Throw Some Deees...ire's On It

I found the dynamic between Blanche and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire very interesting. They seem very close, but Tennessee Williams makes it clear that they have some underlying problems that they sort of dance around.

In Scene Three, Blanche playfully flirts with Stanley while Stella is out on the porch. While it seems she does this to try and sway Stanley away from the conversation he wants to have about what happened to Belle Reve, it doesn't seem very sisterly nonetheless. After Stanley has had enough of her nonsense, she gets serious: "A woman's charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth, and this is the truth: I haven't cheated my sister or you or anyone else as long as I have lived."(644) Moments after her attempt to seduce her sister's husband fails, she uses her sister as support for why she hadn't cheated anyone, insinuating that she loves her sister so much she would never cheat her. Makes sense, but not quite so much given the timing. I believe that if Blanche thought for a second she could wiggle her way out of her difficult situation with Stanley by sleeping with him, she would have. Ironic, given that Stanley rapes her at the end of the play and she ends up getting shipped off to a mental institution.

Another scene I found interesting was the first time Blanche and Stella sit down and chat after Blanche arrives in New Orleans in Scene One. We really see how dramatic Blanche is and how Stella just takes it all with a grain of salt. Stella says, "You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got into te habit of being quiet around you."(635) Not only that, while Blanche's weakness is vanity, Blanche tells Stella she has gained weight and makes her stand up and be inspected. Again, Stella just complies. Williams sets Blanche up as the domineering sister and Stella as the weaker, compliant sister right at the beginning of the play. In the first scene alone there are at least three references in the stage notes to Stella "complying reluctantly."

I think its kind of weird how weak Stella is depicted. Blanche is the tragic character, so maybe she has to be shown strong at first so that she can fall. Stella seems almost afraid of Blanche-and Stanley, to some extent. But it also is very clear that Stella loves her sister very much. The day after Blanche critiques Stella like she was an Top Model contestant Stella reminds Stanley to compliment Blanche on her appearance. I found their relationship so interesting because Blanche is so caught up in her make-believe world that she has lost her grip on reality and Stella loves Blanche so much that she can't drag her back into the real world for fear of hurting her. I found this more tragic than Blanche's downfall. While Blanche's undoing was her fault, Stella, with all her love for Blanche, cannot do the one thing to help Blanche the most-grab by the shoulders, shake her, and scream WAKE UP! Stella, at the end of the play, is left with the loss of her sister, which, with her new baby binds her increasingly closer and more dependent on Stanley.

In Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston surprised me with her views on race. While the main idea of her story is her main character Janie’s search for love, it is impossible to ignore the implications of her portrayal of both blacks and whites in early 20^th century American south. Hurston differs very strongly from most black writers we have read so far in that she is not crying out for change and equality, but seems to write about what her perception is of race without trying to deal with the social inequalities of the time.

Hurston’s character Mrs. Turner deals with Hurston’s ambiguous feelings about race, particularly her own black race. Hurston describes Mrs. Turner as “milky” with a “slightly pointed” nose, “thin lips”, and a “bas-relief” buttocks.(208) Obviously, Hurston is trying to depict Mrs. Turner as physically looking white. Mrs. Turner has some surprising views on her fellow African-Americans. “Her disfavorite subject was Negroes”, she doesn’t trust black doctors, “can’t stand black niggers,” and believes that “the black ones is holdin’ us back” from being integrated into the white community.(210) Janie, who’s “coffee and cream complexion and her luxurious hair” made Mrs. Turner see her as another black woman who is different from the average black.

Mrs. Turner, while she and Janie may look similar, represents Hurston’s idea that race is not something that is only made up by blacks. Janie does not buy into Mrs. Turner’s crazy ideas. She humors her and lets everything she says go in one ear and out the other. Race is made up by anyone who buys into the idea that the way someone is has something to do with the color of their skin. This ambivalence towards ones own race is not something that has disappeared in the years since Hurston wrote this. Chris Rock, in his HBO stand up special “Bigger & Blacker,” jokes about how he loves black people, but hates “niggers”(his word). In his mind, “niggers” are the black people who give blacks a bad name. Black people are just people with black skin, no different from whites. Likewise, organizations like the Klu Klux Klan and Aryan Nation give white people who don’t hold the same bigoted views a bad name. Hurston does a great job of exploring views on race from within a race, and showing us that not all people from the same race share the same viewpoint.

I think this is an important break from most of the writing we have read so far by African-American authors. Douglass and Wright try to unite blacks by their shared suffering, while Hurston is trying to empower blacks by not shying away from unflattering subjects. If she ignored an individual like Mrs. Turner, she would be giving an unrealistic look at race, and if all of the problems aren’t addressed, how can they be fixed?

The Chris Rock stand-up I mentioned can be found here. The language is pretty rough, but it's really funny.

Black, Green, White, and Frenchies

“The Ethics of Jim Crow” by Richard Wright sheds a very unique light on the Jim Crow laws of the South. It was very reminiscent of Frederick Douglass’ narrative in that it was an account from a southern black man with the intention of exposing the racial tension and problems in the American south. This is by no means a romantic portrayal of the South but is meant to show how cruel an environment early 20^th century southern life was for African-Americans.

For Wright, the differences between whites and blacks come very clear to him at an early age. I found it interesting how Wright uses colors to describe the differences at the beginning of the text. He uses three colors in the first chapter a number of times: white, black and green. The white and black shouldn’t need too much of an explanation, but I liked how he used the color green, trees, bushes, and nature to describe the white’s property (although the houses are white, of course). White people had big lawns, trees, and bushes while blacks had a “skimpy yard with black cinders.”(548) The first difference begins not with any physical or mental comparison, but a comparison of property. Not only is the white’s property more pleasant to look at, but proves dangerous for blacks, as the white find cover in the trees and bushes while throwing bottles at the black kids who are armed merely with cinders and no cover. Wright says “Even today when I think of white folks, the hard, sharp outlines of white houses surrounded by trees, lawns and hedges are present somewhere in the background of my mind. Through the years they grew into an overreaching symbol of fear.”(549) Wright has come to identify white people with the property they own, and learned to be afraid of everything about it.

Another perspective I found really interesting in this reading was the reaction of other, older blacks every time Wright comes home hurt or embarrassed because he didn’t follow the Jim Crow laws perfectly. After quitting his job at the optical company in order to walk away with his life he goes home and “When I told the folks at home what happened, they called me a fool.”(551) I would have expected support, comfort, and advice. His mom beats him when he comes home with three stitches in his neck after the white boys hit him with a milk bottle, says they were right to hit him with it, and tells Wright he should thank God they didn’t kill him.(549) I was surprised by the lack of community in Wright’s portrayal of Southern blacks. Given, this is one short piece, but there is no mention of family outside of his mother beating him. I would have thought they all the blacks would look out for, protect, and educate each other. This is not the case in Wright’s writing. He portrays his fellow blacks as strangely independent. Everyone must learn these lessons of Jim Crow life on their own.

I’d like to conclude by noting how much I enjoyed the part where Wright talks about what topics were taboo for whites to speak to blacks about. It honestly made me laugh out loud, even though I know it shouldn’t have, but some of the topics were pretty hilarious or so obvious that it was funny he included them. Among my favorites-France; the entire Northern part of the U.S.; French women, the Pope, social equality, Socialism/Communism, and slavery. Mostly, I liked how the most accepted topics were sex and religion. While I think it’s safe to say sex is still a hot conversation topic among men in any blue collar working environment still today, I think religion has taken a backseat to celebrity gossip, fantasy sports, and my sources tell me that France and the 13^thamendment have snuck in there.