Thursday, November 24, 2011
Religion - Sierra Armstrong
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Help - Cultural Paper by Khala Flanagan
The story follows the viewpoints of three different women who live in Jackson, Mississippi – Eugenia, Minny , and Aiblieen. Eugenia (a.k.a. “Skeeter”) is a college graduate who’s extremely different from the other women in her town, especially since she’s unmarried and wants to become a serious writer. After landing a newspaper job, she decides to write a book from the viewpoint of “the help”, the colored women who raise white children and keep houses. Aiblieen is one of those women who suffers from the loss of her own son but has cared for seventeen white children during her career. She is the first of the help who agree with Skeeter’s plan, and she eventually convinces her best friend, Minny, to do the same. Minny is the polar opposite when it comes to Aibileen’s soft and sweet personality, and is known to be Jacksons’ best cook and biggest mouth. Both Minny and Aibileen dreadfully fear for their lives and the rest of their community when they tell Skeeter their personal stories, knowing they’ll be horribly punished if they’re caught. Racial segregation is hot and heavy during this time with the KKK killing blacks and marches going on all over the country. However, all three women come to realize through their individual struggles and joint efforts that the only way to change things is to tell the truth – the truth about colored injustice.
The Help portrays a very vivid example of ethnocentrism – the belief that one culture is infinitely superior to another, judging from only one culture’s perspective. The saying “separate but equal” was a dominant philosophy in the minds of many white Mississippi women, especially to Hilly Holbrook from The Help. Hilly is the chief antagonist, the character who causes the most conflict not only for Skeeter, but also for the entire black community. Hilly, like thousands of others, believe that all colored people are inferior to the white community, and they are viewed as unsanitary, unintelligent individuals who can be taken advantage of. It’s always been a tradition for the Southerners to have colored help, and some refuse to let go of that mentality. In The Help, Hilly designs a bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help, claiming that she’ll do whatever it takes to protect the town of Jackson. Skeeter, like many of the colored maids, is disgusted with Hilly’s attitude towards them and wishes she could change things for everyone, not just those in her community. Eventually, the idea to write a book about the help is the answer to that wish.
Ethnography plays an important role in this story as well. The gathering and interpretation of information based on firsthand study is the method Skeeter uses to write her book. She wants to tell the truth about the relationships between whites and blacks, but she has no idea how dangerous that topic is during that point in time. Because she’s been at college for 4 years, she’s been isolated from the heated segregation issues. Even though she was raised by her own beloved maid Constantine, she realizes she knows nothing about the dangers blacks are in or the consequences that would follow if they’re caught talking to her. Aibileen and Minny constantly remind her of this as they become her informants and respondents, those from whom Skeeter collects stories and information. As Skeeter listens to them and writes down their stories, she not only begins to see things through their eyes, but also her opinions and character changes as well. For example, Aiblieen asks Skeeter to check out some books from the white library for her, and Skeeter is once again reminded of the risk Aiblieen is taking just to speak to her. When Skeeter asks why Aibileen didn’t ask before, the maid replies, “These is white rules. I don’t know which ones you following and which ones you ain’t.” Skeeter answers that she’s tired of the rules and realizes she means it.
The more Skeeter interviews the maids, the more she sees just how many lines are drawn between whites and blacks, and not everyone from the colored community wants to help her because they’re so scared. She learns to take things one step at a time when asking the maids questions and to never press too far into their personal lives. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for blacks – men, women, and children alike – to be beaten to death, attacked by dogs, or imprisoned for life. Skeeter often criticizes her own ignorance of the matter: “They’d killed Carl Roberts for speaking out, for talking. I think about how easy I thought it would be… to get a dozen maids to talk to me. Like they’d just been waiting, all this time, to spill their stories out to a white woman. How stupid I’d been.” During the interviews with the other maids, Skeeter notices they often look back at Aibileen and Minny as if to ask, “Can I really tell a white woman this?” Because of their bravery and willingness to do something about the injustice, Skeeter comes to gratefully respect and revere all the maids who help her.
Capitalism is an economic system in which people work for wages, land and goods are privately owned, and capital is invested for profit. In The Help, the image of such a system is portrayed in the day-to-day lifestyles of people living in Jackson, Mississippi. The black community sells their labor and services to the white community in return for their livelihood, even though most of them are underpaid and all of them are denied fair treatment and resources. Hilly Holbrook and many other sophisticated ladies make ordinances in the town, such as separate bathrooms, and the white community also dominates the town’s resources for their own benefit. An example would be Hilly’s tactics to establish a strong racial prejudice in Jackson so that many whites will vote for her husband in the state elections. Like Skeeter, most white communities hardly know about the hardships colored people suffer throughout the country. Aibileen tells Minny that what they’re doing – telling Miss Skeeter their stories – is telling the truth, the truth they have to keep believing in. Both the maids hold onto this one word – truth – when times grow hard for them, and they realize it’s the only chance they have to make things better for the lives and the lives of others. Not only does Skeeter learn about the evils going on in her town and the segregational system, but she discovers facts about her friends’ lives - how they treat their children and their help at home - that changes the way she sees them and strains their friendships.
