Return To Where You Came From (Reader Response)

Home is where the heart is. Many Muslims make a spiritual journey to their homeland. Students drive all hours of the night to return home for the holidays. Families all gather at home to celebrate Christmas. There is just something about home and the place a person grows up in that keeps them coming back for more. To me home is paradise and home is heaven on earth. Returning home to find little shoes and backpacks strewn about the house, dirty dishes in the sink, and Spongebob Squarepants blaring from the living room TV are many things I look forward to after a long day at school or at work. Song was right in “Heaven.” Home is perfect and home is where everyone wants to end up.

For some reason we as Americans feel the need to find where we came from. I remember my mom doing research for hours and hours on the phone and on the internet looking for her family and where they are now. My mom worked day and night to piece together our family tree. When that family tree was finished we set out on a voyage across the state of South Dakota to experience the life that my family members from generations past experienced. We went from Hudson, South Dakota all the way over to Rapid City, South Dakota tracking down family members and relations. Not the idea of the perfect vacation for a twelve year old but looking back now I appreciate the work my mom went through to give us that vacation. I’m glad that I was given a copy of the family tree. The family tree gives me a sense of home and a sense of family.

Growing up in a small town in South Dakota I was taught that in the end, after everything is gone and all of your friends have left you, you still have family. These morals and beliefs I was given through my childhood I hold very dear to my heart. It is true. I find myself looking forward to seeing my family and looking forward to cooking dinner in the evening. I feel that without family and without home I would have nothing. In fact I know that I would have nothing.

I feel that Song truly captured this in her poem, “Heaven.” The speaker feels this yearning to go to China. China is home. China is heaven. This yearning to return home is felt by many and is not only a feeling felt by adults and scholars. Students can not wait to return home for the holidays, home is a place of relaxation, a getaway, and a place to catch up with family. Home is a very important part of everyone’s life.

Heaven is a great poem and I feel that Song wrote the truth about all people. Not just Americans and immigrants, but all people. Everyone longs to come home and to spend time with family. Home holds a special place in everyone’s heart and Song wrote about this special place that everyone holds dear and near to their hearts.

A Bold Statement About Short Stories (Reader Response)

Although short stories are a very important part in the literary canon, I do not feel the want or desire to read them. To sit down and read a ten page story that really lacks a true ending and is not allowed the length to have true literary content is not very appealing to me. Although Mukherjee had some great ideas and views on migration and beginning a new and better life, I still do not hold her stories to be at the same level as some of the other writers on our Other Voices list. Mukherjee’s stories lacked in story lines and endings both of which I find to be very critical in enjoying a piece of literary work.

In “The Middleman,” we watch as the main character, Alfie, runs into trouble with his acquaintance. Much like a soap opera, this big man also known as Clovis T. Ransome steals the wife of the president and is running an illegal operation, of which the details are never truly revealed. In the end Ransome ends up dead and Alfie is left alone, all of this happening after Alfie sleeps with Ransome’s wife who turns out to be quite the hussy. A great story truly it is but not one that would end up on the literary canon. True at the end of this soap opera tale Alfie comes to the realization that he’s living life for the wrong reasons and there are basic rules to survival. Although short stories are lacking in length, Mukherjee could have definitely bettered this story. Give us an ending, give us more of what Alfie learned and who Clovis T. Ransome really is. Filling in the blanks to this story would give this story the opportunity to be ten times better.

Story number two, “A Wife’s Story.” This story was by far better than “The Middle Man.” Yet much like the first story this one leaves me asking so many questions. Sure she wants a better life than cooking and cleaning, she wants to get a degree and become a person of true significance, and she can not possibly imagine living life back where she came from. This story starts with a great beginning, the main character is living a somewhat normal life, but then we find that the man that escorts her home is not her husband and that her husband lives in a completely different country. She does not want to stay in that country because she does not agree with the treatment of women there, but my question is if she is going to defy all of the cultures views by leaving and getting an education, why does she not leave her husband all together. I just do not feel like the author knew where she was going with this. This woman is torn between this husband and his culture and what she really wants. But any woman brave enough to leave the culture to become someone new, would leave the husband as well to become someone new. I just don’t think Mukherjee put an ending on a story I feel needs to be finalized.

