and, beside my Sabbath school, I devoted three evenings in the week, during the winter, to teaching the slaves at home. And I have the happiness to know, that several of those who came to Sabbath school learned how to read; and that one, at least, is now free through my agency."
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass learn to read--> teach others to read learn to be free--> help others to be free Although he's not writing TO his African American brethren, he is writing FOR them - for their sake; for their freedom.
I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old."
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas Knowing one's birthday gives one a sense of individuality and ownership over one's self.
"Now, Pheoby, don't feel too mean wid de rest of 'em 'cause dey's parched up from not knowin' things. Dem meatskins is got tuh rattle tuh make out they's alive. Let 'em consolate theyselves wid talk. 'Course, talkin' don't amount tuh uh hill uh beans when yuh can't do nothin' else. And listenin' tuh dat kind uh talk is jus' lak openin' yo' mouth and lettin' de moon shine down yo'throat. It's uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuhgo there tuh know there. Yo' papa and yo' mama and nobody else can't tell yuh and show yuh. Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves."
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Listen to Janie talk! She's just come back from a court case where she's being judged by White men and here she sits with Phoeby telling her that you cannot experience or judge someone else's live unless you've lived your own. She sounds so poetic. She's come up with her own conclusion, but still draws on an African American blues note to carry out her speech eloquently!!!
With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom. Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Part of Janie's journey is gaining control over herself and with this comes figuring out new words
From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom. Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston Referencing African American gospel song--creating new but working within the old tradition
He didn't want her talking after such trashy people. "You'se Mrs. Mayor Starks, Janie. I god, Ah can't see what uh woman uh yo' stability would want tuh be treasurin' all dat gum-grease from folks dat don't even own de house dey sleep in. 'Tain't no earthly use. They's jus' some puny humans playin' round de toes uh Time."
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston What they're saying is left-over, pointless extra stuff
"Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home." Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn't too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn't know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston be sexy but unapproachable trophy wife; she is Jody's object, representative of his success part of her progress is chafing against these guys that are trying to suppress her. her voice becomes less and less controlled throughout the novel, and by the end, she is speaking freely.
"Don't you change too many words wid me dis mawnin', Janie, do Ah'll take and change ends wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks' kitchen and set you down on yo' royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me!
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston diasticuss=butt don't change too many words <--highlights the play with words--points them out and we, as readers, have to try and figure them out
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume, you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Walt Whitman Song of Myself Answers Emerson's call- he is the great American epic poet. However, he was not considered the Great American Poet in his time. He began to earn recognition after his Leaves of Grass publication, but for the most part, his works were criticized as to sensational and provocative. He expands on Emerson's concept of a particle being part of a greater whole, using the individual American citizen as the particle and America (the entire nation) as the larger entity--a maternal figure with many body parts Here, he is addressing one reader, creating intimacy with the reader and tells the reader that he/she can take as one's own everything and experience everything because they exist as part of a larger whole. (The word "assume" means to take to oneself, adopt, usurp)
"The pure contralto sings in the organ loft; The carpenter dresses his plank—the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild ascending lisp; The married and unmarried children ride home to their Thanksgiving dinner; The pilot seizes the king-pin—he heaves down with a strong arm; The mate stands braced in the whale-boat—lance and harpoon are ready; The duck-shooter walks by silent and cautious stretches; The deacons are ordain'd with cross'd hands at the altar; The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big wheel; The farmer stops by the bars, as he walks on a First-day loafe, and looks at the oats and rye; The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum, a confirm'd case, (He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's bed-room;) The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case, He turns his quid of tobacco, while his eyes blurr with the manuscript; The malform'd limbs are tied to the surgeon's table, What is removed drops horribly in a pail; The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand—the drunkard nods by the bar-room stove; The machinist rolls up his sleeves—the policeman travels his beat—the gate-keeper marks who pass; The young fellow drives the express-wagon—(I love him, though I do not know him;) The half-breed straps on his light boots to complete in the race;"
Walt Whitman Song of Myself lists/catalogues everything and anything ordinary people--citizens of America--are included in this poem--they essentially make up the poem. Individuals as part of the larger whole; America is rich with material that can be spoken of whole-- include everything; nothing is kept secret And Walt Whitman, as the one cataloguing these elements says that this is part of the psalm of the republic. Who wrote the Biblical Psalms? King David and he is believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. Walt Whitman acquires the inspiration from the material himself, as his narrator himself is part of the poem, meaning he is part of the larger body, not hovering over the rest. The spiritual element descends and becomes part of the physical whole--the spiritual derives from the physical; versus the Christian belief that the spiritual brings the physical into existence.