Final Project Reflection

    I seemed to have learned a lot from the experience of reading both books and I was happy that I got to choose the lens that I chosed because of the perspective that I saw it from. I already had an idea of what I believed before these two books but I definitely felt that it helped my knowledge grow. The way these two novels were similar because we got to see the racism towards black people and what the white people felt about black people. The way I think was different was that in the novel of “ Song of Solomon” I felt gave us a better understanding of how black people felt. Some things I think I wouldn’t have gotten if I didn’t chose the lens I was focusing on was the idea that on Huckleberry Finn, possibly a lot of people felt the same way Mark Twain felt. I think the benefits of using a critical lens is that you get a new perspective on the story and could make you view things differently and could lead to a different bias compared to if you didn’t focus on a lens. The downsides could be that the new bias that was created could not be so positive. Another downside could be that you possibly may not get all the sides of the novel and just one because of the focus I had in one Lens. But in overall, my beliefs stayed the same just with some few additional ideas to keep in mind.

Huckleberry Finn Critical Lens Close Reading

"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful.  Why, looky here. There was a free n----- there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man.  He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State.  And what do you think?  They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything.  And that ain't the wust. They said he could vote when he was at home.  Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to?  It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that n----- vote, I drawed out.  I says I'll never vote agin.  Them's the very words I said; they all heard me; and the country may rot for all me—I'll never vote agin as long as I live.  And to see the cool way of that n-----—why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't shoved him out o' the way.  I says to the people, why ain't this n---- put up at auction and sold?—that's what I want to know.  And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in the State six months, and he hadn't been there that long yet.  There, now—that's a specimen.  They call that a govment that can't sell a free n----- till he's been in the State six months.  Here's a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free n-----, and—"

   There happens to be a specific race in which Mark Twain focuses to in which discriminate and that is African Americans. The author seems to be comfortable enough to say the “n” word in the book and just this word itself is discriminatory. Besides this, there seems to have been quite some opinions on what people believed about black people and they didn’t support the direction the State was heading towards. What I mean by direction is that the Country was making a move into letting black people vote and a lot of folks were not happy with this action being performed. One example of someone who was not happy by this in the book was Pap. He was angry at the government and one black men from Ohio that was able to vote. In chapter 6, page 24 Pap pours out his anger at a black male because there was a state that will allow this men to vote and Pap stated that due to this, “I’ll never vote again.” This shows what a huge impact black males having the right to vote cause Pap to take into action. He asks himself also, “What is the country a-coming to?” He seems to be also quite disappointed with the country while at the same time being furious about the decisions that are being made. I feel like a lot of other people of Paps generation may feel the same way towards black men voting back in the day. One reason why I say this it’s because if one person has an opinion or an idea, guaranteed that someone else has the same opinion. Another reason why other people may agree with Paps is that black people were not treated equally before so therefore were treated bad and did not support any kind of positive moment that will help black people. It also seems that Pap is pretty angry at the fact that the black men may be better than his ownself and has a type of jealousy. “There ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane,” said Pap. This black men seems to have better gear than that of Pap’s and seems furious to know this fact. In addition, there’s another statement that Pap said in which other people again may think similar. “I says to the people, why ain't this n---- put up at auction and sold?” he said , this may be what a lot of other people may also say by knowing what’s going on about this black men. In conclusion it just seems that Pap is racist that’s for sure and gets you thinking on the society that use to be like and what people’s reaction were being taken towards certain actions.

Song of Solomon Responding and Reflecting

 I felt that I have learned a little more knowledge from Song of Solomon compared to the knowledge I had before. Song of Solomon I feel came more of a perspective of a black men and got to see the side of life of those black people. My lens was race and culture so a lot of passages I got to see how my lens connected to how it was all connected. I got to understand better how for example black people felt towards white people and I got to see similar opinions today. Not every black person of course has the same bias towards white people but I got to see how much these ideas have still not changed. It seems that generations of race do continue to carry on their beliefs towards certain things to their younger generations and still becomes hurtful because it occurred to their older generations. In this case I’m talking mostly about how black people felt towards white. My belief is that of course the past can be ignored and can be apologized but it will not be forgotten. But it seems that with this in mind, instead of things getting better, they tend to get worse but actions that hurt people seem to come more often now a days.  

Song of Solomon Critical Lens Experts

   The article I read was “An Excursion into the Black World: The “Seven Days” in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.”  In this Article we got to see how life was from a perspective by an Afro-American. In page 87 of this article, Guitar gave a reasoning in which he stated “Do we have a court?” By he means from this is that there was still at that point no justice towards black people defending themselves. For example, Guitar again stated “There are places right now where a Negro still can’t testify against a white man.” The whole quote that he stated pretty much symbolizes how less America cared for blacks and they did not count often times and were irrelevant. The only time a black person was relevant was a victim of a crime. This connects to my lens of race because again we get to see how far racism towards black more specifically here has came from and where it’s going.  

Song of Solomon Critical Lens Close Reading

My lens that I am focusing on is race and in this book there seems to be a few quotes in which I think could be racist. In the following quote that I decided to chose we could see the racism that there is to different race of people and not just to African American people. Guitar states that, “No. White people are unnatural. As a race they are unnatural.” It’s interesting to see how far this idea and stereotype has come along. In this quote though, Guitar can’t find an explanation of the ability of white people committing such hate crimes. Milkman tries to argue against what Guitar has said by saying that good white people do exist. Today we see the similar bias on people having this perspective towards white people. We could see how much racism and perspectives has been the same and is true that the only way to stop racism is that it should not be talked about. Because the more it is talked about to each generation, it will continue to carry on and be harder to stop racism.

Final Project Reflection - Marxist Lens

Through the blogging through critical lens project we analysed both The Song of Solomon and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through a specific lens. The lens I did was on the Marxist critique of the books or the analysis of the societal class structures. The books seemed to differ in many different areas in theme and location but had very interesting conclusion on class systems. To start off, what the two book seemed to share was a themes of racial discrimination. Huckleberry Finn’s racism is much more pronounced compared to Song of Solomon. After that, the difference ends where Huckleberry Finn takes place in pre civil war south. While the Solomon takes place in the north many years after the civil war. Also the protagonist are different. Huckleberry is the naif, white protagonist of his own book. While Macon “Milkman” Dead is a soulless, awful black protagonist of the Song of Solomon. Although extremely different, both books showed an interesting ways to show Marxist critique through different ways which made a very interesting experience.

