Blog Post 13: We Can Make [Hate] on TUEEEESDAY

In chapter 6 of 'Song of Solomon' we can see from the sounds of it that Guitar hates with all his heart, white people. "You? You're going to kill people?... Not people. White people." (Milkman/Guitar 155) For some reason, Guitar hates every single white person. He does not believe there is such thing as an innocent white person which he states in the book, "It doesn't matter who did it. Each and every one of them could do it... There are no innocent white people, because every one of them is a potential nigger-killer, if not an actual one." (Guitar 155) Guitar is just trying to get rid of them because they do not stop killing. ""You can't stop them from killing us, from trying to get rid of us." (Guitar 154) In a way, he is thinking good because white people abused of their power. But on the other hand, he is wrong. He is wrong because there are innocent white people among themselves. Not all of them are racist, not all of them have shot or killed an African American. He is only looking at the problem from one side of it. We also find out that Guitar in in this group called "Seven Days". It is a group that bases their ideas that are based off the idea of Hammurabi's Code. It was a group of African Americans that killed white people. They just killed them based off the color of their skin, which is wrong because there is no purpose behind it. Milkman points out that the people that are being killed by the "Seven Days" group are white but have not killed a Negro. Milkman says, " What about the nice ones? Some whites made sacrifices for Negroes. Real sacrifices." (Milkman 156) Guitar points out that if you were white, you could decide in any moment in time to just kill for the fun of it, "If Kennedy got drunk and bored and was just sitting around a potbellied stove in Mississippi, he might join a lynching party for the hell of it." (Guitar 156) After trying to change Guitar's view on this topic, he still is not able to change his mind.

Blog Post 11: Too Much in Chapter 4

Milkman was attracted by Hagar because of the love she showed towards him. He felt lonely but being with Hagar made him feel wanted. Same way we want to be loved and feel part of a family is the same way Milkman felt. He just needed someone to be with, "From the time he first saw her, when he was twelve and she was seventeen, he was deeply in love with her" (Morrison 92) But the fact that he was growing and that she was his cousin, made him come to his senses. Milkman describes how Hagar is by saying, "She was odd, funny, quirky company, spoiled, but artlessly so and therefore more refreshing than most of the girls his own age." (Morrison 98) This shows that Milkman in a way prefers older, mature girls rather than girls his own age. The book also states, "Everybody who knew him knew about Hagar, but she was considered his private honey pot, not a real or legitimate girl friend-not someone he might marry." (Morrison 91) He still likes her but does not want to get attached with her because then she will think he wants to marry her, "But nothing that would give her any ideas about marriage." (Morrison 91) After they had been together for a long time, he says that he does not have to even work for him to get something out of her, it is explained in a big paragraph in the beginning of chapter 4. "Now, after more than a dozen years, he was getting tired of her... He didn't even have to pay for it. It was so free, so abundant, it had lost its favor. There was no excitement, no galloping of blood in his neck or his heart at the thought of her." (Morrison 91) Him not having to work for being with her, makes him want to not be with her at all.

Blog Post 10: Little Limpy

In this time period, African American's had it hard. In 'Song of Solomon' chapter 3, there is a man name Railroad Tommy. He was giving Milkman and Guitar some sort of life lecture about things they would not have in life. "Who's teasing? I'm telling him the truth. He ain't going to have it" (Railroad Tommy pg.60) African Americans knew they had it hard. There is reference in chapter 3 that says, "He knew he as a Negro he wasn't going to get a big slice of pie" (Morrison pg.63) Milkman also had it hard growing up. Feather would not let him and Guitar into his bar just because he was Macon's son. "What his daddy do to you? Nothing yet. that's why I want him outta here. He ain't like his daddy. He aim'y got to be like him-from his is enough" ( Feather/Guitar pg.57) Toni Morrison makes Milkman as a limp character. "By the time Milkman was fourteen he had noticed that one of his legs was shorter than the other." (Morrison pg.62) The fact of Milkman being limp, symbolizes how hard life was for him growing up. After he gives himself a look in the mirror, he learns that what he knows about his family, is not even true. Family is a very important factor for us while growing up. They are the ones who help us grow into what we are today. After he finds out that his mom and dad had lied to him he begins to wonder and ask himself if what he knew was real or fake about his family.  Ruth and her dad have more than just a father-daughter relationship in chapter 3. "In the bed. That's where she was when I opened the door. Laying next to him. Naked as a yard dog, kissing him. Him dead and white and puffy and skinny, and she had his fingers in her mouth" (Morrison pg.73) Even Milkman starts to love Hagar more than just family, "Sleeping with Hagar had made him generous. Or so he thought. Wide-spirited. Or so he imagined." (Morrison pg.69) Milkman has some sort of thing for Hagar, more than just family love.

