...Discovering African American Literature Rebekah Valcarcel Eng/301 November 30th, 2015 Dr. Julie Kares The art of storytelling invites readers into another world. Examining the literary conventions African American authors use allows readers to compare and contrast literary works. Harriet A. Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Terry McMillan’s The End and Maya Angelou’s Willie are significant literary pieces to discuss. It is important to consider factors such as historical, socio-political and cultural climate because these factors contribute and influence an author’s point of view as well as each author’s unique voice and message depending on the time period. Harriet A. Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is a slave narrative. The literary conventions of the slave narrative define the work. Slave narratives echo biblical stories that often reflect persecuted groups attempting to escape to freedom. Jacobs’s piece details her struggle to escape her master from sexual abuse. Vivanco (2003), “The process from sin to rebirth in spiritual autobiographies is paralleled by the process from slavery to freedom in slave narratives. Slaves experience a change from chattel, enduring suffering, to man or woman living in the Promised Land, the North,” (para. 5). Further distinction of the slave narrative is how authors shape the story, often chronologically. Slave narratives illustrate an author’s personal experience though many share common themes of extreme...
Words: 1974 - Pages: 8
...themes in American literature that have Caucasians playing the heroic protagonist whereas the African American plays the antagonist. African Americans are seen as the dark, or the wrong within media. Throughout history most African Americans play minor characters that add conflict to stories such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. American history of race has impacted the world and created problematic stereotypes. “I pointed out that cultural identities are formed and informed by a nation's literature. What seemed to be on the "mind" of the literature of the United States was the self-conscious but highly problematic construction of the American as a new white...
Words: 1047 - Pages: 5
...African American Literature ENG/301 Kristina Brooks March 12, 2012 The African American Literature and its history was an interesting subject or ethnic literary to learn about. This literature’s readings showed a great deal of different moments or life events that the different authors experienced as well as tragic events, and heart felt pain they endured over their lifetime. Some authors talked about the wonderful life they lived and how blessed they were to be a white man’s slave. I will be discussing the different views and relations in each of the readings along with the racist remarks and overall way they were treated as an African American over different periods of time. The first reading I want to talk about is, “White Folks Treated Us Good,” by Marriah Hines. In this reading Hines talks about how life as a slave for the white folks was great, so great, that when slavery ended and African Americans were given their freedom, she stayed because of the way her master treated her and stayed loyal to him and his family until he passed away. During the time of slavery, Hines, was never treated bad, nor was she ever beaten or raped by her masters. While some people were starved, and treated like cats and dogs, Hines, was fed and clothed and kept them on a higher level (Hines, M p.34). The next reading I will be talking about is, “To my old Master,” by Jourdan Anderson. This story is a great message about how...
Words: 845 - Pages: 4
...tribulations facing African-Americans aside from the modern prison industrial complex. I selected this topic to review because suicide rates amongst African-American high school students has been on the rise for many years, in 2015, (10.2%) African-American females and (7.2%) African-American males tried to commit suicide (Center for Disease Control, 2015). Seeing this rise and the fact that more than half of the recent suicide population are African-American males is an alarming trend. Sadly, you do not hear about African-American people killing themselves, or thinking about suicide, or even having mental problems that would lead to suicidal ideation. This literature review paper, will discuss different sociocultural factors affecting the increase of suicide amongst African-Americans. The subgroups include men, women, and the adolescent age group within the African-American community. Some areas of mention are the prevalence of suicide within each group, the risk of suicide versus protective factors within each group, and the risk factors in each group....
