Excerpt from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

In this excerpt, Harriet Jacobs recounts when she was a fugitive slave, forced to live in a tiny attic in her grandmother's house for months. At the beginning, she describes the attic, "The garret was only nine feet long and seven wide. The highest part was three feet high" (Jacobs 106). Jacobs also describes how she can barely move and can't even stand up. One thing that made an impression on me was not only the size of the attic but also how she describes the rats and mice running over her. The part about the bugs was also terrible! The conditions in the attic were extremely rough, as there was little protection from the heat and the cold. Jacobs also talks about her mental struggle being confined in a tiny space. Her relatives can only risk talking to her at night and she can only hear her children talk from a distance. Finally, she decides to makes a whole that she can see and hear out of better. From this whole, she hears snippets of conversation and even sees her master, Dr. Flint, who believes she might be in New York.

After reading, a few questions came up. For example, I wonder what prompted her to run away. Was it a single event or was this planned over time? How long does she stay hidden in the attic? How will it ever be safe for her to come out? I know slaves were extremely valuable to masters, but Dr. Flint seems really determined to get her back. Is there a reason why?
- Mika Gothard

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Chapter 10- Apendix

In Chapters 10 through the Appendix, there is a resolution to the struggles and torture that Douglass has experienced throughout the narrative. At the beginning of the reading, Douglass tells of the first time he attempted to escape from slavery, still under the ownership of Covey. Because Douglass had learned the how to read and write prior to the escape, he forged documents saying that they were allowed to go home to Baltimore for the Holidays. Before they could escape, they were snitched on and taken to the jail. Frederick along with 5 other men were in the attempt to escape and after being sent to jail, all of the other slaves were sent back to Covey while Douglass was kept in jail for an additional 2 weeks. Douglass was sent back to Baltimore where he worked in the ship yard among white men. The white men would work alongside Douglass, but refused to work alongside black freemen. There reasoning was because they feared the freemen taking their jobs.
This reminded me of the current day argument that immigrants should not be allowed into the U.S. because of the fear that they will take the jobs of the people already here. It reminded of how absurd that argument really is.
Douglass also criticized the underground railroad which I thought was interesting and I never knew that that was one of his beliefs. He wrote, "I have never approved of the very public manner in which some of our western friends have conducted what they call the 'Underground Railroad', but which, I think, by their open declarations, has been made most emphatically, the 'Upperground Railroad".
After becoming uneasy of his conditions again, Douglass plans his second attempt to escape to freedom. He was tired of giving his wage away and planned his escape to New York. In September of 1883, he was successful.
After moving to Bedford from New York, Douglass realizes that slavery is not the only way to be wealthy, and hard work and integrity can overcome evil.

A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily is a brief story that contains many themes and symbols. However one of the most interesting things I found was the way in which the story was written. In the beginning, I was slightly confused but I soon realized Faulkner jumps back and forth between past and present, which can be challenging. However, once I figured it out I was not bothered by it. In general, the main themes of the story were death and holding on to tradition. This is clear in the description of her house and her unofficial agreement with Colonel Santoris. Faulkner writes that overtime new technologies had become more widespread while her house remained traditional architecture. In her unofficial tax agreement, upheld by her father and Colonel Satoris Faulkner demonstrates the new methods and mannerisms of the town as the aldermen disregarded previous arrangements.

This theme of preventing change to hold on to tradition fits in perfectly with the theme of death. After her father dies she refuses to admit that he is dead in an attempt to prevent change and cling to the past. She continues to do so as she refuses to give up his body until she was relentlessly urged to let him be removed. Her desire to hold on to tradition and prevent change is also seen when she resorts to killing Homer Barron so that he is not ever able to leave her. This reoccurrence of death distances her from Hommer however it is morally right in Emily's mind because she is able to be with him forever. Once more the hair found on the pillow exemplifies her need to feel as though nothing has changed and it indicated that she had slept with Hommer after she had killed him. Falkner foreshadows this death when he introduces the smell, and then reveals Hommer had been let into the house but it was the last time he was seen.


Discussion questions:
Why is it called a rose for Emily?
How does her relationship with her father affect her relationship with Hommer?
what role did the four men play in the story? why was the smell not further investigated?
was the pharmacists aware that the arsenic was not for rats? if so why did he not alert anyone?

Pantaloon in Black Reflection

Pantaloon in Black by William Faulkner follows the twisting and turning downward spiral of a broken man. Rider, a black mill worker, goes through the intense emotions of grief after losing his wife Mannie. I found it interesting how as Rider becomes even more distraught the writing becomes harder to follow. This represents Riders loss of control and sanity. Also, throughout the story Rider finds that he is forgetting things like where his dog is and where he put down his jug of whiskey. It all culminates in Rider finally slitting the throat of a white mill worker,  a Birdsong, who scams the black workers out of their money. I also found it interesting how it is never determined how Mannie died. However, it is obvious through the writing that Rider truly loved his wife.

