Mary Elizabeth

I find this article to deal much more with gender roles than anything else. In the beginning we find the husband telling his wife that she should have breakfast ready for him even though she admits to being horrible at making it. She burns the coffee and turns pancakes into sheet rock.

The husband, even knowing already that he would have to get breakfast outside the home, has her make it anyways. Toward the end of the story the gender roles become evident again. The husband says to his wife that he would kill her if he came back and found her married to someone else even if he married 50 times. I find this very wrong on the part of the husband. This type of mentality shows the ideological principles that were evident during the period that this was written. It focus's more on the fact that the women should be home cooking and cleaning and the man should be out working.

I tried to find some type of racial undercurrent in this story, but this was to no avail. The only mention of slavery was in the past tense and it does not seem to be an important part of the story.

Reapers

After reading the poems by Toomer I noticed alot of repetition in the regards of the female character. One poem seemed to stand apart from this repetition was the poem "Reapers."

I enjoyed reading this due to its illiteration on the "s" sound and how expressive it felt when reading it. I noticed alot of reference to "black," which struck me as his comparison to the African race of course.

I noticed that even though the field rat was present during the work of the mower the workers did not stop. This to me showed the type of almost trance like conditions that must have occurred during this time. The workers do not stop for anything.

The term reapers also seem to me to have a double meaning. When I first read the title I thought that it was going to resemble the death of someone. When I read the first line I noticed they meant farm equipment. When I started concluding the poem it struck me that they were talking about death again. I thought this use of the term was very enhancing to the poem.

Rest of Book

Within the conclusion of the story I would like to touch upon a line that occurs on page 200. Toward the bottom of the passage he states, "I am sure I should have found it easier to take the place of a gladiator, no matter how fierce the Numidian lion, than to tell that slender girl that I had Negro blood in my veins."

This line sums up the entire book. Our narrators inner fears are addressed in their entirety. Above all else he is afraid to share his inner secret with the one person in the world that he does not feel alienated from. Everyone in his life that meant anything to him are no longer in the picture. He is completely alone, besides this one girl. He would rather take his chances and risk death than to turn away the only person in his life that he feels love for.

This aspect of his character shows that he is ashamed of bieng of his natural race and is afraid of other people finding out. This is not becuase he does not honor people of color, but that he is afraid of the uncontrolable action of others upon himself due to having black blood in his veins.

Pages 89-148 Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man

All right. In regards to the assigned readings to chapter ten I found an important aspect that I would like to touch upon. First, however, I would like to give a brief synopsis of the events that lead up to it.

The narrator first gives us a glimpse of his life when he becomes engulfed with a gambling problem and talks about his philosophy of gambling. This is how many people lose differently but in the end those who lose money go into a state of reform and give it up. Our narrator is one of those people who win some and lose some.

In regards to himself however, this is not the case. His philosophy does not pan out. He actually acquires a job rolling cigars and finally realizes that he cannot keep up with the life of honest work and gambling due to the strain on his body. He decides that instead of giving up gambling and reforming he will give up his job.

While being open to the style of music called "rag-time" at the “club” is where his life actually starts to take hold. A peculiar man who happens to be a millionaire takes him under his wing and hires him to play this style of music for him. This man that hires our narrator and the event that occurs accidentally is what this post will reflect upon.
There was a passage on page 141 that I found strangely intriguing. This is where the millionaire friend has him play the "new American music." When a fellow listener hears him play this style of music this listener bumps our narrarator off his seat. The listener than changes the narrators unique style of incorporating classical music into this style of "rag-time" and reverses it. He changes ragtime music into classical music. This changes how our narrator thinks. This seems to be one of the biggest events that happen to the narrator that changes his life up to this point in the story. This is where he gets the idea to go back to America and start playing for his people of color. He seems to get this notion that this whole time he has been in Europe with the millionaire he has become white. He has been educated and trained to be that of the upper white class through the coaching of the millionaire. This small incident in the narrators life makes him realize that he wants to be an advocate for his race and against the advice of the millionaire he decides to leave Europe and bottle up all the hopes of the American Negroes into his new form of music.

About Myself

My name is Shawn. I am in my senior year of college. I am studying to become a teacher for the grades of first through sixth. I am 22 years old and enjoy spending time with my girlfriend and friends