Alice and Celia, Catholic and Methodist, to be or not to be....

The damnation of Theron Ware was really interesting to read, it was nice to break away from the race culture we have been looking at; and look into the role of religion in identity.

It was strange to see so many different religious views presented within the one story or narrative. Different characters all represent different forms of belief; we have a catholic, a protestant and an atheist. It helps to have all these different views. Also the different way in which they approach their beliefs, despite being an atheist I defiantly preferred the catholic approach over the fire and brimstone of the Methodists.  Although I will admit that when we spoke about religious thing in class on Tuesday I got a little confused, unless it is the fall of Lucifer, the nativity or the Easter story then I don’t know about it. So I could be entirely wrong in my perception of the Methodists or protestant faith, as most of what I learnt about religion, I learnt from Supernatural.

One other aspect that I liked was the contrast between Alice and Celia; they are almost entirely different from each other. Celia is more street smart, she’s formed her own opinions from her own experiences whereas Alice repeats the views and opinions that others have taught her.  Celia represents a more modern minded woman; she doesn’t need to rely on anyone because she can support herself. Also she seems to be more at ease with the people around her. Alice, on the other hand, uses Theron as a kind of crutch or safety net; she isn’t really capable of being alone and she is a far more traditional character. Celia represents the new woman making her own way, and Alice is the traditional housewife, it’s a nice contrast to have.

Like I said the religion stuff did confuse me a little and I had to look up some of the references. However I did enjoy the book and the fact that it didn't try to preach or put a certain religion forward as better.

Autobiography of an ex-coloured man

I like The Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man.  It’s a good book, it is short enough not to be boring at points and it explores a topic I find very interesting. I find the concept of racial, religious and social differences and they’re effect on society to be an interesting topic. I’ve never seen the point of basing your opinion of someone on their race, religion or class. So I get very curious as to why some people put such a big emphasis on these things; it’s something I like asking people about although I admit it has occasionally gotten me into arguments.

However there were a few scenes that stuck out in my mind. The first one was in the school; the scene where the teacher asks the class to raise depending on their skin colour, it’s the first time in the novel where it is pointed out that the main character is black blood, I’m assuming that comes from the one drop rule. It seems unnecessarily cruel as the only reason for the teacher to do this, is to point out the differences within the class.

The other scene that really stuck in my mind was the lynching scene. I’m not going to lie; I may have cried a little reading that scene and seeing the way people reacted to it. The lynching itself was horrible however the reaction of the crowd was worse, not so much the people cheering but the people who knew what was happening was wrong but did nothing to stop it.  I’ve always been of the opinion that if you don’t try to stop something bad happening then you are just as bad as the people committing the act. Therefore to see people stand back and watch this happening was kind of horrifying. I mean I can’t imagine what it would have been like to speak out against it but I can’t believe that people would stand there and watch.

Pudd'nhead Wilson

This book was defiantly a relief after Blithedale and Moby-dick; it was small, easy to read and didn’t act like an encyclopaedia. Twain only ever told us what we needed to know, unlike Melville who told us things about whaling we will probably only need if we go on a quiz show.

The story in itself is kind of complicated and I don’t entirely know how I’m meant to feel about it. Part of me thinks that this book is quite racist because Twain stereotypes his characters; we have the rude supposedly superior white slave owner, and then the meek and docile black slave. Even Roxy is stereotyped because of her speech and self-hatred of her black blood. However, I also think that Twain did his best to actually bring across the race issue but was limited with how far he could go.

I really enjoyed the presentation of nature vs. nurture. I’m a big supporter of the nurture aspect, in that people are a product of their environment. This is clearly seen with Tom and Chambers. Tom is allowed to get away with everything and therefore sees no issue with being badly behaved because he has never been punished for his behaviour, he has been raised to think that how he acts is perfectly okay and acceptable. Chambers on the other hand has been punished for even the slightest mistakes for the majority of his life. At one point Twain even says that Chambers had learnt early on that it was better not to fight back, the three times he did he was brutally punished. I just liked that Twain did challenge the idea of race at the time. Like I said I’ve always believed in nurture over nature and that the way you are raised becomes a large part of who you are, so maybe I refuse to see any nature arguments that arise.

Also the idea of culture, the fact that many of the white characters use names they have little or no right to. I realise now that as a relatively new nation Americans like to hold on to the ancestry of their families and feel connection to a nation or country that they may have never set foot in. However, this just seems such a strange notion because I feel like what you are connecting with is your family and not the country in general but I get that it is a touchy subject so I’m not going to go much further with it.