Final Paper Ideas

For my final paper, I think I have come up with the idea of tying in Life Histories to the novel Maud Martha. What I would like to focus on in my essay is the idea of consumerism, or the desire to always have more. What I am hoping to look at is the idea of a "good life" during this time, especially considering the types of housing (kitchenette? apartment?) and employment. I found a few of the Life Histories that mention kitchenettes, so I will be able to tie those in, and I am positive I will have a surplus that have to do with employment.

Maybe I should narrow down my search to the Chicago area? I don't exactly want to tie in the issue of racism in my paper, because it seems an obvious topic, but maybe if the Life Histories has info. on this... Maybe something could work?

Any feedback?

Maud Martha

The theme of color has been spoken about in Brooks' book, Maud Martha, and is prevalent to us as a reader. Taking off on "Maud's" sense of solace and safety she receives from nature and vivid colors, I also discussed Valerie Frazier's article, "Domestic Warfare in 'Maud Martha' "and how the theme of color has now transformed itself to "Maud's" skin color. I believe that there is internal anger lurking beneath "Maud's" quiet demeanor. I used Elaine Tyler May's "containment theory" about how women are asked to be "domesticated" under the "US Patriarchy" (Frazier 134).

Furthermore, as a source of information and classroom discussion, I research "Eurocentrism" and found a website taken from the Science Encyclopedia who had written the article, "Eurocentrism-Examples, Twentieth-Century Critics of Eurocentrism, Eurocentrism, Anticolonialism, Modernity, Postcolonialism, Bibliography". Here are the "six Eurocentric beliefs":
-"Non-European societies tend to be despotic and servile, as against the West's freedom and individualism."
-"Non-European societies are Islamic, or pagan, or believe in strange religions, which are inferior to Christianity, or lacking in truth."
-"Non-European societies are cruel and lack concern for human life. They practice barbaric customs toward women, such as female genital mutilation (North Africa),widow-burning (sati, India), or foot-binding (China)."
-"Non-European societies are inflexible and unchanging. Some European thinkers attribute this to topography or climate..."
-"Non-European societies are poor, backward, underdeveloped, as opposed to the industrailized, progressive, and rich West."
-"Non-European societies lack rational modes of thinking and scientific approaches."

I found this article very interesting since "Maud" consistently referred to the color of her skin not having "Eurocentric qualities."
Do any of these "Eurocentric beliefs" apply to Maud Martha? Is "Maud's" sense of "Eurocentric beauty" different than these beliefs as stated by the Science Encylopedia article?

Maud Martha

This train of thought is left over from my response paper. The use of color in the text immediatly grabbed my attention not only because of Martha's awarness of her color, but also because the color in the novel were really the only parts that stuck with me when I closed the book. Those few bits of color stood out more than any of the ordinary actions of the characters. It seemed as those the colors were the reality more than the people...and perhaps to Martha they were. For her color defined her life to be different from even that of her sister. Any other thoughts on this significance or the poetic approach to this novel?

On Richard Wright's Black Boy

In Richard Wright's autobiography, Black Boy, I was struck by the overwhelming hardships of racism, hunger, beatings, and instability of Wright's homelife. Suffice to say, I was amazed at Wright's accomplishments of going from an extremely poor hunger stricken young boy to an accomplished writer and influential person through his connections with the John Reed's Club and later a part of the Communist Party.

At the end of Wright's book, Black Boy, I was consistently needing to look up information of historical fact. I chose to research first the Black African American involvement with the Communist Party in 1928. This led me to formulate an opinion that Wright may have fashioned some of his non-conformist ideas of liberty and freedom of speech after H.L. Mencken when reading the American Mercury as a dishwasher (344). My response paper analyzed an article written by William E. Cain, "A Lost Voice of Dissent H.L. Mencken in Our Time" written by Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia in 2006. Thus, answering my question of, "Had Richard Wright been influenced by H.L.Mencken during his late teen years when he read the American Mercury? Did Wright speak with the same authority of Mencken with outspoken ideas of freedom and liberty?"

Also, towards the end of Black Boy, when Wright was ostracized from the Communist Party, he was consistently called a "Trotsky" and a intellectual (377-389). I wanted solid background information of what was going on in Russia during this time period, so I read the article, "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" written by Columbia Electronic Encylopedia in 2009. I was given background of the economic and political situtation of Russia from 1917-1938. Russia during this period turned to "capitalism" and away from consumer goods (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 1-8). "Collective and state farming" was nationwide during Stalin's reign and his gradual transformation of Russia was at it's high (1-8). The "Five Year Economic Plan" which had been renamed from the "New Economic Policy" of 1921 was put into place by Stalin. Any farmers who refused this plan were "liquidated" and approximately "5 million people" were sent to Siberia (1-8). Trotsky killed one of Stalin's closest members and then led a "purge" through out Russia during 1936-1938 (1-8).

This information was very helpful to me since I do not have a solid background of history. I wanted to share this so others may have this information too, if they were interested.

Lastly, a topic of discussion that I dealt with was if I thought that Wright was correct in changing the title of American Hunger to Black Boy in 1944? What was Wright's driving force behind writing this book? Does the title reflect this belief?

I decided that I did believe that Wright was correct in changing the title, because even though the theme of hunger was present through out the book, that Wright wanted to focus on the heart and soul of Black African American's in the old South during this harsh time. His passion for showing the hardships and struggles of the Black African American's during the Great Depression was the driving force behind his writing.

On Black Boy...

With this humble post, I hope to make up for neglecting this blog. They are new to me...

I am helping Jack Hibbard a little bit with his course on renaissance literature, and yesterday had the luck to meet a visiting professor who went through our graduate program in the early 1990's. Among the interesting remarks she made was one on autobiography and literature; she said there is a fine line between the two.

