Did Walter Really Do the Right Thing?

     Throughout "A Raisin In the Sun" we see the character of Walter Younger become a "man".  This is an evident struggle and in almost every act the idea and the expectations of being a man are discussed.  His Mama's opinion is always based on how well Walter's action resembles his father's.  When Walter finally gets his mama's approval, he has spoken the words of his father. But, the real question that arises from this dramatic play is, "Did Walter really do the right thing"?

     We all know everyone makes mistake and Walter's was a BIG one.  If I lost all of my mother's money I would do anything to get it back.  I actually sided with Walter when he chose to throw out his already broken pride, and resale the house his Mama bought.  I made a pros and cons list to help me see the better option:
Pros-                                                       -Cons
~much nicer living conditions                     ~no more money for Beneatha's schooling
~a house for Travis to use when older       ~impact of hatred of the neighbors
~more space                                            ~unsafe environment
~advancement in society                          ~no way to continuously pay the mortgage on current salary
/fulfillment of father's dreams
                    
Though the American Dream sounds enticing, I believe that Mama was looking for an immediate change, not the best interest of her family.  Yes, Walter Sr. wanted them to live in a comfortable house, but he also wanted to see his daughter graduate from college and his son to make a comfortable living.  Mr. Lindner was willing to pay the price of the house and more to remove the Youngers from his neighborhood.  They could have taken that money, paid for Bennie's collage, and saved up enough to afford an even nicer home.

     If you really think about it, wasn't it Mama's pride forcing them to move?  Mama knew the dangers of blacks living in a white society and she chose to bring her family into harms way.  If Walter would've stuck to his guns and shaken Mr. Lindner's hand, their financial well being and their safety would be much better off.

The American Dream: In All Races

     In most classes students are only taught two things in African American history, one being slavery and the other being the civil rights movement of the sixties and seventies.  Until recently, I had never given the twenties a thought when it came to African history. I guess, in my mind, there was just a void space between slavery and the great movement; a space where Blacks just existed and had no impact. Now, I know the Harlem Renaissance was a major period in history, not only for the blacks, but for people of all races.  These writers and poets were the ones who inspired legends such as Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.  They paved the way for Africans in America and fought the stereotype of being poor and uneducated. 
     In a sense, some writers did obtain the American dream that they so desperately wished for. Zora Neale Hurston, the author of How it Feels to Be Colored Me, grew up being told to "follow her dreams no matter how impossible they seemed"(McDougal 858).  She worked tough jobs to pay for high school and finally completed it after twelve long years.  Hurston set off to New York "with $1.50, no job, no friends, and a lot of hope"(McDougal 858). She put herself through college and became one of the first blacks to graduate from Barnard. By the 1930's Hurston had published many great pieces, including Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God.  Though she had success, it was short lived.  By the 1940's she had lost popularity and reverted back to doing meager jobs until her death in 1960; Zora Hurston was buried in an unmarked grave.  Her story embodies the American dream. She came from nothing, found great success, and then was stripped of her nobility.  Hurston never stopped believing in her dream much like Jay Gatsby.  Hurston lived the American dream, where the hard working rose quickly to the top and were brought tumbling down just as fast. The blacks envied the whites, pushing for the ideal American life, but when looking at Jay Gatsby’s life compared to Zora Hurston’s life we notice a pattern. They both had wonderful beginnings and they both had tragic ends.  That was the American Dream.

Blue Jeans

    This weekend I was just relaxing with my sister listening to music and while we were doing this I began to complain because I had absolutely no idea what to write my post about! Then, a sweet orchestra sound began to build through the speakers and my most recent obsession, Lana Del Ray, started singing her song Blue Jeans.  We had listened to about half of the song when I yelled, startling my sister, "Wait! This song is exactly like the "Great Gatsby"!”, I now had my inspiration.

