"Heritage" -Countee Cullen

"Heritage" is a poem that describes just that, Countee Cullen's African roots. Although this poem tries to describe the way Africa looks the way people describe a good memory, but it is noted that the writer has a hard time trying to achieve that goal because he repeatedly states "One three centuries removed

From the scenes his fathers loved,

Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,   

What is Africa to me?"

    It isn't that he doesn't want to claim where his family is from it's just that he cannot, he has never been there. The third stanza accurately describes the fact that Africa is so unknown to him because he says it is like a book that you look at but all of those things are unremembered. He has probably heard and read about all the things he mentioned in the poem but cannot accurately picture it in his mind because he has never been there. 

   Then Cullen describes the people and from Africa along with some of the animals. It's funny because he uses terms that don't really describe them as people but more like savages. They are "young forest lovers" and "jungle girls and boys" and I personally thought that when he was talking about the "juggernauts of flesh" they were the strong black men walking around the jungle.
   Cullen really felt disconnected from either places. He could not fit with the Africans because he had never been there and could not relate in any way to the culture they shared over there. Neither could he be an American because, being black, he was look down on and could not really amount to anything because his world could only be ruled and good for the white man. He even feels this way when he writes about the different religions, in America and in Africa. The gods in Africa are "heathen" but the god people worship in America is not black so Cullen feels that he could never understand what he is going through. Cullen's diction demonstrates that to a certain extent he has been influenced by Americans to call others jungle people, savages, and their beliefs, heathen. Does this have anything to do with the fact that he writes five times "so I lie?" What does it mean? 

"Yet do I Marvel" -Countee Cullen

The poem "Yet do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen describes the common theme that life is pointless. The "tricked Tantalus" was caught in the futile effort to eat the fruit and couldn't, while Sisyphus keeps on trying aimlessly to take the rock up the slope but it comes down again. Then he continues to speak of how God has pretty much made us live to die. In the end he also is befuddled at the fact that he wanted to express himself but he was black so it was not going to be that easy.
The idea that it is God's fault that bad things happen is a common misconception. The crazy thing is that many people usually hear from their religious leaders that God is a God of love but when a loved one dies they say that it was their time to go or even better, "God wanted another angel with him in heaven." Of course these ideas are not conducive to one another. If it's God's fault that our loved ones are dying then He cannot be a God of love because he is causing grief and all of the other negative feelings that come along with the death of a loved one. Obviously this is not the case. Jehovah is not the cause of our problems because in James 1:13 it says that "with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone." So he is not causing all of these things to happen. In reality the bible shows us that it is in fact, Satan the one that is causing all of the distress here on earth because if you read, no where in the bible does it say that Jehovah is the ruler of the earth but rather that Satan is. 1 John 5:19 says that "the whole world is lying in the [power of the] wicked one." Therefore, God is not the one causing the problems and definitely did not create us just so that we would die.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

If I thought my answer were given
to anyone who would ever return to the world,
this flame would stand still without moving any further.
But since never from this abyss
has anyone returned alive, if what I hear is true,
without fear of infamy, I answer you.
-Dante
These lines are the way T.S. Eliot begins his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" a stream of consciousness of the stereotypical 40 year old virgin. This man is sitting in a public place and there are women all around him but he is just too hesitant to do anything that in the end he really does not do anything. The poor man worries about whether he should talk to the girl or not, whether he should part his hair one way or the other... this guy was just very uncertain about anything he was going to do. This is kind of like the soliloquy "To be or not to be" which Eliot makes a reference to in line 111 because the man needs to choose whether he should do something or not. But the funny thing is that while the man is straddling between these thoughts he says he is not like the prince Hamlet so as not to seem so indecisive.
It was also interesting how this poem paints the women in a different setting than the women from "The Waste Land." Instead of being in a bar by themselves without their husbands, these women are at this place- possibly a high end cafe or restaurant-and seem to have a good socioeconomic status. This was noted from the continuous talk of the women "talking of Michaelangelo." They had to have heard of them and mention them in their conversations to impress the others. But due to the fact that this old, single man does not have a woman in his life makes him a sour person. Throughout the poem he says things like "half-deserted streets," sees the pollution all around and sees it as a cat that has just taken over the house without asking and is sad because he does not think the mermaids will sing to him. If only he had a woman in his life, everything would be a lot better and he wouldn't worry about his balding spot because his wife already loves him.

The Waste Land

T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" was an introduction to the 20th century writings that reflected realism, a novel way of writing at the time. In the beginning of the poem there is a very eccentric description of the relationship between people and the earth they live in. But after that the poem is more about the downward spiral that all of humanity was going through during these roaring twenties. In contrast to the other writings we have read, this poem uses many references to other writings that are in other languages like French, Latin and German.

 Most of the time when he wrote weird words that are usually not used today it was to reference something from a previous writing or from mythology.  I feel like many of those things are not very common and so are kind of lost or only a few people know about them. But it should definitely not be like that; we should acquaint ourselves with these classical writings because the quality of writing from back then is much better than most of the things that come out now. 

I really thought it was weird the way he spoke of the dead people. A man was buried and then someone asks "The corpse you planted,... has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?" (ln 71,72) I did not know what to make of this statement but the fact that when we die everything else keeps on going and we become nothing but fertilizer for the plants. Then Eliot goes on to write about the "murmur of maternal lamentation" (ln 367) which goes around all over the earth. When I read this it reminded me of La Llorona because she is said to be a woman crying out for her lost, dead children. 

