Journal #15 "Border Patrol State"

Dear Ms. Silko, I can agree with you on your letter completely. Everything from how inappropriate a ten foot steel wall dissecting Mexico from the U.S. is to the great human migration. I never would have thought of it that way that the original inhabitants of this land would be seeking after the original land they had before the Europeans arrived. Are the people who occupy America now deterrents from the original inhabitants from living in their own land again? It so interesting the way you describe people are free about to move on this earth like the rivers. My pathos agree with you completely, but I have to see the logos side of all this. America is trying to protect the borders and democracy we now have and the border patrol is doing their job, but I do agree with you they are not doing it in an ethical way. We must be able to protect our borders, but I believe stereotyping anyone and everyone one with the notion they are out to smuggle drugs or participate in illegal activities is wrong. I remember from a personal experience when I was coming from South Padre back to the Texas mainland we had to go through Border Patrol. There were 5 young, white girls in this mini van. We were packed with suitcases, clothes and food. The officer just peeked right in gave us all a quick glance and asked if we were all American citizens. We answered him timidly “yes” because this was the first time any of us had gone through Border Patrol. He let us go right through. As we were passing, next to us we saw an officer dog and a car getting searched by it. It makes me wonder what the training process is to become a Border Patrol officer and what ideals and ethics they are instilled with before the job. I like how you took an emotional and poetic agenda on to this issue. It makes me think past the rules and regulations man has made and it makes me think more of the birth of this nation and where it actually started and the spiritual and emotional ties there are to this country.

Bonus Blog #3

All three of these stories share the sense of “double consciousness.” When a person has a split conscious on how they should act because racially they look one way but when they are assimilated into another country they must act according to the standards of that country. In Antin’s story “The Promise Land” I see a similarity between Mary and the son in Sui Sin Far’s story. I use this similarity using a quote out of Antin’s story. “In after years, when I passed an American among American, if I was suddenly made aware of the past that lay forgotten, -- if a letter from Russia or a paragraph in the newspaper…suddenly reminded me of what I might have been…” This reminds me so much of the description of when Lae Choo went to pick up her son at the end of Far’s story. He was there for months and as a child he forgot so quickly of his mother and where he came from. I assume it not a surprise when a child forgets so easily of his mother and is capable of moving on because they haven’t been conditioned yet into a culture enough so they don’t share an identity yet. But for Mary to have such thoughts that she had even forgotten her own roots was amazing to me. I guess since she found it so easy to assimilate within school and that she looked American, she was almost happy to give up her roots. I know that if I were to still be living in Spain after I studied abroad, I still would not have been able to give up my roots and culture. For 21 years I have been an American and raised how Americans are raised, to completely clear myself of my culture would be extremely difficult. A difference I found was the hatred Kiku-san had for her skin color and the love Mary has for her skin color. It’s interesting to see that Mary being fully white loves it because she is able to assimilate well, but Kiku-san just being half white hates her image because she can’t fit into her own culture. It’s interesting to think that skin type plays a huge role in the culture you are brought up in. I could be white and brought up in a Hispanic community my whole life and I would either be ostracized because of my skin color or embraced because I’m different looking and associating myself that people I don’t necessarily look like. Race plays a huge role in our culture and I think we should all be willing to accept people for who they are.

Journal #14 on "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

If I were a solider in Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s unit I would carry a lot for my survival first of all. I would carry with me the basic needs like, matches, a canteen, a knife, a gun (maybe), water purifying tablets, dry clothes, waterproof blanket, jacket etc. I could go down a list of everything I would pack from large to small for survival but the things I would carry would be different. I can also say here there is a difference I think when we say “pack” versus “carry.” It’s interesting how when I named off the survival tools I was going to “pack them” but the sentimental items I’m about to list and describe I would “carry.” I would carry them physically close to my body and close to my heart. First off, my baby blanket, I know I’m in college and 21, but I have slept with that blanket my whole life. I have many family stories about it. As a child I would always prepare myself if bad weather was coming by having it wrapped around me so if something, like a tornado, were to tear up our house I would have the one item that I cherish with me. I would try to keep that somewhere near. Maybe I would cut a section of it wrap it around my waist. I would have a picture of my family, there isn’t one I could pin point, but just one of us. Then a picture of my sister and I as babies. Then, I would carry a picture of my 3 best friends from home and the one from college. I would most certainly carry my New Testament with me as well. I really enjoyed reading this essay because of how current it is. It makes me happy to know that writers can still provoke so much emotion even in this day in age when technology seems to steal that away from us. It was an emotional essay for me to read.

