Responses to “Git on Board” from the play The Colored Museum By George C. Wolfe

Goldie Barajas

English 1B

3/30/11

Responses to “Git on Board” from the play

The Colored Museum

By George C. Wolfe

1) Symbolism and Satire:

            In the exhibit, “Git on Board” from the play The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe one is introduced to Miss Pat. Miss Pat is the woman who is directing and making this exhibit understandable by symbolizing perfectionism. I conclude this because throughout the exhibit Miss Pat presents herself as a very confident African American pretending nothing is wrong when in fact the worst is yet to come. Slaves are being taken, wars will soon follow, and the sixties will come in which African Americans yet have a bigger battle to overcome. Her satire in this exhibit gives the viewer/reader a better insight into what was really happening to African Americans in those times in which they were forced to mask their feelings, emotions, thoughts, they were forced to mask their whole past and future in order to survive and Miss Pat demonstrates this very well. Although, she seems to be okay with everything in the inside she is as conflicted as the rest of the slaves this shows when she tries to hold herself together after the supposed gun shots, and wars that will soon come after slave ship. Attitudes like Miss Pat’s have a negative effect on other blacks because what she is basically saying is keep smiling, pretend you have no feelings, keep working, pretend the sun does not burn or that the beatings do not affect you; This leading to African Americans being forced to forget their past and hardships which are essential to one’s identity because past, present, and future make you who you are.

2) Themes and Conflicts:

            As far as themes and conflicts, I see masking, rootless, oppression, and dislocation because in the exhibit Miss Pat is masking her real emotions and internalized conflict at not accepting the fact that things are not okay. African Americans are being oppressed and dislocated from their roots by being forced to work on plantations traveling up North forgetting who they are and where they came from.

3) Allusions:

            The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were taken to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave trade. In this stage, ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods, which were traded for purchased or kidnapped Africans, who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves; the slaves were then sold or traded for raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe to complete the voyage. Now this clearly demonstrates how the Middle Passage is alluded to in the prologue because it states that African Americans are being shipped to the Atlantic as slaves, this implying that they will be traded or purchased as it happened in the Middle Passage. As far as allusions, there are many, but some African America Cultural Allusions are: the dancing of the Watusi, the playing of basketball, the assassination of Martin Luther King. Some American Historic Allusions are: the American Revolution and the Civil War, Korean War, Vietnam War and more.

4) Satire:

            The meaning of the line “We value you” is referring to valuing the work and labor of the African Americans. Also, African Americans were being traded for goods, and purchased so that gave white people some profit which means they valued what they will get from selling, trading African Americans, nothing to do with valuing them as a person. African Americans were not even considered individuals but objects.  As far as the meaning of the phrase “Fasten your shackles” it was referred to how slaves were being controlled like animals on a leash. African Americans had no freedom or control over their lives. So, metaphorically speaking, the kind of shackles African Americans will be imprisoned by with respect to the life in America are the “ism” which refers to all ways of oppression they will have to overcome like: racism, colorism, hairism, classism etc. Not forgetting poverty and rootlessness impeding them to move on fragmenting their identity, just like shackles would capture people, taking away their liberty to be themselves and move freely in life. Being free allows one to have control over one’s life and choices being shackled up allows one to only obey orders allowing all kinds of oppression to take over one’s identity.

Evaluation to The Big Mama Stories By Shay Young Blood

Goldie Barajas

English 1B

3/25/11

Evaluation to The Big Mama Stories

By Shay Young Blood

            The Big Mama Stories by Shay Youngblood is a collection of 12 stories of a young African American girl growing into womanhood. I personally enjoyed this book because as a Latina woman African American culture is a complete different culture compared to mine. In this book I was exposed to a different vernacular language, which I enjoyed. I feel that from this book I have gotten an insight into what it means to grow into womanhood in an African American culture. As much as the narrator appreciated the stories told to her by her Big Mama’s I did too. Each story has a theme to reflect on. For example, the story “Snuff Dippers’’ was an excellent story to me because it made me laugh but at the same time it made me reflect on how African Americans had to struggle with racism and oppression. Nevertheless, Shay Youngblood does an extraordinary job in writing this book. I definitely recommend it to those who would like to learn about something different. It can round up your knowledge and increase your diversity in regards to learning about other cultures.

