Cane

I found Toomer’s poems and stories in Cane to be increasingly confusing. However, one story really appealed to me. “Blood-burning moon” was one of Toomer’s most vivid and interesting stories. This story seemed to reflect many of the prominent issues effecting the South at this time. “Blood-burning moon” incorporated issues such as interracial relationships, white dominance, and violence toward African Americans. I found the title and the imagery of the moon throughout the story to be very thought provoking. In the first paragraph, Toomer stated that the moon was “an omen”. I could tell that this moon was foreshadowing trouble in the night. The blood-burning moon from the title was an amazing image for me as a reader. Throughout the story, I could picture this full, blazing moon as the events unfolded. Toomer continued to reference the moon and he also incorporated a poem into the story. The strategic placement of this poem was used as foreshadowing as well.

The use of imagery throughout this poem was very significant. There was one line that stood out to me that was particularly descriptive. Toomer states, “all over the countryside dogs barked and roosters crowed as if heralding a weird dawn or some ungodly awakening” (28). The imagery and descriptive language Toomer used to depict the town gave me a real sense that danger was ahead for Louisa. This poem evoked a lot of emotion in me and anticipation of what was to come.

One section of this poem that I found to be very interesting was when Bob Stone describes his feelings toward Louisa on page 31. Several emotions run through Bob’s head as he finds himself questioning how he should feel towards her. He finds himself feeling ashamed, embarrassed, and unsure if he should tell his family and friends about his love for an African American woman. I really liked this paragraph in the story because it is one of the only instances in this book where Toomer writes from the perspective of a white man. I also liked this part of the story because Bob was torn about his feelings for Louisa. I feel as if this uncertainty that Bob was experiencing about being in love with an African American woman occurred fairly often during this time period. This was a nice touch to the story.

McKay poems

I’ve really enjoyed these poems by Claude McKay. They all seem to capture many of the feelings that African Americans had during this time. The poems covered many of the main topics from the Harlem Renaissance including race relations, the oppression African Americans faced, a longing for their African culture, and feelings of isolation in the United States.

One of my favorite poems by McKay is Outcast. I found this to be a very powerful poem. I feel that this poem is easy for all readers to relate to because everyone has felt like an outcast at some point in their lives. Many of us have not felt the kind of isolation that McKay and other African Americans faced at this time but to a lesser degree I can definitely relate to this poem. There were several lines that stuck out above the rest. McKay states “something in me is lost, lost forever, some vital thing has gone but of my heart” (40). What I most appreciated about this poem is that McKay expressed his emotions so freely and openly. McKay is declaring to the white man that he has robbed African Americans of precious parts of who they are as a people. I feel that this is how many African Americans felt in the United States as they faced the oppression and discrimination. McKay goes on in the poem to state that “the great western world holds me in fee, and I may never hope for full release” (40). This is a truly sad outlook on the situation. McKay feels as if he and his fellow African Americans will never reclaim what has been lost to them. This poem really brought my understanding of the hardships that African Americans faced to another level.

In class this week, we discussed themes throughout McKay’s poems. There are two of his poems that struck me as having similar qualities. The Harlem Dancer and Harlem Shadows both highlight young, African American girls who are working for a living. In these poems, the girls are doing what they need to do to survive. The innocence and vulnerability of young African American girls seemed to really appeal to McKay and he expressed this through his writing. In my opinion, McKay was very distressed by the unfortunate circumstances that led young African American girls to work in degrading situations. I could really empathize with the young girl in The Harlem Dancer. McKay portrays the personal struggle that the girl is facing by stating “looking at her falsely-smiling face, I knew her self was not in that strange place” (39).

The end of Autobiography

One of the most interesting parts of the novel for me was the narrator’s experience with his wife, even though it was a very brief section in the book. The narrator was facing a major dilemma in whether or not to tell her that he is not white. As a reader, I was feeling very torn about his decision as well. I wanted him to reveal the truth to her but at the same time I didn’t want the narrator to lose the woman that he truly loved. I wasn’t sure how this situation was going to play out when the narrator told her. After he chose to tell her, I was pleasantly surprised that his girlfriend finally decided to marry him. For one of the first times in the narrator’s life, he found someone who accepted him for the mulatto man that he was.

We talked a lot in class about whether we felt sympathetic towards the narrator. I wanted to continue this discussion in my blog because I thought that it generated a lot of ideas and opinions about the topic. Personally, I can definitely feel some sympathy for the narrator. He left Europe with the intention to uplift the south and do some good through his music. However, the violence that he witnessed in seeing a black man burned alive is a horrific, life changing event. I can’t see how anyone would not be changed forever by such an event. I can only imagine the fear that any African American would have felt in witnessing the tremendous violence that plagued the south during this time. Even though the narrator took the “lesser” road so to speak in deciding to pass as a white man, he was just doing what he had to do to make a decent life for himself and his family. I can’t blame the narrator for not wanting to live his life in constant fear. The obvious downside to his decision is that he had to make many sacrifices. He knows that he had the potential to accomplish great things for himself and his race and he let it slip through his fingers. In the final paragraph of the novel he states, “I sometimes open a little box in which I still keep my fast yellowing manuscripts, the only tangible remnants of a vanished dream, a dead ambition, a sacrificed talent, I cannot repress the thought that, after all, I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage” (211). This quote leaves me questioning whether the narrator’s decision to pass as a white man in society really made his life easier. It seems to me that he lived with so much regret and shame in abandoning his identity that he was burdened by his decision.

Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man

For my first blog I wanted to focus on the second section of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man that we were assigned to read. I enjoyed reading this section because I liked the switch from the narrator’s proper upbringing in the first section to his time in the New York City night life where he gambled, stayed up all night, and eventually was indirectly involved with a murder. I never expected the narrator to find himself in these kinds of situations. New York, however, did not turn out to be all bad for the narrator because it enabled him to rekindle his love for music and become involved in the blossoming New York music scene. New York seemed to be a necessary experience for the narrator because it took his life in a completely different direction. One part of the novel that was very surprising was that the narrator did not look for his father while he was in New York. I expected him to take this opportunity to seek out a relationship with his father or at least attempt to find him. Then ironically, when the narrator leaves New York and goes to Europe, he runs into his father with his own sister no less. I also wonder why the narrator did not speak up and let his father know that he was right next to him in Paris. The narrator obviously would have liked nothing more than to meet his sister and connect with his father again. I found it very puzzling as to why he chose to run away.

The narrator’s time in Europe and with the “Millionaire” was a significant part of this novel. The “Millionaire” was a very interesting character. As readers we don’t know very much about him but he ends up being an important person in the narrator’s life, providing him with many opportunities and life experiences. Another important contribution of the “Millionaire” was the he ends up posing a significant question to the narrator when he is deciding whether or not he should go back to the United States or stay and travel around the world. He makes the statement, “My boy, you are by blood, by appearance, by education, and by tastes a white man. Now, why do you wan to throw your life away amidst the poverty and ignorance, in the hopeless struggle of the black people of the United States”. All of a sudden, “Millionaire” becomes this very vocal character on race relations in the United States that I did not expect. I also thought that this statement was very insightful and is representative of the major issues in this novel. I was also not all that surprised when the narrator chose to return to the United States. I could sense that he was being pulled back to the United States for a particular reason but I have not figured out the reason yet. Hopefully I will get the answers as I continue reading.