Journal #13 on Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin)

I think Zitkala-Sa is a story of the American Dream, relatively speaking in her pursuit of an education. “At the close of this second term of three years I was the proud owner of my first diploma” (pg. 437). What I find interesting is that her venture to receive a diploma and to move on towards a greater education is that of the American Dream. In this day in age, a high school diploma is good, a college diploma is significantly the best, but now most employers want people with the highest degree attainable and that’s graduate school and even on to a doctorate. What I find interesting is that her pursuit of finding a better education is what she feels pressured to do because of her European blood, but what I find interesting also is she feels guilty and saddened for leaving her mother and that is what I think a lot of Americans feel too when they leave for college or to receive a higher degree. In the American Dream we want what is best for ourselves but in the midst of that pursuit we feel like we have to leave behind the loved ones that encouraged us to go forth and purse that quest. So it’s an interesting way she attains the American Dream by pursing a higher education, but leaves behind the ones she loves the most.

Nov. 3 readings and blog prompt

"Does it make nothing for us that we have always recognized our Christian teachers as worthy of authority in our councils, and repudiated those whose influence or character was vicious or irreligious? That while four-fifths of the population of our Islands was swept out of existence by the vices introduced by foreigners, the ruling class clung to Christian morality, and gave its unvarying support and service to the work of saving and civilizing the masses? Has not this class loyally clung to the brotherly alliance made with the better element of foreign settlers, giving freely of its authority and its substance, its sons and its daughters, to cement and to prosper it" -- Hawai`i's Story by Hawai`i's Queen Chp. LVII

This is my favorite quote because Queen Lili'uokalani uses sarcasm in her language to convey her point. Her language is very direct and straight forward in her rhetorical questions she uses. The goal of this language is to address the pressing questions that are so avoided, but her language conveys that the actions still continue and she wants to answer those questions.

 

Blog 11

I’ve been curious to know how and why America was still able to attract immigrants when there was so much hostility among the citizens. Didn’t people in Europe have an idea as to the amount of killings and suffering in the colored community there was? If I were an immigrant coming to America, being white, I would think I would be more readily accepted if I knew about everything going on. But I would still be reluctant to come here if I knew the amount of hate crimes. At the same time looking back in history, most white people followed the actions of the rest of the white community in order to not be discriminated in that community; so I would also be reluctant not to follow along with the crowd in favor of protecting my reputation. Which does sadden me, I would hope I would have still have the same attitude I do now about lynching and hate crimes, that I don’t agree with them, but again I just simply don’t know because I didn’t live in those times. But, then reflecting back to McKay’s poems, he was a world traveler, always seeking a way to come back to America despite the hate. He was a black man and to think about his life experience and what it bought him, if people did come here to the states at this time of hate, life would bring them more trials, but more rewards. McKay’s poem “America” explains my thought process perfectly when he writes:

“Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, and sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests me soul.”

Its so endearing to here him say such a thing, despite being treated the way he was. It goes to show that life is not easy and challenges will always be present, but if you have a will to fight for what you believe in, you will succeed and in the end be grateful for the time of pain because it brought you so much pleasure in the end.

Journal #10: The Aha! Moment

I am a little confused on where to find this realization of enlightenment on the about The Wife of his Youth. I do understand that the woman he had been talking about the whole time at the party was the one he told the story about. As I start to think about Mr. Ryder’s age and Ms. Dixon’s age, he said he did want her because she was young and youthful. Now that he has realized that the woman that just appeared is her he can see the youth that she still has I her and then hope of finding her love one day. Just because he had been waiting so long doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to fin true love. In the long paragraph where I think he’s realizing what he should do he makes this comment

 “Suppose, too, that, as the years went by, this man's memory of the past grew more and more indistinct, until at last it was rarely, except in his dreams, that any image of this bygone period rose before his mind. And then suppose that accident should bring to his knowledge the fact that the wife of his youth, the wife he had left behind him, -- not one who had walked by his side and kept pace with him in his upward struggle, but one upon whom advancing years and a laborious life had set their mark, -- was alive and seeking him, but that he was absolutely safe from recognition or discovery, unless he chose to reveal himself.”

 I think here he recognizes himself that this is the woman he knew has as a youth and he is remembering her and seeing her devotion throughout her years in search of him. He realizes that this is true love; one that is endearing through time and surpasses any age.

(At the beginning of this entry I was confused about how to find that aha! moment, but as I started to type and think, I too had an aha! moment and was able to find the texts).