The Marxist critique in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn seemed to be on the racism on the society shown in the book. Huckleberry Finn takes in the south before the civil war. This was where slave trade was an everyday practice and the racism towards blacks was rampant. The system in place was obviously flawed and favored white class. In order to critique this system, Mark Twain makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where the main character, Huckleberry Finn is try to escape his abusive father and civil life with the Widow Douglas. On the way he meets up with Jim, a slave that escaped. Mark Twain uses to critique the systems in place by showing how south treated blacks with the relationship with Huckleberry and Jim. Huckleberry is known to make fun Jim and almost makes him go back into slavery. Yet through all the horrible things that Huck did to Jim, Huck did not feel sorry or entitled to apologize. Which shows how that south could not comprehend that they were racist and would stick to the system even given a way out. While with the Song of Solomon , Macon “Milkman” Dead’s story is on escaping the his society through his class consciousness and eventual class suicide. Taking place in various northern american states, Milkman goes through a journey to discover who he is and how has family been affected from their past experiences. Many of the characters in the Song of Solomon show to have gained an understanding of their class. Through Milkman’s experience with the characters like Pilates and learning his family’s past, He understand how he is part of the oppressing class. When he finally breaks all ties of being apart of the oppressing class, which is signified by the burying the original Malcolm Dead, he is stands up and assumed to be killed by Guitar. Toni Morrison used to show that Malcolm “class suicide” was completed has he truly became what he need to be a “dead”.

Both books theme varies in message, the Song of Solomon was on the Milkman escape from oppressive class by understanding his own roots. While Huckleberry Finn’s was on the failed escape of Huckleberry from the oppressing class with the understanding the roots of blacks. Through the two books seemed to give the same message that understanding was the key to leaving a flawed system. Also it seemed that they both gave themes of capital was one of the problems of the system. Milkman came from a privileged background and Huckleberry was in a system that rewarded people with the most capital or slaves. Without the critical lens I would have not of notice this trend as much. Also I would have not realized how the structures affect people. Jim in Huckleberry Finn was treated horribly because of the systems in place. Not only he was discriminated against but his only friend Huckleberry was a jerk to him. Although this is great what I missed throughout this analysis was exposure to other lens. For example, the Song of Solomon had some great examples of the feminist lens like Hagar and Milkman’s relationship. By focusing on one lens I was unable to focus on other lens and did not see other great perspectives. By using the Marxist lens I was able to see a perspective on class systems which was different to the way I normally read. The project shows how books don’t have a single, definite interpretation and the way we look at literature can be expanded by the perspectives we use.

SOS Close Reading - Marxist Lens

“[Guitar] We poor people, Milkman. I work at an auto plant. The rest of us barely eke out a living. Where’s the money, the state, the country to finance our justice? You say Jews try their catches in a court. Do we have a court? Is there one courthouse in one city in the country where a jury would convict them? There are places right now where a Negro still can’t testify against a white man. Where the judge, the jury, the court, are legally bound to ignore anything a Negro has to say. What that means is that a black man is a victim of a crime only when a white man says he is. Only then. If there was anything like or near justice or courts when a cracker kills a Negro, there wouldn’t have to be no Seven Days. But there ain’t; so we are. And we do it without money, without support, without costumes, without newspapers, without senators, without lobbyists, and without illusions!”

“[Milkman] You sound like that red-headed Negro named X. Why don’t you join him and call yourself Guitar X?”

“[Guitar] X, Bains—what difference does it make? I don’t give a damn about names.”

“[Milkman] You miss his point. His point is to let white people know you don’t accept your slave name.”

“[Guitar]I don’t give a shit what white people know or even think. Besides, I do accept it. It’s part of who I am. Guitar is my name. Bains is the slave master’s name. And I’m all of that. Slave names don’t bother me; but slave status does.” (Morrison 267 - 268)

In the Song of Solomon, Milkman and Guitar are arguing over the ethics of an organization called to Seven Days. The purpose of the organization called the Seven days is to launch reactionary attacks against whites to help balance out the racist attacks on blacks. At this moment in the story, Guitar told Milkman that he joined the Seven Days.

In the passage Guitar argue his justifications for joining an organization that kill innocent whites to retaliation against attacks against black to Milkman. The first thing that Guitar talks about how he works in an auto factory. Often factory workers are a representation of the working class. Toni Morrison must of make it Guitar’s job to shows that he is in the working class. The reason that this is relevant is because that it sets the stage for what is Guitar’s life is like. Back in the early 1900’s, factory work is hard and it did not pay very well. Some people may say that is where people best discover class consciousness. During Guitar’s long factory hours, he may have found the system unfair and did not like how it favored some groups over others. He furthers this behavior with Guitar’s description of the court systems. When he mentions “jews try their catches in court”. A stereotype of jewish people is that they are generally rich. Also “catches” is slang for beating up someone. Guitar may have said this to show that the rich are taking their fights in courts because the rich know they can win in courts rather than in an actual fight. After this statement Guitar talks about how the blacks can’t fight for themselves in court. Throughout this description he calls the fellow blacks, “negros”. The word “negro” is a word in history that has been used to dehumanizing blacks. He may have been using this word to show that blacks have no say in the same way as they have no say in the name given. All these little hints suggest that Guitar has gone through class consciousness and has realized that he is the oppressed class. Guitar learns this from the factory job he works, the unfair power given to the rich and unfair courts. All these actions are reasons that Guitar may have joined the seven days.

In the second part of passage, Milkman retorts by saying “...why don’t join a red-headed Negro named X. Why don’t you join him and call yourself Guitar X?”  This is obvious reference to Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a African american Muslim minister who advocated for rejection of the idea of integration and nonviolence for blacks. He has been known to some as a hero and to others a perpetrator of violence and racism.  It seems that Milkman is making an obvious comparison of Malcolm to Guitar. Milkman is probably saying that the path Guitar is going down get him killed. The reason that Toni Morrison may have put this analogy is to show how Milkman can’t except Guitar’s escape from societal norms. Just like the ambiguity of Malcolm X, Milkman can not seem to justify that whether or not Guitar actions are justified even if he breaking societal barriers. Then Guitar finishes the passage by saying, “... Guitar is my name. Bains is the slave master’s name. And I’m all of that. Slave names don’t bother me; but slave status does.” This quote shows that Guitar has reached class consciousness. He literal says that “slave status” bothers him. Guitar has shown to reached to class consciousness and reached to the point where he realizes his position in society. Although violent, Guitar may have used the Seven Days as way to get away from his society oppression. This shows that the passage is not on Milkman and Guitar arguing about the Seven Days but rather them arguing whether or not escaping the societal norms is justified.