Blog Post 9: Pilate...like Pilot

Milkman is drawn over to Pilate's house because his father forbade him from being there and even from seeing her. As kids, when we are forbidden from doing things, we usually want to do it and see what is wrong with it. We want to break rules by nature. He had been warned by his dad for a long time but his interest of wanting to be there, lead him there. He was curious of how his aunt really was after hearing stories about her. "All those unbelievable but entirely possible stories about his father's sister-the woman his father had forbidden him to go near-had both of them spellbound. Neither wished to live one more day without finding out the truth, and they believed they were the legitimate and natural ones to do so. After all, Guitar already knew her, and Milkman was her nephew." (Morrison 36) Milkman and Guitar observed how Pilate was. "She was the one who was ugly, dirty, poor, and drunk." (Morrison 37) They described her appearance as "Bright orange she was peeling". When they got there, they seemed a bit nervous but as they kept the conversation going, they got a bit more trust with her. When Milkman is at home, he is quite, kind of shy because his dad is around. When he goes into Pilate's house, he starts to loosing up a bit and starts to be a bit more comfortable  around Pilate. Pilate is a kind of person who really does not care how she looks likes or in what conditions she lives in. Her house has no furniture inside of it other than the things already installed, the table, and chairs.

Blog Post 8: Be a MAN!

So far in the book 'Song of Solomon', Toni Morrison gives her characters names that are based off characters from the Bible. Each one of them have their own story. The way that they act, is in comparison of the character from the Bible. Pilate was named after Pilate who killed Jesus. It is stated in the text, "No. Not like a riverboat pilot. Like a Christ-killing Pilate" (Morrison pg.19). The names are a Biblical allusion that connects this book with the Bible. Pilates dad needed a name for her so he went through the Bible but he had no understanding of Biblical names or the Bible in general so he just went with whatever he found. In this time period, African Americans were not so well educated, others not at all. Chapter one is a bit complicated to get an understanding of it, but family is significant because it develops a character and helps the character form him/herself on how they will be when they grow. I have read the Bible and according to it, Pilate was some sort of governor in the town of Jerusalem. He was the one who in  a way made Jesus get killed on the Cross. Today in class, Dr. Lewis talked about geography. She asked us to think of a place, to describe who were there, what they were talking about, and what did our main character know. She then explained to us that what surrounds a character in book, is what they will use to develop themselves with.

Blog Pst 7: Flight

When I think or hear of the word "flight" I usually think of things that can fly like angels, planes, birds, insects, or maybe even superheroes. According to to the chapter of "Flights of Fancy" humans cannot fly. When we see someone in the air, it is either a superhero, fictional character, a ski jumper, an angel, etc. We all wish we could fly in some sort of way but due to the law of gravity, we cannot.  A Greek myth was that of Daedalus and Icarus, in which an ingenious father's attempt to save his son from a tyrant. He creates wings but his son gets too close to the sun, the wax of the wings melt and the son falls to his death. An Aztecan myth is the one of an important god to them, Quetzalcoatl, as a snake with feathered wings. A myth of the flying Africans. Also the myth of Satan tempting God to fly. For many, flight is considered freedom. In the Crucible, someone was said to be flying. Betty says she would fly to get her mother. "Her freedom, like her 'imprisonment' is paradoxical" (Foster 129). Paradoxical means to be seemingly absurd or self-contradictory. A famous example of paradox is one that says, "I can resist anything but temptation" by Oscar Wilde. There have been many examples of paradox in the text of the Crucible. The girls of the town go into the woods to do some sort of ritual. To the town they're "good"girls but secretly they have been doing "evil" things. It's someone "good" doing "evil".

Blog Post 6: Geography Matters

According to the chapter "Geography Matters" geography is typically about humans inhabiting spaces, and at the same time the spaces that inhabit humans. A question was brought up of "what is geography?" In the eyes of the reader, geography is nothing more than rivers, hills, valleys, buttes, steppes, glaciers, mountains, seas, islands, etc. when it should really be more than that. It states that in poetry and fiction, people are mostly the geography. Setting and location are both important because it develops a certain character in literature throughout the place it is being set on. A part in the chapter states that "Geography is setting, but it's also (or can be) psychology, attitude, finance, industry-anything that place can forge in the people who live there". In literature, geography defines and develops its characters to new things and places. In "Bean Trees" the character, Marietta, has no surroundings of a good geography. She has no options in that world. The geography is described as poor crops and hardly anyone makes much of a go of things, the horizon is short and is blocked by the mountains.  Geography is important in this story because it gives an image of the character, setting, and also how it looks geographically. This makes her want to leave. She decides to leave and changes her name to "Taylor Greer". She moves out and meets new people in the West. She states that there are "big horizons, clean air, brilliant sunshine, and open possibilities". It describes her life "from a closed to an open environment, and she seizes the opportunities for growth and development".  The geography that is described to where she had moved to, made her a better person mentally and physically. When she lived in Kentucky, the geographic features that were described, made her into a boring person. When she moved out West and saw all the better things out there, it changed her way of looking at life, she found new opportunities.