The Difference between Seeing and Knowing

Goldie Barajas

English 1B

2/16/11

The Difference between Seeing and Knowing

            Stories, events, books, and films are key factors in portraying the world’s reality or fiction. They predispose human beings to reflect on the past, present and to even plan or think for the future. This was my case, when I watched the film Rosewood. The film, Rosewood, was featured in 1997, but based on the 1923 Rosewood massacre, in which a white woman by the name of Fanny Taylor claimed to have been raped by a colored man, in order to cover up the fact that she had cheated on her husband with a white man, not black. This accusation serves as an excuse for the white people, living in the town of Sumner, to take out their anger and rage at Rosewood’s black people. Whites were jealous and envious of blacks due to the fact that they had been seeing black people better themselves, by owning land, having a fair job and have even earned an education. Whites could not resist the fact that blacks were doing better than they were because in their eyes, although African Americans were not slaves anymore they were still considered inferior to white people. Blacks had no right to own land, to have an education or to have a decent job, whites did and because of this racist way of thinking whites destroyed the town of Rosewood, tearing Sylvester’s beloved family apart along the way. The family of Sylvester Carrier, which was innocent of blame, and had nothing to do with the supposed rape Fanny claimed to have been a victim of, suffered the death of Aunt Sarah and Big Baby, just because the family was better off and brave enough to step up to the white mob. Although white people knew the truth about the rape they still continued to lynch, shoot, and torture blacks because it was easier to blame a black person rather than a white one. As a viewer, having watched a film portraying to me the Rosewood massacre of 1923 definitely changed the way I see the world including myself. The film Rosewood made me “wake up” of my comfort zone by reminding me of the world’s complexity. It also gave me an insight into what black people had to overcome in order to claim some identity, which is helpful to me because it keeps me alert and away from being ignorant.

            Being able to see the world realistically is important because it keeps me with my feet on the ground rather than flying on the sky. Often times, as human beings we tend to wonder off and pretend nothing is wrong with the world or ourselves. It is easier and comfortable to keep pretending rather than accepting our contribution to a problem or to face the fact that there is such thing as racism, sexism, or oppression. I accept the fact that I was one of those human beings pretending everything was fine, until I watched the film Rosewood. I knew racism exists and that blacks have overcome part of it in the past. I never knew to what degree though. I never saw the lynching, or shootings but I knew they had taken place. I never saw the discriminatory acts towards blacks but I knew they had occurred. Rosewood faced me with the ugly truth. The film made the difference between not seeing and knowing something had occurred clear to me. The difference is that when I see, I accept the fact that it was real, that whatever I saw it’s not a myth or story made up. When I see something I make it practical to my life and the world rather than just knowing something occurred but not putting what I have learned from it into practice. Rosewood showed me how awful whites were against blacks. Through the film I got to see how black people were lynched without any doubt of the consequences. I saw how whites shot blacks as easy as a hunter would shoot a rabbit. I admit I was shocked when watching the film, but I am glad I did because now it is clearer to me that the world has always been complex and perhaps it will always be. Living in a world in which there are people that can be as sweet as honey is good. Living in a world in which there are people that can be as evil as the devil is bad. Unfortunately that’s reality and Rosewood portrayed this to me very well. This will help me detect evil and fantasy at a glance keeping me aware of my surroundings, which is better than wondering off with my feet on the sky.

            Being able to stick to the world’s reality makes me feel ready. Ready to act upon racism if I am faced with it in the future. I owe this to having watched Rosewood. Being ignorant is a flaw. I feel that watching Rosewood has minimized that ignorance. Why? Because Rosewood informed me of the racism that existed and still exists, although I live in the 21^st century. I used to think that racism was way past its peak but it seems to me it’s not. The problem here is that people are still living thinking that they are better than others. It is good to have self confidence but to what extreme? To the extreme of hurting others just because one sees ones self better than that other person? Definitely not, it shouldn’t be that way. Rosewood opened my eyes widely enough to see myself differently. I see myself more open minded and intellectual about the topic of blacks’ battle for equality. Ignorance is not a flaw anymore because Rosewood broke the boundary between knowledge and ignorance. I definitely see this as a positive impact on myself because knowing about what really happened in the past with black people keeps me well rounded and informed about the past which can always work for the future. The past teaches us how to live the future either for better or worst, in this case for a better tomorrow.

            In conclusion, Rosewood has taught me not to fall for any false or baby information the media, newspaper, or internet feeds me. From now on I will start asking questions and feed those questions with real answers not subtle answers that will only answer the basic. I will try my best to go deep and beyond the baby answer. Before Rosewood I was in my comfort zone. I have gotten out from it. I am ready to see how the world is shaping itself around the many ways of oppression human beings have come up with and to act upon it. I have taken with me the value of reality and the knowledge of knowing how it really was for blacks. This is important for me because knowledge keeps me well rounded, and it helps be alert in a world full of complications.