My opinion may be based purely on the dislike for short stories but I really did not enjoy any of Mukherjee’s stories. None of her stories had a true ending and there were so many parts in each story that were left out. In a novel the reader receives a full picture; in a short story the reader gets half of the picture because of lack of length. I would rather read a 300 page novel that gives me an ending than a 10 page short story that leaves me wondering what I just read. To be quite frank, I do not remember any of Mukherjee’s short stories other than the first two I read because they all seemed to have the same quality. Mukherjee’s short stories may have meaning to those of the immigrant population, but not being part of this population I feel that her work is lacking in content and meaning.

A little lesson in life (Reader Response)

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is by far the most enjoyable novel we have read this semester. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this piece and that I looked forward to being able to read the next section. I found that not only was this novel a great story full of history and stories but it was a novel that spoke of all people. Toni Morrison addresses the fact that people believe that telling the trying tales of their lives are a must, but leaving out the uncomfortable parts are also a necessity.

Morrison spends much of the novel telling and retelling the story of Sethe’s life and it’s trials. The novel begins with telling of a ghost that haunts the house that her family lives in and that Sethe’s two sons leave for the same reason the ghost haunts. The first few pages clue the reader in that the baby that haunts the house was Sethe’s baby. Sethe’s baby, Beloved, died an unfortunate death and has come back to the house to stay. Later a beautiful young lady visits the house, Beloved. Denver speaks of a scar on Beloved that she sees when she is dressing. This scar is only a hint at what really happened to this baby. Morrison does not tell the whole story until the end of the novel. Sethe feels guilty for taking the life of her oldest daughter and that is the reason she deals with Beloved through this whole novel. Reading this novel, it seems as though the reader almost coaxes a story out of Morrison.

Paul D. also keeps stories quiet; he keeps them locked up in a “tin box.” Paul D. keeps his stories quiet throughout the whole novel. He does not speak of seeing Sixo killed or of seeing Halle after the horrific experience of watching the brutal beating of his wife. Paul D. finally tells his stories at the end of the novel. It’s as though if Paul D. tells his stories he might have to take responsibility for the events that occurred in his life. Maybe if Paul D. tells the stories of his life he will have to make sense of all that happened in his past.

This seems to be a common theme between the two main story tellers of the novel. If the true story is told right away the characters would have to make sense of all that has occurred in the past. Toni Morrison spends the entire novel trying to make sense of a story before she even tells it. This is exactly what people do with their lives. Before sharing stories, everyone wastes time trying to make sense of the past. The past is the past and stories should be told. “Those that do not acknowledge history are doomed to repeat it.” Sethe, Paul D. and everyone else should just accept the past, learn from it, tell the story, and move on.

Morrison addresses this idea on the last two pages of the novel. After telling all of the stories she says, “This is not a story to pass on.” Morrison tells the story because she is acknowledging the past and is accepting the past. She also brings Paul D. home to Sethe and he helps Sethe to realize that she is the best thing, he tells her to not let the past beat her. By telling the stories the characters in this novel acknowledge the past and vow to never repeat it. They learned from the past even though it did not necessarily make sense. Maybe the rest of the world could take this book as a little advice to live their life by.

Freedom

Paul D. refers to the rooster as free. Paul D. realizes that he will never truly experience freedom. Paul D. will always remember what he experinced, the fear he felt, the imprisonment he experienced. Aren't we all a little like Paul D. in some way? Fears imprison us. Fears keep us from experiencing all that we can. Fears and apprehensions hold us back. Our thoughts keep us prisoner. Often our thoughts do not allow for contrast. My thoughts do not allow for contrast. I am like Paul D. I was never a slave but to my own self. I am the only one that could hold myself back. No one else. Only me.

