The Grave

The Grave by Porter covers many themes of the southern literature we have discussed. The importance of family and family unity is once revisited. When the Grandmother’s land was donated for charity, they made sure that their family graveyard would be moved to the main family plot as to keep everyone together. I also think that the Grandmother was the one person holding the family together. There was not much mention of any of the other family members, and at the end of the story, it seems as though Miranda and Paul also ended up going their own ways. She says how she was in a “strange city of a strange country” and that what had made her think of the day when her brother Paul killed the rabbit, it also made her think of her brother and how he used to look when he was a boy. This seems like she has not thought of him, or seen him in a long time. The Grandmother was a connection to the old south, and its beliefs, one of these being the importance of family and with the death of the grandmother, the importance for them to stick together seemed to go as well.

Porter also once again touches on gender Roles. Miranda was a tomboy growing up; this may be because the family was not very well off. She wore clothes like her brother; “She was wearing her summer roughing outfit: dark blue overalls, a light blue shirt, a hired-man’s straw hat, and thick brown sandals.” She also likes to go hunting, do what her brother does and jump in graves. This brought up a lot of controversy and scandal in their town, since it was believed that girls should not be wearing such clothes or acting in such ways. The town gossiped how wrong it was for a girl to be acting this way and blamed it on the father since they new the grandmother had “discriminated against him.” Chopin also wrote about women rebelling against the gender roles. Calixta was very sexualized, not so much into settling down and having a family as she was to having fun and flirting with men out of her social class.

I also think that this was a coming of age story for Miranda, like in Barn Burning and Oder of Verbena. She follows her brother for most of the story, but then she starts to want to go do her own things and be girly. She also is struggling with the knowledge she gains when her brother kills the pregnant rabbit and what this means to her. “She understood a little of the secret, formless intuitions in her own mind and body, which had been clearing up, taking form, so gradually and so steadily she had not realized that she was learning what she had to know.” With this, the story also steps into the family theme again. Her brother killed a family of rabbits and this is terribly upsetting to them, another set of family bonds are broken.

Barn Burning

Violence again surfaces as main issue in Barn Burning, where it takes the form as a common moral problem. Much like in odor of Verbena the boy is faced with a moral dilemma, which he comes to solve at the end. He realizes that what his father is doing is wrong, but is afraid to say anything to him. As he matures, he realizes that he can do something to stop him, something that does not involve violence.

I thought it was interesting that violence plays such a big role in this story. His father used violence to enforce his dictatorship ways, enforce that his actions will not be questioned. He uses the violence as a tool to raise him up, in attempt to make him impervious to questioning. The violence is a tool to Abner, one in which he can manipulate others, the rules and what is right. He looses himself in it and did not seem to have any self-control, or self-perception. Abner used it on whoever crossed him, or questioned him; this involved his wife, son and other farmers who Abner decided did him wrong. I feel like he was the one who needed to grow up, rather than his son. He acted abruptly and without thinking first, while his son knew it was wrong and stood up to him in the end.

I think that they tried to compare the son to Abner in the story many times. I think that this was interesting and that the son realized this as well. He did not want to be compared to his father, and he had said how the only thing holding him down is his age. “it was if the blow and the following calm, outrageous voice still rang, repercussed , divulging nothing to him save the terrible handicap of being young, the light weight of his few years, just heavy enough to prevent his soaring free of the world as it seem to be ordered but not heavy enough to keep him footed solid in it, to resist it and try to change the course of events.(pg 165)” His age was the only thing keeping him from standing up to his father and from facing this moral dilemma. This dilemma was building inside of him with each erroneous action that his father took.

I also thought it was interesting that this story also focused on one of the themes of the south, the family. The father stresses how important it is for him to stick by his family no matter what because he will not have anyone else if he abandons his family. He uses this idea of family to further manipulate his son, to try to convince him that he is right and just. “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you. Do you think either of them, any man there this morning would? Don’t you know all they wanted was a chance to get at me because they knew I had them beat?” It is almost like, if he achieves at convincing his son he is right, than he knows he is too and so will the rest of the world.

Dry September

The first thing that I thought of while reading Dry September was the famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird. This was due to situation where a white woman accused a black man of some heinous crime and as a result, society wants to take justice without any facts or proof that it was committed. In Dry September and in To Kill a Mockingbird there is blatant evidence that these accusations may not have occurred. However, the idea of other black men taking after him is so atrocious that an innocent man will take the fall as a lesson to all others. “Happen? What the hell difference does it make? Are you going to let the black sons get away with it until one really does it?” I do not really think that these actions reside only on the fear of crimes by their slaves. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that when the slaves act more human and equivalent to them, the more they want to force their control over them and remind them their place.

