Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Religion
Cultural Analysis Paper, Sara Bugler
Sara Bugler
The novel “The Help”, by Kathryn Stockett, takes a close look at the town of Jackson Mississippi in the 1960s. The book focuses on the black maids and caregivers who work for white upper-class families. The story has Skeeter, a young white socialite who wants to be a journalist, and is compelled to write the truth about what black maids must go through to earn a living. She interviews the maids and takes the stories from them first hand, in which the stories get published in a book. The caregiver takes the role of mothers for the white women who don’t seem to have time or want to have time for their children. The story also views the role segregation has on the town from the eyes of the white socialite and the black help. Characters give this book the humanity, wit, and grief that reach into the soul of all of us.
“You is kind, you is smart. You is important.” Words might seem like just words to some people. To Mae Mobley, one of the children being taken care of by Aibileen, a black maid, they make all the difference. Mae Mobley’s mother seems inept to care for her children; they are a sort of burden to her. Aibileen steps in to comfort, care, and ultimately teach this child right from wrong, and what love is. This is a reoccurring role for the black women who work for the whites. They care for the house and the children until they are grown, then they turn around and do it all over again for another family. Aibileen expresses her fear that little Mae Mobley descent will make her turn out like her mother, and the disdain she has for blacks. Descent is the culturally established affiliation between a child and one or both parents. In the end of the book Mae Mobley expresses the beginning of racism by playing “back-a-the-bus” with her brother and tells him he is Rosa Parks. She pours a box of crayons over his head, tells him he can’t move. Opposite of this fear is characterized in Skeeter Phelan. She is a young socialite who has just returned from college to find her longtime caregiver missing with no word of where she went. Skeeter is greatly hurt by this. It is her love for her caregiver that gives her the courage to embark on the task of writing about the role of black help from their point of view.
Another ongoing story in the book is the story of segregation between whites and blacks. In Mississippi, a southern state, race was still a barrier between people. The political ideology, the shared beliefs and values that legitimize the distribution and use of power in a particular society, of the whites made it hard for the blacks. There are several examples of this in the book, but the one that catches attention the most is the bathroom discussion. The top socialite calls it her “Home Health Initiative.” Her idea is that every house that has a black maid should have a separate bathroom for the help to use, she sees is as a disease prevention measure. This is a small shock to Aibileen, the maid, who then has to use a bathroom that was built in the garage. The book also discusses the rebellion of blacks by sitting at the Woolworth’s counter and demanding to be served. The use of different water fountains, different bathrooms, and the outcome of a black using a white service. Rebellion is the attempt of a group within a society to force a redistribution of resources and power. Dr. King is watched on TV giving speeches about a free and equal black society, and reaching out to other blacks to non-violently protest their segregation. This is also seen is the difference of the white neighborhood and the black neighborhoods. The white neighborhoods are spread out so they have a good sized yard, pretty houses, and nice green grass. The black neighborhoods are described as having houses be close together. If someone had a yard it was usually bare, and everyone was only a yell away. The blacks had to shop at different grocery stores, except when they were shopping for their white employers. There was no prestige given to blacks by whites. Prestige is social honor or respect. Between ordering them to use separate toilets, shine silver until it sparkles, or beating them for walking down the wrong road, there was no respect given and separatism and segregation remained.
One of the most memorable parts of the book is a maid named Minnie. She is not the average southern black maid. She is the one who talks back to her oppressors, and has a hard time watching what she says. Minnie explains how even as a child she was not happy with her class; the category of people who all have about the same opportunity to obtain economic resources, power, and prestige and who are ranked relative to each other. Minnie was not happy about having to be a servant to white people. She often got in trouble mouthing off because she did not like the inequality she faced on a daily basis. She got fired from her long time job because she was told she stole silver. As a result of that Minnie became a deviant to the socially elite. She chose to transgress society’s rules. Minnie was seen as the best black cook in Jackson. She was angry with the woman who fired her and made a pie with something horrible in it. She put the story in the project that the women all worked on, and when the secret came out that she put feces in the pie, the woman who ate it was so embarrassed she did everything she could to convince anyone it wasn’t about her. This gossip keeps Minnie safe because the woman doesn’t want it known that she ate the pie. Gossip is a generally negative and morally laden verbal exchange taking place in a private setting concerning the conduct of absent third parties. In the end of the book the socialite white women are sitting around tea and talking about who they think the characters of the book that was written could be. Minnie provides some humor to the book, while also showing that not everyone would sit and take the punishment given for just being black. This novel, “the Help”, was a book that I did not want to put down. The stories were heartfelt, endearing, and touching. It is a book that gives the view of a class of people whose story is not told that often. The kind words of a maid to the child she cares for, the harm and hurt of being told they were less than white people, and the occasional humor that comes from the women make this book an important read. It shows how culture can be so different, yet so close to each other. I would urge anyone to read this book. Although is it a work of fiction, it is a real story to touch the heart and mind.