One of the most poignant scenes in The Help which, I think, illustrates the book’s theme is when Minny and Aibileen are sitting together having coffee just before the Benefit party. Minny is talking about her new boss, Miss Celia, and how she treats her like a good friend instead of just her maid. This confuses Minny because she’s so used to being mistreated with disrespect, and she doesn’t understand why Celia doesn’t see the “lines” between blacks and whites. Aibileen comments that “You’re talking about something that don’t exist.”
“Not only is they lines,” Minny says, “but you know good as I do where them lines be drawn.”
“I used to believe in em,” answers Aibileen, “I don’t anymore. They in our heads. People like Miss Hilly is always trying to make us believe they there. But they ain’t. Lines between black and white aren’t there. Some folks just made those up, long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies too. All I’m saying is, kindness don’t have no boundaries.”
This is a perfect example of ethnic boundaries, claimed cultural attributes by which ethnic groups distinguish themselves from others. According to our culture textbook, ethnicity, like the nation, is popularly viewed as a “bedrock” of “natural” ties based on “common blood, language, attachment to a place, or culture” passed down largely unchanged from generation to generation. The society ladies and people of Jackson have distinguished themselves as an elite group who believe in Southern tradition and they way things have been for years – to have colored help. Likewise, the black community has resorted to be considered an inferior group of servants and workers, and because most of them believe nothing will ever change, they just go through the motions of everyday life. After Skeeter plays a trick that makes Hilly the laughingstock of Jackson, the ladies’ League shuns her from all their social events, eventually firing her from her position as their article editor. Skeeter tastes firsthand what it means to be a social outcast because of strong ethnic boundaries separating people.
Yet, she knows the book will help erase those racial lines and make others regain their humanity and respect. Skeeter has a revelation when Lou Anne speaks to her after the book is published. Even though Skeeter doesn’t know her very well, Lou Anne is particularly touched by the book because she is one of the rare white women who truly cares about the help and hates racial prejudices. Skeeter learns from the other maids that Lou Anne went out of her way to help her own maid care for her injured grandson and treats them with heartfelt love. Skeeter laments that she didn’t try to become friends with Lou Anne before, knowing she could’ve treated her a little nicer. She reflects that “there is so much you don’t know about a person. Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.”
I also think this was why the author, Kathryn Stockett, decided to write the story through three characters’ perspectives instead of just one. Most stories are told through one point of view so the reader won’t become confused about who the story is really about. The Help, however, is an exception to this rule because Aibileen and Minny are just as crucial to the story as Skeeter is. Even though Skeeter is the main protagonist, I wouldn’t have understood the full nature of how culture shaped the story’s plot if I didn’t see things through the maids’ eyes, too. To grasp the real hardships and understand the Negroes’ mentality during this brutal time, it makes sense to have different parts of the story told by Minny and Aibileen. Some of the most important events in the book only occurred through one of the three women’s viewpoints, and I learnt something about each of them that wasn’t shared with the other characters in the story. Yet, these important events and experiences needed to be included so that the story would make sense, that these women would become “real” , and the cultural frame of the book would literally be three-dimensional.
The Help is, without a doubt, one of the best books I’ve ever read. Not only did it leave me with a message about humanity, but it also opened by eyes just like Skeeter’s to realize the full scope of fear and injustice that haunted the South in the 60’s. Because of so much hate and discrimination towards blacks, it was no wonder the maids were unwilling to share anything personal with Skeeter. Most of the whites were either born and bred to be racist, or they were simply ignorant of what was going on. For me, it was so shocking to read about the abuse and hatred some whites had for blacks, to witness the corruption and twisted mentalities of those who really believed they could treat other human beings with such violence and prejudice. Aibileen, Minny, and the other maids joined forces with Skeeter in order that the truth would finally get a chance to surface and change things for everyone.
What hope do the innocent, minority, helpless, and forgotten have if the good people in the world stand back and do nothing while they are tortured and abused simply because they’re “different”? From what I’ve learnt in my Anthropology class, this is one of the reasons why some anthropologists choose the work that they do. Some of them want to make things better for everyone by approaching a group of different people on their level in order to understand their culture and to teach the world who they really are – human beings, just like everyone else. Skeeter may have not wished to be an anthropologist, but her work among the help and her desire to do something about the cultural issues of her time characterized her to be that sort of person. All three of them – Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen – were those individuals who became the change they wished to see in the world, especially when it came to breaking down the evil barriers that separate human beings from each other.