Stereotypes

Much of our view on society is based on stereotypes. I find that I make first impressions not based solely on the type of person someone is but by many stereotypes I uphold. Thomas struggles throughout the novel with stereotypes. One pointed out rather clearly is the point made during the story told to Malcome in Dove's novel. Thomas points out that not all black men are lazy, in fact, he tells the story in such a way that he is perceived as not being lazy. Thomas kills the possum and not only does he just kill it he eats it slowly and enjoys it. The lazy man would have completed haslf of the job, but this man completed the whole task at hand. Everyone deals with stereotypes, whether they are trying to overcome stereotypes or they are stereotyping people themselves.

Identity (Reader Response)

Growing up in a small town I never knew anyone who rented a house or moved around a lot. All of my friends lived in a house that their parents owned. My childhood was filled with houses that had to loving parents inside, a little dog barking in the front lawn and a white picket fence. Basically, I grew up rather naïve and was not exposed to a diverse community. Now looking back I really was shallow. We decided who was “cool” and where we wanted to spend our time by the things our friends had. My friends always wanted to come to my house; I was “cool” because my parents had installed a pool in our backyard. We didn’t ever go to Sarah’s because she did not have her own bedroom. As kids our whole identity was based on where we lived and what we owned.

Cisneros addresses the idea that identity is based on where a person lives and what they own. Esperanza dreamed of a house all her own, one that she would own. It never occurred to me that in our childhood decisions of who was cool really was based on someone’s lifestyle. If their lifestyle was not lavish and rather comfortable, we did not want anything to do with them. Esperanza runs into this problem as well. When she tries to become part of the group of students that is allowed to stay at school and eat a sack lunch rather than walking home to eat, the nun refuses her and says she really only walks three blocks and points out a house. Esperanza agreed that the nicer house really was hers, when in reality the house pointed at was not. Esperanza was embarrassed of her house. To Esperanza the house was not a safe haven like most homes, it was a prison.

In the beginning of the novel, she describes one of the houses her family and she lived in. She describes that it was on the third floor of a run down building and not of the floors were flat. The floors were running at angles and were either going uphill or downhill. She also refers to the boards over the windows that her father nailed up. Her father nailed the boards up to protect the children from falling through a window from the third story; Esperanza saw these boards as bars in a prison cell. She wanted to escape from that house but there was something always holding her back. Esperanza was a prisoner. This house defines her in so many ways. She feels as though she will never be able to leave. She will be stuck living with her parents for the rest of her life. Esperanza’s childhood homes make her who she really is.

Esperanza and I are a lot a like and very much different. I loved my home where I grew up. I have many fond memories of the place where I grew up and would never give those up. Esperanza also has many memories of the places she grew up. The place we are different is that she would give anything to change those memories. She would give anything to have the memories I have of coming home to a barking dog in the front yard and a bedroom all to herself. A person’s possessions, in society, truly identify their identity. And as children our whole identity was based on where we lived and what we owned. Cisneros points this out in her novel, A House on Mango Street. The main character, Esperanza, struggles with the places she grew up and her whole identity throughout the novel. Cisneros supported the idea that a home is an identity in society by using Esperanza as a character constantly striving to have the American dream – a house, a loving family, a barking dog, and a white picket fence.

My house

I remember the way the sun shone across the polished wooden floor in the living room and the way the couch smelled like my mom. That couch was the place my parents always read our bed time stories to us. I remember the way that the house always looked like it was warm and bright inside through the picture window. And most of all I remember a light on in the kitchen, all of the time. When that light was on I knew my parents were still listening and waiting for me. The house I grew up in has forever shaped the way i am today. I always have a light on in the kitchen window. The couch I am going to read on will smell like me and my children will remember their home like I do. The house I grew up in helped to shape the view I had of growing up and life. It was not just the smell of my mom on the couch that I enjoyed, it was the idea that my mom and dad took the time to read to me on that couch. The idea that my parents were always there for me.