This story also reminded me of Frederick Douglass’s piece. Frederick Douglass mentions the sleeping quarters of the slaves, and the work regimens that they were expected and forced to do. “There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. This however, is not considered a very great privation. They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep…old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, the cold, damp floor, each covering themselves with their miserable blankets. (pg 176)” He mentions this, and it seems as a result for the demand of control over the slaves, as sort of a way to remind the slaves that they less than that of their owners, and their owners work to remind them they aren’t human. In Dry September, the slaves seem to have a little more leeway than those in the time of Frederick Douglass. As a result, the men seem to be jumping to conclusions because they see a very unstable way of life that they have going. By taking every white person’s word over any slaves, sends the point very successfully that they still are slaves.

I thought the portrayal of women was also interesting in this work. Women are portrayed as very passive and dependent characters, more than any other piece we have read in class. McLendon hit his wife for being up to late, and Minnie Cooper was attacked by a slave. This story works well to define a distinct class level; men, women, black men and slaves last. I feel like this piece has gone a step further in dehumanizing those who are seen as a “threat” to the white male. Now it is more than just class and race, but sex is also now a strong determining factor. I also think it is interesting that the white woman was attacked by a slave, and it took the white male to set things right, and keep society in order.

Kate Chopin

I think that Kate Chopin’s, The Storm is an interesting portrayal of the influence that society has on our everyday lives. This is a timeless topic, as it still relates to today’s society and its sway on us. In this story, both Claxita and Aclee marry whom they are supposed to according to class and society. Whom they end up choosing to marry is not their first choice; rather they base their choice on whom society deems a good match for them, and whom they can tolerate. This really underlines the unspoken disdain towards going outside your designated class level, even for love.

I really enjoyed the symbolism of the storm, and the simple effect of the storm. Both of the main characters had this building uneasiness circulating inside of them from the time they became married up until now. In order for them to go on living happily and move past this squall, they needed to get it out of their systems. Just like calm after the storm, once it passes everything is peaceful. The actual storm provided that shelter that they needed for the indulgence in their forbidden actions, and then with the passing of the storm so goes their conflicting thoughts with society’s norms. “So the storm passed and everyone was happy.” Calixta was able to be a good mother and their family was able to have an enjoyable time rather than being afraid of her like they were. Aclee and his wife Clarisse also became content with how things were. As a result, the building storm inside of them, and natures influence passed to leave a new and pleasant road ahead for all characters to travel.

I also think that Chopin’s focus on sexuality is interesting since most of the other literature had focused on slavery and race. Sexuality is depicted as being a threat to society and encloses the power to violate class. I think that this is another symbol of the storm, passion and nature taking its course. I think that this story points out how feeble it is to have such a focus on race and class when in the end, it is uncontrollable and things are going to work out how they were meant to, not necessarily according to our societies beliefs. When I read this work, it reminds me of Romeo and Juliet in a way. The characters in this story do not have nearly as fatal an end as Romeo and Juliet, but they do come across the limits that society puts on their hearts. This is another aspect that makes Kate Chopin’s piece so timeless. This Romeo and Juliet theme is a popular premise in movies today. The influence that society has over us is fascinating and I believe to be very influential.

Frederick Douglass

I thought this piece was moving and very influential for its time and possible remains to be. It is scary what he went through, and impressive that he was able to form any stable personality out of his experiences. It was a very inspiring story, he had one goal to be free and while there were downfalls, and troubling times he managed to regain hope each time and reach his dream. He came out of his experiences wanting to change things rather than runaway, and he was not concerned with what others thought of him. He stated at the end of the chapter that his life and his actions are completely up to the judgment and different views of each person.

I thought that the part about the songs was a really interesting part. How he said, “the songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as aching heart is relieved by its tears.” Not only did the slave owners misunderstand these songs but also the amount of emotion they carried in their words is powerful. Rather than silently crying about their misfortune they sang, or just let out noise as to release what ever was building up inside of them: sorrow, anger, fear or at one point he describes it as the evils of slavery.

I also thought it interesting that there was a sort of hierarchy of slavery. That the state of their owners influenced the slaves, to the extent that they would fight for who had the better owner, as if the greatness of their owner was bestowed upon them. I feel like this was another attempt of the slaves to feel human, they are constantly reinforced that they aren’t human, and in some ways I think they try to overcompensate for this to do anything they can to just feel in some way belonging to humanity. Maybe this is why it was so important for Frederick Douglass to learn to read and write; he wanted to become, and help those become more human and less like property. Then, with this consequence of learning to think, he became more aware of horrid state of things. “Anything, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! I was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me.” He knew that the only way to make it as a content slave, who can bear with his life and how things are is to be a thoughtless one.