Final Reflection - Biographical/Historical Lens

I think that from reading both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Song of Solomon in the biographical/historical lens, I've really learned a lot. In reading the novels alone, it's very different to be focused on the historical aspects of the novel and the events taking place in the novels rather than just focusing on the plot and events unfolding themselves. It's one thing to read a novel for the storyline and information gained by what is told in the story, but it is a completely different sort of experience to be reading between the lines with a historical kind of focus.

In both of the novels, there was a lot of history and background about how African Americans have lived and how they have been treated in past and present years in relation to the time settings of the two novels. There was discussion of civil rights, liberties, and freedoms, and lots of talk about slavery and the direct and indirect segregation of white and black people. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, though, there was more of a focus on the relationships between black and white people I thought. Here Huck is in this generation of slavery and segregation, and he's best friends with a slave. In Song of Solomon, I believed there wasn't as big as a focus on the relationships as much as the events and issues surrounding the events within the novel.

I think that had I not read the two novels through the biographical/historical lens, I would not have made nearly as many, if any at all, parallels between the events of the novels and the events of today. It was a clear advantage of using a critical lens to me that I could gain this deeper insight on this one aspect of the novel, although I also definitely think there are multiple downsides to reading through a critical lens. I really enjoy reading for the stories and for the leisure, and reading through a critical lens takes a little bit away from that, just because it is so much hard work and effort to constantly and consistently be reading through a biographical/historical lens.

In conclusion, I really don't think my beliefs changed much if at all as a result of this project. I definitely though think that my ideas and beliefs have been reinforced and backed up. I think it's possible though that through the comparison between the events of the novels and the events of today that my beliefs were strengthened in many different ways.

SoS Responding and Reflecting - Biographical/Historical Lens

Racism and the issues associated with racism are and have been very present in the United States history for a very long time. Racism dates way back to both the colonial era and the slave era, and has continued on throughout the history of our country. While there have been many advances in the abolishment of racism, it is still one of the most highly talked about topics today.

From the end of slavery to gaining the right to vote, African Americans as well as many other minorities have come along way in taking a stance and demanding the civil rights, liberties, and freedoms that they deserve. Events such as the abolishment of slavery, the end of segregation, and being given the right to vote have all really helped the equal movement among all citizens and humans in the United States. I do still believe however, as do many many others, that there is a lot of progress to be made in this topic and issue. Events are still taking place today that are unjust and parallel our country's past of unequal treatment.

While reading the Song of Solomon, certain events and scenes that would take place in the novel would remind me of recent stories I've seen in the news or even just in my government class in school. For instance, in the death of a boy in the novel, Till, an African-American boy was killed by a group of white men. In the novel, it's explained by another character how white people would always be able to make the minority the perpetrator of the crime, by saying (for example) that a pack of bubblegum could be a hand grenade. While I talked about this slightly in a past blog entry, this crime within the novel really reminded me of a real-life crime in the United States from just a few years ago now. An African American boy was shot by a white patrol man, and the details of the case were very unclear for a very long time. One point was that the boy, Trayvon Martin, was thought to be holding some sort of weapon, when what he really had was a small packet of candy.

My point here is that even though the book was written in the late 1970's and the real life crime was committed in late 2012, the parallels of the crimes are so similar. On one hand, I think about the advancements our society has made towards the equal treatment movement in special regards to race and ethnicity, and I feel proud that the country has made so much progress in its law systems. But then on the other hand I think about all the events of today such as Ferguson and Baltimore, and I think of it as a one step forward and two steps back kind of situation.

The main differences between today and the time in which Song of Solomon was set, however, is that back then, there were not many laws advocating for equal treatment of all people. Today we do have the laws and we do have the rules and protocols to aim us towards equal success, but perhaps the mindset and the morals and beliefs of individuals in our society has yet to change.

Final Reflection- Psychoanalytical Lens

Looking back on my use of the psychoanalytic lens, I notice that my main use of it was to analyze why characters acted the way they did, and why the authors would write them with that type of personality. I enjoyed reading the books using this method because neither one was a book I would have read by choice, so the lens gave me something to focus on.

From this experience, I learned about ways of analyzing characters through a small piece of the text, which I enjoyed doing. Finding nuances in every word and phrase reminds me of analyzing poetry, and that, like poetry, everyone can find their own meaning. That freedom of interpretation is a beautiful thing.

While I was focused on my critical lens, I may have missed some parts of the text that were more involved with socio-political implications, or racial and historical aspects that I did not have the context for. However, I do not regret picking my lens, as it allowed me to discover more hidden aspects of the main and side characters that were not apparent on the surface.

When I was reading the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the various accents were difficult to read, and made it hard to submerse myself fully in the story. However, this actually became a benefit as I paid less attention to the story and more attention to the way the characters spoke and behaved over the entire book. Likewise, in Song of Solomon, the extended metaphors and omniscient third person narration made the character interactions the focal point of my experience with the novel.

SoS Responding and Reflecting- Psychoanlaytical Lens

When I began reading Song of Solomon, I expected it to be a coming of age story similar to Huckleberry Finn. This impression was wrong on many levels. First of all, the symbolism of the beginning of the story, which involved a man flying, and the ending of the story, which was about how Milkman found spiritual freedom and learned about his family’s past. The symbolism embedded in the story made Song of Solomon have an entirely different quality than the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, due to Huck and Jim’s characterization being based around their straightforward and helpless qualities.

The second reason my impression of Song of Solomon was wrong was the genre of the overall story. Initially presenting itself as a look into the difference between the black and white cultures of the era, towards the hundred page mark the story became a coming of age story for a Milkman, who was already in his thirties. Then, the story had a final genre shift to one of mystery, as Milkman pursues his roots and finds himself. Morrison, the author of Song of Solomon does an admirable job of making all of these genre shifts form a cohesive and understandable whole, with characters making mistakes and assumptions based on their perspective on the world and their internal beliefs.

The characterization of the entire Dead family, as well as the other prominent characters such as Guitar, are what makes Song of Solomon into a classic. Throughout the book, Characters make mistakes based on their flaws and the way they see the world. Perhaps this shines through most of all in the antagonists, Guitar and Hagar, as they fail to understand what Milkman is doing, seeing only the betrayal of his actions. This is what the book is truly about- if you do not know yourself, you cannot change.

SoS Critical Lens Experts - Biographical/Historical Lens

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon and Black Cultural Nationalism, written by Harry Reed, serves to view Toni Morrison's novel through the prism of black cultural nationalism, as has supposedly never been done before. In his writings, Harry Reed gives a very accurate account of black cultural nationalism as well includes his beliefs of black cultural nationalism, specifically in relation to Toni Morrison's novel.

