week 10

Langston Hughes wrote poetry and stories about African Americans that were slaves or were in some sort of trouble. His short story “ On the Road” tells the story of an unemployed large African American visiting a minister. Sargeant is the African American’s name. He is living a very poor life because he has no money and no one to help him. He is cold and hungry and has no home. It is snowing. The minister who is supposed to be a man of God shuts the door in his face after telling Sargeant to go to the homeless shelter. The problem is all the homeless shelters are full. This short story reveals the cruel reality that many innocent people had to face then and still have to face today. The only difference between then and now is that people aren’t discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Sargeant goes to another church and hits the door frantically trying to get help. Several members of the town try to get Sargeant away from the church but Sargeant refuses to move until he finally pulls the church down. In a dreamstate Sargeant dreams that he met Jesus and had a conversation with him as well as visits a train yard. He eventually wakes up to find himself in jail. This short story, like Langston’s poetry really helps readers of today learn about the cruel treatment that African American people underwent during early American history. Hughes, like many other African Americans and civil rights activists believed that all people were created equal. In his amazing poem “Question” Hughes makes an amazing statement that everyone is equal in death. Race does not matter when life is over on this Earth. Money means nothing in the eyes of death. Rich or cotton picker it doesn’t matter Hughes says we all go to the same place when we die.

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is a short story by Ernest Hemingway that leaves the reader wondering what exactly was Hemingway trying to show the audience? At first, it seems as if Hemingway is portraying women as problems to men. The main characters of the story are Macomber, his wife Margot, and their tour guide Wilson. Macomber obviously has many problems with his wife Margot. Margot demoralizes her husband by making fun of his fear of a lion as well as leaving the bed while he is sleeping to join the tour guide in a display of intimacy. The betrayal goes even further at the end of the story when Macomber comes face to face with death and his wife shoots him in the back of the head. It is not clear whether or not Margot shot Macomber on purpose. However, given the state of their relationship it seems as if it was a cold blooded murder which leads me to believe that Hemingway wrote this story to reveal the hardships of a intimate relationship and the insanity that very well could take over a person in a rocky relationship. There is also the fact that Margot was hysterical at the end of the story as she pleaded with Wilson to stop with his sarcastic insensitive remarks. Margot was not entirely a villain. She had to deal with the slightly arrogant Macomber who up until their visit to the safari thought of himself as a top of the world man. Margot may have been trying to save Macomber when she shot him. He was afterall, about to be charged by one of Africa’s powerful beasts. When Macomber came face to face with the wild untamed forces of nature his arrogance faded and he became a sad man trying to survive the hardships of nature and a relationship that was falling apart. He was a character trying to once again be on top of things after he was embarrassed by the lion incident. Wilson is a cold apathetic character. It seems as if he is always trying to add more trouble to the already dying relationship between the Macombers. For example, after he sleeps with Macomber’s wife he tells Macomber that he should control his wife and make her stay in camp. He always seems to be contributing to the problems. At the end of the story he seems to find the death of Macomber funny.

Barn Burning is a short story by William Falkner in which one of the main characters, Sartoris, is forced to make decisions about what’s right and wrong all on his own. His father , Abner Snopes, has a non-traditional way of seeing justice. Perhaps Snopes suffers from some type of personality disorder. The constant conflict between Sartoris and his father leads to the burning of more than just a barn. It leads to the burning of a family. I think the burning barn symbolizes the relationship between one boy and his family. It is Sartoris’s own morals and understandings that allow him to make the right decision to go against his father’s rebellious unethical ways; and stand up for what is right. Sartoris knew that his father did burn the barn and was about to burn another. He felt obligated to keep his secrets to himself because it was his family he was going up against. Snopes is a abusive and selfish man. In my eyes, he is not even a father to Sartoris. Snopes tries to turn Sartoris into a spitting image of himself but it does not work. Sartoris ran away from his horrible so – called father and warns de Spain of his father’s evil plan. Sartoris loves his father. However, Sartoris’s instincts led him to make the decision that led to his father being shot. Sartoris is left alone at the end of the story listening to the only thing that is real to him- nature. Sartoris did not want to hurt his family but he wanted an end to all the drama he had to endure everyday living with his deranged father. A lot of people have to come to terms with what is right. Too often what is taught to children is not what is morally right.