... or realize that they were really, in fact, ugly and inferior. "You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and ... they had each accepted it without question." (Morrison 39) In Toni Morrison's short story "Recitatif", Morrison sets up expectations and breaks them down by showing us how much we rely on limited and stereotypical information in order to draw conclusi...

• Word Count: 1083
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... tales-the ugly duckling does not become the beautiful swan. Seasons do not presage growth; indeed summer is winter," (Harris, 11). Morrison shows that the emigration of black people to the North was not a story of easy success and comfort; these emigrants had to contend with their differences with white people as well as the black people of the North. "Through a process of reversal, Morrison undercuts the belief in the ... North as a freer place for black people, thereby debunking the myth that informed folktales ... and blues lyrics about successful journeys North. She also refutes the...

• Word Count: 619
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Boston there are two trails you can follow. scattered oaks and immense pine trees cover the swampy land on one side of the morass. in that direction is where kidd the pirate, as the story goes, buried his treasure. as most tales go, the devil minded the hidden riches after kidd had gone. the trees growing as high as 90 feet tall, making it dark at high noon, was ... one of the things that made this path one left mostly untraveled. pits of quagmire engulfed trunks ... visitors to leave. tadpoles, water snakes and bullfrogs mingled with the neighborhood owls, creating a unwelcoming atmos...

• Word Count: 337
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... and consequently they are always considered ugly. Hence blacks learn to hate themselves; and Pecola Breedlove, prays every night for blue eyes. As a result the ideal of beauty becomes a unsafe and racist ensnare into which African Americans are born, and from which they can never completely escape. In other ... , their conviction They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance"(pg 39). Some instances that deal with beauty in the book are as follows: Claudia is constan...

• Word Count: 577
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , and drum beats. Along those lines, an early type of slave music was the spiritual, which has its roots in Protestant hymns taught to the slaves. Spirituals were "long thought to be the spontaneous creation of African-American slaves and the only original folk music of the U.S." Spirituals told tales of suffering and struggle, but these true meanings were often hidden. An example is ... in the song "Gospel Train" with the lyrics, "Get on board, little children/There's room for ... many a-more/The gospel train's a-leavin'..." The "gospel train" of the song likely represented an ... ...

• Word Count: 1049
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... -American Culture Series. Print. Reprints of editions originally published in 1936. "Reading references" at end of each chapter in both items. "Record illustrations" at end of most of the chapters of The Negro and his music. This book is available for readers in 2 libraries. ---. Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington, D.C: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. Bronze Booklet ... Harris, Leonard, and Charles Molesworth. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Locke, Alain Leroy." Africana: The Encyclopedi...

• Word Count: 2542
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... -American Culture Series. Print. Reprints of editions originally published in 1936. "Reading references" at end of each chapter in both items. "Record illustrations" at end of most of the chapters of The Negro and his music. This book is available for readers in 2 libraries. ---. Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington, D.C: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. Bronze Booklet ... Harris, Leonard, and Charles Molesworth. Alain L. Locke: Biography of a Philosopher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Locke, Alain Leroy." Africana: The Encyclopedi...

• Word Count: 2542
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a black soldier (Fincher). They said blacks were not equal and it would dishonor them to have to fight along side these Negroes. Because of this, hundreds of Union soldiers left the army (Fincher). Black soldiers were subject to discrimination and petty harassment everywhere they went. Through it all, African Americans still lined up for enlistment. They never backed down and refused ... often subject to harsh whippings if commands were not followed. They received inferior equipment and medical care. Nearly twice as many African Americans died of diseases on the battlefield then the whi...

• Word Count: 2424
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of his farm. Bands included Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix, among many others.38 The number of people attending Woodstock was equivalent to the population of the fourth largest city in the U.S. at the time, and traffic was backed up for literally miles.39 The celebration received a lot of negative feedback from older generations, but other than ... excessive drug use premarital sex, Woodstock-goers handled themselves very well. Of the five thousand people treated for injuries, the majority were foot prob...

• Word Count: 3282
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... soldiers. They would serve America proudly and fight to free their fellow brothers who were still enslaved. Official Enrollment occurred only after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862.6 Thousands of black men enlisted. They would be commanded, led, and trained by all white ... were not followed. They received inferior equipment and medical care. Nearly twice as many African Americans died of diseases on the battlefield than the white soldiers.13 Throughout the war, black soldiers fought for their rights to be treated equally. They were continuously told th...

• Word Count: 2958
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the short story "The Pocketbook Game" was about this black woman named Mildred ,who was carrying a conversation with her friend Marge about a situation involving Mrs.E ., a lady she works for. Mildred tells Marge ... at Mrs.E One day Mrs E. told Mildred to do something so Mildred purposely left her purse behind and waited outside for a couple of minutes and then knocked on the door rapidly and yelled "I forgot my purse." She held it close to her just like Mrs.E would always do. So mrs.E felt ashamed and tried to apologize, ... but Mildred interrupted her saying if she paid as less attent...

• Word Count: 258
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... of Water: A Black man's tribute to his white mother by James McBride is the story of a young black man trying to reveal his mothers past and his own identity. Set in the 1960's in New York City, James tries to figure out his mothers past while struggling with his own racial identity. James's childhood was spent in a chaotic home with 12 children ... of racial segregation. Another strength in the book is the motifs of James's story and his mothers. Through James's narrative technique of weaving his own life story in and out of his mother's story allows us to learn about the lives of mot...