In “Learning to Read” I loved this significant insight that Harper addresses:

“Our masters always tried to hide

   Book learning from our eyes;

Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—

   ’Twould make us all too wise.” (Harper)

I think what is so significant to this quote is that when on has knowledge and can be a significant and worthy in the context of society, slavery and knowledge don’t go hand in hand.  I think this is such a powerful message to send that when one has knowledge on the world injustice can be fixed. In today’s society we see people and corrupt government trying to control society’s thoughts and actions, but all people want is freedom, freedom to learn and choose and with individual freedom comes the halt of social injustice for everyone.

Journal #9: The Contemporary Connection

The contemporary connection I see between today and the years 1865-1914 is the issue of immigration. Today we have a great deal of a political problem with illegal aliens in this country and the economic problem that arises when wages being made in the US are no longer circulated in the US, they are converted and sent to Mexico and the US looses circulation. But the main connection to the text is that way immigrants were treated coming into America, as they are now. I can only imagine the reactions of Europeans coming to America for freedom and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the symbolism that is associated with her. They hoped for acceptance that they weren’t getting back in their home countries, yet the symbolism of Lady Liberty didn’t match the actions of the American people. “Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, as well as from Ireland, also generated anxiety and hostility among many native-born American, who viewed the newcomers, most of whom were Catholics or Jews, as threats to Protestant America” (pg. 18). It’s interesting to see that yes, as America has grown to become a true melting pot, we still have stereotypes of those that are native to this country, primarily Mexicans. I think Mexicans who come to America, legally, are stereotyped as illegals most of the time and that they can’t speak English. What is so sad is that they want to be here because they want a better life than they were experiencing previously. Instead of demeaning them as just cheap labor, or uneducated we should be applauding them for following the American dream of setting their standards of living high and setting sail on an adventure to a new life. Immigrants are the bravest people on this earth because who honestly would place themselves in an uncomfortable position to be ridiculed and discriminated against? Immigrants come to this country because they are brave enough to know they can have a better way of living if they work hard and if we open our doors to them for opportunity. I believe though, that one needs to have taken the measures to legally be here. To be legally here puts oneself on the even playing ground of succeeding instead of by passing that one step to think you can rise to the top without the foundation. This passage was very interesting to read because of the reactions immigrants had when coming to America as a developing nation. America has changed, in my opinion on welcoming immigrants, but I do believe on an individual, personal level we should all have patience and encouragement for those wishing to succeed in a better life here.

Journal #8: The Civil War

The two texts that I think hold a conversation with each other would be Jefferson Davis’s Inaugural Address and Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. What I think is so interesting between the two in the pursuit of the American Dream begins with Davis’s outlook on the American Dream. Davis, throughout his address, liberally uses the word “peace.” Being the head of provisional government by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, he is advocating the right to have peace within his states. The quote I find so intriguing is when he references the Declaration of Independence; “…it is the right of the people to alter or abolish a government whenever it becomes destructive of the ends go which it was established” (pg. 1360). I think this is where the pursuit of the American Dream comes to play in Davis’ address. It is within our Declaration that we are provided with the dreams and rights our fore fathers established unto us and for him to reference such a document in his address reiterates the notion that the American Dream is accomplished through the beliefs of what our fore fathers created. He, although is proactive in the movement in keeping an established, slave holding society, his view of the American Dream is to hold on to what has been the right for the privileged American, the right to be happy with the slaves he owns. A 19-century reader could be persuaded by such a speech because of the geographic location of Alabama, because that was a slave holding state. Using the Declaration of Independence in such a state would reinforce the drive the south needs to pursue and win the Civil War in keeping their right to own slaves. On the contrary, Abraham Lincoln had an address that lead a nation into stopping, or at least starting a progressive legacy in the death of slavery. Lincoln’s address used the grandest of all documents that established our government, the Bible. More than half if his address was referencing the Bible and how as a nation we should be following this such word of peace and compassion for others. His address made closest to the end of the Civil War bring in the powerful messages of the Bible in how those words can be made into living and prosperous ways of life in his day. The American Dream, in the 19^th-century was to live a pious and God-fearing life, to live otherwise one would be considered an outsider. He uses language set forth in the Bible to harmonize the country as a whole to ending slavery all together. I really enjoyed how he made this comment “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against each other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask for a just God’s assistance in writing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged” (pg. 1375). I thought that was a noble and just statement made by Lincoln in stating that we are all praying to the same God for him to bring the same division the winning gold medal, yet the message of the Lord, speaks of compassion of one another and that is not what the American society is doing. Lincoln was in the Northern states when he addressed this, so I could only infer the amount of support he got when he stated this. In both address’ I can imagine the amount of support each received because of the geographic location. In my opinion, I would say that Davis’ would be more persuasive, even though I completely agree with Lincoln in his movement to abolish slavery, Davis set himself up for a nicely cited and thoughtful address, where as Lincoln’s, to the eye, looks short. It also depended on the amount of emotion the speaker was using at the time. If I were to be living in this time I would have loved to be able to see the amount of emotion each conveyed for his own purpose. I’m sure each would have had an equal amount, but just looking at the extent to what Davis put in, I think it would have been more persuasive.

