Exam 3 Flashcards
1
Q
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
A
- by Langston Hughes
- writes about people feeling urged towards whiteness which prevents production of black art
- black artists need to inspire other black artists black is beauty (own your blackness)
- describes different classes
- focus on black working class/ low-down folk (they are doing it right)
- essay form stating ideal writing style
- racial mountain is the urge within the race towards whiteness
2
Q
Jazzonia
A
- by Langston Hughes
- more symbolic writing (tree, rivers, dancing girl, Cleopatra, Eve in the garden)
- in a Harlem cabaret
- six-long headed jazzers play, repetitive
- jazz is expression of negro life
3
Q
Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret
A
- by Langston Hughes
- play jazz for all types of people, for everyone!
- jazz does not discriminate (harmonizes differences)
- counteracts “work, work, work” of white world
- jazz reprints negro art form, to keep music playing keeps possibilities going
4
Q
Heritage
A
- by Countee Cullen
- what Africa is to Cullen
- poem describes outdoor scenes (So I lie)
- each line is cap, usually end in form of punctuation (, . ; ?)
- reveals struggle with African heritage
- wishes Jesus were black bc he feels there is a disconnect to his own religion
5
Q
Passing
A
- by Nella Larsen
- third person focalized narrator (only able to Irene’s thoughts)
- story about Irene reuniting with Claire who passes as a white women and fools everyone
- Claire described as catlike, superior, beautiful
- Irene shown as selfless, maternal (but really just like Claire)
6
Q
I Sit and Sew
A
- by Alice Nelson (black)
- cap each line, rhyming, lots of dashes —– (to stitch lines together)
- writes about men out fighting war while she sits and sews (Death cap)
- Nelson feels holy duty to help dying men at war (not romantic misinterpretation)
- admire the soldiers bc they have been close to death
- Langston Hughes would not like Alice Nelson’s poetry bc she is black but does not write about it
7
Q
The Way to Rainy Mountain
A
- by N. Scott Momaday
- writes about land, Kiowa history/ culture, American west
- narrator (“I”) speaks of his grandmother, of the landscape, of animals, Native American life (tipis, skin)
- prose (autobiography, intro, epilogue)
- trios, writes with different forms
- no one truth of a culture, tells story in many forms bc culture has many truths
- skeptic of postmodernism bc nature is real and inspires awe
8
Q
Woman Hollering Creek
A
- by Sandra Cisneros
- lots of accents and Spanish names
- all Spanish words italicized
- Cleofilas represents border figure (btwn father + husband, Mexico + US, fantasy + reality)
- is abused, doesn’t fight back
- Felice hollers over the creek and drives a truck, not a “pussy” car
- telenovelas are fantasy and do not prepare her for real world (of abuse, and false expectations)
- consequences of postmodernism, media based culture
9
Q
Under the Feet of Jesus
A
- by Helena Viramontes
- lots of Spanish phrases and statements
- doesn’t use quotes, uses indent then a — (rejects convention/ formality)
- 3rd person narrator
- story told in many perspectives, idea that to understand something we need multiple perspectives
- ambiguity with time and place (makes story human & universal)
- thesis: acknowledges crisis of postmodernism, represents way crisis plays out in median-american laborers, resists despair - resistance!!