One of the “isms”: Racism

Goldie Barajas

English 15 Literature & Society

3/16/11

One of the “isms”: Racism

            Chapter 19, from the novel Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair is focused on Stevie’s struggle against racism. Stevie, who is also the narrator and protagonist, is in Nurse Horn’s office suffering from menstrual cramps in this chapter. She is sixteen-years-old and in her 3^rd year of high school. The narrator now has a boyfriend as well, which creates the conflict between her and Nurse Horn’s concern towards the narrator getting pregnant just like the rest of the black girls the nurse had seen in school, this implying racism. It is 1969 and sexual intercourse is becoming more popular to teenagers especially given the fact that during one’s teen years hormones are jumping up and down never settling in peace. Nurse Horn is aware of this and tries to warn Stevie about not getting pregnant but the nurse’s mistake was making the generalization that because Stevie is black she might end up pregnant too and become another statistic. Stevie gets offended at this stereotype based on race and snaps at the nurse and makes it clear that not because she’s black she’s going to end up pregnant.

            All this occurs in an era in which black people are still trying to get equal opportunities, and break through the stereotypes white people have created about them. Stereotypes that denigrate the ability of black people to perform good manners, run a business or gain an education. Therefore, setting is crucial for this chapter. If the author would have put the protagonist, Stevie, in another era, place or time then the chapter or the whole novel in general would have been different and not have the same impact on me as a reader because the era and place explore the theme of the book which I believe for it to be racism, colorism, and growing up issues. These themes are still manifested in today’s life but they are not as shocking and intense as they were in the 1960s, a time in which African Americans were in search of equality fighting for their Civil Rights.

            Moreover, in this chapter the narrator continues to show the reader her value for popularity and her tendency to be impulsive. In previous chapters like in chapter one, we see the narrator wanting to be friends with Carla because she believes being Carla’s friend will make her popular; since, Carla appears to be popular in school. Now the narrator’s tendency to be impulsive is a character trait I have seen throughout the novel especially in this chapter when she snaps at Nurse Horn when the nurse gets concerned at the narrator’s risk of getting pregnant. In addition, we also see a new value and a new character trait of the narrator which are: her value for having a boy friend, Sean, who is getting her attention from people in school since Sean is cute and a senior. Being with a senior was respected and seen as “cool” and impressive in Stevie’s high school. Stevie also demonstrates bravery in this chapter. Bravery is a character trait Stevie portrays when being determined to step up to Nurse Horn compared to when she was a 6^th grader quiet and respecting of the rule of not talking back to adults. In the 6^th grade she would have probably stayed quiet and not talk back to an adult but now Stevie is showing us a new side of her and her bravery and  determination not to stay quiet anymore and speak up her mind out when she needs to. 

            It seems to me Stevie is trying to achieve her balance in life throughout the novel. This novel is a growing up issues novel and Stevie is dealing with trying to fit in, the need to belong to a group of people who are different from her. Stevie is in search of her identity but racism, colorism, and growing up issues are getting in her way. I feel that by the end of the novel she will eventually find herself or at least that’s how the novel seems to be developing itself chapter to chapter.  As far as an antagonist, the social force of racism is still alive in this chapter. Nurse Horn’s concern for Stevie’s risk of getting pregnant and Stevie ending up another statistic comes to show how black people were looked down upon. Nurse Horn immediately assumed that just because Stevie was black and had a boyfriend that could lead her to ending up pregnant, a stereotype Nurse Horn has created due to seeing many black girls pregnant. But the protagonist being Stevie struggles to get Nurse Horn to understand that having a boyfriend and being black does not lead her to having sex and ending up with a pregnancy. This is a pretty tough topic to argue about but Stevie manages to get through it due to her showing signs of valuing her race and self.

            Nevertheless, two new characters are introduced to the novel; these two are Sean, Stevie’s boyfriend, and Nurse Horn, the school’s nurse. As far as two values of each I would say Sean values Stevie and being in a non-catholic school full of boys only. I conclude this because when Stevie is in the nurse’s office Sean goes and checks up on her. He makes her his girlfriend which shows he cares and values her because he chose to be with Stevie out of all of the other girls he could have chosen to be with. He is also glad to be at Southside High School because here he is not captured in a religious school in which he was surrounded by boys and now as he tells Stevie when they first met, he is“…ready to have some fun this year.” As far as the nurse, from her dialogues I can see she values Stevie as well because she gets concerned about her and she tells Stevie she cares about her and her having a good life. The nurse sees potential in Stevie and that is something else the nurse values, potential in individuals and their ability to achieve more than what they think they can. Both characters serve as support for the protagonist at the end because Sean makes her happy and gives her the popularity she needs and Nurse Horn just made her feel special about herself.