Reed describe's not just Song of Solomon but all of Morrison's novels and writings as "ripe with a cultural national thrust." While I have not read all of Morrison's writings, I can agree with Reed in that Song of Solomon does include a lot of the aspects of this nationalism. To give a brief idea and summarization of what Reed is talking about, black cultural nationalism served to centralize discussions of black religious freedom, organize black self-help efforts, and provided the first organized political defense of the black community.

In his work and in talking about Milkman, Reed states that "He was initiated into a sometimes brutal but often exhilarating and deeply satisfying cultural milieu. These new black people are different yet familiar. They accept their cultural distinctiveness, generally without apology. Milkman learns by experiencing the land, the people, and their ways." I completely agree with Reed's analysis of Milkman and his experiences. Throughout the novel, Milkman encounters countless numbers of characters, all with very different opinions, beliefs, and perspectives. Because Milkman was more privileged than some of his other friends in the novel, for example, he gains new insights through his conversations with others.

SOS Critical Lens Experts - Marxist Lens

Doreatha Drummond Mbalia’s “Song of Solomon: Struggle for Race and Class Consciousness” is an interesting analysis on the Marxist ideals in the book The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The one idea that Doreatha Mbalia discusses is the idea of “class  suicide”.  “Class Suicide” is term that Mbalia talks about where Milkman Dead gives up his ties to high society in order to stop being part of the oppressing class. Of course this does not happen immediately and Mablia talks about how Milkman throughout the book learns about his class and race. Eventually, he becomes class and race conscious which leads to him deciding on “class suicide”. Although this idea is valid, Mbalia last statement on The Song Solomon’s Marxist critique talks about how the book has a lack of solution to the problems of capitalism. This is true but the solution maybe that the problems of capitalism are solved with a lack of a solution. Mabalia’s analysis on the idea of “class suicide” is strong but Toni Morrison’s solution to the problem maybe a laissez faire approach.

Mbalia’s justifications for the idea of class suicide is best explained with the character Macon “Milkman” Dead III.  For a large part of the book he is following his father Macon Dead II who is a ruthless landlord. Milkman decides to follow in the footsteps becoming the oppressive class. Mbalia talked about one of the first instances of Milkman’s class consciousness with the character of Pilate. The character of Pilate Dead is the aunt of Milkman. She is known to be poor and yet Milkman says, “And while she looked as poor as everyone said she was, something was missing from her eyes that should have confirmed it.” (Morrison 73) This quote used in Mbalia’s analysis shows how Pilate does not care that she is poor. Rather she embraces it and makes it one of her strengths. This must of had an effect on Milkman and must have made him realize that money did not make up everything. Another aspect that Mbalia talks about is Guitar and the seven days. The seven days is organization that Guitar, Milkman’s best friend, is apart of. The purpose of the organization is to start revenge killings on whites to avenge the innocent killings of blacks. This is especially shown when Milkman says “But people who lynch and slice off people’s balls— they’re crazy, Guitar, crazy.” (Morrison 261) This quote selection from Mbalia shows how Milkman can the extremes that blacks would go in order to seek justice but does not want except this. With this exposure, Milkman can gain some race consciousness. The analysis that Doreatha Drummond Mbalia does is shows a great understand but fall off on the analysis The Song of Solomon’s solution or rather lack of solution to the problems of capitalism. Mbalia talks how the at the ending that Milkman’s giving up and “surrendering to the air” does not show a proper solution to capitalism for Milkman. Although this is valid criticism, did Milkman ever had a chance for “class suicide”? Even if he had gotten back to his black roots and gotten rid of his ties to higher society, his parents would be stuck in the system. Also Hagar would still be dead because of his selfish actions. Lastly it would not change that the society in the 1930’s were still not great to blacks. Milkman’s “class suicide” would be insignificant compared to the entire society. Like Ruth’s father, he tried to “fly” but failed to do so. This would mean that Morrison might have been making fun of the fact that really is no solution. Just as ridiculous as humans flapping their wings to fly the idea of Milkman escaping oppression and racism is just as ridiculous.

Doreatha Drummond Mbalia’s analysis on how Milkman Macon gains class and race consciousness is a great showing of the ideas of Toni Morrison. Through the Mbalia’s analysis, she is able to show how Toni Morrison was making a story of Milkman’s self discovery and eventually to his “class suicide.”  Although this is valid, Mbalia’s points fall off at the end of her critique of Toni Morrison’s ending to The Song of Solomon. The ending for the book may have been metaphor that the idea of “class suicide” may not be possible even with the experience Milkman went through. It begs the question, for Milkman to become more close to his black roots, why does he need to give up all his wealth? The Song of Solomon makes it seem that capital is why Milkman is apart of the oppressing class. Whatever the case, Macon “Milkman” Dead might gone through the necessary steps for class consciousness by the end it may have not been enough to stop problems of capitalism.

HF Critical Lens Experts

   I feel that this book could definitely be viewed as a racist to some people and find it as offensive. But also it could be seen as a lesson to others and be viewed from a different perspective. Reason being is because some readers may not support the form of language that the book is demonstrated and believe that the book in overall should be banned. Just like Julius Lester said that he, “sympathize with those who want the book banned, or at least removed from from required reading lists in school.” I agree with Lester on this but one different view of mine compared to his is that the book should not just be removed from all grade levels, I agree that kids should not be reading this in school but I believe those students in higher level of education should be able to have it available to them if they want to read it. The reason why I believe this it’s because it could get the reader thinking and be able to read this book and get the two sides of a story and see how people thought of slavery in the era the book was written. In the book we read how Mark Twain is racist but we are able to see how people who are “racist” to us view their country and see their morals. Another thing that Lester said is that the author is a young man that does not care so much about anything else besides himself and causes the author to have no sympathy towards slavery. He’s previous comment from Twain that he doesn't take anything seriously except himself is that he made a comparison between slavery and him being locked in a cabin by a drunken father and we clearly see what Lester is talking about. We know slavery and being locked by a father is very different but then again, Twain is just a 14 year old boy who doesn't exactly understand.

