Grass is greener if it's painted Gold

  We have all been there, the teenager who doesn’t fit in with anyone in your family. The one who, only your friends truly understand. Thinking something along the lines of “I cannot wait to get out on my own and be and adult.” In Joyce Carol Oates’s short story Where are you going. Where have you been? the theme is comparable to this as well as the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but that may not be the case when you actually get there.  I believe that throughout the story Oates is trying to portray this through the eyes of a sexually curious teenage girl, Connie always wanting what’s coming next in life.

            In the beginning of the story Connie goes to the diner where she first sees Arnold Friend.  When she first sees him she wants to pretend that she is not interested, but she looks back at him again.  “He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help glancing back, and there he was, still watching her.” But then when he comes to her house she notices that maybe he isn’t what he seems. “She could see then that he wasn’t a kid, he was much older—thirty, maybe more.” Along with being older when he takes off his sunglasses she notices something strange. “… she saw how pale the skin around his eyes was, like holes that were not in shadow, but instead in light.” Both of these reasons make Arnold different than he first appears.

            Not only is Arnold not what he appears at first glance but his car as well is not as it seems. Although it is described as a jalopy the first time Connie encountered it, the manor by which it is described when Connie is actually able to see it up close is interesting, but not desirable.  When she first encounters it the car is described like something to be desired. “It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold.” In contrast to that when Arnold comes to her house and she looks at the car parked in her driveway she sees the various writings on the car along with the dent.  The only thing that this car has going for it is its paint job, which in the auto world is the thing you should take care of last. Arnold is in essence, for lack of a better term, polishing a turd. Just like Arnold’s exterior his car is something undesirable that seems the opposite from a distance.

            These are just two examples of the many throughout this story.  The lesson that things may not be quite as awesome as they seem stand out stronger in this story than you may have initially realized.

A once Proud People broken.

  

    Sherman Alexie's stories Every Little Hurricane, This is what It Means to say Phoenix, Arizona , The Only Traffic Light on the Reservation doesn't flash Red Anymore, and Indian Education are painful deep-seeded racist stories, but deeper than that the show of a people so broken and beaten down they live only day to day.  Not caring about the consequences of their actions and truly believing that there is nothing they can do to better their situation. Instead of taking action they dream of being great warriors, and their once great sense of community.

    Throughout the majority of Every Little Hurricane Victor's uncles Adolf and Arnold are in a brawl almost to the death, according to Victor because they love and hate one another. They obviously love each other due to the fact that they are brothers, but they also love the Indian in each other.  I believe what they hate in each other is the white washing of their once proud and fierce civilization, their names being actual representations of that. Victor says that while his two uncles are slugging it out the other family members are just standing by watching out the glass window.  He calls them "Witnesses," the opposite of the warriors they dream of being.

     In This is what It Means to say Phoenix, Arizona Victor has to deal with the death of his father while away from his people.  While the Native American's should have a good sense of community and should have funds to help Victor with the burial of his father, however they only are able to give Victor one hundred dollars. Although his father is one of the stereotypical drunken Native Americans, Thomas Builds-a-fire has a vision. In his vision he is to go to a very ancient spiritual location to see a sign.  He waited and waited and when he was about to give up Victor's father showed up, fed Thomas, told him he would get mugged there and drove him back home. This contributes to their ancient sense of community.

      In The Only Traffic Light on the Reservation doesn't flash Red Anymore, Victor and his friend talk about a young boy named Julius, who is a rising basketball star.  Throughout the entire story they talk about all the different boys over the years that have had promise as basketball players, but sadly never amount to more than another drunken Native American.  This story also adds to the aspect of Native Americans on reservations feeling like they are just existing without a purpose.  In the second part of the story Victory says "A year later, Adrian and I sat on the same on the same porch in the same chairs. We'd done things in between, like ate and slept and read the newspaper." That to me says they are just going through the motions of life, not actually live.

   Finally in Indian Education we are presented with a Victor who does well in school, in the beginning of the story he jokes with his friends drawing a stick figure of an Indian peeing.  This is his way of wanting to connect to the community. Later, starting as soon as second grade, he starts to realize that if he wants to make it in this life he has to live by white societies misconstrued standards. Resulting with him towards the end of college despising the Native American community. At the end of the story he says "Why should we organize a reservation high school reunion? MY graduating class has a reunion every weekend at the Powwow tavern."