Even though I have not yet seen the film adaption of The Help, I know it will be available on DVD next month, and I’m anxious to see it! This is the official trailer for the film:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheHelpMovie?v=IpKIfvh5C9E&feature=pyv&ad=9292651238&kw=the%20help
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Religion, Sam Stangl
Religions, especially the more widely practiced ones, are spreading at a high rate. Relgions also are influencing cultures heavily and changing society in a variety of ways. These ways are sometimes discrete, but some of them are very obvious such as our more conservative society, and also literature and personal morale. Religion will continue to shape the world as long as religious people continue to shape their belief systems.
Sierra Armstrong
Dr. Reeves
Cultural Anthropology
22 November 2011
The Help
I chose to read the book “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett basically because of the movie that was made about it. I hadn’t actually seen the movie but I wanted to, so I decided to go ahead and read the book and then watch the movie. I decided to write about both groups the book focuses on: the black maids and the white families they look after, because I couldn’t make a decision on which was more important. Each group is just as important as the other. I couldn’t understand why these maids would let these white women treat them the way they do. Before reading this book I had a general idea about how things worked down South in the Sixties; black people were treated as they were inferior to white people. Although that was the stereotype of everybody down there, I still thought that there were some good people who didn’t treat differently because of their skin color. Luckily when reading “The Help” there were some characters who were “good”, and went against what was socially accepted.
“The Help” is a book written about Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s. It is about a group of black maids who have been persuaded by a white socialite named Skeeter to write a book about what it is like to work for white families. Skeeter has come back home from college with a degree but no place to work. Upon her return she finds out that her families long standing maid, Constantine, has disappeared, and no one will tell her what happened. While writing this book with the maids Skeeter slowly loses her white friends because she starts realizing how wrong the maids and actually the black race as a whole is being treated. She ends up finding real friends in the maids who are helping her write her book. The maids risk everything to help Skeeter write this book. They risk losing their current job and possibly any more after that. Not only do the maids take a risk in writing this book, Skeeter does too. She risks causing shame on herself as well as on her family. After the book becomes published and quite successful Skeeter finds about what has happened to Constantine. She finds out that her mother basically fired Constantine and went to live with her daughter in Chicago. After only being there a couple of weeks Constantine dies. Skeeter lost a best friend, but made a dozen more from the maids who wrote the book with her.
In Skeeter’s culture, the white culture, a lot of the women rely on each other to survive. They thrive off of the others failures. If one woman has on an awful outfit or gets a bad haircut the other women are just ecstatic about how much they other is in pain. They are so happy just because it is not them who is in the “bad spotlight”. For instance, in the book, Hilly, who is the popular white ladies in town, has an initiative called the “Home Health Initiative”. This concerns the segregation of the bathrooms for blacks and whites. Hilly say’s that everybody needs another bathroom outside the house for the help, so the white families won’t get any diseases from the maids. If you do not have an extra bathroom you were in the “bad spotlight” in Hilly’s eyes. The ladies think that because Hilly says this then it must be the way it should be. I think that even though this is the norm for most people in that culture, it is not technically correct. There are also some learned behaviors for each of the two groups in this book. I think that the white ladies treat their maids this way because it wasn’t long ago that their families actually owned black people as slaves. They learned that the slaves and maids took care of pretty much everything. They cooked the food, cleaned the house, and watched after the children. Some of the women may not feel that this is right or they may even want to take care of their own families, but for so long this has been the way it is.
In Aibileen’s and the other maids culture I think they have accepted publically that they are inferior to white people just because it is easier to deal with. The maids do what their bosses say even if it is degrading or demeaning. If they did not do what was said then they could and probably would be fired, put in jail, beaten, or even killed. I also believe that they take care of and raise the white families children because deep down they hope that the children will turn out good, and not like their Momas and Deddys. “You is kind, you is smart, you is important” is what one of the maids, Aibileen, would tell the child she was looking after. The child didn’t get loving from her own mother. I think that the maids put up with the way they are treated because of how they might feel if they didn’t do anything for the children. If the maids didn’t give any loving to the children then who would. Just like the white women had learned behaviors on how they should treat maids, the maids had learned a thing or two about how to act and treat the white ladies. Overtime the book turned into a symbol for the maids. If this book would be published then hopefully the white people would read it, and see how they are really acting from a different perspective. See how another culture thinks of them.