SoS Critical Lens Experts- Psychoanalytical Lens

From the perspective of the psychoanalytic lens, Jan Furman’s analysis of Song of Solomon from her book ‘Male Consciousness’ is an interesting look at why Morrison had mostly male viewpoint characters, most of whom were desperate for, or assumed they already had, control over their life. Furman points out that Morrison has an idea of ‘masculinity’ that she thinks appears in most men’s thought processes and that she has tried to convey through the different characters in the story. In some ways, this is true. All of the male characters in the book, especially the main characters are seeking to ‘dominate’ most of the people who they come in contact with. However, to me what Macon, Milkman and Guitar have in common is not their urge to control but their search for freedom, though both Macon and Guitar fail due to preconceived notions of what freedom should be.

Focusing more on Macon Dead, Jan Furman states that ‘Macon Dead’s hearse’ (the car he sometimes drives around town) serves as a perfect symbol of everything about Macon’s life. Though he is rich, his car is a showpiece that no one respects- all of his relationships are cold, grey, and heavy and he treats his family like his car- as a possession that enhances his standing in the eyes of the community. I completely agree with the symbolism of Macon’s automobile. By calculating his worth from the amount of valuable things he owns, Macon guarantees that he will never be valued for himself.

Continuing on to the main character, Milkman starts of the plot of the book with a self-examination so shallow that the conclusion he draws from his moment of introspection only serves to illuminate his flaws. Furman comments that this is when his archetypal hero’s journey begins as he starts the adventure that will lead him to his freedom, though the freedom he eventually finds will be spiritual, not material, in its effect on Milkman’s life. Though this is a good summation, an important point to notice is that Milkman in in his thirties- a decade older at least than most coming of age stories. At the time the story takes place, Milkman is already an adult in a physical sense of the word. Thus, Milkman’s story is less about discovering who he will be than learning who he is, and why he doesn’t want to be like that anymore.

SoS Critical Lens Close Reading - Biographical/Historical Lens

"A young Negro boy had been found stomped to death in Sunflower County, Mississippi. There were no questions about who stomped him - his murderers had boasted freely - and there were no questions about the motive. The boy had whistled at some white woman, refused to deny he had slept with others, and was a Northerner visiting the South. His name was Till...'I'm serious now, ' Hospital Tommy went on. 'There is no cause for all this. The boy's dead. His mama's screaming. Won't let them bury him. That ought to be enough colored blood on the streets. You want to spill blood, spill the Crackers' blood that bashed his face in.' 'Oh, they'll catch them,' said Walters. 'Catch 'em? Catch 'em?' Porter was astounded. 'You out of your f***** mind? They'll catch ’em, all right, and give ’em a big party and a medal.' 'Yeah. The whole town planning a parade,' said Nero. 'They got to catch ’em.' 'So they catch ’em. You think they’ll get any time? Not on your life!' 'How can they not give ’em time?' Walters’ voice was high and tight. 'How? Just don’t, that’s how.' Porter fidgeted with his watch chain. 'But everybody knows about it now. It’s all over. Everywhere. The law is the law.' 'You wanna bet? This is sure money!' 'You stupid, man. Real stupid. Ain’t no law for no colored man except the one sends him to the chair,' said Guitar. 'They say Till had a knife,' Freddie said. 'They always say that. He could of had a wad of bubble gum, they’d swear it was a hand grenade.' 'I still say he shoulda kept his mouth shut,' said Freddie. 'You should keep yours shut,' Guitar told him. 'Hey, man!' Again Freddie felt the threat. 'South’s bad,' Porter said. 'Bad. Don’t nothing change in the good old U.S. of A. Bet his daddy got his balls busted off in the Pacific somewhere.' 'If they ain’t busted already, them crackers will see to it. Remember them soldiers in 1918?'”

In this passage of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, several men including Milkman and Guitar are talking about and discussing the death of a boy from the North, Till. Till had whistled at a white woman and denied other accusations and was killed by white men because of it. The main issue at hand that the men are talking about is how because Till was Black and not White and his killers were White and not Black, no sort of kind of justice will be served to him because of the segregation and unequal treatment of the two races. One man states how the law doesn't really apply to Black people unless it's to send them to prison or a death sentence.

The first thing I noticed when reading this passage are the clear differences between how Milkman and Guitar are reacting to the crime and how their beliefs in racism are so different. Milkman is kind of numb to all of the racism and not very reactive towards any racist remarks or racial slurs. He does not at all talkative in this particular conversation, and he does not seem to know how exactly to react to the information being presented in front of him by the other men participating in the conversation. I believe this to be in part of his upper-class bringing and shelter from the lower-class as he was being raised. Guitar, on the other hand, is extremely sensitive towards racism and is very offended by racial remarks and racial slurs. He is very talkative during this particular discussion. Guitar is quite the opposite of Milkman when it comes to this situation, also partially because of his lower-class upbringing rather than Milkman's upper-class upbringing.

The second thing I noticed when reading this passage is a parallel to a current event of today. When Freddie says, "They say Till had a knife. They always say that. He could of had a wad of bubble gum, they'd swear it was a hand grenade," it reminded me of the past shooting of Trayvon Martin, where supposedly an iced tea and a packet of candy were mistaken for possible weapons. In both this real life crime and the crime stated in Song of Solomon, a Black boy is killed by others for rather confusing reasons. There is a huge gap in the years in which the book was written (1977) and in which the crime took place (2012), yet the two crimes presented seem to be very similar.

SOS Responding and Reflecting - Marxist Lens

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is an interesting take of the black experience during the 1920’s to the 1930’s. One of the more interesting aspects is the characterization of the character of Macon Dead Jr. He is the father of Macon “Milkman” Dead and is portrayed as a ruthless landlord. The extend he goes to get rent from his clients is appalling. In the first chapter, he goes to the house of a drunk who is out of control and threatening people with a gun. Instead of calming down the drunk, he tries to see if he can get the drunk’s rent. This ruthlessness makes it seem that Macon Dead Jr. is bad person. I believe this is not the case as I think that the society of the character can change people to the point where they become the villain.

To go over why Macon Dead Jr. is the villain portrayed in the early sections of the books, we must look at his past. I think the best source to explain Macon Jr.’s villainy is dad, the original Macon Dead.   Macon Jr. says when talking about his dad, “Everything bad that ever happened to him happened because he couldn’t read.  Got his name messed up cause he couldn’t read…” (Morrison 99).  Macon Jr. is right. This starts with Macon’s name. His father was called Macon Dead because a mistake a drunk Union soldier made when registering the first Macon Dead after the end of the civil war. The Dead name has humiliated the entire family for generations. The same illiteracy was the reason for the name given to Pilate which humiliated her at birth. Lastly, Macon’s illiteracy became the reason why he died. After he was tricked into signing his land, Macon Dead fought to the death to protect his land. Obviously his missteps affected Macon Jr. but the question remains why he became so ruthless. Based on what I have read, I think he became so ruthless to escape the missteps of his father. After his father died, he was shocked and he did not want the same fate to happen to him. I think he thought the best way to up his chances of survival was to emulate the people who killed his father. The people who killed his father were whites who tricked him to selling the land over to them. These whites owned land which gave them power in this society. This made them almost untouchable and it allowed to do abuse people like the first Macon Dead. I think that Macon Dead Jr. not only wanted to have that kind of power in the society but would go at extreme lengths in order to get it. Macon Jr. might have succeed but at a cost.