Allen Ginsberg's views on a Captialistic Government

Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl is a three part free form poem dealing with the unjust and unfair power of capitalistic government, and the effects it has on people with less than perfect social standings, specifically during the time of the beat generation. The first part of the poem deals with various reasons why Ginsberg and his friend from the beat generation went metaphorically mad. The second part of the poem, which was written at a later time, has to deal with the unfair amount of power the government has, and what it does to people of lower social classes. And the final part of this poem has to deal with Ginsberg's relationship with Carl Solomon.

The first part of this poem deals with various situations why the greatest minds of Ginsberg's generation “....went mad, starving hysterically naked.” (3) Ranging from situations dealing with college officials, the government and law enforcement, all representations of the capitalistic government in which Ginsberg has such a problem with. Examples range from getting kicked out of school, drinking turpentine, experimenting with drugs, and getting caught trying to smuggle drugs, specifically marijuana into New York. Most of these situations were caused due to the micromanagement of the law by the Government. I think Ginsberg is trying to comment on the fact that these things wouldn't happen, or be such a big deal if the Government did not have such a tight grip on its citizens.

The second part of the poem Howl describes various ways the government oppresses unprivileged people of the community by comparing it the the Semitic word for God or king, Moloch. In this part of the poem he describes the unfair power the government holds, stating “Moloch the heavy judger of men.” Also calling it “the incomprehensible prison!”(11) He says “Moloch, whose mind is pure machinery!” This is saying that the government only thinks in numbers and dollars and not truly about the problems in front of its face, about race or equal rights. The last stanza deals with people committing suicide because their government has left them no other option. “They jumped off the roof! To solitude! Waving! Carrying flowers! Down to the river! Into the street!” This is someone jumping into the river Styx as they jump off a roof into the street.

The third and final part of this poem seems to be directed towards Carl Solomon, specifically dealing with Ginsberg's time spent with him. Many of the lines are references to the time they spent together in San Francisco, including the line “where we are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter.” I believe he wrote this when something of importance was happening to Solomon in the town of Rockland. This was Ginsberg's way of supporting him without being there with him.

Gender Roles in The Piano Lesson

When first reading August Wilson's The Piano Lesson it is very easy to zero in on the topic of racism. However I believe that is not the only major theme that exists in this text. I do believe that the issue of sex and gender roles is an underlying issue that is just as important to the play as the race issue is.

Throughout the entirety of the play Women (at least those who were forced to be slaves) are often revered and remembered not only before their male counter parts, but in a greater, almost divine light. There is even a scene that includes Avery and Berniece have a fairly progressive talk about women, especially since this play takes place in the 1930's. Also the scene where Doaker explains their family heritage to Lymon is a good example.

There is a scene in the play where Uncle Doaker goes through their family tree explaining to Lymon about it. The way he describes the males as oppose to the females is a bit sexist . He has almost nothing good to say about any of the males in the family aside from Papa Boy Charles, who physically sculpted the piano, while saying almost nothing about the females of the family. Now while he is not actually saying anything good or respectable about the females, the lack of good things to be said about the males of the family adds to the respectful demeanor of the females of the family. He also explains how Papa Boy Charles' Wife and Son were traded for a Piano. The fact that a woman slave was chosen over a male slave also adds to the theme of gender roles. Due to the fact that women can potentially give birth to more slaves.

Another point that adds to this theory is the scene where Avery was trying to convince Berniece to marry him. He says to her “Who you got to love you, Berniece?” when he is proposing and saying he cannot wait forever. She then replays to him by saying “You trying to tell me a woman can't be nothing without a man. But you alright, huh? You can just walk out of here without a woman and still be a man. That's alright. Ain't nobody gonna ask you, “who you got to love you.”.” This is very progressive thinking for the 1930's. This adds a great deal to the theme of gender roles in the play.

The final scene is also a great contribution to the theme of gender roles in the play. At the very end of the play when Sutter's ghost is fighting with Boy Willie, Berniece finally decides that she needs to play the piano. When she does she sings a type of chant. When she is chanting she asks for help from her ancestors, however the only ones she actually calls upon are the women, with Papa boy Charles being the only exception due to him being the one who carved the piano.