Words

This weeks reading was very exciting for me. The poems that were handed out with Fausette were very light and exciting.

My favorite poem was "Words! Words!" The imagery was exceptional. The red that was used I tinterpreted into two different meanings. It could be red as in bloodshed, and anger or it could be interpreted as passionate love. The line "you went besrk, and I saw red. This could have ment that the author understood and noted that she saw that maybe their beloved was so in love with them and if for that reason is why they are so angry. Perhaps, if they did not love one another so much they would not have been in a "lover's quarelle."

The second stanza in the poem was very powerful. It made me feel as though I was right there watching the argument. It mentions death and the apostle. This made me believe that there is a married couple, and they are not getting a long but they are going to prove to god that they can withhold the test of time.

This poem also reminded me of Jean Toomer's Cane. There is a passage in the book that is called Carma. The woman in Toomer's passage was also very dramatic. They were arguing too, however Carma could not compose herself and killed her husband. She could not stand the test of time and prove to god that her vows were almost unsacred!

McKay

My favorite McKay poem was The Tropics in New York. This poem really trapped me in. It almost seemed as though he was having a flashback. Many men who have gone to war have flashbacks when they see something horrific. My thoughts was maybe he saw the way that the blacks and immigrants were being treated and he had to have sort of a mental relapse to the old days. It was part of him escaping.

I like how he used illiteration about the "dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies." I also liked how it really started off as though he was calm and serine but it ended as how he longs for the old days back in Jamica. The dramatic ending where he is left weeping really was the deciding factor on why I felt this was a flashback.

For my second blog I wanted to comment on how I was shocked on the ending of the book "The Autobiography of an Ex Colored Man." I was surprised to find Johnson marry. He seemed almost too shy in the book to even talk to women. I also thought that by marrying a white woman he was giving into society's rules. I assumed if he would marry he would marry either someone just like him self in trying to "pass" or he would marry a black woman.

The reason I thought he would marry a black woman is because his mother was black. She was the only woman in his life for so long, she was the only woman that really mattered. I thought that he would try to marry a woman just like her.

The only reason he isn't marrying again is because he could not face the truth that he is what he is. If he keeps is all bottled up nobody will know about his past. His children look and have the features of their mother. The one question that I have is did he ever tell his children that they have "black" blood in them, or did he find it too life altering?

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On page 28 in "The Autobiography of an Ex- Coloured Man," James Weldon Johnson states "it is strange how in some things honest people can be dishonest without the slightest compunction." This quote was in regards to him cheating to get his friend Red through school so that they could be together. This is foreshadowing for the rest of the book.

His life changed after the money he had saved for college was stolen out of his trunk. As a result Johnson did not attend college. He ended up working as a cigar maker.

Perhaps if Johnson did not help Red he would not have made it himself through school. Red was the only person that James Weldon Johnson showed any interest in. Red pushed him to be a better student and in return he helped Red in school.

When Johnson decides he wants to leave the North behind he finds himself looking at all sorts of things that test his morals. His moral for an education quickly changed. This just proves that what goes around comes around.