Macon Dead Jr. is an interesting character that the author Toni Morrison has created. He seems like he was trying to help himself by attaining higher status in his society. Although the main question is at what cost? He caused deep emotional scars in his family. He became known as ruthless, unsympathetic landlord but his family was living comfortably. So was it worth it? I think that Toni Morrison wrote this character to represent the attainment of high status. He did not only attain the power the whites who oppressed his father but also became the same kind of villain in the process. The villainization of Macon Dead may show that the society can change people to become something that they were oppressed by.

Feminist Lens - Final Reflection

Everything ranging from art to literature to perhaps the most trivial of things are capable of being interpreted to mean anything, depending on what the reader wants to see. A particularly relevant example are the books that we just got through reading these past few months. Huckleberry Finn and Song of Solomon both have many strong societal focuses, whether it regard race, gender, class, and so on. It is just a matter of which focus one chooses to prioritize in the reading that could completely change the messages of the book.

While I read these books, I focused on the two authors’ attitudes towards gender roles in their contextual societies, which gave me a pretty good look at how the issue might have been represented during that time period in reality. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s message was more along the lines of the fact that gender roles are not inherent; rather they are learned, and the women in society who are constantly penalized for their femininity are really the only ones who pick up on this fact. In contrast, Toni Morrison in Song of Solomon focuses more on the aspect of how men specifically are entitled to their superior positions entirely on the sole basis that they are men. 

By focusing on this lens, I was able to really open my mind to how gender issues are represented and pull out the author’s opinions on them, without getting distracted by other ideas, which at many times appear far more distinct than the one that I am looking for. The downside to a single focus is I end up only hearing about one thing and ignoring all of the other viewpoints and issues that the author is trying to make a statement about. I think that in order to really get the most out of a text, a reader would have to read it multiple times with different singular focuses each time. That way they can analyze the text without distractions, and still not miss any other important statements that the text may contain.  

Feminist Lens - Responding and Reflecting (SOS)

Through the relationships between the book’s main focus character, Milkman Dead, and the female figures in his life, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison serves as a reminder that issues of sexism and misogyny are quite evident even within a completely separate issue, such as the black struggle in the post-slavery society that Song of Solomon is based. Morrison’s main focus regarding gender inequality in society in regards to her book was that men receive special treatment simply on the basis of being a man. Between Lena’s rant to Milkman and Macon’s weekly car rides with him family, the men in the Dead family in particular feel entitled to things, and treat the rest of the family as property to show off, and put to maid-work without any gratitude for their service. In fact, where Milkman and his father Macon are concerned, their unfaltering hatred for the women in their households and the over-prioritization of material wealth rather than love only elevates the illusion of respect from white counterparts, and affects their strive for equality that much further. 

What the inequality between the races and the sexes have in common is they are both still almost just as great an issue today as they were in the context that the Toni Morrison described them in Song of Solomon. Today, some family units are not so far off from what was described in the book. Women and African Americans alike are still fighting for their equality and respect in our white-male dominated society today, and while progress has been made in terms of laws since the context of the books, individual opinions are hard to change with the simple sign of a bill, and are each are still huge topics of debate. 

SoS Close Reading Critical Lens- Psychoanalytical Lens

“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right–that his judgment and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Hagar, don’t. It’s a bad word, ‘belong.’ Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn’t be like that. Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can’t even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, because the clouds let him; they don’t wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him. Hear me, Hagar?” He spoke to her as he would to a very young child. “You can’t own a human being. You can’t lose what you don’t own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don’t, do you? And neither does he. You’re turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can’t value you more than you value yourself.” (Morrison, 495-496)

This lecture is actually between the two main antagonists of the story, with Guitar telling Hagar that her love for Macon is hollow, and that she shouldn't fall apart just because he dumped her. Sadly, this lecture falls on deaf ear, with Hagar nearly killing Milkman in an effort to reconcile her worldview with the way the world actually is.

I chose this excerpt because it shed an interesting light on the various actions of the two people who actively try to harm Milkman. In many ways, this paragraph strips Hagar down to the basics of her character- the problem being, that she doesn't really have one. As Guitar put it, she feels like she is nothing without Milkman. Despite this, Hagar is not a flat character. Indeed, her problem is one of the main points of story- women who love men too much will end up used, abused, or abandoned, depending on the man. Though not a very pleasant message, it is in keeping with most of the female characters in the story who suffer various forms of abuse and neglect.

The other character this text sheds light on is Guitar, the one who is speaking. By giving a clear summation of the situation, he shows himself capable of clear thinking. However, most of his antagonistic qualities come from the irrational hatred he has of all the white men of the setting, seeing them all as personally responsible for the poverty he grew up with.

As the story continues, it becomes more and more obvious that both Hagar and Guitar are victims of the society that shaped them, unable to extricate their identities from the Blood Bank where they were raised.

Feminist Lens - Critical Lens Experts (SOS)

As discussed in the previous entry, the character Milkman is depicted as being selfish, thankful, and otherwise self-centered towards everybody, including his own mother and sisters as detailed in the rant he gets from his sister, Lena, stating, “You have yet to wash your own underwear, spread a bed, wipe the ring from your tub, or move a fleck of your dirt from one place to another. And to this day, you have never asked one of us if we were tired, or sad, or wanted a cup of coffee.” To an extent Milkman had begun to take after his father’s attitudes, in which he only values material wealth and the respect of others as a result of said wealth, with no real respect towards any other person if it means to inconvenience him. As Jan Furman writes in her analysis of gender roles in Song of Solomon titled Male Consciousness, “As it was with his father, family for Milkman was a burdensome afterthought… His interactions with them -all women- is mostly an exercise of male prerogative.” By this, Furman goes on to describe that, because Milkman only extends favors to anybody if it benefits himself, when he struck at his father for beating his mother, Milkman described the feeling as a “snorting, horse-galloping glee as old as desire.” This goes to show that his intentions for besting his father were not so much as to defend his mother as it was to exert his own dominance within his family household. 

