Journal #15 "Border Patrol State"

Leslie Marmon Silko’s essay reminded me of a horrifying experience that happened to me when I was about thirteen.  My church youth group went on a mission trip to Mexico and built houses and helped renovate a church in a small border town.  We would drive to Mexico in school buses in the morning and return to Texas in the evenings.  The  cross back into Texas was always a nerve wracking experience.  Some days the border patrol would simply look in the bus and see all of us inside.  Some days they would enter the bus and walk up and down the aisles.  On a rare occasion they would make each of us exit the bus and leave all our personal belongings (excluding our passports) on the bus.  I would always think of imaginary horror stories of the Border Patrol not letting me cross the border into the United States.  Our youth leader was one of our main translators in Mexico but was of Spanish descent.  One day they would not let him back into Texas saying he could be “a possible illegal immigrant.”  This man was half Hispanic half white and had a passport and a driver’s license to prove his citizenship.   The Border Patrol made the school bus full of children wait so they could make a couple phone calls.  After waiting two hours in a yellow school bus in the heat, they finally let him go and told him they were just making some precautionary measures.  I had lost all of my respect for Border Patrol because of that incident.  That man was a citizen of the United States and should not have been put in that demeaning situation. 

“Border Patrol State” was an honest expression of the frustrations of the lack of respect the Border Patrol has for the general public.  They were simply asserting power because they had the ability to do so. Silko’s recollection about “the uniformed men would be only too happy to drag us out of the car if we did not speedily reply with their request.”  She made a point that they think their subjects of interrogation should obey them because they have the authority to make matters worse if they choose not to comply.  

Journal #14 on "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

If I were a soldier in Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s unit, I would mainly carry fear.  Fear of the unknown, fear of losing my or a friend’s life, fear of a surprise attack, fear of losing my family back home.  It would consume every thought and action I would carry out.  The weight of this unrelenting fear I would carry would weigh down every move I make.  I would double-check every footstep or doubt which direction I am walking.

            I would also carry the consumed thoughts of the loved ones I left back in America, similar to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross.  Is my significant other staying loyal to me, is he being truthful in his letters when he is describing how much he loves and misses me?  Will he wait for me to come home or lose hope and find another?  How will our relationship be when I return home?  Will I act the same around him after all of these horrors I have seen from the war?  If I had children I would wonder how well they would be surviving without a nurturing mother figure in their childhood.  Will they remember what I look like?  Will they ever forgive me for leaving them at such a critical age?  All of these unanswered questions I would carry would cause me to hold my gaze at the ground.  All of this uncertainty would not let me see clearly and function properly.  I would not be able to make quick decisions that are key in battle. 

            After returning home from the war(hopefully) I would constantly carry images of war in my head.  They would follow me everywhere I go.  They will affect past and future relationships.  They will affect my perspective on life.

Journal #13 on Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin)

In “The School Days on an Indian Girl,” American Indian writer Zitkala-sa expressed her experiences regarding the assimilation of her people into the melting pot of America.  I believe Zitkala-sa was pursuing the American Dream but was trying to achieve it in the wrong ways. While reading the story, I connected the theme of many other short stories we have read in this class:  assimilating to the white culture will bring success.  The fact that her long, thick hair had to be cut of during her first couple days of school was the first act made by the “pale faces” to make her belong in the Eastern culture.  She had explained that the enemy shingles another’s hair after defeat or submission.  This point in the story symbolized her defeat of her Native American heritage to the white man.  The school forced the Native Americans to dress in white men’s clothes and learn English.  I know Zitkala-sa was pursuing an education but do not agree with forgetting her heritage to do so.  My attitude changed towards Zitkala-sa in the end of the story when she was coming across more success. The second to last paragraph in the story symbolized her defeat against the prejudicial white man.  “The evil spirit laughed within me when the white flag dropped out of sight, and the hands which furled it hung limp in defeat” (438).  This sentence represented her success in her field despite her Native American background, which sure sounds like an American Dream to me.

Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen

"But Christianity in substance they have accepted; and I know of no people who have developed a tenderer Christian conscience, or who have shown themselves more ready to obey its behests. Nor has any people known to history shown a greater reverence and love for their Christian teachers, or filled the measure of a grateful return more overflowingly. And where else in the world's history is it written that a savage people, pagan for ages, with fixed hereditary customs and beliefs, have made equal progress in civilization and Christianity in the same space of time? And what people has ever been subjected during such an evolution to such a flood of external demoralizing influences?"


- Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen Chapter LVII Human Autonomy

The paragraphs leading up to the one above were explaining how Americans were mentioning how natives of Hawaii' did not wholeheartedly accept New England Puritanism and therefore were considered "savages."  I connected this chapter with Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden."  Just because the natives of Hawaii' were different than the white men, they believed they were superior and needed spiritual guidance.  Queen Liliuokalani's words were expressive but had a feeling of tranquility to them.  She was expressing that even though her country might not chose Christianity as their religion, they still had a set of values and were righteous people.

Blog 11

I was disgusted by the amount of blind hatred and violence towards the African American race after reading  “As the Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother’s Children.”  How can one be have so much hatred towards a race?  How can America be a free country when the citizens are acting like savages towards one another?  Where is the American Dream in this era?  I just do not understand how the police officers and white men justified their actions.  I was overwhelmed as I read “somebody planted a long knife in the body of a little newsboy for no apparent reason”(245).  That was an innocent boy who had never committed a crime.  I am tempted to relate this era to the Holocaust, even though it makes me feel ashamed to do so.  I would have never thought I would compare anything in American history to the atrocious acts of the Holocaust.  I have always been proud to be an American, proud to live in this country but now I am not so sure.  This short story was written in 1903, when my great grandparents were alive.  Did they take part in these mobs?  Did they have blind hatred to anyone who had darker skin than their own?  Were they murdering black children on the street just because they had the power to do so?  I sure hope they did not, but I will never know the answers to the questions running through my head.  I am so thankful for the way my parents raised me, to look beyond appearances and know someone for their character.  For the first time in my life, I am truly ashamed to be an American.  

Journal 10: The Aha! Moment

"The Wife of his Youth" by Charles W. Chestnut seemed like it was a satire on the Blue Vein Society.  The society seemed very shallow.  The members did not limit membership to skin color but thought that members with lighter skin just happened to have higher standards and intellect than those of a darker skin color.  Membership was supposed to be based on social standing but everyone knows that it is not called the Blue Vein Society just for an interesting name.  The Blue Vein Society is just another form of segregation in society.  They see themselves as more dominant and intellectual than those of a darker color.  If America just got through with the Civil War and slavery, why are they offering to separate their race even more?  The Blue Vein Society was agreeing with the “white power” mindset and not even standing up for their race.  The main character of the short story, who is also a prominent leader in the Blue Vein Society tells a complete lie at the end to make him seem like a better person than he actually is.  The Ball was to announce his love and request to marry a younger lady he has fell in love with.  Instead he says how this old lost woman was his ‘long lost love’ and how they got separated in their youth.  In my opinion taking care of the old woman would be the right thing to do, instead of claiming the man she is looking for is him!  I don’t even know how I would be feeling if I was the younger woman who he was supposed to marry.  Mr. Ryder’s action displays the shallow mindset of the Blue Vein Society. 

Journal #9: The Contemporary Connection

Immigration is a political conflict that seems to transcend through the history of the United States.  America used to be seen as an open door to start a new life.  As the population and government grew, more laws have been put in place to restrict immigration.  This conflict was mentioned in the introduction with a poem “Unguarded Gates” written by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.  The first stanza of the poem describes America as a land full of opportunity, with lush landscapes and dreams accomplished.  The poem ends up second guessing America’s unguarded gates.  It describes the people entering as a “motley crew” with “tiger passions, here to stretch their claws.”  If America is a land of freedom and opportunity, why is Aldrich dehumanizing the immigrants who have come for a better life?  Shouldn’t everyone have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams?  The text had an illustration on page 19, which was very striking to me. The illustration depicted a concerned looking statue of liberty with an overcrowded Staten Island obtaining the title of “Immigrant Dumping Site.”  I know for a fact my great grandfather Peder Larsen was not simply “dumped” at Staten Island.  He had a goal in mind for his life in America and was not a just stagnant immigrant.  “Unguarded Gates” and “The Proposed Emigrant Dumping Site” shine immigration in such a negative light.   Today, immigration is still viewed in this negative light.  There are people today that think immigrants are taking away jobs, not stimulating the economy and think they shouldn’t even have been allowed to come to America.  This is especially a hot topic in Texas and other southern states because they share borderlines with Mexico.  The United States has made it incredibly hard for an immigrant to obtain a visa or even legally be in the country that many are being smuggled over the border.  This problem of illegal immigrants could be solved if America relaxed some of the immigration laws.