• Word Count: 512
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Water, an autobiography by James McBride, tells the story of Ruth McBride, the two men she married, and the 12 children she raised. Ruth is a Polish Jew who immigrated to America 2 years after birth. As an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and Jewish faith behind in Virginia to escape the life she was living. I think this was a good idea considering ... she was abused by her father and treated very poorly her entire childhood. One of Ruth's sons, James, tells the story, went through many of the similar hardships that his mother did, as a result of never being sure of ...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery; " ... light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be" (82). The "woman behind the bars" is, of course, the narra...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery; " ... light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be" (82). The "woman behind the bars" is, of course, the narra...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... her soul" (Chopin). This revealed to me that her strong emotions initiated her physical exhaustion. Mrs. Mallard was not only emotional, but now she cannot even handle it physically. The story implied that Mrs. Mallard's weakness goes as deep as her soul. Mrs. Mallard began to appear as a stronger woman after she sat down. She looked out of ... married to Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard knew that she could now begin to live her life to the fullest. She was now free from the man that controlled the relationship. In "Story of an Hour", marriage gives the impression that the male has complete co...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... racism affects life in a black community in Lorain, Ohio, in the 1940's. Morrison uses two narrative voices. The first and the predominant voice is of an omniscient narrator in the third person, responsible for the characterization of all the characters. The second is the voice of Claudia, whose memories frame the events of the novel. Claudia narrates her story from two distinct perspectives: a child's and an adult's voice. ... Claudia is retelling her own story about the way she acquired her adult understanding of racial prejudices. She narrates the story from two different points of vie...

• Word Count: 2371
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... Ernest Hemingway, is a story about an event's influence on the story's characters. The story is set in a restaurant in a small town in New Jersey. Two killers come into the restaurant and gradually reveal their intention of killing Ole, an ex-heavyweight prizefighter, to the three protagonists: Sam, the black cook; George, the restaurant owner; and Nick, a young customer that dines in the restaurant. The killers wait in the restaurant for Ole, who ... [killed]. It's too damned awful-(76). In addition to the personality differences between Nick and the other two protagonists, the fact th...

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . Her use of black idiom is very effective and adds the extra fragment of actuality and authenticity to the story line. "Walker's use of language, especially Black idiom, is masterful and adds poignancy and depth to the narrative." (Another characteristic of Walker is the inclusion of highly controversial and unique circumstances in her novel. For ... Research Company, 1984. ?h Bloxham, Laura J. Contemporary Fiction Writers of the South. Ed. James M. Flora and Robert Bain. London: Greenwood Press, 1993. ?h Current Biographical Yearbook. (1984) Current Biographical Yearbook 1984: Walker, ...

• Word Count: 1803
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... he helps a black man escape from slavery and become his friend and confidante. Huck struggles with the concept of right and wrong through out the story because of his friendship with Jim and what he learns on the river. However meaningful they may be, they are most certainly opposite of what he has been taught ... by society outside of the world of the river. This inner conflict haunts Huck through his journey up the Mississippi and often leads to dynamic moments in the story when he is forced to weigh his conscience and what Jim means in his life. Early ... Huck's mind of what he bel...

• Word Count: 1375
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... how it operated when she was growing up. It is similar to the way it operates in this story. In the short story "The Sky is Gray" written by Ernest Gaines, the author tells a story about a boy being raised in a racist society and how he coped with it. In "The Sky is Gray", racial prejudice operates in the typically unfair and organized manner. Decades ago, blacks always had to ... sit in the back of the bus while the whites sat in the front. Skin color was ... harsh way Octavia treats James, but for a mother struggling to prepare a child for a cruel world, tough love is the only answer...

• Word Count: 886
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... , she has to assume care herself and she does so without a grumble. She has a miraculous ability to accept the harsh circumstances and go on, recovering from each blow like a Phoenix from the ashes. Her journey is a heroic one. The journey of Dee in Alice Walker's short story is that of a "prodigal daughter" coming back to once repudiated roots. Dee left her poor, uneducated African ... -American family, of which she was ashamed of, to live a more "glamorous" life in the city. Soon, however, she recognized the value and richness of her heritage and returned home for some souvenirs - old, ...

• Word Count: 1070
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

At the start of the story, Mrs. McIntyre seems sympathetic to the Guizac family and especially to Mr. Guizac who could efficiently operate all of the machinery with a great deal of expertise. Mrs. McIntyre believed that "getting him was the best day's work she had ever done in her life". She was so pleased with his work that she was satisfied to let others go because ... look that froze them in collusion forever", which would indicate that their hesitation would bring about the accidental death of Guizac. O'Connor is using violence for its shock value and it becomes the most vivid expression...

• Word Count: 418
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... for economic security and self-sufficiency. When the story opens, Dave walks from the fields to the general store, traditionally the site of exploitation for tenant farmers and sharecroppers, both black and white. He asks Joe, the white store manager, if he can borrow the Sears catalogue, the symbol of Hawkins's control over the commodities available to his tenants. Joe hands over the catalogue and confirms that Dave's "manhood" ... of race, class, and gender. When Dave does get a gun, he uses it irresponsibly. He carelessly shoots Mr. Hawkins's mule, Jenny, and then makes up a preposte...

• Word Count: 973
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... will not take the extra salt meat offered by the shopkeeper. The film is enlightening. It shows how people of different backgrounds view race. The difference in the text from the film is when James and his mother board the bus and the signs directing the "white" and "colored" people where to sit are not shown. The remainder of the story is congruent in both the text and the film. The scene of the two men ... arguing in the dentist's office is major. It shows how one man ... is complacent to live his life the way he always has and not deal with the issues that surround him. The other sh...

• Word Count: 404
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School