Slowly throughout the book Skeeter starts changing her mind about how her culture is basically the dominant culture. Well at least they think they are so they act that way. Even though it takes a lot of the book going through the maids stories for Skeeter to change her mind she still changes it fairly easily which is known as plasticity. The book becomes a project for her so that hopefully she can change the minds of some of the white women on how they treat black people. She is like an outsider even though it is her own culture.
Cultural Analysis - Isabel Allende's "The House of the Spirits"
Culture is not a word with a very simple meaning. On the contrary, culture is a word that must be defined using numerous other terms and elements because of the complexity of the subject, and without these terms and elements, culture could not exist at all. Cultural anthropology reflects specifically on culture and all of its elements in order to grasp a proper understanding of humankind: their history, their current times, and their future. The economy, family, politics, caste and class systems, and religion all play major roles in the definition of a peoples’ culture. Culture, in turn, is a small part of what defines each individual.
Isabel Allende’s novel, titled “the House of the Spirits,” is an expression of culture in Chile. For the sake of cultural analysis, I chose this book because it has very strong examples of the elements required in defining culture, and Allende has an effective way of helping me understand the general concepts of Chilean family, religion, and social order, and even some of the more refined concepts of Chilean marriage, beliefs, traditions, and class and gender roles.
It is important to understand that cultures are never exactly the same. There are often similarities across cultures, but they are outweighed by the many distinctive differences that make each culture identifiable, individual and unique. Chilean culture in particular heavily emphasizes a need for good economy, close families, strong politics, social class, and faith in God, all of which are represented in explicit detail in Isabel Allende’s “The House of the Spirits.”
Chile’s economy in the twentieth century, the time set in Allende’s novel, was not horrible, nor was it splendid. Much like the gender roles and class system, there are only two ways the economy can possibly go: first, the economy can be based around the rich, whose wealth supports those who are less fortunate; second, the economy can be run by the poor, who somehow distribute the wealth equally between themselves and the more fortunate. The status quo for conservatives was to push for unequal distribution of wealth; more simply put, the rich should be considerably wealthy and the poor should be living in poverty. Peasants, however, such as the character Pedro Garcia, eventually win the fight in Chile to equalize the scale of wealth distribution among the people. Peasants are “rural cultivators who produce for the subsistence of their households but are also integrated into larger, complex state societies” (Nanda and Warms 115). The economy in this culture, including the way that people debate in order to influence and change it it, is very similar to the that of many cultures around the world today.
Women did not have rights in the beginning of the twentieth century, and nor did lower-class citizens. Throughout time, things changed, and important people were able to re-govern the people a new way; women were given more rights and opportunities, and the lower-class was supported in some way by the upper-class.
Although economy is considered important in a culture, it is most specifically the structure and shaping of a culture that relies on economy. More relied on by Chilean culture than economy are traditions and kinships, however. Traditions and kinships go hand-in-hand; traditions that are passed down in a culture influence its peoples’ outlook on their family and their relationships. I think that tradition exists mostly to ensure a solid ground on which a people can build their culture. Something that is unchanging is necessary to build such a thing as culture.
The traditions and rituals in the lives of the characters seem to have been passed down through many generations in their culture, almost as part of an inheritance. Family members who die often pass down, or pass on, their estate or their possessions. Family ties have always been especially strong in Chilean culture, and this fact is not expected to change anytime in the future. Inheritance and tradition are completely utilized in this culture. However, marriages are not always happy, and interferences are to be dealt with in a traditional manner. Divorce is unheard of, even if a couple does not work together, but often times a couple is set up for an arranged marriage. This can cause strength or failure in any partnership. In Allende’s book, for instance, a woman was set up for a marriage by her father because she had a baby, and her father wanted the baby to be given some kind of legitimacy by itself having a father. Unfortunately, the man was perverted and she and her child ended up moving back in with her parents. Through this trial, the woman never got a divorce from the man her father had her marry.
Religion has indefinitely become a kind of culturally influential cookie cutter. It shapes culture and the people within it to live a particular way of life. In “The House of the Spirits,” Catholic religion in Chile is of the first cultural elements that Isabel Allende mentions, probably due to its importance in the understanding of the characters and their web of families. Isabel Allende mentions the Christian-Catholic religion often throughout her novel, and even where it is not directly evident that she is exemplifying this religion as important to the culture of Chile, it is certainly made clear by the references to the saints, Father Restrepo, and “the Gothic stained-glass windows of the church” (5).
Along with tradition and religion, superstition and magic are seen often in Allende’s story about the Trueba family. In many cultures, magic plays along with the role of religion, but in this culture there are other-worldly beings that exist with the humans in Chile. Ghosts; spirits; los espiritos, almost friends with the character named Clara, especially, who has special fortune-telling abilities. Allende writes, “Clara was a vision in white Chantilly lace and natural camellias, as happy as a parrot after her nine years of silence, dancing with her fiancé beneath the canopies and lanterns, completely oblivious to … the spirits that gestured desperately at her from the curtains…” (90-91).These warnings were about her dog, Barrabás, who dies in her lap shortly thereafter.
