Elise MacDougald & Jessie Fauset

I really enjoyed both readings that were assigned for this week, "The Task of Negro Womanhood" and "Mary Elizabeth". It was nice to take a break from the poetry after Toomer. I especially enjoyed "Mary Elizabeth". Roger has a major attitude problem when the short story started. I would never let a man talk to me the way he talked to her. It shocked me when he said "Really, Sally, I don't believe there's another woman in the world who would send her husband out on a morning like this on an empty stomach. I don't see how you can be so unfeeling." At this point I think I would have told Roger to get up and make his own breakfast and coffee if he was so hungry. But I guess that was described like that because of the time period. In a way it kind of reminded me of my grandparents. I don't think I ever remember my grandfather doing anything for himself. But I also don't remember him ever talking to my grandmother the way Roger talked to Sally. I think my grandmother enjoyed doing everything for him. I see his a little with my parents also but not as much as my grandparents.

When I was reading I first thought Mary Elizabeth was a slave, but as I kept reading I figured out that she was just working for this family. Plus if she was a slave and showed up late, she would have been in a lot more trouble. I liked the story Mary Elizabeth told about her parents and how they were separated because of slavery and slaves being sold, but then found each other and got back together. I thought it was very sweet.

Cane

Cane has an interesting way of writing. I'm still not one for poetry, but I didn't think this was to bad. I enjoyed Cane's writing more than McKay. I felt as if Cane's writing is a lot more calm then McKay. At times McKay seemed really angry. I don't get a sense of anger in Cane's poems. With Cane's writing that wasn't written in the form of poetry had me a little confused. I wasn't sure how I was suppose to read it. Every time it was talking about a person (Ester, etc.) I was confused on how I was suppose to read this. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to read it as a novel or still think of it as poetry. I tried to look at it as poetry and I tried to take it line by line, but I don't think I fully understand it.

I did notice some common themes/topics in Cane's writing. His poems tend to be very religious. McKay had religion in his poems also, but not near as much as Cane. I think this shows a difference in the life style of Cane & McKay. It tends to make me think that maybe Cane grew up in a more religious family than McKay.

Although McKay does write about fruit in Jamaica and does seem to focus a lot on Jamaica Cane focuses on nature and Georgia. I think it was interesting the way Cane does focus so much on Georgia. I haven't looked at any background information on Cane and what kind of life he had growing up, but I wouldn't be surprised if he grew up in Georgia.

His writing makes me think that for a facts sheet I might look into who Cane is and try to find out some things about his life growing up.

End of Autobiography / Poems

I really enjoyed this book over all. I thought it was very interesting and there were parts where I didn't want to put it down. I thought the part where he decides to tell the woman that he was black was a really good part. The way the author wrote that part and the words that he used I felt as if I was there with him watching him go through this and I could feel his pain. There was a lot of detail that the author put into this section such as the letter that he wrote to the woman. I also thought it was interesting the words that he does use in the letter also. He may have been a black man, but this letter shows how educated he really was. I was very happy when the woman ends up marring him and doesn't care that he is black.

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.

Chapters 1-9

After our class discussion about the narrators father leaving and giving the narrator a gold coin I decided to go back and re-read that section and I'm not sure if I agree fully with the idea that he didn't really care about the man or the man leaving. Although the narrator doesn't seem to care to much about the fact that this man gave him a gold coin and didn't want a coin with a hole, I feel in a way he did. On page 6 it says "I have worn that gold piece around my neck for the greater part of my life, and still possess it." I feel that if it didn't mean anything to him he wouldn't have worn it as much as he did and i don't think he would still have it.

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In the beginning of chapter 6 I found it interesting that the narrator brings up the idea what it's okay for blacks to call each other "nigger", but it's "absolutely prohibited" to white people. The way the narrator said this I felt as if he was the only black person who would notice this and that the other black people weren't thinking like this. I like the way it seems like the narrator is sitting back and taking in everything around him from two different points of view. I feel like since he is black, but can pass for white he can see things from both sides in which both white and blacks can't.

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While I was reading about the narrator playing the piano for who he called his "millionaire friend" i kept thinking that if sounded as if the narrator was a servant, which in fact he was. I don't fee like the narrator was looking at his situation as being a servant and that he really was just looking at this man as a friend. I feel like the narrator doesn't think of color between them until he tells the "millionaire" that he wants to go back to the United States. I felt as if the millionaire was telling him that if he went back to his life in NY or the South he wouldn't be doing as good as he was with the millionaire based on his color. Maybe I'm taking what I read the wrong way.