Words: 554 - Pages: 3
...erian novelJournal of Education and Practice ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol 2, No 4, 2011 www.iiste.org A Study on Gender Consciousness in Nigerian Autobiographical Narratives and Power of the Interview Ogunyemi, Christopher Babatunde Department of English, College of Humanities, Joseph Ayo Babalola University PMB 5006 Ilesa 233001 Osun State, Nigeria. bbcoguns2@yahoo.se Akindutire, Isaac Olusola Department of Physical and Health Education, Faculty of Education University of Ado Ekiti Ado Ekiti. Ekiti State, Nigeria ioakindutire@yahoo.com Adelakun, Ojo Johnson Department of Economics, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, PMB 5006 Ilesa 233001, Osun State, Nigeria joadelakun@yahoo.co.uk Abstract The study explores some self-created metaphors in male autobiographical writings in Nigeria. It visualizes the negation of female gender in art. The paper investigates the dichotomy of language, the use of irony and situational metaphors to displace conventional ones; it blends theories with critical evaluation of discourse. The research uses empirical methods in solving hypothetical questions with the use of extensive and relatively unstructured interviews. It examines the interviews of twenty five people independently, these people include: University lecturers, students, administrative and technical staff. The work analyzes concurrently their interview testimonies to search for congruence. Data analysis begins with a detailed microanalysis in which emergent concepts...
Words: 8721 - Pages: 35
...African American literature is surprising, captivating, and spirited. Once you start reading a story it is easy to get caught up in the tale being told. The descriptive nature of the works makes it easy to relate to them. Throughout my readings thus far in the class I have noticed some common themes that reoccur in many of the stories and poems. Of course slavery was a very common topic but there were others such as inequality between the races and sexes, injustice and resentment, the black identity, and a strong faith and religion. Even though the words can be separated in the end they all come back together. There were many narratives written by fugitive slaves before the Civil War and by former slaves in the postbellum era. These narratives document slave life from the perspective of first-hand experience. The stories they tell are dark and ugly. The authors like Douglas and Jacobs reveal the struggles, sorrows, aspirations, and triumphs of slaves in absorbingly personal story-telling. Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman. In it she describes her experience of the sexual exploitation that made slavery especially oppressive for black women. She also recounts her life in slavery in the context of family relationships with her escape and her struggle to free her children. Fredrick Douglas who wrote Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave, Written by Himself...
Words: 1263 - Pages: 6
...****Analyzing Jealousy In Othello English Literature Essay**** Shakespeare’s play of Othello is largely driven by a grand love story, and filled with jealousy. Through the juxtaposition of Othello’s credulous nature and Iago’s pernicious villainy, the image of jealousy is truly personified as an all-consuming “green-eyed monster”. Because of this venomous nature of the beast of jealousy, the events of the play manage to unfold in Iago’s lustful authority, which bring down the eponymous character to his tragic downfall. In human psychology today, the modern definition of jealousy remains relatively unchanged from Shakespeare’s time, albeit being expressed in more modern scientific terms. It is defined as “a complex of thoughts, feelings, and actions which follow threats to self-esteem and/or threats to the existence or quality of the relationship ... generated by the perception of a real or potential attraction between one's partner and a (perhaps imaginary) rival." (White, 1981, p. 24). In scenes of jealousy, there are typically a triad of people involved: a jealous and threatened individual, a partner of the opposite gender, and his/her third party rival. In the case of Othello, there are certainly three important people involved at the beginning: Iago being the jealous individual, Desdemona being the partner, and Othello being the third party rival. Iago definitely feels threatened by Othello’s dominance over him, both in his military rank and his relationship...
Words: 1325 - Pages: 6
...The formation of self-identity is a process each of us must go through on our journey to adulthood. The development of a system by which to lead our adult lives is difficult for all children, but especially for African American children. In addition to defining their personal character, they must define themselves in terms of their culture and nationality – African American and American. One of the ways in which black children create their self-identity is through the illustrations they see in the literature they are exposed to. We look to African American children’s books to help promote self-esteem, cultural identity, and pride for African American children. As books are read to them, children concentrate on the images, and become subject to the impressions these images create. Children’s books that are authentic to African American culture, physicality and intelligence are few and far between. With consideration to our theme, “Black Literary Contemplations on Thomas Jefferson and Western Enlightenment Ideologies of Race and Humanity” and Thomas Jefferson’s Query XIV, it is my belief that the images in children’s literature are important to development of self- identity and esteem in African American children. In Query XIV, in his comparison of whites and blacks, Thomas Jefferson commented on the beauty of whites and blacks, and critiqued blacks because of their “immovable veil of black” and lack of flowing hair. He then stated that black men favored white women over black...