Superstition, magic and mysticism compose a large sum of Chilean culture, as well as many other cultures around the world. Literature, such as Isabel Allende’s novel, is an elaborate way to describe aspects about a specific culture. According to Associated Content’s website, “Literature can have much to say about the culture in which it is written or which it is written about. This is particularly true if the novel, fiction though it may be, entwines fact with fantasy within the plot.” It is through this literature that we are able to see cultures in a different way. Anthropologists can study culture in a way much more fluent than without having text to study a culture’s literature from.
Works Cited
Nanda, Serene and Richard Warms. Culture Counts; A Concise Introduction To Cultural Anthropology. Ed. Erin Mitchell. California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. New York: The Dial Press, 1986. Print.
AssociatedContent.com. Yahoo! News Network, 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.
Religion - Becca Libby
People need a crutch in their lives, something they can lean on when times are tough. Religion gets people through death, depression, and fears. It can be the best of things, and the worst of things. People use religion to start wars, and as an excuse for violence and ignorant hatred. Our country is mostly Christians, at least where I live, and many of them do not expose their religion radically. Some however, do so in the worst ways. When I was a kid, about 12, I went to church with my neighbors one Sunday. Having grown up in a non religious household, this was my first time going. At the end of the service, which I had no feeling toward one way or the other, they asked for anyone who had not been saved to come up and become saved. I had no idea what that meant at all, but someone next to me grabbed my hand and trusted it into to air. The preached dragged me to the front and yelled to the whole congregation "This is a child of sin! She needs to be saved! Jesus needs to come into her and bring her from the ways of the devil!" I was literally terrified. I ripped my hand away from him and ran out of the church. I went home crying that day and my mom forbid me to ever go to church again.
So, now that I'm older and I understand what was happening in that church, I cannot say that I am a fan of these practices. I am happy for people that have a religion, and can appreciate it and be proud of it, but people who use it as a way to hate other people do not understand what it is really about.
Cultural Analysis Paper - Stephanie Reynolds
Dr. Reeves
November 22, 2011
ANT 210 NO1
Acclaimed as one of the best examples of female African American independence, the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, follows the life and experiences of the African American woman Janie. This novel, written by Zora Neale Hurston, profoundly analyzes the culture surrounding the deep south of Florida around the early 1920s or 1930s (Spark Notes “Key Facts”). Also, Hurston’s famous novel concerns the roles of men and women during this time, and how an individual fits properly within society. Due to the lingering dialogue between Janie and her grandmother about a woman’s place in society, the unexpected display of character by Janie, and the unique dialect form used by all of the characters in the novel; the reader can begin to fully understand the African American culture in the southern region of Florida.
In order to understand the novel’s message, it is imperative to understand the novel’s plot and who the important characters are. Janie’s long story actually begins at the end of her tale, when she returns home to the gossiping townsfolk of Eatonville. Her friend and confidant, known as Pheoby Watson, finds Janie sitting alone and lost in thought at her old manor home. Janie begins her story by telling Pheoby about her parents she never met and about her childhood. Janie Crawford was a young girl abandoned by her mother and raised by her religious grandmother instead. Janie’s “Nanny” only wanted the best for her granddaughter and her main priority becomes marrying Janie off as soon as possible. This novel tells of the happiness and misery experienced by Janie throughout her life and her reactions to the three different husbands she lives with for a time. Since Janie is a young, attractive woman, she is unhappy being with her much older first husband, who does not treat her very well. Janie eventually meets the charismatic and ambitious Joe “Jody” Starks, who was just passing by the farmhouse Janie shared with her first husband. Eventually, the two young love birds run off and elope together to Eatonville, Florida. What stands out about the small town of Eatonville though is that its population is mostly African American folks living comfortable, slow lives without the interference of any rich white people. Due to Jody’s strong personality and political mind, he soon becomes the Mayor of Eatonville and sets up a successful general store for the community. As the years pass in Janie and Jody’s marriage, they both grow apart from one another and Janie realizes how stifling and oppressive her life has become. Jody only wants her to be the most submissive and perfect Mayor’s wife, but Janie only wants to be a part of the “common people: of the town. Janie’s personality does not really follow the gender role of a black woman set down by the Eatonville townsfolk. (A gender role is the cultural expectations of men and women in a particular society, including the division of labor.) (Nanda and Warms 181).