Probably because I am writing my own self-absorbed memoir to finally earn my MA, I find this worth wondering about. Borges famously says that no one is the literary Adam, but Augustine really did invent the autobiography sixteen centuries ago with his Confessions; it feels like literature to me, as does a more modern example, Nabokov's Speak Memory. When I read the memoir of poets I adore like Charles Simic and W.S. Merwin, I get the same feeling, that a real life story is aspiring to something more.

I am wondering if my colleagues find this worth wondering about tomorrow evening. What precisely are the points of intersection between autobiography and Literature? Does Wright achieve this with Black Boy?

Be sure to read article I sent on Johnson

I am glad you will be exposed to BOTH Now in November and Grapes of Wrath. Few people have read the former, and that's a pity, I think.

I am especially interested in how Johnson's novel has started to be rediscovered by eco-critics, so I would like to hear observations about her views of land stewardship and nature. Dr. Perry

Now In November Discussion

I'm still warming up a bit to the science of discussing literature (it's been a while)--here are my attempts at discussion questions:
1. Why do you think this novel has fallen into relative obscurity compared to others of the period (Steinbeck, etc)? What's missing?
2. Compared to Dos Passos and other authors we will read this semester, Johnson's characters seem free of vice in terms of finding outlets to deal with the stress of their lives. Do the characters in Now in November harbor addictions? Are they greedy? In what ways?

Jenny/Jeff/Steve--representation of American Dream and anti-American dream--racism
Lisa/Connie--gender & destructive relationships: familial and romantic (any positive resolution?) birth control & abortion etc.
Heather/Ryan/Suzanne--source of his characters including the actual historical personages
Joel/Kurt/Nicole/Cory--biographies and style of prose there (and style of the whole book)
Camera Eye, Newsreel, Narratives, Cartoons
Dan/Nikki/PaNhia/Matthew--narcotics and smoking and alcohol

The Big Money

After reading the suggested portions, as well as some of the other narratives, of Dos Passos' The Big Money, some of the questions that came up in my mind included the following:

• What is the significance of the Newsreels at the beginning of each narrative, and their lack of time references?
• What is the significance of breaking up the narratives throughout the book, rather than having just one entire section devoted to each character?
• Why does Dos Passos use the characters and portrayals that he does, what about them makes their stories relevant to the Great Depression?

As to some of the topics that I thought may make for good discussion:

• The element of greed throughout each character's narratives, not in the traditional sense of greed for money, but rather in other ways within their lives.
• The ways in which Dos Passos changes elements of his tone and diction from narrative to narrative that is specific to each character.

These are just some of the thoughts that came up as I read through the book. See everyone in class!

Topic Regarding The Big Money: I am interested in observations regarding Dos Passos' treatment of gender--be sure you read the "Margo Dowling" narrative as well as the last on "Richard Savage," if this interests you as well. I believe Dos Passos's depiction of sex has been little analyzed: the practicalities of birth control and stds, the issue of sexual violence, of the sex trade etc. Dr. Perry

So, folks weren't reading this?

In response to Dr. Perry's discussion that the Life Histories weren't published:
Having read the North Carolina histories, I am not surprised. It seemed to me that the writers knew in some cases that the profiles they created would not be read during their lifetimes. So many of the descriptions of the subjects they interviewed were unflattering to the extent to being insulting: describing the female subjects as "mannish," "awkward," "ugly," and so forth. Either they did not expect the subject to read, or they only wrote flattering descriptions of the subjects they perceived to be literate. Nevertheless, I am astounded at how many of the accounts written in the North Carolina file are so consistent with our Dos Passos novel. Can't wait to explore and write about it more.

More summary of the "Life Histories"

One student wrote, "The WPA project provided people of the time stories of others who were experiencing the same struggle." I just want to clarify that this extensive archive was never published in print form, so people of the era were not reading it, unfortunately. Only now have the primary documents been digitized and made available online.

From reviewing the class work, the states that offered most about the GD were South and North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois (Chicago), and New York City.

Again, some of you may return to this archive for further research.

Life Histories

After reading the life histories from Florida and listening to the class presentations, the collection of interviews provides readers with a window into the lives of the people during the Depression. Based on the presentations, it was interesting to learn about how each state was affected by the Depression. As I read life histories from Florida, I was the most surprised by the fact that some families had to live in condemned homes. For example, to avoid paying rent, one family had to live in a house that leaned to one side and was patched together with lumber scraps and cloth. It was also interesting to note the large number of Floridian squatters that inhabited the state. The nation was filled with great desperation and anxiety as the number of jobs decreased and poverty increased.

Research Ideas mentioned from last night's presentations:
1. Comparative analysis of bestsellers of the era: Maltese Falcon versus The Good Earth versus Gone With the Wind--especially the idea of people desiring to read about how farming families in other times and places also suffered and endured
2. Compare the accounts of Floridian squatters to the depiction of life in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
3. Compare depictions of interracial relationships (Shayla's Alabama account) with published accounts of the era
4. Compare accounts of sailors (Steve's NYCity) with published accounts such as O'Neill's The Hairy Ape
5. Compare the accounts of taxi strikes with Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty
6. Continue with research into material culture of underclass women in GD e.g. work life as practical nurses, laundry, cleaning, prostitution etc. even Nikki's account of AA women in a NYC "slave market"
7. Consider depictions of elders working in the Life Histories such as Nicole saw and compare to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
8. Jeff had a good observation about women's lack of voice in the Wisconsin narratives, when they told accounts of male relatives versus their own lives

I may post further after I read your "Response Papers" --cmperry
7.

Thank you for your work on the Life Histories

I plan to summarize tonight's presentations and reiterate the sugggestions I saw for further research. cmperry