Crucible Portfolio Entry: Act 4

Allusion: Reference to well known, significant events.
"Mr. Hale, as God have not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising, so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment" (Danforth pg. 1325)
The author uses this as an allusion to a reference from the Bible. In the Bible, a man named Joshua prayed to God. He prayed to him asking God if he could stop the sun for them to have more hours in the day so that he and his people could win the war, once and for all. Proctor is set to be hung in the morning. Reverend Hale wanted more time for Proctor to confess. When he tries asking for more time, Danforth says he is not empowered like Joshua to stop the sun from rising.

Danforth: Mr. Hale, as God has not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising, so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment.
Hale, harder now: If you think God wills you to raise rebellion, Mr. Danforth, you are mistaken!
Danforth, instantly: You have heard rebellion spoken in the town?
Hale: Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlots' cry will end his life- and you wonder yet if rebellion's spoke? Better you should marvel how they do not burn your province!
Danforth: Mr. Hale, have you preached in Andoverthis month?
Hale: Thank God they have no need for me in Andover.

Danforth
Description: Proud, judging, old
In the Crucible, Danforth is the judge with the highest power. He believes Salem has been taken over by the devil. He says that if someone is innocent, they should not be afraid of court. When the play is coming to an end, he realizes what wrong he had done for hanging innocent people. The right thing he should've done would be to apologize to the families who lost a loved one but he has too much pride to do such thing.

Crucible Portfolio Entry: Act III

Repetition: The action of repeating something that has already been said or written.
"Mr. Danforth! Mr. Danforth! Have you compacted with the Devil? Have you? Never, never! Never, never! Why can they only repeat you?" (Mary Warren, Girls, Mr. Danforth pg. 1312)
The author uses this scene to show that the girls are "seeing" evil spirits when they really aren't. The girls keep repeating whatever Mary Warren to make the judges believe that they have been taken over by the devil. Mary Warren keeps telling the judges the girls are lying and to stop the girls from pretending before she gets in trouble. The girls look up at the ceiling as if Mary Warren was flying when she was actually right beside them.


Mary Warren, to all the girls: I'm here, I'm here!
Girls: I'm here, I'm here!
Danforth, horrified: Marry Warren! Draw back your spirit out of them!
Mary Warren: Mr. Danforth!
Girls, cutting her off: Mr. Danforth!
Danforth: Have you compacted with the Devil? Have you?
Mary Warren: Never, never!
Girls: Never, never!
Danforth, growing hysterical: Why can they only repeat you?
Proctor: Give me whip - I'll stop it!
Mary Warren: They're sporting. They-!
Girls: They're sporting!
Mary Warren, turning to them hysterically and stamping her feet: Abby, stop it!
Girls, stamping their feet: Abby, stop it!
Mary Warren: Stop it!
Girls: Stop it!
Mary Warren, screaming it out at the top of her lungs, and raising her fists: Stop it!!
Girls, raising their fists: Stop it!!


Mary Warren
Description: Scared, Good girl, Weak
Mary Warren is John and Elizabeth Proctor's servant at their house. She made a poppet while she was at church and then gave it to Elizabeth. With Mary Warren giving Elizabeth the poppet, it puts Elizabeth in  a horrible situation. Mary Warren then confessed that all the evil things that they had seen was all a lie.

Crucible Portfolio Entry: Act II

Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
"Oh Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer!" (Proctor pg. 1271)
"Your justice would freeze beer!" is used as symbolism to represent how cold-hearted Elizabeth is acting towards Proctor. She keeps bringing up the time Proctor had an affair with Abigail. Even though they had already talked about it, Elizabeth doesn't trust him. When Proctor told Elizabeth about him being alone with Abigail, Elizabeth reacted in  a jealous type way. He implies to her as being able to "freeze beer" even though beer can't be frozen, thats how cold-hearted she was being to him.


Proctor: I'll plead my honesty no more, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth- now she would justify herself: John, I am only-
Proctor: No more! I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you're not, you're not, and let you remember it! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not.
Elizabeth: I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John -with a smile- only somewhat bewildered.
Proctor, laughing bitterly: Oh, Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer! He turns suddenly toward sound outside. He starts for the door as Marry Warren enters. As soon as he sees her, he goes directly to her and grabs her by the cloak, furious. How do you go to Salem when I forbid it? Do you mock me? Shaking her. I'll whip you if you dare leave this house again!


John Proctor
Description: Secretive, honest, proud
After his affair with Abigail, he feels his relationship with Elizabeth is not how it used to be. He's very secretive and won't forgive himself for what he did with Abigail. He seems to be lonely for the most part and doesn't seem to spend much time at home.