Words: 1523 - Pages: 7
..."protest literature" is obviously fluid. Deconstructionists might argue that all literary writing is ultimately a form of protest. Social and historical critics might argue that literary protests must contain a specific political aim, such as changing a law. A Marxist critic might argue that literary protest should disturb the social order in terms of the relationship between social classes. A feminist critic might argue that protest does or does not promote a gender bias. A psychologist might see literary protest as a manifestation of the subconscious. A traditional literary critic might argue the moral relationship between aesthetics and the political message of protest literature. In African Literature culture and experience rather than language becomes the essence of literature. Subalternism is clearly evident in African writing as pattern of “slave narrative” writing is seen. The ‘other’ or the colony is mostly representational. The informative and representative function is seen in Leopold Sedar Senghor’s writing as it shows that Africans share certain distinctive and innate characteristics, values and aesthetics. In the poem ‘New York’, Senghor argues that the black community of Harlem should ‘Listen to the far beating of your nocturnal heart, rhythm/ and blood of the drum’ and ‘let the black blood flow into/ your blood’. The word nocturnal is interesting because it refers to the image of night. By using the imagery of night, Senghor is asserting that one’s African heritage...
Words: 1018 - Pages: 5
...Comparison Approaching the end of forced slavery, birth was given to the new genre of literature. Fugitive Slave Narratives, the new genre, have become highly recognized in the literary world. These narratives have been analyzed thoroughly by scholars, as well as influenced the enhancement of learning today. Well-known author, Frederick Douglass, was able to recollect and share his childhood through his book entitled “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” Slave Narrative author, Harriet Jacobs, also shared her slave childhood through her book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Both authors take out a piece of them and put it down on paper for the public to be aware of the things they suffered through. However, the contrast in their gender influences the differences in their experiences. Although it would be coming to an end, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were born into slavery. Together, they suffered pain and agony of seeing things that children should see. In recalling their childhood, both authors can remember pain. Douglass watched African-American men and women beaten by their masters for any or no reason at all. Jacobs had her family torn apart from her every time one of her masters died. The two wrote explaining not only their suffering and agony, but also their excitement. Douglass was being taught to read and write by his mistress and even when she was instructed to discontinue his teachings, he continued to learn any way he saw fit. When...
Words: 808 - Pages: 4
...Yogendran Professor Frank Runcie Postcolonial Literature: Africa 09 March 2015 In Chinua Achebe’s Death Men’s Path, the main focus was to share a narrative, which emphasize the conflict between world-views and value systems. This story is about Michael Obi, a modern and ambitious young man who is appointed headmaster of the un-progressive Ndume Central School. Obi hopes to clean up the educational mission field and speed up its Christianizing mission. Chinua Achebe’s The Education of a British-Protected Child and Colonialist Criticism leads the readers to thoroughly understand Dead Men's Path. In Colonist Criticism, the author criticizes the enduring colonialism in the criticism of African literature by non-Africans. The writer states, "If the text is judged from European perspective a text doesn't get right evaluation and the essence of the text is killed" which shows Achebe’s disagreement on the European colonial injustice, a habit of ruling and discriminating other and comparing African people their literature, art and culture. He argues that African literature should not be judged with the official literature since it has its own particularity. The mask of European civilization does not know the history of African people. So Achebe's claim is that colonized people should write their own history disregarding what has been already universalized. According to Achebe, there are two problems with Universalism; first every literature must speak of their own place and culture....
Words: 571 - Pages: 3
...James Clifford T. Santos Dr. Jocelyn Martin LIT 127.2 (Postcolonial Literature II) Ateneo De Manila University 10 February 2014 Of Interpreters, Schools, and Courts: An Analysis of the Postcolonial Themes of Language, Education, and Power in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Through his awareness of the European literary tradition of negatively stereotyping the African natives as uncivilized peoples and putting the West in the pedestal in terms of cultural superiority and advancement (Guthrie 51-52), it can be asserted that the renowned African novelist and intellectual Chinua Achebe may had realized, at one point in his life, that in order to have a more realistic portrayal of the dynamics of Western and non-Western contact, there is a need to break such convention which undeniably favours the West. Perhaps, this is the reason why Achebe had written Things Fall Apart in such a way that it provides readers the African point of view of culture, identity and colonization thereby eradicating the dominant and unwarranted perception that the peoples of Africa are mere savages that have no customs, beliefs and traditions. Indeed, by providing a somewhat balanced approach in portraying the dynamic societal changes experienced by the Ibo people due to the conflict between their traditional culture and the foreign culture brought by their English colonizers primarily through religious and educational instruction, Things Fall Apart indubitably qualifies as a relevant and interesting...