Journal #7: Abolitionist Poetry

In Frances E. W. Harper’s poem “The Slave Mother” I spotted a ton of imagery in this poem. Not just imagery in the visual sense, but also auditory. With imagery the reader is supposed to experience in his or her own mind what picture and scene the author is painting. In Harper’s poem the very first line is a perfect example of imagery, “Heard you that shriek?” (Harper pg. 1231). Automatically I hear in my head, not a yell, not a shout, because to me those words of despair have a heavier tone, but I heard a shriek; a blood wrenching, high pitched shriek. To me that tells that this is a sad poem and I’m supposed to be feeling sympathy or empathy for the author or characters in the poem. As I read this poem towards the end Harper is describing the pain and misery a slave mother is feeling as her child is being taken away from her. Harper uses more auditory imagery by using “His lightest word has been a tone of music around her heart” (Harper pg. 1232). Used as a metaphor, I can still imagine and hear as the reader the joy of music that is compared to her son’s voice in her mind and heart. This tells me that the boy is the light and joy of this mother’s world. The last verse now ends with another shriek as the son and the mother are torn apart. I can hear as the poem reads “No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks disturb the listening air: she is a mother, and her heart is breaking in despair” (Harper 1232). As the poem starts and as the poem ends I can sense auditory imagery as I hear the mother shrieking in pain as her son is taken away from her forever. Harper is persuading her audience or reform in that no mother should have to feel the pain of having her child rip from the heart and physical grasp of the love she has for that child. If this slave were to be a white woman, she would not have to proceed with any government law, proceeding or injunction that she had to have her child taken away for monetary purposes and that the fact that her skin is different. I think Harper telling this narrative is a moral suasion for the audience to feel in order for there to be sympathy to then in return find a social reform of children not being taken away from their mothers. It’s interesting because in the text it says “He is not hers, although she bore for him a mother’s pains; he is not hers, although her blood is coursing through his veins” (Harper pg. 1231). This is a huge hit at what reform should happen in that a child should not be taken away! The blood of this child is the mother’s, yet because of the law that the mother is slave, therefor a child is, the child belongs to the law and that child can be taken anywhere. I think Harper uses this imagery to convey to the audience pathos of how no mother should have to go through that pain.

Journal #6

What I found to be the most interesting was not only the depiction of race throughout Jacobs’ “Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl” but also the gender roles women okay throughout he story. Jacobs describes that men who owned women slaves kept their dark secrets of affairs with their slaves away from their wives because of the destruction it would cause to the family and the member of society. I found it so interesting that, from what I understood, men found slaves to be the women that they never have had and forced them to be the women they never wanted to be. The girls never wanted to be a slave, but because of births of the color they have they must be one and because of their gender it makes it even worse. The power behind the men and how they treated their slaves was absurd. They would make them have intercourse, beat them, frighten them anything, but they would never do so to their beautiful, white wife.  During Jacobs’ story the role of women changes slightly. She finds freedom and from a women, Mrs. Bruce, but women were still going to be treated unequal to men, despite the gender they have. Mrs. Bruce does no conform to society; she gives freedom to a black woman, which is completely uncalled for! She is resisting this role for change and for one day that all women can be free, no matter what their color. What I found so interesting was on page 777, that Jacobs describes, what I think she is describing the American woman. “If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws…” (Jacobs). It so interesting because she is describing the American woman as being free and choosing the man that she so wishes. Jacobs is a women, but she is not free so she has to put up with her masters telling her who she can and can’t marry. But I love how she tells her master that she can do whatever she wants in the story. She is proclaiming her identity as this women that she thinks she ought to be, but hr owner beats her and tells her no. But, its fascinating that she keeps fighting for what she wants and that is freedom and a husband. That is an American women role as well, a fighter. Jacobs continues to fight her fight in her story not only as a slave into freedom but a women into the powerful being she was put on earth to be.

