Saturday, December 17, 2016
Racist iconography
I thought this article was interesting for showing the modern day collectors of these racist figurines/toys, that these people have, really, a variety of backgrounds. The article title is "Confronting Racist Objects."
Like we talked about extensively in class, making racism so obvious you can't look away pretty controversial. But the issue with toys is that kids see them as harmless, so putting a racist toy on display to acknowledge as distinctly wrong is how some of these collectors use them.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Boundaries between love and violence
We have read two books this year that at some point have blurred the lines between what is the strongest love vs straight-up violence. The first example was in Their Eyes Were Watching God when Tea Cake beat Janie after he thought she was unfaithful. Since the reason he hit her was mistake, on the surface level, it is a unjustifiably violent act. But, the whole community perceives it as his love and deeper possession of her, and ultimately gets jealous of their relationship. We get the sense that the couple is so important to each other, that cheating, or being not 100 percent spiritually connected, would cause only a reaction so violent. Something about this moment of beating and then sweet syrupy love is makes it seem like it's the only way to remedy the metaphysical disturbance in Janie and Tea Cake's relationship.
On the other hand, we have a mother-child relationship that is a bit more of a difficult situation, it can really only be understood by Sethe in that moment when the white men came into her home to take her children. Sethe sees her killing Beloved (and planning to kill the rest of her children) as protection, an instinct that is born out of love whereas the rest of the town reacted to her "murder" and socially outcast her. This case is more violent, and there is no positive connotation to possession from the rest of the community, but is similar in the questionable justification Sethe has.
Again, we see what her justification for killing her children was, but only if we look on a metaphysical level. It is a gruesome killing, but her instinct tells her the only true protection for her children is in death, where Schoolteacher cannot get to them. We also see how when Beloved actually comes back to 124, she is determined to love Sethe.
There is also a higher power (kind of christ-like) forgiveness that comes after both incidents, one where Janie is beaten then Tea Cake is very soft and affectionate towards her and the other where Beloved returns to Sethe 18 years after the murder. So with this and other justifications from the first-person narratives of Sethe and Janie, it is easier to understand the line between an act of love and an act of cruelty that both incidents are straddling and bringing together in a way commonly misunderstood. Whether this deeper love is a part of a specific culture( like the Muck or the culture of Ohio/other bordering slave states in the 1800s)? I wouldn't go that far, but comments appreciated!
On the other hand, we have a mother-child relationship that is a bit more of a difficult situation, it can really only be understood by Sethe in that moment when the white men came into her home to take her children. Sethe sees her killing Beloved (and planning to kill the rest of her children) as protection, an instinct that is born out of love whereas the rest of the town reacted to her "murder" and socially outcast her. This case is more violent, and there is no positive connotation to possession from the rest of the community, but is similar in the questionable justification Sethe has.
Again, we see what her justification for killing her children was, but only if we look on a metaphysical level. It is a gruesome killing, but her instinct tells her the only true protection for her children is in death, where Schoolteacher cannot get to them. We also see how when Beloved actually comes back to 124, she is determined to love Sethe.
There is also a higher power (kind of christ-like) forgiveness that comes after both incidents, one where Janie is beaten then Tea Cake is very soft and affectionate towards her and the other where Beloved returns to Sethe 18 years after the murder. So with this and other justifications from the first-person narratives of Sethe and Janie, it is easier to understand the line between an act of love and an act of cruelty that both incidents are straddling and bringing together in a way commonly misunderstood. Whether this deeper love is a part of a specific culture( like the Muck or the culture of Ohio/other bordering slave states in the 1800s)? I wouldn't go that far, but comments appreciated!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)