    The song Blue Jeans has so many similar themes in comparison to the "Great Gatsby".  The only difference is that Lana Del Ray is a girl and you have to imagine Gatsby singing this about Daisy. The song begins with "walked into the room, you know you made my eyes burn". This describes the first meeting between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby instantly falls in love with her liveliness as well as her money.  The next line goes "it was like James Dean, for sure", which I interpreted as Daisy being this celebrity among the men in Louisville. Gatsby saw her as a jewel he must possess just as many women saw James Dean.  Lana also sings "You were sorta punk rock, I grew up on hip hop, But you fit me better than my favorite sweater". I interpreted this line as Gatsby and Daisy coming from two separate social classes, poor and wealthy, but Gatsby realizing that Daisy fit him "better than his favorite sweater".  

   

     The most true lines to the novel is the chorus where Lana sings, "I will love you till the end of time, I would wait a million years, promise you'll remember that you're mine".  Gatsby was always in love with Daisy, even while away at war; the chorus relates to Gatsby's waiting for Daisy and his strange belief that Daisy will remember their love and leave Tom.  Gatsby also wants Daisy to remember all the fun they had, especially the past. The lines “I just want it like before, we were dancing all night, then they took you away – stole you out of my life, you just need to remember”, plays off of Daisy and Gatsby’s separation during the war; Daisy was “stolen” away by the other men she began to date while Gatsby served. The next line in Blue Jeans goes "Love you more than those b*t*hes before, Say you'll remember". Though a bit strongly worded, you feel as though Gatsby is telling Daisy to forget anyone that she has ever loved because his love is greater than them all.

    As the song plays out the lyrics mention "Big dreams, gangster" which implies Gatsby's illegal means of getting money. The lyrics also talk about "but he (but in this case Daisy) headed out on Monday, said he'd come home Sunday, I stayed up wait'in, anticipat'in and pac'in"; this relates to the episode where Daisy and Tom quickly leave town, but Gatsby remains in New York just in case Daisy comes back.  Another example of the great similarity is when Lana sings "But when you walked out that door, a piece of me died", this is just how Gatsby was throughout the novel. When Daisy didn't deny her love for Tom and ran away, Gatsby was left in the memories of their past; a piece of Gatsby died.

     Blues Jeans embodies the story of the “Great Gatsby”. The last line of the song is “I will love till the end of time” and Gatsby’s last thought was that he would love Daisy till the end of time.  Lana Del Ray’s song modernizes this epic love tragedy and proves that this type of sad, love affair still happens in the 21^st century.

Thankful

       I know that writing about what I'm thankful for is very cliche noting the time of year, but Thanksgiving has shown me that I take too much for granted. This Thursday I went downtown to the parade with my family. I had a great time, but I kept seeing poor, homeless people sitting on the sidewalk. Most people kept walking, not evening acknowledging their existence and I, like the others, didn't stop. I felt so guilty because after the parade I could go home and eat a huge feast, while the poor had to wait in a long line, hoping to receive a meager amount of turkey and mash potatoes. Sometimes we (people in middle and upper classes) see the poor as disgusting slobs or as addicts; we don't think about their back stories or how previous situations have landed them in poverty from birth. Most people living in run-down areas are born into it; it is much easier for the rich to become poor than for the poor to become rich.
     These circumstances remind me of the awful life that the Africans were put into, both by force and by birth.  The Africans had no way out of slavery and people treated them with extreme hatred.  As understood from the story "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs tells of the hardships faced daily by the enslaved Africans.  She had to runaway and hide in an attic for many years just to ensure her children's future.

      People who do have money are to consumed in their own lives to see that this kind of tragedy still exists today. Africans are still stuck in ghettos and slums, single mothers and fathers work multiple jobs just to but food on the table, and many people are thrown out onto the streets due to ponzi schemes and Bernie Madoff's insane swindling of investors money.

      Someone once said "If you haven't all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you wouldn't want".  Before judging the poor, think of how hard their life is and be thankful for what you have.

                                                           HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Death: Final or Continuous?

