Nature

The chapter on commodity is one that speaks the most to me, though the whole piece does to some degree because most of the time I want nothing more than a cabin in the mountains with no aid but maybe running water and a fireplace for warmth. It seems weird, and hard to explain, but I have a rather strong dislike for technology. The last line of the chapter, "A man is fed, not that he may be fed, but that he may work" realizes that people aren't the reason for everything. Though nature works to nourish man, it's a cycle... man must work, in turn, to nourish nature. Instead of taking what nature gives "him" (speaking for all humans) and creating things that will ruin nature but maybe make his life a little easier, he is taking this nourishment and using it for a selfish reason. Instead, using this nourishment to help others, in the natural world and the human (which really is part of the natural world though we don't like to admit it) one, is what people should strive for. There has been a movement in recent years to be more earth-friendly, because man has screwed up the earth almost beyond repair and is just now realizing it. Many people are afraid to be environmentalists or supportive of environmental programs because they are afraid that negative connotations will come with it, but in reality there is very little that is more positive and beneficial to all of man kind than taking care of the planet we live on.

MoMA

Interestingly enough, I found thte piece that really resonated with me in an ad for Color Chart on the MoMA's site, but it was an actual art piece in an exhibition in the museum. The ad I saw was the same photograph of a boy repeated three times, cast in blue, with a different word under each photo. We'll note that the boy is african-american. (I think the reason that this resonated a lot with me is because of the book we just read- they are hugely connected). The first word was "blue", describing the most obvious... which is the color of the picture. The middle was "black", which was the color of the boy's skin, and the third was "boy". There were several other similar ones in the online gallery; such as "magenta colored girl", which could be "magenta colored" or magenta , colored" depending on how you want to interpret it... the girl pictured is african american, which would lead to the interperetation of the "colored" part. There were others as well, but after reading this book, those two struck me the most because it shows how often times color is the first thing that we percieve about another person. Though saying "Girl" or "Boy" certainly isn't going into great depth about their personality as an individual, it identifies them as human, whereas saying "black" or "blue" or "magenta" is just talking about the most obvious attribute that would catch one's eye- the color. I think it really shows how people perceive one another. First impressons are often times everything. Everyone is guilty of this; someone does not appear similar to another person, usually the other person's first impression is that they will not like this person. It's perfectly natural, but I think these photographs really capture that essence.

Writing

Wrights realization is that the world is always going to be the way it is, and the only thing he can really do is write his ideas down and hope that people will listen, if they don't listen, he will keep writing, if they do, he will keep writing. I do agree with this, because the expression of ideas is the only thing that is going to change anything. Many people say "well if you want something to happen, stop writing about it and do it" but writing about it IS doing something because writing is one of the strongest forms of persuasion that exists. When people write, they educate others about their ideas in a non violent and non forceful way, in an intelligent, and usually in an educated way. When people read, they become more conscious of the world around them and as they read all sorts of different ideas, they better their own about how to create the best type of world for everyone to live in. Of course people will always have contradictory ideas and there will always be problems with this, but fighting about it isn't going to help anything. The only thing a person can really do is express his or her own ideas without trying to rid the world of all the other ones, accepting that others do not necessarily have to be wrong for him or her to be right, and to write down what they believe.

Artists and politicians

Though I can see why Wright would say a thing like artists and politicians stand at opposite poles, it isn't true in all senses. Though art is often times viewed as something that is narrowed in on and interpereted as specifically or as widely as the artist intends, and politics is often something that requires the view of a big picture, and everyone needs to have the same idea of it for it to work (Especially in the case of communism, which is why communism has been unsuccessful at each attempt). However, in a more abstract sense, the two types of thinking can be interdependent, because in order to achieve the creativity and simple drive to begin to create a political world that may work. During Wright's time, this mix may have been a little less obvious, with politicians writing political books, that existed only to promote their own politics. However, it is rare to see a very prominent modern politician that hasn't written some sort of autobiographical work. Many of todays politicians are writers, and certainly many use their artistic tendencies to enhance their politics and their ability to appeal to the greater good.

Quotes

"I knew that not race alone, not color alone, but the daily values that give meaning to life stood between me and those white girls with whom I worked. Their constant outward-looking, their mania for radios, cars, and a thousand other trinkets make them dream and fix their eyes upon the trash of life, made it impossible fofr them to learn a language which could have taught them to speak of what was in their or others' hearts. The words of their souls were the syllables of popular songs."
This is him commenting on the white girls that he worked with. Though it was different than in the South in the sense that the girls interacted with him like a normal human being and didnt disrespect him in the way that the southern white girls did, he still felt very apart from them because they had grown up without learning how to give themselves an identity, in turn are just looking for material things to make them happy. Wright uses the phrase "outward-looking," where he refers to himself as inward looking; he is introspective and analydical of himself and the actions he takes, whereas the girls are not. He refers to this as a different language... the two can never understand things on the same plane because they don't view themselves on the same plane as the other, even though there is no racism between them.