Journal #5: The Theme

The theme I found in the readings by Apess and Sigourney was annihilation. The two focus on the suppression of the Native American race and the mistreatment of that race when the Europeans came over to take over their land and claim it as theirs. I absolutely love “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man.” I find that the title summarizes the entry so clearly and it’s almost comical. An Indian is making a looking glass for a white man, giving the reader the impression that a white man is too clearly ignorant to understand for himself how to understand the Indian race, so one must make a looking glass for him to look through to understand is disposition. I believe I share similar beliefs with my peers that Jesus never discriminated based on color of skin, he looked at the souls of those he was serving. Apess makes it so very clear that why would a race (white) that prides itself in Christianity, not follow exactly as to what the leader of the religion taught them to do? I believe this entry is  a pioneering concept that takes the context of the Bible into his time period and applies it to the greedy, white settlers and it can also be applied to our generation as well. I really enjoyed reading this entry because I agreed with him so much on his rhetorical analysis of the teaching of Jesus and pressed questions onto the white man to consider why they  are discriminating so much. As  for Sigourney, I believe “Indian Names” shares the same theme as did Apess’ entry. Sigourney, though, touches on topics of esthetics of America and how everything that has been named was named by the very mere people that the pioneers kicked out. How awful would it be to have a land that is all your own, name it, tend to it, worship it and live with it as much as you live in it and then to have a stranger come in and literally strip you of it. That is really the theme here in “Indian Names” is that all the beauty in “the new world” was created by the Native Americans. She wishes to, in this poem, address that she sees the beauty, the names, the sounds, the colors and the life of the land that the Indians did see and she appreciates it so much more than the people who robbed them of their land. “To a Shred of Linen” was more difficult for me to understand, but after re-reading it I found the theme that matches with the other two. In the poem she addresses a “rustic lover” and how the damsel works at her wheel. I think the “rustic lover” represents the group of Europeans that claimed all the Indian land and the wife represents the Indians. The Indians worked so hard to keep the land beautiful and all the pioneers could see when they came to claim the land was how rich they could become by taking it all. Another line that caught my attention was the line “They brown complexion bleach’s?” I believe here, Sigourney is trying to convey that the Indians have had their skin “bleached” by the wave of pioneers. The Indians have changed or really disappeared from the land they once knew. I also think the line at the very end “So shall thine end be better than thy birth…” Sigourney is conveying here that she hopes the “end” of America is better than the birth of America, meaning she hopes that when the time must come for this country to end she hopes that it does not end how it started with discrimination, war, hierarchy or death upon the Native American race. The overall theme of annihilation is expressed throughout these three passages by explaining the discrimination and robbery the Native Americans had to endure during this time period.

Journal #4 -- The Explication

An element of fiction that I caught onto in “The Tenth of January” was the presence of irony. As the story is following the life of Asenath, we pity her. She is, by social standards, ugly due to her physical presence and Asenath ponders her existence. She struggles with her love for Dick and torment from other girls. The piece of irony I find the most interesting is the prediction of her death. On just a normal day she wakes up and feels a calm, peaceful presence on her, something that she usually does not wake to. I find it so interesting to read this line “There was a future to be settled, but she would not trouble herself about that just now” (pg. 13). The irony behind this day is this day is the day she is finally put to rest of all hate, pity and shallowness. It’s so interesting that such a character can wake up and “feel” something about the day and as the plot and climax rises, we see she in fact “feeling” the sense of peace as she is swallowed by the fire. What I find so interesting is that this story mirrors out everyday lives as well. We wake up starting the day, doing our usual routine, but when something interrupts that routine we have to track our steps back thinking, “if I didn’t take those extra 10 minutes to make breakfast I might have avoided this situation” or to more dramatic instances like Asenath, we wish we could express our love for someone, but it takes an extra step in our day and dignity to do so. All it takes are actions to make this world and our country work and I believe that is also what Phelps is trying to convey as well, is that the small things we do with people could potentially alter the course of their path.

ENGL 20503 Post #3

I think what Irving’s short story, “The Wife” says about American values regarding marriage is that through the promise made at the wedding ceremony, the promise does and will last. In America today divorce is such at a high rate, but there is still a valuable American idea of marriage, that through thin and thick a marriage can and will last. Even through poverty stricken times, which Irving writes about, the love, devotion, understanding and affection a couple has for each other through the hard times will prevail. When it comes to women with American values, this short story still frames a woman as a delicate, understanding, warm-hearted being that can prevail through a hard time with a smile on her face and devotion to her husband. I think is beautiful, but also a part of me thinks that why can’t a women get mad at this situation too? In this context she is submissive to her husband and dependent on his income for her happiness, but what if she had her own income, like she was living now? I would be pretty dang mad about having to step down from a two salary house to one, but what I do agree on is that love does prevail and through this short story that is made clear. Economically this story states that American values hold true that you can’t succeed without some monetary goods, but this story again shows that through love one can succeed far greater things. I like how he addresses how pride is something that tears a man apart more rather than the fact that he is losing his money. That is an American value that encompasses all these ideas of marriage, women and economics.