Then in class I understood the story about the women at the bar. Eliot was showing us the lower class of people in the US during the 1920s. They had little or no access to dentists and this was precisely what they were talking about. The woman was supposed to have her  teeth taken out so she could get dentures and look good for her husband. But the woman does not seem to care that her husband is coming back from the war and doesn't even want to have children which is something out of the ordinary for that time period. Her experience shows the disillusionment with all that was happening around them and the unfavorable changes that were occuring. Nothing was the way it used to be and it was only getting worse; hence, the title of the poem. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne

"My Kinsman, Major Molineux" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prime example of the move from the age of enlightenment to romanticism. Romanticism assumed that the natural world was inherently good while civilization or society was bad and filled with corruption. There is a clear distinction between the people who are from the city and the people from the small towns and even in the story, all the townspeople could tell Robin was different. Robin's story begins when he chooses to go off and stay with Major Molineux because he was supposed to help him and essentially leave off the large inheritance he received once he passed. Since the was not the first born, then he pretty much knew he wasn't going to get the farm so had to look for other options. But once he does go to the city, Robin is not really introduced to the nice side of town. Most people don't care to help him or if not they tempt him to do things that are wrong like the woman with the scarlet petticoat. In the end, after being tarred and feathered, he doesn't really want to have anything to the Major and he chooses to make a name for himself.
One of the things that is highlighted in this passage is the mob mentality that the city folk shared. But I really found it interesting to see the differences between the nature and civilization. In this story and in Whitman's "Song of Myself" nature is seen as something that is desirable. It gives an innocent, light and pure connotation to being in nature while being in a city or civilization equates to acting in an evil way. Robin even states once that "if I had one of those grinning rascals in the woods, I would teach him..." obviously wanting to teach these "civilized" people some manners! In the story it seems as if this is the first time that Robin has gone to the city and is obviously not having the greatest experience. This woman with the scarlet petticoat was also one of the people that tempted this young man to do immoral things but seeing as he was from the small town, this "shrewd" boy fled and resisted temptation (does the word Joseph come to mind...). This idea was contrary to the idea that many people had back in the day because they usually related nature to to being uncivilized like the Native Americans, a trait that was undesirable. But along comes Romanticism and makes civilized people look really bad off and making people realize how much worse life would actually be if you lived in a city surrounded by all of those temptations. It was definitely different from the other readings but is a common ideology used today, that people from small towns or the country are more innocent and closer to the unadulterated world.

Federalist Papers

The Federalist papers were documents written on behalf of people like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who believed that the United States should have a strong central government and a national bank. One of the most famous quotes taken from this paper is that "if men were angels, no government would be necessary." It was pretty comical because it brought out the need there was for a government. If all the people in the world were "angels" then of course no one would need to be governed  because they would not be bad. So now that they had established the need for government, the choice of which type of government for the people had to be discussed and that was the purpose of these writings. They obviously opposed the idea that state power should be stronger and their reasoning was that if the government controls the governed then it will oblige it to control itself. The central government will be the only one to which the people must submit to and not multiple. In the papers they said that the republic would "guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part." This mode of government would enable the residents of the country to be protected by the government but also would not allow these to be oppressed by their rulers.
This writing was not like the autobiographies and other narratives we read about but it definitely highlights the current events of early American history. Since these people wanted to break their governmental ties with Great Britain then they had to come up with a better form of governing so that they could keep their liberties as well as having a say so in what goes on in their country. These writers convinced the audience that their mode of government, although covering a large range, would still allow the individual to be heard. I am sure this must have appealed to all of these thinkers to want this form of government because it allowed for self expression and representation. People would be able to voice their opinion and get the same treatment even if they were not part of the majority.
Questions:
There was a quote saying that "a central government will be less capable of self government;" is this what the founding fathers wanted the government to become?

The War Prayer

"The War Prayer" by Mark Twain accurately described the actions and thoughts of people for their country and soldiers during the war. It seems to be during a time when there is war and everyone is extremely patriotic. They would do whatever they could for the war and are proud that their children are going off to serve their country.  Although they carry on in long prayers, all they really want to ask is "'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!'" The people who are going to war and their families are proud and feel like they are doing the right thing but Twain brings out the hypocrisy of these people with the prayer. Instead of being christian-like they ask for to "tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells" and all of these other horrible requests just so that their country could win the war.
This story reminded me of the way that the slaves were treated back in those days. Slaves were just like animals and the people did not care if they lived or died just used them as a machine. In the war, the people of the country the United States was fighting ended up the same in most people's eyes. They did not care how many died as long as the war was won. This also has to do with ethnocentrism- the idea that their culture is better than all the rest. If people did not have this idea then they would not look at other lives as so insignificant. But this also shows that most of the time religion the way it is commonly practiced does not really have an effect on the way that people lead their lives. But in the end, if religious leaders did not get involved in this people would also not act the same way. It even happens today; both countries ask the priest to bless the war and for them to win when in actuality, the bible does not promote war. Isaiah 2:4 says " Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore" so if people would guide themselves by this idea then there would be less problems then there are now.