Journal 8: The Civil War

William Cullen Bryant’s “The Death of Lincoln” and Mary Boykin Miller Chestnut’s “A Diary From Dixie” point the death of former president Abraham Lincoln in completely different lights.  Bryant’s poem is mournful and grateful to Lincoln for freeing the slaves, while Chestnut’s journal suggests that Lincoln was a tyrant for emancipating the slaves.  These different texts reflect the views of the North and South after the Civil War; the northerners calling Lincoln a hero while the southerners despise him.  Bryant’s American Dream was obviously an abolition inspired dream, which included freedom and equality for all.  Chestnut’s American Dream was a typical southern living: being a true woman and living on a plantation in the south with plenty of slaves.  These dreams colliding together have created conflict throughout history.  Bryant’s poem was more persuasive.  He was able to connect with my emotion through his poetry.  Like I have said before, their opposing views on freedom and slavery would affect their views on these different texts.  Southerners would not agree with Bryant poem because Lincoln did steal their American Dream.  Northerners would feel outraged after reading Chestnut’s diary.  They would disagree with Chestnut’s disrespectful view of Lincoln as a “tyrant.”

Journal #7: Abolitionist Poetry

“The Farewell” poem written by John Greenleaf Wittier is a mournful poem about the appalling experiences that await the daughters of a slave.  The mother is in anguish and already knows her daughters fate because she has lived this fate as well.  Wittier uses sound to influence the audience against the evils of slavery.  The repetition of “Gone, gone, -- sold and gone/To the rice-swamp dank and lone” at the beginning of each stanza created depressing narrative.  I imagined the yell of an auctioneer announcing this phrase each time it was said, and each time being a different slave girl.  The sound the auctioneer led me to imagine the scene of a slave auction with different slave daughters standing up on the auction blocks.  This image is simply horrifying.  The repetition of the last lines in the stanza “From Virginia's hills and waters; /Woe is me, my stolen daughters!” emphasizes the grief the mother is going through. The daughters have been stolen from their nurturing mothers.  Their mother does not know their full fate; she can only speculate the hardships they will endure. In the end she has to put her trust in God to spare her children the life that she fears they now have.  She is putting her trust in him to protect her children because has no power to help the daughters.  By saying “He, to whom alone/All their cruel wrongs are known” the mother is explaining that even though the slave-owners are getting away with this treachery, God sees what is happening and knows it is wrong.  

Bonus Blog on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

The slave narrative was a popular genre of literature published by abolitionists.  Harriet Jacobs recounts her tales of being a slave and her journey towards freedom in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.  Her purpose as an author is to expose the reader to the treacheries and hardships of slavery.  In order for her sound trustworthy and persuade her audience, she needed to construct herself into a “true woman” of the era.   A true woman was pious, pure, and submissive to her husband.  Jacobs’ does have affairs with different men in the narrative.  She does defend her actions stating, “For years my master had done his utmost to pollute my mind with foul images, and to destroy pure principles inculcated by my grandmother” (777).  She asks the readers for understanding and explains that slavery is the cause of her sexual impurity.  Jacobs also incorporates Christianity into her narrative.  She does have her child christened, which would have made her more agreeable to the reader.  She also addresses the reader directly by crying out “O virtuous reader!”  and asking forgiveness for all of the sins she has committed(778).  She argues “slave women ought not to be judged by the same standard as others” (778).  Jacobs wanted the readers to know how genuine she felt about her immodest actions by apologizing directly to them.  Jacobs pulls the heartstrings of the reader when speaking about her children.  While in captivity, she could not see them and felt like “a tiger when a hunter tries to steal their young.” (789).  A true woman of the time would be able to relate to the pain of losing a child.  Harriet Jacobs narrative ingeniously created a true women within herself and related to northern abolitionist women at the same time, persuading them to assist in the abolition of slavery.

Blog #6

In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs narrates the hardships she endures due to the color of her skin.  At an early age, she “could not study the arts of reading and writing” (765).  Slaveholders kept their slaves in the dark by not allowing them to receive an education.  Slaves would not be able to read abolitionist papers, the Bible, or even write letters to others.  In this sense, they would only know their direct surroundings and be too afraid to run away. 