            In addition, sexuality is woven into this chapter from the beginning. At first, Stevie meets Sean they have a connection and he invites her to get a milkshake clearly implying he is interested in Stevie and next we have the whole issue about pregnancy with Nurse Horn obviously involving the topic of having unprotected sex and it’s consequences. This involving both major and minor characters. Now I do not see any GLBT motifs manifesting themselves in the chapter but I did read something that might involve GLBT motifs in the future chapters. Towards the end getting close to her conclusion the narrator changes of attitude towards Nurse Horn feeling shy and complimented at the fact that Nurse Horn is telling the narrator she has potential and that she cares about her and when they both hug the narrator feels good about it. Now  in her conclusion, the narrator clearly states she was glad Nurse Horn wasn’t married because she would hate the fact of having to think of Nurse Horn going home to take care of a husband instead of thinking about her. This is a thought that left me, as the reader, thinking that maybe the narrator might give us a surprise in the future chapters.

            Consequently, a social-political topic I saw arising was the sexual revolution amongst teenagers. This issue ties in with sexual awakening, number one on the Growing Up Thematic Issues list. This can impact the protagonist because she may decide to either have sex or not to have sex. It can trigger her to stop being a virgin in order to fit in with the rest of the girls having sexual intercourse or to not want to have sex at all.

            In conclusion, I find a relevant connection with this novel because many of the issues Stevie is struggling against I experienced as well. When I was a teenager I too wanted to fit in. I struggled against the stereotype that a Latina, first generation high school graduate couldn’t make it to college or anywhere else than to work for minimum wage. People signaled a Latina girl as someone that would end up being a house wife with millions of children along her side and here I am going on my third year of college. Unfortunately racism, colorim and stereotypes don’t seem to come to an end but fortunately one can end those “isms” and stereotypes mentally in order to keep them from impeding one’s self to achieve one’s real identity not the identity people have signaled you to have.

Whites always Win

Goldie Barajas

English 1B

3/7/11

Whites always Win

            The story “Snuff Dippers” from the book The Big Mama Stories by Shay Youngblood is a story about Big Mama experiencing and witnessing a close to death racist attack. The attack being made by a white police man favoring the accusation of a white man and his girlfriend against a black woman by the name of Emma Lou, riding the #99 bus who dared spit snuff, a nicotine product, at the white man‘s girlfriend. The story takes place in Northend, Georgia in 1957 while Big Mama and other women worked as maids for rich white women. Therefore, the story “Snuff Dippers” is a good portrayal of the struggles blacks had to overcome in order to survive in a town in which  the law favored whites. 

            As far as for the theme of the story, I would say it is Racism. The author presents the theme pretty straight forward by using all of the storytelling devices. Now from all the storytelling devices she used the two that made it clearer to me, as a reader, to find the theme were conflict and the 5 ways to portray a character. The conflict being external, between the people in the bus and the force of racism manifested through the white police man and the white man with his girlfriend. In the story the bus driver struggles to protect the women in the bus from this police man who insists on killing all of them if they do not speak up about who spit on the white woman. The bus driver stands up for them but that didn’t save these poor women from being called all sorts of denigrating names and from being thrown rocks at just because they were black. Nevertheless, the 5 ways to portray a character, and the character being the police man, helped me understand the theme of racism furthermore. Having the police man’s dialogue and actions set the story’s theme. For example, when the police man says, “They a bunch of niggers and one of em spit on a white lady. I don’t know where you from, but we don’t tolerate disrespect from our niggers here in Georgia, or from nigger-loving foreigners” this definitely shows racism because it demonstrates how white people have no respect towards black people and how blacks are looked down upon. In addition, when the white man in the Cadillac starts to attack the black women by throwing rocks at them and the white police man does not act upon it his actions show no concern towards blacks whatsoever which I see as racism.

            Furthermore, values manifest in this story. Big Mama, for example, values storytelling, and snuff. I conclude this because Big Mama takes the time to tell the narrator about the time she experience death being so close. Also, when the narrator interrupts Big Mama when telling the story and Big Mama responds, “Hold on, Chile, I’m getting to it. A story ain’t something you just read off like ingredients on a soap box. A story is like a map-you follow the lines and they’ll take you somewhere.” this shows that Big Mama values the fact that she is telling a story and that a story has a purpose. Moreover, the fact that Big Mama sends the narrator to by snuff for her and that she has dipped snuff in front of the narrator many times indicates that Big Mama values it. In addition, when Big Mama is getting ready to tell the narrator the story of the bus incident, she starts the story by defending herself and stating that “Snuff ain’t no worse than they cancer sticks..” therefore, this shows Big Mama sees snuff dipping as nothing harmful and perhaps something valuable to her.

