Importance of Looking Within..

Identity is something that many struggle with on a day to day basis. Having to constantly put on a facade to be accepted by family, friends, or the outside world can possibly result in losing who you really are. Which is why I have chosen to do the topic that tackles the discussion about identity and its role. The way I want to tackle this essay is explaining why people feel as though they have to have a second life and can your second persona get you accepted the way you want it to. I feel W.E.B Dubois first chapter of the Souls of Black Folk would be a great kick start to my essay because it talks about having a double conscience. As stated before, some people feel as though they have to become a different person to be accepted in different groups, and DuBois explains that perfectly in 'Of Our Spiritual Strivings." I also want to use the story "The School Days of an Indian Girl," because in the story, the girl has trouble fitting in at her school as well as her own home. Also I want to flip the script and add the story "How It Feels to be Colored," because I feel that is an important story of knowing who you are regardless of who you are around. In the story, the main character was well aware that she was being looked at differently when she left Florida, but she did not feel the need to change who she was. 


Issues within all three stories are still present in today's society, so I want to take examples from each text and begin to talk about how they are still relevant. With DuBois story, I want to hit pinpoints on how some may feel they have to compete with another race to be accepted or at least considered acceptation . With The Schools Days of an Indian Girl, I would take her situation and tie it in with how people who are looked at as "different" in today's society and how they might feel as being an outcast. And lastly, with the story "How It Feels to be Colored," I would like to talk about how you shouldn't have to change your identity to try to feel accepted.  

Group Response

I am responding to my classmate Chad (https://intro2americanliterature2.blogspot.com/2019/03/understanding-mowing-by-robert-frost.html) and his interpretation on the poem "Mowing" by Robert Frost. Frost's poems really causes you to think and I feel Chad dissected the poem nicely. I liked how he pin pointed good images from the story like the glaring sun giving off heat. Also how he realized that the poems imagery is like metaphor.

After Apple Picking..

After reading the poem "After Apple Picking," written by Robert Frost, I have realized many hidden messages. Beginning with the title of the poem, you can ensure that the farmer is seeking to find out what is the next step after everything is done. What's the next move in life? Shall it be death or shall it be retirement? If the poem was to be named "Toward Heaven Still," we could have a clear possibility that he's planning to die and hopefully make it to heaven. Or if the title was to be named "Barrel that I didn't fill," we could suggest that he was missing an important aspect in his life. But no, the title is After Apple Picking, so we are question what's next.

                                     
From the poem, you can ensure that the secret message is a man that is reflecting his life and what did he really accomplish. The "apple picking" metaphor is referring to the work he did over his lifetime, but he doesn't feel like he conquered anything as it says "there's a barrel that I didn't fill." Maybe this barrel is representing something he wanted to do his whole life but never got the chance to or something was refraining him to do so. Marriage? Having a family? Learning to swim? Who knows, but the mission was not completed but he's wrapping up his life, so there's doubt that he will get to it.



When reading, a couple of things I visualized was the "long two pointed ladder's sticking through a tree/Towards heaven still." I just picture a ladder going straight into the sky and a man climbing up to get to the promise land. Another image is line after that that proceeds to say "And there's a barrel that I didn't fill." To connect with the first image, he is still climbing the ladder to get to heaven, and as he's looking down, he reflecting his life, realizing that one thing wasn't  fulfilled. But it doesn't matter anymore because he has thrown in the towel. Another image is line 8 where is says "The scent of apples: I am drowsing off." I picture a man being poising by the smell of apples that it's killing him. Since he's worked so hard, he pretty much exhausted and can't bare anymore of the work.

                                                      

Group Response.

I am responding to my group partner Aarti (https://twofortytwo.home.blog/) and her views of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois. Me and Aarti are on the same page as to how each leader went about voicing their opinions with African Americans and their freedom. I do believe that Booker T. Washington had a good idea, but he didn't have enough resources to back up what he was saying. He needed the fire that Dubois was portraying in order to get his point across in a more thorough manner.

Speak Up and Speak Out

Between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Debois, they both showed they wanted freedom and equality for African Americans. Yes, there is many different ways to go about having your voice being heard, but the most important objective is getting the outsiders to listen and obtain the information given. So it all boil down to who had the conservative and militant approach to get African Americans the positive recognition they deserve?

             

When reading Booker T. Washington's views on going about having equality, you can tell he was on the conservative side about the situation. He wanted African Americans to show their talents through work, and he believed that didn't require to have a full education. In the "Atlantic Exposition Address" he repeatedly states:

"Cast down your buckets where you are"

I believe with this quote, he is trying to say that African Americans should not have to move north to get economic freedom. Economic freedom should be included everywhere, like the south. As well as not finding the need to protest. Booker T. Washington believed that everything will fall into place in due time, if we, the African Americans, proceed to work efficiently and effectively. 

               

Now with W.E.B Dubois, he was not trying to "wait and see." Dubois beleived in speaking out and having a full education as well as the same job opportunities white people had. Although Dubois saw that some of the things Washington was aiming to get, was good for the African Americans, he believed he need to push harder for equality. The separate but equal ordeal was not acceptable in the eyes of Dubois. Dubois birthed this feeling of African Americans having to have a "double conscience," which to him meant that African Americans never had a unified identity. African Americans constantly had to put on a facade in front on the the outsiders to get by day to day. W.E.B was tired of these things, and felt like it shouldn't have to be like this forever. Taking the bare minimum would basically be a slap in the face to the African Americans. They deserved more than what was given to them. 

             

The way Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois grew up were completely didn't. I believe that because Washington was born enslaved, and he has this little bit of freedom, he's just taking what is being offered to him because he knows what it feels like to have nothing. Whereas Dubois was born free. I believe that since Dubois knows how far African Americans can stretch their talents, he doesn't want to settle for less. Dubois knows that working is not the only way out in making a living for yourself.