#aplit19readingthework

It is also beautiful because it is easier to find literature with a black father figure who embodies all of the negative stereotypes that are cast onto the black community. One who is abusive, or a drunk or doesn’t give or receive affection, or doesn’t regard his wife as a person with value rather than an entity for him to find “pleasure” in, or distant. It is so easy. That’s why this is so refreshing; my own “father thinks affection and any gesture of love is too feminine and wouldn’t allow me to cry growing up. Too many times we are presented with incredibly hyper-masculine behavior in media and literature therefore that turns into the expectation, especially with black men. They have to be hyper-aggressive, they have to be big and assertive. That’s not what you honestly want to experience in a household. The sweetest gesture in the entire section for me was when Fonny got so excited that he kissed Tish’s father and he just reciprocated the love by being encouraging rather than recoiling and being harsh towards Fonny. That was beautiful to me.

After Grace and James McDermott fled the scene Grace used an Alias name of Mary Whitney. In one of her sessions with Dr. Jordan, she describes her relationship with Mary Whitney who was an old friend of hers who passed away and “won’t mind” if Grace used her name.  Grace met Mary Whitney when she first became a servant. Mary took her under her wing and showed her the ropes. Although she was respectful to adults to their face she was not shy about speaking her mind behind their backs. In one instance, Mary talks about how servants actually have power over their bosses. She says, “They were feeble and ignorant creatures, although rich, and most of them couldn’t light a fire if their toes were freezing off, because they didn’t know how (158)”. Mary undermines the power of class norms via her understanding of the relative power of the upper and lower classes. She explains to Grace that fancy homes have two staircases not so the servants can be out of the way of their employers, but vice versa—so that “the family could go traipsing up and down the front stairs in their fancy clothes and trinkets, while the real work of the place went on behind their backs.” In addition, Mary tells Grace that servants have the upper hand over their employers “because we washed their dirty linen and therefore we knew a good deal about them; but they did not wash ours, and knew nothing about us at all.” Mary Whitney is referenced several times and it is obvious she had a great influence on Grace. I wonder if Mary’s views on class could have caused Grace to do the unthinkable to Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery who were above her on the ladder of wealth.

Something that was commented about Troy’s death is that he grinned right before his death. This makes me believe that he couldn’t wait for his death, which makes sense for since after his mistakes he has seemed quite lonely. At the end Gabriel came with a trumpet and dance. Trying with all his effort to blow the horn so St. Peter could let Troy into heaven by opening the gates. It seemed as if he had been waiting on it for 20 years.

As the book progresses and chronicles the college years of the narrator, the inner conflict continues as many older figures are trying to have an influence on him. After finding himself become a driver for one of the white founders of the university, Mr. Norton, he drives him away towards the countryside as Mr. Norton was intrigued by the former slave quarters. The events that followed included a horrifying exposure to a “second class” of African Americans which includes a sharecropper who impregnated his daughter and a shady bar that doubled as a prostitution establishment. The narrator finds himself in trouble for agreeing to show Mr. Norton these places and has a discussion with the president of the college. Dr. Bledsoe is a black man who shows disappointment in the narrator for not lying to Mr. Norton as black people have always had to do in the south to survive. The narrator has a moral dilemma knowing he doesn’t want to lie to a higher authority, yet he must do his “duty” as a black man to avoid trouble so that race isn’t badly reflected. I felt for the narrator as what the president saw as tearing down the race, he was simply bringing issues to light that white people are being blinded from. It is frustrating as a reader to see him being berated with insults knowing he is a smart kid who is unable to make a decision without judgement. He seems like less than a person than he is a device that other people can project their ideas into.

I think this is also indicative of the role of El Pachuco, part of me thinks he also serves as another side to Henry’s persona. In the play, Henry was going to enlist in the navy, until he’s arrested because he’s a suspect in a murder. Throughout the play, he’s in jail and his only company is El Pachuco. I see this as a way of Henry battling with the persona that is accepted by society (someone who is willingly enlisting for the navy, i.e. someone who wants to serve their country) vs the persona of his youth that was created because of disenfranchisement and counter cultural ideals (i.e. the zoot suit and the pachuco aesthetic). El Pachuco serves as a way for Henry to examine his situation and how his hope fluctuates throughout the subsequent trial.

This book has me a little bit irritated, but it mostly about the setting. Paolo Bacigalupi makes this futuristic world so complex and with so many layers, but rarely explains it. It is almost written for someone who already knows what he’s talking about and understand. His world is just so vast and I know that I would help to understand it but I just don’t! I still enjoy the book. But this setting is very important for characterization and especially for the environmental themes of the book. In this large city or “kingdom” they ration energy, have limits and regulations on emissions, trash, and energy usage. They measure things in calories and joules and it is all to protect themselves and the environment. It’s kind of weird how it all works, but it’s all for survival. This system they have in place seems to be a result of the fact that the outside world is nearly unlivable with the diseases and infections in food, that are also unexplained. I’m to assume that they are a result of the environment having been ruined. Hopefully as I read on everything makes more sense and gets explained better because I would like to understand what he’s getting at here!

This color has been present throughout the course of this whole book. The red uniforms of the Handmaids, the red smile of the people hung on the wall, the red tulips of Serena Joy’s garden, so I did some research on what this means within the book. At the very beginning of the book, Offred describes the color of her uniform as blood. I personally see that as a symbol of the violence and power of their dystopian society. A thought I had while reading a part about the wall was the fact that the hanged man had a blood soaked smile. I read it some what as a “smile through the pain” metaphor. Essentially that is what everyone in this republic is forced to do. They need to act as if everything is okay in order to make it out alive. But after looking up what else the color represents, it also represents fertility, or the menstrual blood. So with these two ideas of blood representing fertility and violence, I think it just coincides with how people view this society. Those who rebel against it and want to fight for what is right, and those who go along with the laws set in place.

To summarize this short essay: John Grady Cole would’ve loved this song and its meaning directly relates to All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.