"Up From Slavery"

Melissa Veum

Engl 48B

01/11/11

Journal #3- Booker T. Washington

"... I used to try to picture in my imagination the feelings and ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no limit placed upon his aspirations and activities. I used to envy the white boy who had no obstacles placed in the way of his becoming a Congressman, Governor, Bishop, or President by reason of the accident of his birth or race (Washington, 679)".

"Washington replied that confrontation would lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks, and that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome pervasive racism in the long run (Wikipedia)".

Even though Booker was doing his best to try and fit in schooling whenever he could between work and home, he still often thought about being a white boy and not having to struggle to learn. Learning seemed to be something that "privledged" white kids got to do and even though Booker and his family were free, they still had to work to make ends meet. It was not just about what he wanted to do, he had to ablidge his family as well. Booker would think about white boys with "no limitations to their activities or aspirations" in life and it made him envious in a way. He wondered what it would be like with no obstacles in your way of becoming whatever you wanted to be in life. No struggling, just aspirations of wanting to be and in some cases absolutely being granted the job of your dreams, as President or as a Congressman. Booker talks about this privilage coming about to white boys who were "accidently" born into this raceand to specific families. He saw this as accidental because it was. It seemed that just because of where, when, and to whom you were born didn't really matter as much as the color of your skin when you were born. Just because some children were born white they were given special privledges and most told that they could become whomever they wanted. Booker had to work for everything in his life and things were not just as easily handed to him, in this way it seems that he was envious of these white boys merely because of the color of their skin and what that must've felt like.

I think that Booker T. Washington was extrememly smart in the fact that he knew who he was and what he wanted as an individual, not just as a poor African-American child growing up in Virginia. Being intellectually smart was very important to him and he felt entitled to an education just as much as the next child. I liked how Booker explained that after some time he was no longer envious of the white boy because he knew that just because you were white didn't mean that you were successful in your life, he knew that you had to work at your life and at what you wanted to be. He knew that success was based on successful you were in your life even with the odds stacked high against you. Because Booker had to work harder in his life and he was not just handed anything because of birthrate, it made him appreciate his accomplishments even more. He had worked and struggled and juggled a lot in the early parts of his life and he can feel good about what about what he has accomplished and also feel good about his race and who he is because he is a confident, strong individual.

"The Yellow Wall-Paper"

Melissa Veum

English 48B

01/07/2011

Journal #2- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be (Gilman, 815)".

"Gilman called herself a humanist, and believed the domestic enviornment oppressed women through the patriarchal beliefs upheld by society (Wikipedia, Charlotte Perkins Gilman)".

This quote shows the reader just how upset and alone the narrator of this story felt during her "sickness". This room upstairs that she did not want to be living in anyway, had a horrible yellow stained wall paper on the walls and she just hated it, it creeped her out. In this quote she is talking about how in all forms of light this wall paper becomes bars, bars in so many respects. Bars according to the narrator that keep her locked in this drab colored and decorated room for three months, bars that keep all women from living their lives, and bars that close in on you when there's nothing else to do but sleep and escape reality. The narrator has escaped her own reality because she feels trapped in this house and she talks about how different types of light make the wall-paper bars and how she can see a woman behind them, longing to come out. She says this woman is "as plain as can be" why would anyone who feels trapped look fancy? The narrator sees this woman as maybe a reflection of herself and how plain and monotone she herself has become because of her perscription to do absolutely nothing every day.

The narrator explains that the wall paper looks like bars especially by moonlight maybe because that's when she herself feels the most trapped. Her husband sleeps with her in the same bed almost every night and she does not sleep at night, she is scared to even move in the bed because she will disturb her husband and he will think something is wrong. The narrator is behind these bars herself, she is trapped in a world where everyone in her life thinks she is fine and that she just needs rest and to do nothing, even the things she loves to do. She has to hide her writting and she cannot even move rooms out of one that she simply despises all because her husband, the physician, thinks it is best. No wonder she feels the walls literally closing in on her in the form of bars, especially by moonlight, that is the most awkward, unsafe time of her day. When you are left alone all the time and told to do nothing but rest, your mind takes over, even if it's not supposed to. The narrator, seems to have slipped into her own unconcious and far from reality, but no one notices until the end, and then I don't think her husband knew what to think. She is making a stand for all women through her own personal anguish and escaping reality as a way to get through her days in this room which she hates and feels uncomfortable in. She feels as though I'm sure many woman did during this time when modern medicine was full of theories and unthoughtout ideals of what was best, doctors not knowing that on the inside of theses peoples subconciouses many were screaming from behind their own bars of reality.

"An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge"

Melissa Veum

Engl 48B

01/06/2011

Journal #1- Ambrose Bierce

"Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be recieved with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him (Bierce, 361)".

"First finding his voice in newspapers, Bierce became a prolific author of short stories often humorous and sometimes bitter or macabrae. He spoke out against oppression and supported civil and religious freedoms (The Literature Network-Ambrose Bierce)".

This quote portrays death as a type of distinguished all-knowing superior being. Death, when he comes around should be announced with respect, as if death is being referred to as a loyal king is to his countrymen. Death should be a public affair and it should be respected altogether. This quote reasons with the theory that death should be announced as if it is something to look forward to and as long as it's done with respect, this announcement should also be publicised and in a formal setting. Death should also be treated this way by those most familiar with it; as if as well as one might think they know death and feel "comfortable" with the idea of death, you too should feel the same respect and almightyness towards death coming round.

Death being percieved as all-knowing and superior is not too far off from what some may come to theorize about the entire process. I think that when death does take it's toll it is not to be taken lightly and in this story especially it is not far from anyone's mind. The way that Bierce painted the scene in the beginning of this story took death and made it into something that was almost being "announced" and with a great deal of respect also. The scene was portrayed very tough with the soldiers and with everyone around just sort of waiting for death to arrive, including Peyton. Peyton seemed to take his untimely death lightly throughout the different scenes in this story. He slipped into his unconscious and dreamed about getting away, what he would have to do to survive this ordeal, he became seperated from his own reality and in turn broke his neck and had his life torn from his fingertips. The quote states that when death is coming round, he needs to be treated with respect, even from those who are familiar with him, and I don't think that Peyton did this. Peyton was a fool and the reader does sort of feel badly for him, but death was coming for him wheather he was ready or not and ultimately he was not ready and slipping into a dream-like state did nothing for the fact that death had already arrived and as familiar Peyton was with death at this moment, his reality couldn't have been further away.