Great American Writers (Reader Response)

This novel was a tough novel to read. I generally enjoy picking up a good novel and reading it in one sitting, but I found myself dreading picking up this novel for fear of finding another raunchy sex scene. Contemporary art tends to include some kind of sex scene. For Leslie Silko to be considered a great American author she needs to realize that literature does not need raunchy sex scenes but wholesome literature.

Upon reading these sex scenes it did not bother me at first. I just related the novel to the romance novels I read in my spare time. There was a huge problem with this though. I was not reading Leslie Silko in my spare time. I was reading Leslie Silko to learn. I was reading Leslie Silko to prove that great American authors are not always dead white males. I read this novel because I wanted to prove that it does not take a dead white man to write a good novel but in the gross scenes of this novel I really struggled with this.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, was novel was based on adultery. A woman, out of sin, conceived and was being persecuted for her sins by wearing a scarlet A. Hawthorne got his message across and even included adultery without raunchy sex scene. He included an encounter between the woman and the father of her child but there was no description of the contact between these two people. Hawthorne is considered a great writer and is included in the literary canon. Hawthorne made some very important statements in his novel and still did not include raunchy sex scenes.

Ernest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, visited the idea of sex but did not go into details with what happens between the two main characters. The reader knows sex is occurring between these two individuals but never has a graphic picture painted for them. Hemingway is also considered a great writer. Hemingway made the literary canon as well and did not need to include as many sex scenes.

If Leslie Silko could leave out the sex scenes and include more meaningful scenes in her novel I would be more open minded in including her in the literary canon. But frankly I do not need my children to someday read this novel in their senior English class because it is a member of the literary canon. I can not accept the fact that this is a great American work when parts of this novel, if put into picture, could be considered pornographic. Great American works should be works that could be allowed in a high school classroom. As mature adults reading this novel we can handle these scenes, but I do not think that high school students could handle the graphic content of this novel. Hemingway and Hawthorne can be read in a high school classroom, even though both novels include sexual acts. Leslie Silko could have reached me, as a reader, more by excluding these scenes. Silko is defying the idea that great writers are rich, dead white men, why can’s she defy the fact that contemporary literature must contain some type of sex.

Defying the norm

My concern is about contemporary literature. My concern, is this smutty literature really needed? Why did Silko feel the need to include the smutty scenes in this novel. I understand that all contemporary literature contain these types of stories, but are these stories needed. I do not think that Silko would have lost any part of her novel by leaving out all of the raunchy sex scenes she included. Silko defied a lot of general rules in literature by not seperating her novel into chapters and by not using strong transitions between stories. Silko wrote a great novel but why couldn't she have left out the sex scenes and defied the norm of including these scenes? It seems as though her points would have been made by not including the graphic scenes.

He will always come back home

The cattle seem to be more of a pain than they're worth. The cattle remind me a lot of Tayo. The cattle are constantly moving, constantly looking for home. Tayo is always moving and always looking for someone to trust. Tayo is always struggling with the fact that he is a "half-breed." Tayo is not full Indian because of his mother. Tayo fights with this fact throughout the novel. The cattle are "half-breeds" just like Tayo, they are part Mexican as well. In a sense I think the cattle are Tayo. The cattle are constantly moving, constantly looking for somewhere safe. Much like the cattle, as much as he strays Tayo will always come back. He may need some help finding his way home. He may need someone to lead him but he will always come back home.

What's the real problem?