            Jacobs also recounts the time she first loved.  She asks the question, “Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away by the hand of violence?”(772).  Since her lover was a free black man, her Mr. Flint would not allow the marriage to be carried out.  Slaves were property and “had no right to any family ties of their own”(772).  Jacobs is definitely caught between cultures because she wants to have a free life with a free man but is still a slave.  

Blog #5: The Theme

After reading "An Indian's Looking-Glass" and “Indian Names,” I have noticed there is a theme of resistance against the dominant race, the white man.

“An Indian’s Looking Glass” opposes the white man’s racist composition of Native Americans as an inferior race and uses examples of the Bible to prove that native people and people of color are identical to the white men in the eyes of the Lord.  William Apess develops the idea that white men are dishonorable when it comes to dealing with people of a different skin color.  He deliberately asks the reader to consider if “different skins were put together, and each skin had its national crimes written upon it, which skin do you think would have the greatest?”  Once again, he refuses to accept the white man as the most dominant, pristine race.  He states multiple quotations from the Bible as evidence against the white man.  “He who loveth God loveth his brother also” (1 John 4:21), Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two precepts hand all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).  He uses irony as a tool against the white man.  The white man reads the Bible and follows the Lord but is not applying these rules to all races.  He even mentions that Jesus himself was not a white man.  Apess directly asks the reader if Jesus ever taught one to despise another man because of the color of their skin. 

  “Indian Names” has a more naturalistic approach to oppose the white man.  Lydia Sigourney uses the natural landscapes of America to symbolize the ancient culture of the Native Americans.  She is particularly speaking about the Removal Act of 1830, which forced native tribes to give up their land to the white man.  Sigourney used a more passive voice than Apess, but she was still resisting the white man’s rule.

The role of a woman in "The Wife"

Irving’s short story “The Wife” describes how women were viewed at that time.  He describes them as “the softer sex,” full of “weakness and dependence.”  In that time period, women did not bring in any income into the family.  Irving writes that a “woman is dependent of a man” and an “ornament to a man in happy hours.”  He also describes how women sustain their men.  They must be sympathetic when their man is in trouble, “tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart.”  He also mentioned that women had some kind of witchery, making them sound like sorceresses who seduce their men under a spell.  Irving’s ideal woman would be considered a trophy wife this day in age; someone to simply show off to your friends.  Irving also informed the reader on a typical marriage in early America.  The woman was just emotional support to the man and had no power in society.  In “The Wife” the main character Leslie had a reversal of fortune and attempted to hide the news from his wife.  But his wife being the tender creature that she was, accepted poverty and supported him through the tough times.  This situation does happen in America today but might be handled differently.  The woman might have had to start working, which was unheard of un America back then.

American Literature

While reading the assigned introduction, I realized I have never actually studied the history of American literature.  Yes, I have studied history and literature, but never have I studied how American Literature has transcended throughout its history.  It will be fascinating to discover what was the top genre of book or what was considered the ‘bestseller’ of the time.  The printing press was invented in the 1400’s which finally made text more readily available.  Books were handwritten and only intended for the upper class and noblemen to read.  It is difficult to grasp the concept of not being able to afford a printed book; most are under 20 dollars at any store.   Today, society does not take advantage of all of the literary resources that are in grasp.  There are infinite amounts of magazines, textbooks, novels, and newspapers, in this world today I am challenging myself immerse myself and learn more about American literature.  I am fascinated with how it has evolved throughout history.  Christopher Columbus’s letters written about his findings in America, captivity narratives, and primers were all bestsellers before the Revolution.  Now Harry Potter, Twilight, and many other fantasy novels are bestsellers, taking over popular media as well.

Journal #1: What is the definition of an American?

What is the definition of an American?  In the 1700's John de Crevecoeur, a French-American made a point to describe an American as a white, land owning man who was born in the country.  As time has passed, the definition has unquestionably broadened.  During the Civil Rights Act, Langston Hughes expressed his feelings on America through poetry.  His poems depict a life of hard work and little freedom, something African Americans fought and changed.  My personal definition of being American has not been altered; the definitions presented in class explained how Americans were defined in the past.

            Anyone who is a citizen of the United States technically is an American, but is that the only requirement?  Does a person simply have to be born in the United States to be an American?  ‘True’ Americans use their freedom as a tool to succeed in their everyday lives.  They are grateful they live in a country that is not ruled by gluttonous dictators and actively participate in elections to decide members of the government. The key about being an American is to pursue a dream; reach a goal that was not made for you but made by you, and to always remember the men and women fighting for our country who have made it that way.