     One thing that we have talked about numerous times is Death.  It has plagued writers mind's for centuries as they strive helplessly to understand the non-understandable. Death will forever be the world’s biggest mystery and we will always try to figure it out.  

      Most poets and writers of all kinds choose a side.  Some choose to see life as a circle; we are born from the earth, we live upon the earth, and when our life is at end, we go back into the ground.  We are one with nature again.  Others see Death as a journey to everlasting life.  They see Death as an inevitable force and though they don't want to die, they know that Death will prevail.   

     Two poets that display these contrasting views are Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.  Walt Whitman sees death with more of a "hippy" view.  He believes that we come from the soil and go back into it.  In "Song of Myself", Whitman says "I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles" (lines 54-55).  Whitman knew that he was to return to the soil where he then, would be part of the earth and cycle of life.

     Dickinson looked at Death with a more somber and realistic tone.  She lived for most of her life next to a cemetery where she contemplated Death on a regular basis.  She personifies Death in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" as well as portrays the idea that your body stops at the grave, but your soul continues on the journey to everlasting life.  In the first stanza Dickinson writes "Because I could not stop for Death, /He kindly stopped for me;” this shows the personification of Death, but also relates the word "kindly" to Death.  Though Dickinson chooses positive diction to describe Death, she knows that when death comes she has no choice but to go with him.  He may be kind, but that may be only out of pity or mockery because, unlike Whitman, Death is final in Dickinson's eyes.

Lesson's Learned

      The Scarlet Letter has taught me a lot about life, but most importantly it has taught me how to deal with guilt and sin.  Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays two extreme situations; you can be a "Hester" and bare your sin to the world or be a "Dimesdale" and bury your sin until it devours everything, leaving just a shell behind. 

        Some may see Dimesdale's journey as overly dramatized because they themselves can't understand why someone would die as a result. But think about it, (hopefully) very few of us have committed adultery, nonetheless as a minister. If you were in Dimesdale’s shoes would you have acted any differently? Of course as humans we immediately see ourselves in Hester, the “saint”.  We want to be strong and let everyone know our darkest sins without as much as a wink.  The funny thing is, is that we are all “Dimesdales” at heart.  We all keep secrets even though it may relieve us if we tell.  We all cover sins so that we are accepted in our religion, friendships, and society. If only we all just understood that our world would be so much more accepting if there were no secrets. In the end, Dimesdale realizes that if he had not been a coward and stood on the scaffold seven years before, his life would have been more meaningful. We all need to apply this realization to our own lives because it is better to have died once then to “die a living death daily”.

Dimmesdale's Dilemma

          We all know the feeling of guilt. It festers in our conscience until it begins to wear away the soul and human encasing it. All throughout the Scarlet Letter we see the deterioration of Dimmesdale, a highly respected minister in the Puritan village. He begins as a confident man who helps others with their sins, but by chapter sixteen he is described as " having a listlessness in his gait as if he saw no reason for taking one step further, nor felt any desire to do so, but would have been glad, could he be glad of anything, to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive, forevermore"(Hawthorne 185).  He lets the guilt of his adultery eat him inside, leading to a sorrowful dilemma; if he confesses he faces great shame and possibly death, but if he remains silent he will most likely turn insane.  The fact that Dimmesdale is a respected man of God puts him in an even more treacherous situation.  If people realize that even the most religious man in their town has committed a sin, then the laws of God will be questioned. People will begin to think that committing adultery is okay in the eyes of God because Dimmesdale has done it.

            Dimmesdale has almost accepted the fact that not telling the world his sin is punishment enough.  The ugliness of his sin is portrayed through his physical appearance hinting at the secret buried in the chambers of his mind.  By not publicly telling his sin he may also be protecting the townspeople.  He is their most trusted Minister and without his kindness and wisdom many will be upset.  This raises the question, is Dimmesdale being selfless by not relying his sin to the town or is he a coward for not joining Hester and Pearl upon the scaffold?