So many veterans come back scared to sleep at night, scared to get out of bed, and even scared to close their eyes for fear of reliving the events they experienced at war. None of the people comforting the veterans can even imagine the fear that these men and women experienced. Auntie will never understand Tayo's fear. Robert will never understand Tayo's fear. Betonie will never understand Tayo's fear. The only person that will ever understnad Tayo's fear is Tayo. Tayo needs to buckle down and conquer the fear he has. He needs to understand that he needs to open his eyes, accept what has happened and deal with it. Tayo needs to realize he cannot hide from his problems forever and needs to figure out what has happened. I understand the hardships that he must have experienced over at Vietnam but what I don't understand is his sickness. Is his sickness related to his fear of Vietnam and what he saw? Or is his sickness related to his problem with finding home and who he really is?

Maybe Dr. Dyer Can Help (Reader Response)

Achebe’s novel was a very easy reading, easy to pick-up, and easy to finish story. I did not find myself dreading the assignment at night as I did with Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness. The story line was easy to follow and after I conquered the names of the numerous members of the Ibo, I thoroughly enjoyed the composition. Had I not known any better, Achebe’s novel did not seem as though the point of it was to criticize Conrad. I almost believe that I would have enjoyed the story itself more if I had not known. I spent a lot of my reading time searching the pages for a poke at Conrad. Although I definitely enjoyed Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and read it with ease, the novel brought too many questions to my attention. I finished the assignment with many unsettled feelings and was not sure where to take them.

One unanswered question I had with this novel is one that deals with the point of accountability and the missionaries. The point of missionaries is to minister the Christian faith to individuals and groups that do not know the Lord. It seems that the beginning missionaries’ attempt was to help the tribes to see a better life, yet this new life shown to the tribe by the missionaries really was not a life that sounded appealing. The question that this left me with was does the point of accountability come in here? The tribe did not know of the Lord, it takes time and explaining to fully understand the importance of having Christ in our lives. Even those that have been educated since day one about the saving grace of the Lord do not completely comprehend the importance of having Christ in their lives everyday. Are these people truly going to hell because they do not know the Lord? In the church where I was raised we learned that a child does not go to hell because they do not have the advanced relationship with Christ that an adult has. Therefore, why would members of the tribe go to hell because they do not know the Lord, when a child would not? It seems to me that they are very similar situations, neither group truly knows the importance of the Lord, nor can they understand it without the correct education about the faith. I have toyed with this idea in my mind and I have a hard time justifying the fact that these individuals will go to hell because they do not know the Lord in the way that the missionaries do, what about children then?

Why, also, did the English come in and try to change the lives of the Ibo completely? The Ibo had a way of life that was working, that was understood by all members of the tribe and accepted. The English came in with the missionaries and forced their government on the tribe. I understand that part of Colonialism is to impose a country’s government on that of another, but why one a government system that IS working? The Ibo had understood rules about the way life should be lived and all that were members of the tribe knew these rules, they followed them without asking questions. It seemed as though the Ibo had a better governing system than the English did, and I truly think this is because the center of the tribe’s government was the gods and the English government is not. I just don’t quite understand why the missionaries imposed terrible ideas about Christianity and the English government on the tribe by their actions and expected them to understand, to want to be a part of this government and faith.

A novel that leaves me with questions is not my ideal story. I liked the way the storyline flowed smoothly and was very easy to follow. I enjoy a novel more when I finish the story and feel like I learned something. A feeling of accomplishment always leads me to want to read the novel again, but this story left me so uneasy I can not read it again until I have answered the questions and confusions I was left with.