Chapter 11: Religion
Cultural Analysis Paper
Abbey Dahl
ANT 220
November 22, 2011
Ms. Reeves
Hope and Freedom
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a culturally enriched book written by Zora Neale Hurston. I chose this book because of all the positive feedback that I was told about when I mentioned that I might be reading Their Eyes Were Watching God for an assignment. The setting of the story takes place primarily during the 1920’s in Florida after the Civil War has taken place. Since the war is over, there is a sense of freedom that the African Americans have not been able to feel until that point. The African American race is the cultural group that gives this book so much depth, and meaning. A cultural analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God reveals that the style of which the book is written, the determination for the American Dream, the meaningful examples of ethnocentrism, and the incorporation of feministic struggles are what make this story so empowering and culturally extraordinary.
In the beginning reading a book like Their Eyes Were Watching God can be very overwhelming and intimidating. The dialogue was especially difficult to comprehend at first when it was constructed using very broken English. Although it may have been frustrating at times, Hurston did an amazing job with making sure the diction the characters used was exactly how it would have sounded. She used AAEV that also can be called Ebonics. Ebonics “has deep roots in the African American community, particularly among rural and urban working-class blacks,” (Nanda/Warms 75). During this harsh time period white people were considered more civilized and were, “associated with higher socioeconomic status,” (Nanda/Warms 75) so, they could speak what was qualified as “proper” English. The African Americans suffered from this terrible judgment and established their own kind of language that was shared within their own community. Hurston’s entire book revolves around Ebonics. Sentences like, “Us lived dere havin’ fun till the chillun at school got to teasin’ me ‘bout livin’ in de white folks’ back-yard,” (Hurston 9) were puzzling at first, but by the end of the book it was like second nature to understand exactly what Hurston’s characters were trying to explain. Even though this kind of language was said to be for the lower class African American there was still one particular character, Jody, who strived to become more important in society, and work hard for their version of the American Dream.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jody was a man with an American Dream, and, “he had always wanted to be a big voice,” (Hurston 28) in society. Along with being Janie’s husband, he became the Mayor of Eatonville. His strong determination allowed him to open up a General Store in the center of town, put up street lamps, and announced that he wanted to build a post office for the small, domesticated town. Jody Starks’s, “social position is based on achieved status,” (Nanda/Warms 75) which ultimately means he made himself into what he wanted to become. Unlike being born into an ascribed status, Jody had to work very hard for what he wanted. Unfortunately because he wanted to become something important in society so badly, he lost the Jody that Janie so quickly fell in love with, and their love diminished. It was great to see the freedom that was finally granted to African Americans used in such a magnificent way. Sadly everyone cannot be like this, and there are those who refuse to believe and accept that humans should all be treated equal no matter what race or class system they are apart of.
Ethnocentrism “is simply the belief that one’s own culture is better than any other,” (Nanda/Warms 50). Mrs. Turner is a woman that lived in the Everglades with all the other African Americans who were harvesting beans in order to sell them at market for a high profit. Janie came, “to be visiting friends,” (Hurston 138) with Mrs. Turner. Tea Cake, Janie’s third and last husband, did not appreciate how Mrs. Turner spoke about the African American race, and how she frequently attempted to persuade Janie to leave Tea Cake and marry her brother. She thought that because, “her nose was slightly pointed,” (Hurston 140) and she had thin lips that she was better off than all the African Americans. She didn’t, “blame de white folks from hatin’ em’ ‘cause,” (Hurston 141) because she couldn’t stand them herself. Janie never agreed with Mrs. Turner, and she rarely spoke because Mrs. Turner always went on and on preaching that, “if it wuzn’t for so many black folks it wouldn’t be no race problem,” (Hurston 141). Mrs. Turner did not accept their cultural differences, and thought African Americans to be a nuisance. Since Mrs. Turner was a woman Tea Cake went to her husband to tell him that she needed to stop coming over. This was typical in this time period for the women to be inferior to men. Only after the civil rights movement did woman start to make a heavy significant difference in society.
From the beginning to the end of Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston made a clear distinction between the male role and female role in this kind of society. Throughout the entire story the society was a patriarchy. A patriarchy is, “a male-dominated society in which all important public and private power is held by men,” (Nanda/Warms 193). From Janie’s first husband, Logan Killicks, to Joe, to Tea Cake, it was apparent that the male made all the decisions. It was demonstrated when Logan asked her to do something around the house it was like demand, when Joe silenced Janie from making a speech when the lamp post was up, and when Tea Cake told Janie they were moving to the Everglades. These were all signs of male dominance. When Janie worked in the General Store under Joe, it seemed like she was treated equal, but then Joe would make it look like Janie was not fit to do the job. It was upsetting to see that this was how our society once was, but society had to learn from its mistakes about woman to make things better for them in the future.
Their Eyes Were Watching God was such an enlightening tale. There was not anything it the story that did not have an important meaning behind it. From the Ebonics, to the gender roles it was all a part of a wonderful story that will be defined as a culturally, eye opening tale.
Word Count: 1,089
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1937. Print.
