ESSAY CEMETERY

Mukherjee calls America a myth. Mukherjee is a naturalized citizen and had to prove her worth to become one. She was born in Calcutta, India and never expected to naturalize, but to return home to marry the man her father picked for her. When she first arrived in Iowa for two years to study it was very homogeneous but now, 35 years later, it is so diverse that there's a cultural   or identity crisis regarding foreigners. In India this was unheard of, because classification matters above all and decrees precisely who each person is. Mukherjee herself was defined by her ancestry, caste and homeland. One day she spontaneously married her Canadian husband. For ten years she felt like an expatriate, and wrote a book that was an expression of this. After 14 years in Canada she decided to become an immigrant instead of an expatriate and moved to America with her family. Canada was hard because it was very racially exclusivist. America on the other hand held the appeal of its egalitari...

This short story is summarized in bullet points for no good reason. Events ·        It's a hot dry summer. Tony's friend Leon comes back from the army. He is drinking. ·        A state cop punches Leon in the face ·        Leon is admitted to the hospital with broken teeth and get stitches ·        Tony dreams about the cop who has white round eyes on a ceremonial black mask instead of a face ·        Leon gets better but wants revenge and Tony tries to dissuade him ·        Tony sees the cop in a gas station store and Leon says he is just as good as the cop ·        The cop follows them and they pull over. He makes them get out of the car. ·        Tony knows he can't look at the cop's eyes. He tries not to but then looks at ...

The story is comprised mostly of the main character's thoughts, which I decided were more easily summarized in bullet points. Ayah (an old Indian) sits outside in the snow immersed in nature reflecting on the past and the future Her son Jimmie was a soldier She thinks of her mother, grandmother and herself preparing wool and weaving blankets She thinks of Jimmie's birth She recalls when she was informed of Jimmie's death Chato- Ayah's husband? She recalls how: She mourned Jimmie She signed papers that allowed her children Ella and Danny to be taken away by doctors without understanding what she signed, but then ran away with the children The next day Chato, Ayah’s husband, explained that the children had inherited a disease from Ayah's grandmother and she had signed an agreement to treat them The children were taken away She had had other children who died but it was bearable because they were with her Back to the present: It starts snowing Ch...

Buddy and his half brother and his mother Albertine American Horse are in the woodshed, hiding from the cops. One of them is Officer Harmony, a tribal policeman who is tough on Native Americans. Buddy knows something horrible is coming, something metal from the sky with barbs and hooks, to kill them. He enjoys watching his mother sleep. His mother regrets her experiences with men but not Buddy. She hates men. Two policemen and a social worker Vicky Koob come. Buddy hugs his mother close and relishes the contact despite the fear. The brown dog barks at them viciously so one of the policemen draws his gun on him and it retreats. Uncle Lawrence, in strange garb, opens the door. Harmony tells him they have papers that allow them to take Buddy. The other officer, Brackett, warns Lawrence that they'll take him too if he doesn't cooperate. They handcuff him and start searching the house and shed. Koob is eager to find Buddy "to salvage him". She catalogues all of the...

This post contains a summary of sections 1-5 out of 6. 1 Race has had no or very little bearing on the course of literary theory in 20 th century. The literary canon is now considered to contain works which reflect on the general human condition and not particular groups. This has not always been so: in the 19 th century literary theory was interested in historical perspectives in literature. Literature was interpreted according to the period in which and the people by whom it was written. Race was important in criticism. It was considered to be the origins of man, the truths, ideas and ideals held by the author as part of the race. These were expressed implicitly and explicitly in the work. Race spans the history of the race and subsequent connected elements resulting from this long history. Texts were considered important which elevated the historical/racial element. Blacks and whites in America, for instance were seen as irreconcilably different. Even though in...

King makes a distinction between just/moral and unjust/immoral laws and makes the claim that unjust laws do not have to be obeyed. Segregation laws are unjust and therefore must not be obeyed. Furthermore, Negroes are prevented from voting and changing the laws and so the laws are politically and undemocratically unjust. These laws must be disobeyed openly so that their breacher, by breaking the law, illustrates the unfairness of it. King cites precedents of civil disobedience that changed society for the better, and instances of unjust laws. King is disappointed with the "white moderate" who is content with keeping the peace rather than justice, and so are resistant to the necessary tension that is a product of the civil rights revolution. They agree with the principle of equality but not to the actions that must be taken to achieve it. They think that blacks should wait before claiming their rights. He is grateful for the few whites that do join the black struggle....

This is a summary of the following short excerpt from the book  -   America is overwhelmingly paradoxical. In spite of this, Americans are united by an "American Creed" held by everyone. Dominant American ideals are explicit, even though politics are not successful in abiding by these. The ideals are powerful and ingrained into every aspect of American life. They are so ingrained that American Negroes, a group against which there is very much discrimination, partly believe it themselves. This "Creed" which promotes individual rights emerged at a time when America was fighting for independence. Its set of ideals continues to be the basis and impetus for all wars. America saw itself as a unique and unprecedented phenomenon of democracy, which learned from mistakes of the past to create an egalitarian future. America was happy to support revolutions in other countries which followed the "Creed". Despite "old Americans" being favored ...

A femal protagonist is in a passionless marriage. "She" gave "him" a child because she respected him and he her. He is a professor and she - a poet. She met Ellis, "The Lover", at an artists' colony in New England. This happened while she was being talked at by an old black poet who rambles. This happens a lot because she is a good listener and people take advantage. She stops listening every time people get pompous and starts daydreaming. Ellis whisks her away and she immediately thinks of him as her lover. She finds his hands sensual. They go to dinner and he talks about himself. She is mildly amused. When he starts talking about his unpublished novels, she loses interest. Despite this, she does not show it – she intends to make him her first lover. "Afterwards, she would be truly a woman of her time". She is aware of how pleasing she appears, and notes that people turn to look at her when she is near. She is easygoing and does...

This is a lecture that Walker gave at Sarah Lawrence, her alma mater. At Sarah Lawrence, she says, she felt free to live and create for the first time. After she graduated she realized that there was a gap in her education and her identity, for she had been taught the history of the south exclusively from a white point of view. Blacks have to study black texts. She discusses the literary canon and how blacks are missing from it. Where she would teach, instruction of texts written by black people is integral and invaluable. Many blacks feel that they lack history and art to relate to. Walker has made it a private mission to investigate into black writing and make them better known. Currently, they are not well known. These poems, though not in anthologies, are in her heart. She hopes she is a black revolutionary because she is always changing, and "for the good of more black people". She suggests that artists lock themselves up and produce work. But, she qualifies, bl...