Before reading Furman’s analysis, I interpreted Milkman’s attitudes simply as a result of society’s elevating of masculine roles above feminine ones, which would thus explain his egocentrism in the face of the other women in his life, but I didn’t really connect it to being a result of his Father’s influence on him additionally. This understanding of Milkman's influences and priorities as a result of them aided my comprehension of his character development as the book progresses, most particularly through the events following Milkman’s “necessary but unfortunately shallow self-examination,” as a result of Lena’s rant.

Feminist Lens - Close Reading (SOS)

Text: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Lens: Feminist Lens

“You’ve been laughing at us all your life. Corinthians. Mama. Me. Using us, ordering us, and judging us: how we cook your food; how we keep your house… Who are you to approve or disapprove anybody or anything? I was breathing air in the world thirteen years before your lungs were even formed….  but now you know what's best for the very woman who wiped the dribble from your chin because you were too young to know how to spit. Our girlhood was spent like a found nickel on you. When you slept, we were quiet; when you were hungry, we cooked; when you wanted to play, we entertained you; and when you got grown enough to know the difference between a woman and a two-toned Ford, everything in this house stopped for you… You have yet to wash your own underwear, spread a bed, wipe the ring from your tub, or move a fleck of your dirt from one place to another. And to this day, you have never asked one of us if we were tired, or sad, or wanted a cup of coffee. You’ve never picked up anything heavier than your own feet, or solved a problem harder than fourth-grade arithmetic. Where do you get the right to decide our lives?... I’ll tell you where. From that hog’s gut that hangs down between your legs. Well, let me tell you something, baby brother: you will need more than that.” (Morrison, pg 215)

In this passage from Song of Solomon, Lena, Milkman’s older sister, is lecturing him about the disrespect he pays towards women, particularly to those who reside within in his own household. Lena describes the efforts the girls went through during their lives after Milkman was born as being “spent like a found nickel.” In this metaphor, Lena compares the efforts she and the girls put into raising Milkman to how a child would spend a nickel on a pleasantry without any sentiment because they didn’t even need to work to earn it. All his life, Milkman didn’t have to work for any of the things he received, and even after he was capable of “know[ing] the difference between a woman and a two-toned Ford,” he still took all of the girl’s efforts for granted and never did a single thing to pay them back. In fact, while the girls spent his entire childhood doing motherly tasks including cooking, entertaining, etc. Milkman, as capable as he is, wont even bother to do menial tasks like “mov[ing] a fleck of [his] dirt from one place to another.”

This can be connected to a certain attitude of male privilege which existed in Milkman’s society, and within Milkman himself, which is a term that defines the social, economic, and political advantages or rights that are only made available to men solely on the basis of their sex. Lena makes an effort to devalue him further by insulting the only thing that gives Milkman leverage in society, which she calls the “hog’s gut that hangs down between [his] legs”. At the end of her tangent, Lena refers to Milkman as “baby brother” in order to further remind him exactly where he stands in the family hierarchy, and reinforce the fact that they are done putting up with his disrespect and underappreciation and for their work and his misogynistic attitudes have absolutely no value in their household.

HF Critical Lens Close Reading - Marxist Lens

“When the duke had got the men very excited and eager to see the show, he opened the curtain and the king came out. He was completely naked and his body was painted every bright color imaginable. He looked wild, but it was very funny. The people almost died laughing. The king did a kind of little dance, and the men laughed louder. They stood up and cheered louder, and the king returned and did the dance one more time. Then he left the stage. The duke closed the curtain and bowed to the men and said that the show would be performed two more times. He said that he was sorry that they could not perform it more often, but that they must soon return to London. He said if they had succeeded in pleasing them, to please ask other men in the town to come to see the show. Twenty people shouted, “What? Has the show ended? Is that all?” Suddenly, the angry crowd stood up and began to move toward the stage. Then a tall, good-looking gentleman jumped up and stood on a chair, shouting, “Stop! Listen to me. We were tricked! We’ve been made to look like fools. But do we want the entire town laughing at us. No! What we have to do is to leave here quietly, tell the others that it was a great show, and try to get all the men of the town to come to see it. Then we’ll all be fools together.”” (Twain 84-5)

In the quotation, the characters the Duke and the King execute their shakespeare play scam. After advertising a shakespeare play for a men only crowd, the King would go on stage naked and dance for a little. After the short dance the play would be over. The crowd gets angry over being scammed but instead of initially mobbing the Duke and the King, they pretend that the play was good in order to trick the rest of the town.

The first interesting aspect is that the Duke and the King are given nicknames that are often synonymous with the rich. Initially this can be interpreted as the Duke and the King can represent the rich. When the King goes up on the stage naked he is described as “wild” and Huckleberry finds the experience funny. Then everyone laughs. After the king is gives his closing speech. The people in the crowd realized that were scammed. One question to ask is that did the crowd deserve being scammed? The crowd went to this event, paid for it then expected a supposed result. They went to a show that was advertised with the tagline, “WOMEN AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED”. What they probably expected was an adult, men only explicit yet it doesn’t change the fact that the poster was describing a bunch of shakespeare plays performed by two guys. Regardless what the little substance the show had, the audience got what they paid for. In a wider sense, what did the crowd pay for? In Marxist view, this could be reliance on the system of human exploitation for capital. The south was a society that relied on the use of slaves to do their work. The slaves were bought and sold like everyday objects. They did the chores and housework. Like the play, the people of the south initially saw the practice good as it made them money, made their lives easier and gave them higher place in their society. Maybe like the crowd they saw downside in the ways. The practice was taking the way the slaves rights and it was dehumanizing them. Exactly how the play was advertised, this aspect was always there. The play was always a sub-par shakespearean play performed by two men exactly like how slavery was always going to be the exploitation of people for self benefit.

Yet the “scam” was not the only thing to happen. Instead of lynching the Duke and the King, the crowd decide to trick the rest of the town so they can share the embarrassment. The scam scene shows an interesting dilemma. The crowd decides to bring other people in to the scam rather than condemning the actual con artists. If we continue the analogy from earlier, then this means that the south may have realized the true nature of slavery but instead of condemning the actual cause they decide to be “...all be fools together.” The south not only was ashamed of the use of slavery but in a way to amend what they have done they brought others into the “scam”. For the crowd deciding not to condemn the root cause makes it seem that the use of human capital caused the south to go at extreme lengths to protect the very practice the got them there in the first place. This demonstrates the coward nature of south. The slaves did not show the superiority that was often used in it practice. It showed the true nature of the south which was a representation of the inherent danger of relying on certain economic systems and shows the cowardly lengths some might go to protect them.