They are people

After much reading I was beginning to wonder how Things Fall Apart was a shoutout to Conrad. Chapters 8 through 13 are the shoutout. Conrad created a picture of the natives depicting them as things, possessions, or even animals. Achebe points out that the rituals may seem slightly off, the natives are human beings with morals nad values. In Chapter 8, there are true rituals as to the engagement ritual. This ritual almost reminded me of the engagement process in our culture. Typically the young man asks the father for his daughter's hand in marriage, other than paying for the bride, this is what the men of the Ibo do. Chapter 9 discusses all the superstitions of birthing. These superstitions are a bit odd, yet the funny part of this is our culture has our own weird superstitions. How reliable is dangling a needle from a piece of thread and depending on the way it sways determines the sex of the child? Chapter 10 is the legal system. Instead of assigning blame to the person on trial, there is a resolution. Maybe America should look at the Ibo's legal sytem. Chapter 11 looks at the parental concerns, these people are human beings; they have cares and fears just like we do. Chapter 12 is the wedding. Granted the wedding ceremonies do not last days in our culture they do last a whole day and admittedly the planning takes months and months. So really our celebration lasts almost longer than the Ibo's. Chapter 13 visits the funeral aspect of their culture. This chapter shows that they do show remorse for those that have passed on and they do believe that they go on to a better life. These chapters show that the Ibo do have odd beliefs. These chapters also show how odd our own customs and rituals can be. The Ibo are humans too!

Do We Really Need To Fight So Hard?

Women have been fighting for rights for decades. I, being one of these women, want to be recognized as strong and independent. I tend to look at women's roles in history as degrading but not very often do I really look at the importance of women in the world. Women's roles are very low in the tribal society. Agbala means woman. Agbala is the name of the oracle. The oracle is the prophet of the tribe, a very strong voice. Why if women are so low and dirty is the oracle's name Agbala? Looking at this all a little closer, did the men realize that women are strong? Did the men see that without women, the tribe would be nothing? I understand that beating wives was customary in the tribe, but women were very important to the men. Without the wives I think the men would starve. The women did all of the cooking and all of the preparing for ceremonies, I do believe that the tribe would be very weak without women. Do women really need to fight so hard for an image of a strong individual or are they already viewed that way?

Veni, Vidi, Vici (Reader Response)

Although Joseph Conrad’s novella, The Heart of Darkness, is not a story that a student would be dying to open up again just to see where the plot is going, there are so many deeper messages hidden in the text. Conrad’s novella is not the type of story that holds a students attention for more than a few minutes and I know that I had a very difficult time remember what I read the line before, but I decided I had to take a different approach to finish the novel. After adjusting to the overly descriptive, slow-moving story line of The Heart of Darkness I found that there are a number of great ideas and theories that are definitely worth reading.

The first great idea brought forward by Conrad is, “We live as we dream- alone.” Conrad was addressing a number of issues when he said this. This line meant a lot to me. Maybe I read it wrong, but Conrad made it sound as though each person has the choice to make their life. “You’ve made your bed, so lie in it.” Only I can live my life and make of it what I want it to be. Addressing the theories on imperialism, it’s every man for himself. If a business man wants to get ahead he must strive to be a better man, better than all of the rest of civilization. Mr. Kurtz believed he was doing this by having somewhat of a monopoly over the ivory industry in the Congo. Mr. Kurtz knew in order to get ahead he had to make something of himself, even if it meant stepping on a few toes, so that is what he did. Mr. Kurtz was very prosperous. “We live as we dream-alone.” Kurtz made the decision to be successful, not anyone else and in doing that he became something bigger and better than the other ivory hunters.

Other ivory hunters were not the only toes Kurtz stepped on to get ahead in the business. Kurtz also forced the natives to do the labor in his camp with no pay and they were treated as though they were criminals. Marlowe described the natives as having “iron collars around the neck.” Conrad pointed this out to show man’s inhumanity to each other. Man has no problem treating those that are “below him” as a slave. It seems as though humanity has kind of disappeared from the business world. What happened to the days where people received advice from others about a business and not criticism? Conrad pointed out that often a person is treated differently because of a physical difference, (“…a flatter nose or a darker complexion…”) but I do not fully believe that is the only reason man treats others as a possession. I think that the morals of a once close-knit world have been forgotten and moved aside to become bigger and better. I believe Conrad was addressing these concerns as well in his novella.