Next, Janie herself defies society with her memorable, and rather unexpected, actions throughout the novel. She defies the townsfolk of Eatonville, her second husband Jody, and even the legal system which puts her on trial for the murder of Tea Cake. The townsfolk of Eatonville get a good idea of Janie’s character when she fist arrives with Jody and she seems very aloof and formidable as the Mayor’s wife. The common people do not mess with her since the fear Jody’s anger, since he was an authoritative figure. Due to her husband’s authority, or his ability to cause others to act based on him holding an appointed office, Janie could never be normal like the others (206). In the words of the author, “Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind. She couldn’t get but so close to most of them in spirit” (Hurston Zora Neale 46). Janie unexpectedly puts in her thoughts when Jody and another man were discussing about whether it was right or wrong to beat women. Although this is only a small action from Janie, it shows how she is slowly becoming her own person and breaking away from her husband’s oppressive nature. The townsfolk expect Janie to act in a certain way not only because she us the Mayor’s wife, but also because she is a black woman. Janie follows their expectations and Jody’s rules for awhile, but inside she thinks differently. In this way, Janie is a sort of deviant, or an individual who transgresses society’s rules, with the town of Eatonville (Nanda and Warms 208). Janie’s biggest demonstration of her deviancy is when she openly insults Jody in his store and in front of the townsfolk. While Janie’s words and reasons for defying Jody were entirely justified since he started insulting her first, she completely shocks everyone with this unprecedented behavior. Here was Jody Starks, the Mayor of Eatonville, torn to pieces and brought completely down by his supposedly submissive and sympathetic wife Janie. Since Jody was considered a sort of bigman in the town since he made himself the leader of Eatonville through his personal achievements of building up the small town instead of being elected; his wife’s words really cut him down (137). Hurston writes “Joe Starks realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like the flood. Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible…but Janie had done worse. She had cast down his empty armor before men and they had laughed, would keep on laughing” (79-80). Janie is supposed to be subordinate to her husband, which was considered an essential cultural guideline within the society during this time, but she defied Jody instead. Her unexpected outburst results in her being severely hit a few times by the furious Jody and he wants little to do with her from now on.
Finally, near the end of the novel, Janie is arrested and put on trial for the murder of Tea Cake. Her trial itself should not be considered fair by today’s standards because her jury was composed of all white males. Despite this setback though, Janie remains resilient and shows only courage in the courtroom. The white men and the presiding judge all probably expected this black woman to break down and plea for her innocence, but Janie did no such thing. Even the white women following the trial supported and crowded around her when she was let go. However, Tea Cake’s friends were not as thrilled about Janie gaining her freedom since they felt she had not been put on trial properly. In the words of one of Tea Cake’s friends, “de nigger woman kin kill up all de mens dey wants tuh, but you bet’ not kill one uh dem…Well, you know what dey say ‘uh white man and uh nigger woman is de freest thing on earth.’ Dey do as dey please” (189). This quotation reveals two aspects of African American culture in south Florida. One: a black woman is more likely to get off of murder charges than a black man ever will, and two: some of the black men were angry Janie got off for this reason. Janie is found innocent not only because she is a black woman, but because of her calm and reserved actions in the courtroom, which helped her defy the all white male jury in the first place. Janie is considered a deviant within southern black culture since she did not act as expected with the townsfolk of Eatonville, with her oppressive and demanding husband Jody, and in front of the jury that presided at the murder trial.
Hurston’s African American novel stands out from many other novels of the same genre for one main reason: she uses a unique dialect for her characters. This dialect, known as the African American English Vernacular (AAEV), or “Ebonics,” is a little difficult for the reader to understand at first, but comes naturally as he or she continues through the novel. Hurston’s choice of a unique dialect can be explained with anthropological linguistics, which is a type of study that deals with language and its relation to culture (Nanda and Warms 10). The AAEV dialect in southern Florida during Janie’s time s very important since it is the main type of communication among the townspeople of Eatonville and the residents of the Everglades in Jacksonville. Even the doctor who cares for Tea Cake speaks using this dialect, so education is not a factor with people who speak it. The importance of AAEV though is that it “has deep roots in the African American community, particularly among rural and urban working-class blacks. Although not all American of African origins speak it, AAEV is emblematic of black speech in the minds of many” (75). In Hurston’s novel, the AAEV is emblematic of the various characters, who were mostly rural class workers, and lived in small, tightly bound communities. Hurston’s choice to use the AAEV for her characters really demonstrates how true she wanted to stay to southern Florida culture and language.
Finally, after reading Hurston’s famous novel, I really felt only admiration for the main character Janie. This young African American woman led an interesting, but hard life, trying to find her own peace and happiness. Even though she faced adversity from her first two husbands, the other townsfolk of Eatonville, and from the dominant white race, Janie still pulled through and let no one tear her down. Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, not only serves to portray the cultural aspects of African Americans in southern Florida, but to show that against all odds, the will of a strong black woman should never be underestimated.