Nanda, Serene and Warms, Richard. Culture Counts; A Concise Introduction To Cultural
Anthropology. California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009, Print.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Cultural Analysis Paper, Cry, The Beloved Country
Stephen Kumalo is the elderly priest and member of a Zulu tribe in the small village of Ndotsheni. He is a kind man who understands the suffering of his people due to poverty, poor agricultural conditions, and the loss of its young people to the allure of the city of Johannesburg. He leaves his home to go to this city to help his sister and to try and find his son, Absalom. He encounters a variety of hardships which culminate in the discovery that his son is guilty of murdering a white man. James Jarvis is a white landowner who lives near Kumalo’s church and tribe. He is wealthy and holds the belief that he is entitled to the riches of the country and believes in the inferiority of the native people. Unbeknown to him, his son has become an activist for racial justice and reform as a way to stop the escalating crime and violence by young black men. It is his son who is unintentionally murdered by Kumalo’s son. The tragedy causes both men to rethink their own lives and to find a way to work together in order to save the beloved valley where they both live.
The most significant cultural and social fact that results in persistent inequality and injustice is race. Skin color was the main physical difference between the African tribes who originally occupied the area and the white, European settlers who arrived in the mid 1600s. This was the main factor used as justification for differential treatment, prejudice, and discrimination. For example, when Kumalo set out on his journey to Johannesburg by train, he was required to ride in the cars designated for “non-Europeans” because of his race. Within the city there are separate areas for whites and blacks to live. Blacks are forced to live in shantytown areas such as Claremont, which was referred to as “the garbage-heap of the proud city.” (Paton 58). Also, in the courtroom where Kumalo’s son Absalom was tried there were separate areas for blacks and whites to sit. The manner in which whites and blacks interacted with each other also shows prejudice. This can be seen when Kumalo goes to a home to ask about the daughter of friend and is met face to face with the father of the man his son killed. The book describes the manner in which Jarvis reacted to Kumalo’s near fainting stating, “Jarvis would have helped him, but such a thing is not so lightly done” (Paton 211). The statement illustrates the tense relationship between blacks and whites at the time and how this type of racial reaction had become a part of their culture.
Injustice is also illustrated by the breakdown of the tribal family structure caused in part by the effects of the physical environment in which they are forced to live. There is very little land available for the tribes to use because white farmers have seized control of the areas that were once fertile. For many years tribes have resorted to subsistence strategies in order to survive. Drought and poor agricultural techniques have caused tribal land areas to be unproductive. They have not changed in response to these challenges and continue to farm using soil destroying techniques and overgrazing. The men of this Zulu tribe also follow the custom of
lobola, which is a type of bridewealth transaction where the man pays for his wife in cattle causing them to keep too many cattle, which gives the grass no chance to recover. This practice is difficult for me to understand given the need to preserve the land for the cultivation of food to eat. There are very few opportunities to keep the young people tied to the tribe. As a result, young black men and women have left their homelands and moved to the city seeking work. There are very few places for them to live and those who do have small homes are overflowing with people: “The house is not broken, but it is overflowing. Ten people in two rooms, and only one door for the entrance, and people to walk over you when you go to sleep.” (Paton 84).
Injustice and inequality as causes of tribal family breakdown can also be seen in the requirement of mine workers to leave their families and live in compounds set up by the mine owners. The white mine owners had a policy of keeping their labor force poor and uneducated. Jarvis’ son wrote about this breakdown and how the white people of the region allowed it to happen because the tribal ways interfered with what they believed was the growth of their country. He believed the pattern of discrimination and prejudice had caused the tribes to deteriorate both physically and morally. Most of the young people who left the tribe and travelled to the city eventually fall victim to crime as a way to survive, producing prostitutes, murderers, and drunks. It is the writings left by his son that are central to the novel and show that the vicious cycle of inequality and injustice must be broken before healing and progress can be made. His death is all the more tragic because he is a leader in the reform movement and was actually in the middle of writing an essay that implored his fellow white South Africans to do something, “Our civilization has therefore an inescapable duty to set up another system of order and tradition and convention,” (Paton 179). He was writing the essay when he was killed by Kumalo’s son.
In conclusion, Cry, the Beloved Country describes a country that is suffering in an endless cycle of inequality and injustice based on race. The physical and cultural differences between the African tribes and the Dutch/English descendents had evolved over time into a discriminatory society living in fear of each other. The result was the institution of apartheid which allowed one group of people to live in marked disparity to the other. Unfortunately the voice of reason and reform shown by the writings of the character Arthur Jarvis were not heeded until well into the 1990s when apartheid was officially dismantled. It was interesting to me that he wrote, “We set aside one-tenth of the land for four-fifths of the people” (Paton 179). It seems strange to me that it took so long to change the way people felt about each other. The racial stratification and the conflict it caused between these two groups of people in South Africa almost destroyed the country. The novel has made me appreciate the country and time period in which I live. Although we still have some problems that are associated with race, they are nothing compared to those in South Africa.