I also noticed the use of symbolism throughout the story. First, his overalls, which were pristine from Mannie’s cleaning, became increasingly dirty as he walked miles around the woods. This as well as the motif of his “bloodshot eyes… in which no white showed at all” (69) represent grief overtaking Rider. Religion also plays a role as Rider argues with God against the wishes of his aunt and uncle who believe God is the only one who can save him. He also uses alcohol to cope with his sadness, but it only seems to make him angrier and even less in control.

Part 2 comes from the perspective of a police officer on the murder case of Birdsong. This helps the reader to fully understand what Rider did from an outside perspective. He does not have any sympathy for Rider and does not try to understand his actions. In fact, he is angry that he showed up to work after the funeral of his wife. In the end, we find out that Rider has been lynched most likely by the members of the Birdsong family. However, Rider himself asked not to be locked up which shows that he intended to die. It is possible that killing Birdsong was an intentional way of indirectly committing suicide. But is hard to know considering Rider’s manic mental state at the time.

Questions

What is the role of the dog in this story?

Why does Rider kill the mill worker specifically?

How does race play into this story?

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" Reflection

As I was reading Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", it began as what seemed to be a playful story about a family vacation. The plot followed a quirky grandmother, her son, and his family. Even in the first paragraph of the story, the "Misfit" was introduced. There was some very obvious foreshadowing that the Misfit would play a key role in the story. Yet, I had never imagined that it would be more of a complaint or tangent in a conversation coming from the grandmother. The plot twist of the Misfit initially seeming to rescue the family, only to "take them into the woods" was not expected at all. 

While reading this story, the imagery stood out. Toward the beginning of the story, the author used hyperboles and word play to get her point across in a playful manner, yet as the plot intensified, the imagery came from lengthy descriptions. Just as the grandmother is describing the plantation of her childhood, which ends up to be in Georgia, nearly an entire paragraph is used to show the readers what the author is trying to convey, no details spared.

What seemed most prevalent to me towards the end of the story was the Misfit and his reaction/views on Jesus. He ends the story by saying, "It's no real pleasure in life" (154). As the grandmother and the Misfit carry on a conversation about Jesus and his resurrection of the dead, the reader gets some insight as to why the Misfit commits these crimes. It almost seems that the Misfit is trying to reverse/reset the actions of Jesus by returning people to the earth (a.k.a killing them). I believe that the Misfit is some kind of an anti-Christ, especially because of the common dislike of and uncomfort with children, while Jesus is known for his love of them.

Questions:
- Who is the Misfit really represent?
- Why is there no clarity what truly happened to the family?
- What happened that caused the Misfit to end up in jail?
- Why did the cat like the Misfit?

"Revelation" Reflection

After reading "Revelation", a short story by Flannery O'Connor, the thing I remembered most was the vivid imagery that the author used to describe Mrs. Turpin's thoughts. My favorite image described was as the Turpins were coming up their driveway seeing, "The land sloped gracefully down through a field dotted with lavender weeds at the start of the rise their small yellow frame house... (139). I loved picturing her imagery and also think it helped me to feel her sense of pain in the last couple paragraphs of the story. O'Connor also used a lot of literary devices throughout her work that helped me visualize the story.

I am also still shocked by the behavior of Mary Grace, the "ugly girl". From the first time the author mentioned the ugly girl glaring at Mrs. Turpin, I knew that something alarming was going to take place in the waiting room. I never would have thought that she would throw the book at the Turpin family. I also thought it was ironic that they went to the doctors office to get better but they both ended up getting hurt even more. 

In the beginning, Mrs. Turpin talks about how she is confident in herself and how she is extremely thankful that Jesus "gave her a little bit of everything," (135). In this moment, she is contempt with who she is. This thought of gratitude and thankfulness is wiped away due to remarks made by Mary Grace before she was hauled off in the ambulance. She calls Mrs. Turpin a, "wart hog from hell." I think that when Mary Grace calls her this, Mrs. Turpin realizes that she has been living her life wrong. When she is hosing down the hogs, she has a conversation with God and starts to compare herself to many people. She starts to lose her optimistic mindset about herself that she had at the beginning of the story. The visions she saw in the sky also helped her to realize that there is no hierarchy in the people she saw in the waiting room. Mrs. Turpin sees a tribe in of the patients in the sky who all have, " a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right." In this moment, she realizes that they all have a little bit of everything and not just her. In the end, I think Mrs. Turpin learned that how she was living her life before was wrong and that God put Mary Grace in the waiting room so that she could realize it. 

Questions:
- Why is this story full of so much racism?
- Why does Mrs. Turpin take her anger out on her hogs?
- Overall analyzing the last paragraph