Works Citied
Classics, 1937. Print.
Nanda, Serena, and Richard L. Warms. Culture Counts: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub Co, 2009. Print.
Cultural Analysis Paper, Things Fall Apart
Michael Bennett
Ms. Reeves
ANT 220
22 November 2011
Things Fall Apart
An analysis of “things Fall Apart” speaks on the cultural challenges, tradition and difference of the Umuofia people of lower Nigeria in the 1890’s. I selected to read this book because of my interest in different cultures located in Africa. I felt that knowing and reading about the people of the lower Nigeria gave me a sense of how their culture and ways of life are so different but similar to my way of life. I realize through reading this book, no matter how different cultures are men must obey and respect the laws of the land and if not followed consequences and punishment was to be implemented. I also learned that my thoughts about family were similar to the main character Okonkwo family were a man is suppose to be the provider for his family at all cost.
In reading this book I become intrigued about the culture of the main character Okonkwo. What impressed me most is the way he became a pillar in his community. The women and the respected man what was feared and misunderstood both in his communist as well as the other nine villages surrounding him.
First how did Okonkwo become the man he was, a stranger and extraordinary person. He was born to tribesman home Unoka. Okonkwo was embarrassed by his father because he appeared weak and lazy. And because of how he felt about his father, he wanted to prove to the clan that he wasn’t like that. He learned early on in life how to work hard he started planting and farming yams early on his life. He was very ambitious. When he made up his mind to do something he did it. He wanted to the clan he was not like his father who possibly contributed to his wealthy and process life. He wanted the clan the clans to know he wasn’t like his father. Okonkwo was stranger and different than most of the men in his tribe. He was what we would consider today as “hardcore” not giving and inch to anything or anyone. For example, he would beat his wives and children if they made the smallest mistake. He once beat his wife severely because dinner was late. As with most American cultures that does not merit a beating. Okonkwo does not consider women as an equal. Whereas in America we consider everybody equal. Other times that confused me about the Umuofia culture was the way they solve issues. Another example is when one tribesman was murdered at the market there was no trail. The village people wnet to the other village where the criminal was staying took one of their members a young boy name Ikemefuna and kept him for three years. Okonkwo raised him as his own son in which he already had a son named Nwoye by one of his three wives. But at the end of three years Okonkwo assisted in the killing of Ikemefuna. That was shocking to me. As with most American culture that type of behavior would not have been permitted knowingly. Out of most things I read in this book, that incident would probably remain in my mind the most. It is unforgettably. These types of behavior make me question Okonkwo characters. I also believe that because of his character he appears masculine, strong, and respected by all in his community. His culture focus on strength and endurance that is what I like most about the Nigerian culture. I learned through reading this story a man’s’ worth is important to him and especially others.
As time goes on in this story the clan becomes divided due to some of the cautions taken by Okonkwo. His beliefs are questioned. For example the conflict between the Umuofia clan and the Caucasian race. Okonkwo does not want to accept the culture of this race and replace his own values. He feels that his power and respect would be taken away from him if he accepts change. This occurs after he becomes exiled from the villagers after killing one of the tribesmen. Okonkwo does not won’t to change, this builds a wedge between him and his follow tribesmen. To him this makes the clan appear weak. He is wondering how his people could give up their way of life and culture after all these years therefore making their culture lost forever. Okonkwo was so dishearten about this it cause him to murder one of the messengers who came to his country to convert the tribes to worship only one God. Okonkwo was very disturbed about the “white” culture the way they prayed and worshiped. He had a difficult time relating to their traditions, their ways of showing strength and also the language barrier created problems for him, without it, he felt less than a man. Therefore not being able to adjust to a different culture caused him to become angered and alone. Because of his displacement he committed suicide. Although he felt the culture of his clan was lost, it was redeemed. You ask how; it was redeemed at his death. When he hung himself his tribesmen where not allowed to touch his body and give him a proper burial. One could say he got the last say of whether his culture still lives on ended with his life.
