Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Realism, Naturalism, Modernism

After reading works from Margaret Walker, Ralph Ellison, and Ann Petry, one short story stuck out in my mind. The Street by Ann Petry was a short story about a young girl living in Harlem looking for an apartment. The glamour and the creative ingenuity that we previously studied about Harlem were not present in this young girl’s life. This time period from 1940-1960 known as Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism was a very different style then the Harlem Renaissance. This literature did not have the “call” to African Americans to rise up and claim its cultural identity. This literature was more… “real” with stories of the continued hardships. The Street portrayed images that were dirty, grimy, and unkept. The main character in the short story described her home life – with her father’s many abusive girlfriends and numerous roommates. This girl was so desperate to leave and move out on her own, that she was willing to live in a dilapidated, small dirty apartment with (I assumed) her brother. Our character said she would rather live in a place of that, than to continue in a loveless environment.

I really enjoyed the Reflecting Circle group’s presentation of this time period. The different elements of the power point, videos, and actually hearing the voices of these authors helped to bring this presentation to life. I did not know about the Black Panther, Islam, or Communists groups that found refuge and flourished in Harlem. I found the biographical information of the authors interesting because different influences always led them to express themselves through literature. Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun which was one of the longest plays to remain on Broadway. There was also a poem We Real Cool, which Gwendolyn Brooks wrote one day walking by a pool hall. She saw a group of kids playing pool instead of being in school, and instead of asking the question why, she wondered what the teenagers actually thought of themselves. Her last line in the poem is “We die soon”. Her message is clear to the younger generation – don’t settle and push yourselves to receive an education.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Langston Hughes

I am responding to Hope Towner’s blog question from Reflecting Circle #3 (Harlem Renaissance). She asked us to describe a piece of literature and write about the author’s emotions and how it relates to Harlem.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time in our country’s history where freedom of expression through any avenue in the art world was accepted and embraced. An opportunity like this is very rare even in today’s society. After the Great Migration when thousands of blacks migrated up north to escape oppression, an enclave of creative ideas was founded.

After finishing the assigned reading for this period, the writings of Langston Hughes stuck out in my memory. Hughes went to Columbia University in New York for a year, but never really connected with that environment. Once entering Harlem, he knew that he had found his home for creative expression. Hughes was not afraid to write about the lower-class black culture as he saw it. The poem “Mother to Son” is one of my favorites. Hughes wrote about how life has not been a “crystal stair” and that there are hard ships on every step. This literary work is an endearing mother showing her son that through her example, making it through life and surviving is possible, no matter the hardships. Hughes also wrote “The Weary Blues” which made the reader picture the lazy sway of the man on the piano. “Harlem” is yet another example of his blunt depiction of what happens to a dream deferred. Hughes questions if the dream will dry up, or run… sugar over, or sag? I think that this poem can relate to Hughes life. He always had the intelligence to do whatever he wanted, but his dream never became a reality until he took residence in Harlem. Hughes work stood the test of time, outlasting the end of the movement.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Harlem

Stop, fool!

There was a time in the short story “The City of Refuge” by Rudolph Fisher when the main character was so self destructive that I wanted to tell him to just stop! King Solomon Gillis moved to Harlem from North Carolina to begin a new life in a place where blacks (according to his depiction) were considered white. He had $100 to get to New York and once there, was preyed upon by an advantage seeking dealer. I enjoyed Fisher’s descriptions of how Gillis saw Harlem for the first time. He commented on the girl in green stockings and the whites driving around, intimidated. More importantly, Gillis commented on the black policemen. “…Even got cullud policemans,” he said.

Gillis only wanted two things once in Harlem – to be a policeman and to have a girl like the one in green socks. For such a simple man, he certainly got into a heap of trouble. Uggam convinced Gillis to distribute dope out of the store where he was employed. At this point in the story I wanted Gillis to use his brain! I find it hard to believe that someone of his age, capable of traveling alone and seeing the world could be taken advantage of so easily. Gillis honestly had no idea that what he was doing was illegal. When the two white policemen approached Gillis, he was so dumbfounded by Uggam’s complete denial that his only instinct was to fight back. He fought the white policemen until he was confronted by a black policeman. This ending made me enjoy and appreciate the story. Gillis was raised and accustomed to only whites having the power to rule and govern. The last line “… the grin that came over his features had something exultant about it” shows how simple and unassuming Gillis’s character really was.