Another important issue that Conrad discussed is the fact that man has forgotten how beautiful nature is. Man has in a sense stomped all over nature to make his business bigger and better. Nature is the one true beauty in the world and the one true element left in the world. Conrad addressed the fact that in the event of harvesting as much ivory as possible, the hunters have forgotten the surroundings around them. This is shown today. Driving down the highway I often see a McDonald’s bag in the ditch because somebody could not wait until they arrived home to throw the trash away. The beauty of nature has been forgotten and Conrad wanted to point that out.

Conrad’s novella was difficult for me at first, but as I came to the end of the story I realized that I just needed to be more open about the plot line the whole time. I needed to appreciate Conrad’s grueling and boring details to thoroughly enjoy the story. My goal was to finish the story and gain some knowledge from it. “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” As Julius Caesar stated, I came, I saw, I conquered.

The Nature of Humanity

The Heart of Darkness addresses numerous themes, but there was one theme that seemed to stick out in my reading more than the others. Man's inhumanity to man seems to be very dominant in this novel. It seems that the nature of humanity is selfish and demeaning. The men in this novel had one care in the world and that was finding ivory. There was a part in the reading discussing the collars around the necks of the natives, I found that degrading. I realize that this really happened, but was it necessary. I have a real problem with the nature of humanity, if someone is slightly different than another does not make them subject to abuse and mistreatment. John Merrick, main character of The Elephant Man, made this powerful and truthful statement, "People are frightened by what they don't understand."

I am...

I am
a white
female
Christian
student
wife
mother
19 year old
very liberal
Norwegian.
I was raised in small-town South Dakota and find myself struggling to accept other's differences. I tend to be close minded and almost too stubborn. My liberal views tend to get me into trouble with Christians, but I am too stubborn to change them. My 19 year old wants sometimes conflict with family life, there is a happy medium. My Norwegian upbringing runs into my Dutch husband. My beliefs are my stronghold. My beliefs and dreams are what get me through the day.

Times are changing...

Both Wolf's and W.E.B. DuBois's pieces hit some very important points. As Wolf said, had Shakespeare had a sister with the same qualities she would have never made it as an artist becuase of the beliefs in that time period. Du Bois also made that point about being an African American, "How does it feel to be a problem?" Although these are very important points to be made about the history of our great nation, these two points are not valid in this day and age.

There are numerous great female authors that are being published, times have changed. Although women went through a very long struggle to gain equal rights and still are, it is not such a fight to find acting roles, jobs, or a publisher. Women are given opportunities now that they never had before. I understand that in Shakespeare's era women weren't given a half of a chance unless they disguised themselves as males, but this is not Shakespeare's time. Women are independent now and are not sent off to marry as soon as they could walk. Women are given a chance at being someone they never could be before. Wolf made a great point and I am very relieved that times have changed. DuBois also stated that the other races made it seem as though they were more of a problem than a human being. But now African-Americans are famous for the awesome tasks they have accomplished. I'm proud of our nation for growing up and realizing that you don't have to be a middle-aged white male to be somebody.

The Canon

After reading both handouts for class ("Defining the Canon" by Harold H. Kolb Jr and "Canon to the Right of Me" by Katha Pollitt,) I have decided that I agree with the more liberal view. Without diversity a unique personality would not exist. Without diversity society could just as well remove the arts from any academic institution. Richard Ohman stated that literature in society is chosen by a society's values and interests. Ohman was correct in saying that. I know as a student, I would prefer to read a piece that I can relate to; if I can not become part of the piece that I am reading I begin to just read and not absorb. I too believe that there should be diversity in choosing a canon. There should be a canon but it should not be limited to Western Literature and pieces written while this nation was still a young one. Contemporary pieces and minority writers should also be included in the canon. It seems to be easier to relate to a minority writer because of the every day struggles they describe, life is not perfect for anyone and it's nice to see that you are not the only one struggling from day to day. Like Kolb stated, "...a list of great books cannot exist by itself, seperate from convictions about greatness. A canon is a cultural mirror, imaging our notions of who we are."