In conclusion, I chose the story “Things Fall Apart” because of the rich culture and belief the Nigerian culture stands for. The Umuofia people stood for strength, courage, respect, and wealth. Their rich culture whether understood or misunderstood revealed to me first how clans supported one another. Secondly how tradition and doctrine can bring families close or further apart. Thirdly how symbols such as locust, fire, drums the “whole” outsides, invading the Africans, destruction of a man and togetherness and unity of people especially the Nigerians. In retrospect this story exposes so many cultures and traditions that can either keep a nation, town, or community together or pull it apart. This story I believe portrays both that’s why it’s called “Things Fall Apart”
Cultural Analysis Paper - Becca Libby
Love Medicine
Becca Libby
I chose to read Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich, because I love Native American culture and especially story telling. I’ve always admired how important stories being passed down through generation is/was to American Indians. This book however, surprised me. The author discusses many different families, that all seem to connect throughout the book. Each chapter is at a different time and focused on a different character. At first, this was a little confusing, but the farther along I read, the more I realized why the author chose to write this way, and it made much more sense. This book does not follow the stereotypes that come with many novels about Native Americans. All the characters in this book are tortured souls in one way or another. Between deaths, trust issues, and love triangles, everyone had an incredible story.
The novel opens with the death of a woman, June. She is described as a bit of a nonconformist and a party animal. Although she is married, she has been jumping from town to town and from man to man for many years. It does not state her exact age, but one gets the idea that she is probably in her 60s. She is described as “hard aged” but beautiful. After meeting a man in a bar, and having a few drinks with him, they retire to his truck. She finds that he is not quite the lover she had hoped and must pry herself from under his sleeping body and out into the cold. She begins an attempt to walk back to her home on an Indian reservation, but is frozen to death by the cold. Although her death was disappointing for me at first, it gave way to an incredible story. I soon found out that June has a past filled with turmoil and hardships, and perhaps she welcomed her own demise. In many Indians tribes in Alaska, when the elders of the tribe knew it was time for them to die, they would walk out into the cold of the night, on to the ice. This thought came to mind when June walked off into the cold toward home, knowing that she many not make it.
June’s sisters and mother are still very close, and live on the reservation June (and they) grew up on. June had been adopted by her aunt, who adopted many children throughout her life. Marie had many children of her own with her husband Nector, but she could never deny a child into her home. Marie was a favorite character of mine, due to her strong nature and intriguing past. Her parents were thieves and crooks, but she was different. As a child she had gone to a church, to become a nun, but soon discovers that there was more evil there than in her own heart. When her story begins, the rest of the story begins to fall into place. She meets her husband Nector, at what I expect would have been the most intense moment of her life. At 14 she realizes sees an evil one of the nuns that is training her, and she attempts to shove her into a fire. When the attempt fails, the nun turns and stabs her hand with a fire poker. It seems after leaving the covenant, her faith is in question and she is lost but still strong willed and fearless. I suppose it was her fearlessness that attracted Nector, a successful Indian who had been in movies and was for a time, a tribal chairman. Nector’s relationships create the biggest conflict and tension throughout the story. Although he loves Marie, and has many children with her, he has a hard time dealing with his life with her. He claims to be entering a “second childhood”, which I suppose we call a midlife crisis. He soon beings an affair with a woman flashy and energetic woman named Lulu, who was a love interest in his younger years. She has 8 boys, none of which have the same father. Although she sleeps around, she is stable and it completely capable to taking care of herself and her children. The relationship between Nector and Lulu is at first, just a fling, but as time goes on their feelings become more than that and Nector is forced to make a decision between his wife, and Lulu. One of the strongest moments in the book, came when Nector decides to leave Marie for Lulu. He writes two notes, one to Marie, saying he is leaving, and one to Lulu telling her how much he loves her and he wants to stay with her. He leaves Marie’s note under the sugar jar in the kitchen, and goes to Lulus to deliver hers. Upon finding the note, Marie is heartbroken, she is confused and in pain, but does not lose her wits. When she realizes he has come back and is outside, she slips the note under the salt bowl, next to the sugar. She does this so he will always wonder “salt or sugar?” and never be sure if she read it or not. Even if he does always carry a flame for Lulu, this was a fantastic, quirky description of the situation.
Lipsha is June’s son, although he never claimed him, but has been raised by Marie and Nector. He is a bit of a healer, he has the kind of touch that make people feel better. He uses his touch on his grandma, but his grandpa will not allow Lipsha to try on him. In Nector’s “second childhood” he taunts Marie by talking about Lulu. Marie tells Lipsha to use his “love medicine” to help Nector love her again. This was one of the only parts on the book that portrayed a more ancient view of Indians. Lipsha attempts to make Marie and Nector eat the hearts of geese; he chose geese because they mate for life. Nector will not eat his, so Marie attempts to force him, and he ends up choking to death on the goose heart despite Lipsha’s attempt to save him.
In the last chapters of the book, Marie takes care of Lulu after surgery. Marie tells about her troubles helping Gerry (June’s husband and cousin) with his drinking problem. The last chapter is Lipsha learning about his parents from Lulu. This closes the book with Lipsha driving his father to Canada. It gives emphasis on how important the loneliness that Lipsha felt truly was to the story and the closure he felt knowing and being with his father.