Race in Poetry (Liner Notes)

Frequently alluded to by poets, race is one of the most debated issues in society. However, without any scientific proof of any genetic difference among races or anything of the sort, supporters of the so-called races end up debating nothing but a social construct based upon prejudice of how people look. The prevalence of this debate throughout society influences its prevalence in poetry. 

It is not uncommon for poets that have experienced racism or have lived through times of racial discrimination to refer to such events in their poems. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the sad death of a boy in her poem "The boy died in my alley." She depicts the scene with much sorrow  and pain, giving the speaker a sense of helplessness towards the cruelty of prejudice based upon death.

Other poems like "Man's short life and foolish ambition," by Margaret Cavendish, refer instead to the similarities among mankind. Sharing the same hopes, dreams, and failures, mankind is linked in many more ways than it differs.

Race exists in society promoting segregation. However, poetry builds the bridges required to change the popular misconceptions that result from race. The concepts of equality proposed by Cavendish and the violence resulting from unjustified prejudice mentioned by Brooks are both calls of action to their audiences and to question their own take on race.

A Forgiving Midas and his Ironies

When Mr. Norton brings up the story of his daughter and tells it to the Invisible Man, I was reminded of King Midas; the king of irony. How they both loved their daughters, their eventual deaths and how much power they had stood out. Because both men had some sort of involvement in their daughters' deaths, I thought about the irony that was taking place in Norton's character. Clearly, he was a lonely yet loving and forgiving man who believed in his contributions to the college. However, the ironies that began to characterize Mr. Norton's and the Invisible Man's relationship were just as characteristic of the situation as the ones mentioned before.

First of all, the little prejudice Mr. Norton has on the Invisible Man (from now on referred to as IM) allows him to share personal stories such as the tragic loss of his daughter. As their bonding continues, IM, who is driving Mr. Norton, one of the college's trustees, around campus is unable to answer some of the questions about fate that puzzle Mr. Norton. I thought it quite ironic that an educated man sought for answers in a college student of what was considered an 'inferior' race and who was nonetheless than his chauffeur. The fate conversation also stood to me because Mr. Norton wanted to know how his fate would be affected by the college, his contributions and finally, IM. This led me to another irony: it was college that made IM invisible.

Mr. Norton wondered what his fate had in store while IM, as we've already found out was made invisible by the institution Mr. Norton was so proud of. The last page of Chapter 4 made everything even more ironic. Just as IM and Mr. Norton are saying goodbye, the sad yet comforting farewell may have one think that everything would be alright. Instead, this is when the previously mentioned "College made me invisible" kicks in. Something that has yet to happen in college is responsible for IM's invisibility. The irony here is that the institution for which Mr. Norton cared so deeply about, was actually going to make the student he had befriended invisible, the complete opposite than what he wanted.

Another incident in which Mr. Norton was involved in, their encounter with Jim Trueblood, and him rewarding the rapist with $100 is just proof of the ironies that surround Mr. Norton. Irony is itself a recurring literary device that throughout the novel helps emphasize injustice, intolerance and the naiveness of the blind society. However, Mr. Norton epitomizes irony as all of the situations he was in  had some sort of irony.

Invisible Man is Filmed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cctjuE95VA

Vivid and Visible: Imagery of Pain

The frightening scene described by Ellison in the chapter highlights his use of imagery to depict the events in the story.

As I read on, I started to feel fumes of alcohol, cigars, tobacco and lust coming out from the pages. Men from all sorts of backgrounds sitting in the blue gray light near the ring grabbing the blonde dancer, "their beefy fingers sink(ing) into soft flesh... terror and disgust in her eyes."(20) While I read this part of the chapter, the vividness of the descriptions and the quick pace at which everything was happening it didn't feel as if I was reading anymore. It actually felt as if I was watching a movie, but was somehow in the movie, like I was sitting in that room with all of those men shouting. Later, when the narrator begins to describe all the blows he received while on the ring, I noticed that the length of each sentence reflected the length of each action. Like this one for example, "My arms were like lead. My head smarting from blows. I managed to feel my way up the ropes and held on, trying to catch my breath." So much effort to get up! Short sentences, as if at the end of each one he's trying to catch his breath and has very little energy. You can  feel how hard it is for him to get up. You can see his hands holding on tight to the rope and his body struggling. Suddenly though, his efforts are interrupted by "A glove (that) landed in (his) midsection" and as a reader you can feel the punch as he falls down again.(20) The sentence however, doesn't end there but  rather continues with a comma, "I went over again," sort of freezing time at the moment he begins to feel the pain. (20) Eventually, he realizes the game was rigged, him being the only left with the biggest man in the ring, inevitably losing the fight. 

The first pages of Ellison's Invisible Man are packed with literary terms that give the "Invisible Man" an air of solitude and sadness. With words such as death, and the personification of this of this term, Ellison brings to life concepts that allude to the invisible man's situation. Also, rhyme helps to emphasize the contradictory idea of blindness vs. invisibility, "hibernation" vs. "animation" are two rhyming words that 

The Last Splash

Life for Edna Montellier had lost meaning, if ever it had any.

She went back to the one place that had aroused that awakened sensation she had had, the one that made her feel like she had been reborn, introduced into the world as a new person (chapter 7).  In the beginning, she tried to live with the changes and the realization of the duality in her life and her lack of involvement in it. However, Edna's transition towards actually being happy and acknowledged as a person instead of just a 'wife' or 'woman' is impeded by her realization that this will likely never happen. And this is just too much for her to handle.

Edna then seeks refuge from her inconvenient truth in the place where she first became aware of it. Yes, the sea. So she shows up unannounced at the Grand Isle and while Victor is worried about making her stay comfortable, she decides to take a stroll down the beach. Eventually, Edna ends up swimming in the sea, wearing nothing but her birthday suit. Feeling finally free, she keeps swimming, not even exhaustion can stop her, and there is nothing that will bring her back to shore either.

Edna's death shows her desperation and need to cleanse herself from the outside world. She could no longer live without a meaningful life. Therefore, when she thinks about Mademoiselle Reisz's words as she swam "out where no woman had swum before" her daring and courageous attitude to rebel and exert her free will, recognized that she was in deed, an artist. Not only had she literally swam far out, but she had also challenged what her marriage stood for by questioning it and deciding it was not right to continue in it, something that most women were very scared of doing.

Edna's last splash is characterized by the things that were going through her mind at that moment. Childhood memories, the hum of bees, her sister, her father, and a dog all crossed her head in that last moment. Her life before marriage when she was still 'free' comes back to her at then when she has achieved freedom one last time.

Life, the Meaningless Monster