            Nevertheless, African American Motifs are present in the story “Snuff Dipper.” Motifs such as: Political Philosophies and Strategies for Freedom within segregation. Whites live in a different town than blacks and whites didn’t ride in the same public bus as blacks this showing how blacks are being segregated from whites. The next motif present is Religion. At the end of the story Big Mama talks about God and his book of life referring to God recording all the wrong doings people do on Earth, which is implying the significance of religion in daily black life.

            In conclusion, reading this story was of value to me because I value stories. Stories teach me about the unknown or about what used to be. Reading this story reminds me of my grandma’s stories and how although I was not in that certain time or era I could still live through the story and see the significance of it through the narrator or author. In this case, the author of the book might have experienced racism or any sort of discrimination for being an African American woman. I conclude this because although her stories are fiction, a part of who she is needs to be manifested in one way or another through her writing. I believe one’s writing always reflects some of one’s identity and that is of value to me. It is valuable for me to be able to learn about someone or life in general through a story because this keeps me aware and well rounded in my knowledge. More importantly I learned about what a Big Mama is all about: a storyteller, someone with great faith and strength to overcome whatever comes her way. 

Responses to “Born With Religion” From the book The Big Mama Stories By Shay Youngblood

Goldie Barajas

English 1B

3/7/11

Responses to “Born With Religion”

From the book The Big Mama Stories

By Shay Youngblood

Storytelling 1

1.       The title of this selection is “Born With Religion” from the book The Big Mama Stories by Shay Youngblood. The story is about a faith. Faith being manifested through Big Mama, the narrator’s guardian. As far as era or time, it is not directly stated but it was during Dr. King‘s years and while Kennedy was president in the 1960‘s.

2.      The point of view of this story is first person: single narrator.

3.      The story does not have an inner story. It is a flashback to the day the narrator’s biological mother left her and her brother with Big Mama in order to leave up north with a sales man. I suppose for a better life for her and the children. It took place in the beauty salon, in which the narrator’s mother worked when the narrator was six-years-old.

4.      Setting in this story is important. It takes place in the downtown projects in which whites and blacks are segregated from each other’s homes. I definitely think setting is important for this story because if it wouldn’t have taken place in the projects maybe the characters’ attitudes towards faith and religion would have changed. I think living in areas for low income people affects one’s attitude towards religion and faith. Richer people tend to forget about these things while low income people tend to pray and rely on religion for a better tomorrow. As far as for the Frame plot story, setting it is not as important because without knowing how and with who the mother left the narrator and her brother the story would have been as effective as it is.

5.      The Protagonist or main character in this story is Big Mama, the narrator’s caretaker. The antagonist would be the mere struggles of life faced by the characters (women of the prayer, tumor etc.) or none at all.

6.      The conflict in this story would be between person and a force, that force would be the natural force of Aunt Viola’s tumor growing. Big Mama wanting to save her and worried for Aunt Vi brought together the women at the #2 Mission Prayer Circle to pray the Lord to help Aunt Vi, the rest of women in the circle, and all God’s children.

Storytelling 2

1.      The theme of the story is faith or religion. Faith and religion are portrayed as being helpful in times of struggle. The author uses conflict and point of view to manifest the theme throughout the story. The conflict of Aunt Vi’s tumor disappearing with devotion and prayer to God and by having faith in him. Also, the narrator’s point of view on Big Mama and how her prayers, faith, and big heart lead to miracles. The narrator states “…I knew it was Big Mama shaking the mess out of misery” (pg.18) when finding out Aunt Vi’s tumor was gone.

2.      Big Mama values God and prayer these two values do not serve as hardships for the character’s struggle but aid her throughout the story by believing that God will help all those in need, by praying for God’s children and Aunt Vi’s cure. Evidence: “Boy, you better be thanking the Lord” (pg.13) or when she calls for prayer in name of Aunt Vi (pg.14)

3.       Religion and Celebrated/Admired people are two African American Motifs present in the story. The storytelling devices used to manifest Religion in the story were the conflict, Big Mama’s character traits (value for religion) and the point of view of the narrator. Indeed, Religion was mentioned all along the story. Consequently, the celebrated/admired people motif was manifested through the description of Big Mama having frames and portraits of the images of Dr. King, President Kennedy and God covering her walls. (pg.14)