Feminist Lens - Responding and Reflecting (HF)

The society in which Huckleberry Finn is based is founded on a number of attitudes which we would consider problematic today, such as racism, classism, and most relevantly, sexism. While we have come quite a long way since the 1850’s by actually recognizing and speaking up about these attitudes, they still exist very strongly in our own society almost a century and a half after the fact. While at face value, Mark Twain’s writing can be mistaken for validating a lot of evil that occurred in his time. However, the text could also be interpreted as a fairly progressive statement on a number of issues, if analyzed with a trained eye. 

One of these issues, specifically, is the general attitude towards feminine roles. The absence of any important or impactful female roles exhibits the male dominance which existed in 1850’s society, despite how the few women who are described in the text are just as qualified -if not moreso- to have a leading role in said society as any man. Twain touches on this issue mostly through the character Judith Loftus, in which her alleged female-specific ability to recognize and teach the gender binary as seen in chapter 11 proves that women are intelligent, have incredible attention to detail, and that while they aware of their position in society, they know exactly how to fool a man as to perhaps get the best of their unequal stature. 

Today, women in our society have a lot more opportunities than how they did in Mark Twain’s time: between being able to vote, have a job, be in positions of power, and so on, it is clear that we have come a long way. However, we are still facing a lot of discrimination today just through people’s individual conservative and sexist points of view. Besides the older generations, the main offenders include those who title themselves as ‘Meninists’, who are usually young male individuals who believe that the movement for equality between the genders is allegedly “oppressing men.” These misogynistic attitudes that exists in our current society sound similarly to how they did in the context of the book, although now with less strength from laws and such no longer exist to help support their views. 

Mark Twain’s commentary on the female position in society serves as a nearly timeless reminder that gender discrimination is a very real problem that exists, and needs to be destroyed. While of course I am glad that the statement is included in such a respected piece of literature, (depending on where it’s banned), it almost saddens me that it is still relevant a whole 130 years after it was initially composed. 

HF Responding and Reflecting- Psychoanalytical Lens

While reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I found myself comparing it to other coming of age stories that I have read in the past. This has lead to some interesting interesting inferences about Huck’s journey, both ethical and physical, throughout the story. Before I read Huckleberry Finn, I had thought that many Northern ‘free’ states were aware that slavery was wrong, but the laws and tradition that surrounded it made it hard to stop. Now, though, when I read  about Huck’s struggle with the fact that he had been taught that it was morally right to own (and turn in) slaves, as well as most people in the story immediately stereotyping Jim as being at the root of any problem that he is even mildly involved in, my perception of the pre-Civil War North, has changed.

Mark Twain uses the inherent helplessness of the characters present in the storyline for everything from comedy to drama. This is framed perfectly with his two main characters, Huck and Jim. When Huck runs away from his abusive father, he expects help from no one, because he fears that they would be unable to protect him from his father, due to the fact they could not protect him in the past. When Jim runs away from his owner, he fears he is about to be sold to a man he knows nothing about, and separated from his family. At the end of the book, Mark Twain wraps up both of these issues by setting Jim free and killing off Huck’s dad, ending the current conflict. However, I received a new perspective on these events when reading Henry Smith’s critique. In his critique, he points out the lack of realism in this kind of ending. What I realized, though, was that neither Huck nor Jim have managed to achieve anything in the book that helped solve their own problems- all of their problems were solved by other people. In many ways, this observation perfectly captures the inherent problems with the book- though Huck managed to develop a better moral compass, he is still unable to change his place in life.

HF Responding and Reflecting

In “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, this book seems to be quite unique to the society of today. Matter fact it is very different because of the context and background in which the book was written in. Mark Twain appears to be very straight forward when it come to race issues and discussion that are occurring especially towards black people. One example is the use of the “n” word several times throughout the story and it also seems to fit the format of the text but at the same time it could come out as offensive today. Mark Twain like I said is straight-forward and very blunt when it comes to the use of the “n” word. To me I believe this action being exercised is not a huge deal for me because I like to see the reality of things and I feel that Mark Twain does a good job expressing his opinions and views of this era. It helps us see the difference of the older era and today. We see where this country was and the direction it has taken while seeing the changes of this country. Although one thing that has not yet changed is racism. Even though more than 100 years have past, we could see some similarities today compared to this story. Although when this story was written, slavery had ended a couple decades before but people were still furious for this action. White people just didn’t support the fact that slaves were free. It makes sense that Mark Twain also would explicit say the “n” word because people were used to this word and for them the meaning was to describe a certain group of people.   

HF Critical Lens Experts- Psycological Lens

From the psychoanalytical lens, Henry Nash Smith’s critique of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from his book ‘A Sound Heart and a Deformed Conscience’ appears to come from Mark Twain’s use of Huck Finn as the narrator of the story. Since Huck is the viewpoint character, his continual use of slang, and his uneducated accent make up a large amount of the text. In some ways, I agree with Henry Smith. By making Huckleberry the narrator, there is much less of a disconnect between the voice of the narrator and all the other characters inside the novel. However, I think that the true potential that Huck has as first person narrator is the unique insight into his character development. Huck’s overall ethical standpoint has been changing throughout the entire novel, so that by the time Tom Sawyer re-enters the picture, Huck is now much more capable of figuring out that Tom is a rather selfish individual.

Another part of the book that Henry Smith pointed out was that in most parts of the novel, Huck and Jim’s main and only recourse is to run away, since they are both powerless and most of their society, albeit for very different reasons. Huck is, and is proud of being, an uncivilized youth. Keeping this in mind, he cannot understand complex issues, and, unless his developing moral compass demands it, will run away when he is over matched. Jim is unable to do anything but run away because he is a black escaped slave in the South, with a bounty on him. As Huck so nearly demonstrates in one chapter, even a child could cause him to lose his freedom with the simple mailing of a letter to his bounty hunters.

The final part of the critique that I agree with is that Mark Twain wrote this story in such a way that it was impossible for Huck or Jim to ever actually find the freedom they were looking for. For example, the book ends with Jim receiving news of his freedom- however, he is still black in an era where he is most definitely a second class citizen, and he still lacks any skills outside of those he learned while in slavery. To put it another way, he is not significantly better off than he was when he and Huck were ‘adventuring’. Huck’s desire to go out West is equally implausible- what will likely happen is that the Widow Douglas will take him back, and he’ll live with her until Tom comes up with something else for them to do. Though better of than Jim, Huck will also never experience the freedom that he thinks he wants.