The Lynching in "Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man"

            In James Weldon Johnson’s novel, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, the lynching of a black man black man by a crowd of people. At the time of the execution, the people had originally decided to hang him, but they ultimately decided to burn him alive instead. When the burning took place, the Ex-Colored Man describes the horrifying situation – “Some of the crowd yelled and cheered, others seemed appalled at what they had done, and there were those who turned away sickened at the sight. I was fixed to the spot where I stood, powerless to take my eyes from what I did not want to see.” In this scene, he truly sees the racism in society and the characteristics of lynching that make it such a powerful aspect of southern culture. He is in such disbelief and shock that he is actually incapable of moving and taking his eyes from the sight, even though it is something that he does not want to ever witness.

            I think that this scene is extremely important in that it seems to help the Ex-Colored Man decide how he wants to live his life. Before the lynching, his ambitious and dreams were focused around the pride of his African American culture by writing music. Unfortunately, after the lynching, he decides to just give that up and just live his life in convenience as a white man. While he decides to live his life this way, it is also important to understand that he does not necessarily declare that he is either white or black. The narrator mentions, “I argued that to forsake one's race to better one's condition was no less worthy an action than to forsake one's country for the same purpose. I finally made up my mind that I would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race.” Personally, I don’t necessarily admire how he gives up and does not stand by his culture, but I do admire the fact that he realizes to abandon it entirely is a dishonorable action. In a way though, by the end of the novel I feel like he has abandoned it by marrying a white woman, raising a family, and owning a somewhat successful business. I am happy that she accepts him when he tells her about his problems, because that seems to be one of the only forms of acceptance that he experiences, but at the same time I still don’t really know if I respect his decisions based off of his fear of being black—which I guess is pretty easy for me to say considering I am not an African American (so I haven’t really made up my mind when it comes to how I personally feel about his decisions). 

Sonya's Passion

The main character of Anzia Yezierbska’s novel, Salome of the Tenements, is a beautiful woman who uses her capabilities and physical characteristics to get what she wants. Sonya comes from the ghetto and she works for a small newspaper company. While Sonya does not have much going for her when it comes to economic status or class, she is very intelligent, charming, and beautiful. She is, in a sense, similar to Evelyn Nesbit in E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, considering they both use their beauty to gain rank or to advance in a world dominated by men. You could say that Emma Goldman probably would not have many good things to say about Sonya.

While using beauty and charm are typically characteristics of dishonest and deceitful person, it is difficult for me to be too critical of Sonya. Like we mentioned in class, if this was a situation similar to that in the movie Wedding Crashers, a movie where similar tactics are employed, but done so by men, this story could have potentially have been criticized in a different way. Because Sonya is a woman, people would look at her as a gold digger, but they wouldn’t look at her story as one that has potential for romance and comedy as they most likely would have if she had been a man.

I really like the ending of the novel in that unlike the beginning, it expresses the romanticism of the novel and the passionate characteristics of Sonya, making it difficult for people to criticize her. Sonya ends up leaving Manning and turns her back on the rich and powerful people in society. She wants to make clothes that poor people in the lower class can gain access to. She could have stayed with Manning, and kept her connections among the upper class. This would have led her to great success and economic stability but she does not do that, which I see as a very admirable quality.

Science is the New God

I missed last weeks post and I really wanted to talk about Blade Runner so I'm going to talk about that this week. 

Blade Runner presents us with an extremely frightening look at the future. The movie shows a post-apocalyptic world where society is controlled and determined by scientists. These scientists all play a vital role in the society and in science. In this world, the sun is darkened and acid rain falls regularly. Replicants with 4-year life spans and adjusted/determined memories are placed on another world to do slave labor. Roy and a few other replicants escape the colony in search of meaning and life and they fight the people that created them.

In this world, the most powerful men are the scientists. They created the Tyrell corporation and they colonize other planets. Tyrell, the leader is given a god-like statute and his company’s motto is “more human than human”. Tyrell also refers to Roy as his “prodigal son”. In Blade Runner, science has replaced god as the highest authority in the world.  The Tyrell corporation creates a new sense of theology which states that technology and science is the work of Gods, which supports the idea that Tyrell is either a sort of God himself or some sort of prophet.

In this world, science has become completely become integrated and mixed into consumer society. The scientists are the ones that provide all the services and products in society. The combination of the extremely powerful consumer society and this newly empowered scientific power have shown to be an extremely destructive and dark mechanism.

Bartleby vs. Society

In Herman Melville’s short story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Short Story of Wallstreet”, we can see a message that perhaps is not even recognized by the narrator of the story. Bartleby represents a man that has disassociated himself from him job and from the expectations of the society around him. Bartleby used to work in the “dead letters” office of the place in which he worked – burning letters. The narrator describes this job as a job meant for “dead men”. Here we can already see the pointlessness and troublesome aspects of his life, which his job does nothing but reinforces. Eventually Bartleby lives in the streets and just gives up on his poor excuse of a job, similar to Peter, the main character in the film Office Space. The other members of society look at Bartleby and thinks that something should be done. This is what I find troublesome as a reader. The members in society believe that Bartleby should be contributing to society and that he should be arrested for failing to do so. This event in the story does not show a problem with Bartleby, but rather a problem with the other members of society.

The first issue is that the story takes place within the United States. If any members chooses to disassociate themselves from a job, especially one that does nothing to enhance or promote that individuals worth as a human being and member of society, then they have every right do so at their own discretion. The fact that society wants to have Bartleby arrested is absolutely ridiculous in that it defies the “American” believe that everyone has a choice and that people are free to make their own decisions when it comes to their jobs and work. Here, we also see the second problem – that Americans have this absolutely fallacious belief that everyone in our society has a choice. The majority of people in this country do not choose their jobs. When it comes down to either not surviving or working the most minimal paying and most likely tedious job that only satisfies the elite who do less for more pay -- that is not a legitimate choice. Also, the members in society seem to believe that everyone is capable of working, or that everyone has access to a job and all they need to do is work hard and never quit. Capitalism works because it depends on the fact that there is a significant number of people who are unemployed and a significant number of people who fill the roles of those who work tremendous amounts for little pay. People are in these situations because the market demands it and because the people who control the market make sure that they remain in these abusive conditions. People like Bartleby are around not because they are lazy, or because they never felt the need to contribute to society, but because the system has failed them and will always continue to do so. Bartleby is doing something that most people never do, he is living his life for himself rather than some society that believes that work and economic success lead to happiness and a system that completely diminishes his self worth.