I would have liked to have had more detail about his marriage. I feel as if that part was rushed in the book. All we know is that the narrator married the woman he wanted to and that they had two kids. We also know that his wife died, but it never told us how she died or what she died from. These are things that I would have liked to have known when I was reading.
Overall the book was great and the narrator faces a lot of different challenges and problems, that I think could be related to a lot of people in a lot of different situations. I feel like it's a book that anyone could read and place themselves in the time period and in the narrators position and even if they don't think they would chose to do what the narrator did they would still enjoy the book.
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As for the poems I must say I'm not a very big fan. I don't really understand poetry and it takes me a while to figure out what the author is trying to say. It's as if it feels like I'm reading a different language. Two poems that I think I understood and I liked are written about below.
Invocation
This poem I think for the most part I understood. I believe this poem is trying to talk about how during the time of slavery, slaves had to keep their "ancestral spirit", or the beliefs of their ancestors hidden from the white slave owners. I think the author is also talking about wanting to be lifted out of the "alien place" because he is saying that he just doesn't fit in with the white people.
I'm not sure if that is the correct meaning or if anyone got a different meaning from what I got, but after reading it line by line and taking my time with it I don't feel as if it was as bad as I thought.
The White House
When I was reading this poem at first I wasn't sure why it was called "The White House", but then thinking about it I feel as if this poem was written by a slave and they are talking about the big white house that their master lives in.
I liked the way this poem talked about how the slaves were able to hold there anger inside. It says "But I posses the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent." I also believe this poem is talking about the way slaves were always moved from different places and sold to different people so they never really had a home to call there own.
If anyway has other meanings to these poems or any of the other poems and could maybe help me figure out what they are trying to say that would be great. Poetry is something I don't enjoy reading and therefor have a hard time working with it.
Invocation
This poem I think for the most part I understood. I believe this poem is trying to talk about how during the time of slavery, slaves had to keep their "ancestral spirit", or the beliefs of their ancestors hidden from the white slave owners. I think the author is also talking about wanting to be lifted out of the "alien place" because he is saying that he just doesn't fit in with the white people.
I'm not sure if that is the correct meaning or if anyone got a different meaning from what I got, but after reading it line by line and taking my time with it I don't feel as if it was as bad as I thought.
The White House
When I was reading this poem at first I wasn't sure why it was called "The White House", but then thinking about it I feel as if this poem was written by a slave and they are talking about the big white house that their master lives in.
I liked the way this poem talked about how the slaves were able to hold there anger inside. It says "But I posses the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent." I also believe this poem is talking about the way slaves were always moved from different places and sold to different people so they never really had a home to call there own.
If anyway has other meanings to these poems or any of the other poems and could maybe help me figure out what they are trying to say that would be great. Poetry is something I don't enjoy reading and therefor have a hard time working with it.
6 comments:
I thought the end of the book with the wife and the children was a really important part. I still don’t understand why there was not more time spent on this. I found this more moving and relevant to the whole race issue. As we said in class the premise of this book was that it was supposed to be portrayed as an autobiography then you would thin it would focus more on this aspect of his life since he was so focused the entire time on his life and how he would be accepted. He makes a comment about his children being his world and we really don’t learn anything about that or them. It seems that he puts little effort into describing this part of his life, so it really doesn’t give it any depth or dimension to show that it is really relevant to him at all. I almost feel a little let down or disappointed by the ending. There was really no closure, but maybe that is the point?
I was just thinking about how hard it must have been for him to do that. I mean, he didn’t really have to, and for a time there it seemed as if it had ruined their relationship. Still, I’m glad that it ended as it did. I actually think it didn’t need as much detail toward the end because the focus was on the end of his narrative and the importance of his children, like moving the complications of the race question on to the next generation.
I agree with you 100% about the book. I would have loved to hear more about his marriage to this woman. I would also like to know if he
I agree with you 100% about the book. I would have loved to hear more about his marriage to this woman. I would also like to know if he told his children right away. Also, how was he going to raise his children. It seems as though he had second thoughts about how he just passed instead of standing up for his rights and fighting for civil liberties.
I also would have liked to hear more details about the marriage in the book. I feel that love had an more important role in this book than can be percieved by the normal reader. I guess sometimes things give more meaning when they are left unsaid or unexplained and give the reader more imaginative power?
In the white house your right it could be a slave speaking to the plantation "big house". It can also be taken as an individual black man or the entire course of african americans in a given time period standing against the "white house" in washington, or against the regular white citizen who lives in a nice white house. Whatever the meaning the author had intended this is a very strong poem. I like how the author shows pride and symbolizes himself as steel both sharp and uneasy to bend. Most of Claudes poems make me believe he doesnt believe there is much change going to come to make the US a more equal place. I dont like this idea. He seems to think that the white hate is a poison that has no antecdote. I lose a bit of respect for him for this, but i also get the feeling that in this poem he has some hope as he is not giving up. In this poem he shows strength and composure. He shows that by "possessing courage and ()(grace) " that he doesnt fight savagely or agressively and stays proud..
I agree, I thought Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man was a really good book! I think you make a great point in your last paragraph when you stated anyone could read the book. We all had different viewpoints of his decison at the end of the story, but in the end most of us enjoyed the book.
When it comes to poetry, it doesnt come to easy for me either. I like the ones we had to read for today though. Although we still had to break them down to gather a meaning for them, I felt they were a little easier to read!
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