Changes

Though I don't entirely understand what is referenced to by "the change" that wright sets in motion, I think most of the changes that occur with him are positive. His decision to move to Chicago will (hopefully!) benefit him greatly, because Chicago is now officially out of the south. Though of course there was racism all across America, he hopes that he will not have to live at this level of subservience that he does in the south. Wright also undergoes another change, although I don't believe the second one is quite as drastic as moving to Chicago. After hearing about H.L. Mencken, he begins reading his works- and other works of the famous authors in his time period. Wright is rapidly becoming more knowlegeable about the world around him, and the racism- and the feelings behind it- than the average black person during his time. Therefore he could fight the system from the inside, as a well read, respectable man that has the power to surprise the people around him into thinking that maybe blacks do have a right to be respected. I believe that this is an extremely positive change, although it could potentially get into trouble, because many whites were intimidated by intelligent blacks and were afraid that they would learn the system and fight against it, or to realize their own equality- and therefore often times whites would be extra violent and hateful towards the blacks that truly knew their own identities.

stealing

Wright realizes by knowing other black people that are working with him that the only way he can really get ahead is to steal. He had never really thought about stealing before... not because it was morally wrong, but just because it had never crossed his mind. He had always kind of had the idea that if he worked hard and was honest then white people would either seem him as an equal or at least treat him better. Unfortunately he learns that all black people are treated the same way, all of them are expected to be stupid and to "know their place", and he mentions that it scares white people even more when black people know that they should be treated as equals. Wright decides that the only way he can get out of the south is to steal. He justifies this by saying that it is very minor compared to the way he is treated by white people every day. Although at first I didn;t want him to steal as I was reading the book, simply because he had never lowered himself to the white person's level in the past, I realized that his life was a living hell and the only reason he was even having this dilemma was so he could go somewhere where he could possibly make more of an impact and make a difference. Though it bothers me that he is doing exactly what the white people expect of him by being a criminal and keeping his head down, he is really only acting this way so that he can keep up appearances until he can get out of there. For this, I think he is justified.

Griggs

When Griggs tells Wright to "learn how to live in the south" it essentially means that Wright is too independent. He needs to learn to put his head down and obey, and not question authority. In the south, there will be racism, and Wright can not fight against it, so if he is going to live there he must deal with it because that is the only way he can get by and stay alive. Wright naturally has a very questioning personality, and he is very aware of the racism that is happening aroung him. The fact that he "doesnt seem to notice" when a person is white or black is a great charachteristic nowwadays, but during that time period- and in the south- it was something that could get him killed. Griggs, as a friend, thinks he is helping Wright.... and in a way, probably is, just like the principal- because he knows that there is no way Wright will be able to keep a job or keep away from violence if he doesn't understand the danger of trying to see himself as an equal to a white person in the south. The fact that he did not tell Mr. Crane about the harassment and instead took his money and walked out shocked him a little bit because he realized that he was beginning to bend to what the southern society wanted... subservient black people. the fact that not only the white people wanted this, but the black people also seemed to tell him to act in this way, was scary to him. no wonder he wanted to go north.

speech

Wright is and he isn't justified in refusing to say the speech. I wanted to agree with him because as valedictorian, he should have a right to be able to say his own speech. In modern days, he definitely would have been justified. However, it seemed as though his school and that time period was all about appearances, and it seemed as though the principal simply wanted to make him look good by writing the speech for him. the principal thought he was doing Richard a favor by writing the speech,and Richard was angry because he was tired of people trying to control his every action, and he would refuse to deliver a speech that he did not write because he did not want people to believe he was a way that was different from his true self. For this reason, Richard is justified. Though his speech may not have been as skillfully written, it was truer to the deliverer, and Richard knew that was important. Also, the principal mentioned something about how it was going to be delivered to both white and black people- and it is possible that it had an element of submissiveness that Richard did not want to label himself with.

Uncle Tom

Wright is angry with his uncle initially because he got mad when Wright told him the time, because uncle Tom thought he was being impudent. However, as the fight continued, Wright was bewildered at his uncle's ignorance and need for power. He was tired of being beaten for things that were not worth even admonishments. At one point he makes a reference to the plantation boys, the boys that just hung their heads and did as they were told. Wright knew that he could never be one of these boys, and he was angry at his uncle for being so ignorant as to try to make him be submissive in this way. This was how white people were treating black people, and if black people just learned to hang their heads and take it without showing their own equality, this mistreatement would not cease. Wright was angry at his uncle for being too big-headed to be able to realize this, to be able to realize that Wright needed to have a spirit and a sense of individuality, and that his uncle had no right to treat him the way he was trying to.