Words: 3273 - Pages: 14
...Literary Education and Canon Formation: The Liberian Experience S. Kpanbayeazee Duworko, II Introduction For the past fourteen years, the name ‘Liberia’ has been inextricably linked to warlords, war exportation and gunrunning in the west African subregion. These linkages, a result of the activities of the country’s leadership, made Liberia an international pariah and brought about the imposition of economic sanctions by the United Nations. Within the comity of nations, Liberia came to be viewed as a country that significantly contributed to the destabilization of the subregion through encouragement and support given to various armed groups that allegedly attacked Sierra Leone, Guinea and La Côte d’Ivoire. Liberia, nevertheless, is also associated with legendary contributions to Africa and the world at large. These contributions range from the fields of politics to sports, medicine, and religion. In the area of politics, Liberia produced Angie Brooks Randolph, the first African female President of the UN General Assembly. In sports, specifically in soccer, Liberia produced George Oppong Weah, the only African so far to capture two major football titles: World Best from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and European Best from the European Football Association (UEFA). In medicine, Liberia produced the renowned cardiologist, Jerome Ngana, and the prominent AIDS researcher, Stephen Kennedy. In religion, Liberia produced Prophet Wade Harris...
Words: 4276 - Pages: 18
...11th Grade Afro-Asian Literature Course Syllabus | Educ 508 – Principles of College Teaching | Submitted by:Jonathan Jay F. BaniagaSubmitted to: Dr. Wilhelmina Q. Tomas | LONDON.MANILA.TOKYO.SEOUL Tomoeda Academy Tomoeda Academy Julia Vargas Avenue, Ortigas, Pasig City 11th Grade World Literature Course Syllabus Mr. Jonathan Jay F. Baniaga 2015- 2016 I.Subject Code: English 101a II. Subject Description: Afro-Asian Literature III. Credit Units: 3 IV. Pre-Requisite: none V. Duration: 18 weeks (54 hours) – 1 meeting per week (3 hours per class session) VI. Course Overview: Afro-Asian Literature is a survey course in reading and writing. The text focuses on selected works of Afro -Asian literature ranging from 3,000 B.C. to the present and is augmented with a wide array of novels and other supplemental materials. All literary genres will be covered. Students are expected to critically read all genres of literature and write cohesive, clear, and well-structured analyses/critiques about what they have read. Students will write a variety of rhetorical modes and for a variety of purposes including narration, information, and persuasion. Students’ papers will reflect a sophisticated level of original analysis and include references to the read text or to outside sources where appropriate. VII. Course Objectives: Students...
Words: 1741 - Pages: 7
...be applied to novels, poetry, essays, and various other forms of literature. There are numerous types of literary criticism including archetypal, Marxist, and readers-response. The theory of feminism criticism, another type of literary criticism, originated in France and the Netherlands and emphasizes on gender inequality and female's social roles. Feminism criticism can be seen as many forms of literary expressions such as poetry, essays, short stories, and novels. Feminism can also be examined through current events, fictional, and how those two are correlated. W.E.B. DuBois was an author who wrote the essay, "Double Consciousness." One can interpret feminism criticism from his text. "After the Egyptian an Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh-son..." This can be interpreted as females come after everybody else. In other words, society puts all others -- Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians -- ahead of females. For example, as terrible as they were treated, African-Americans received the privilege to vote in 1868, fifty years previous to the women receiving similar rights. As seen above, feminism is not always directly displayed so one must interpret it from the text. "Karintha," written by Jean Toomer, is a fictional story about a young lady who was the object of desire to many of the gentlemen in the town. Fiction is another form of literature that one can interpret feminism criticism from. In the story, Karintha...
Words: 354 - Pages: 2
