"It's murder, murder and nothing less. I warned you, Tetley, I warned you repeatedly, and Davies warned you, and Osgood. You all heard us: you were all warned. You wanted justice, did you? Well, by God you shall have it now, real justice. Every man of you is under arrest for murder. We'll give you a chance to see how slow regular justice is when you're in the other chair."
Authtor: Walter Van Tilburg Clark Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
The speaker of this passage is Judger Tyler speaking to the men in the lynching party, especially to Tetley, the ex-confederate officer/leader of the lynch mob. This occurs at the forseen climax of the novel when the men find out that they had just hung three innocent men.
The significance of this passage comes from the fact that the men knew that there was a chance they could be wrong, and were told to wait off by the judge and others, but still preceeded in killing the men they suspected were cattle rustlers. Judge Tyler repeatedly says "you" and "justice." This is important in that he connects how they were looking for justice, but now it is they who will be judged.
"There he is!" the mother screamed again. A huge black rat squealed and leapt at Bigger's trouser-leg and snagged it in its teeth, hanging on. "Goddamn!" Bigger whispered fiercely, whirling and kicking out his leg with all the strength of his body. The force of his movement shook the rat loose and it sailed throught the air and struck a wall. Instantly, it rolled over and leaped again...
Native Son Richard Wright
The speaker is Bigger and his mother facing the rat at the beginning of the book.
This is the huge set up for Bigger, the rat is in the same situation as him; cornered with nothing to do but lash out at his surroundings. Bigger like the rat has grown far outside of himself much like the rat is an over sized specimen of its kind. The rat like Bigger also refuses to be beaten the rat is flung against the wall and it attacks again while Bigger flees from the newspaper men and later kills Bessie again lashing out at his impossible situation.
Exhausted by the rigors of the storm, we were no match for them. Our men went down before the murderous Africans. Our loyal Celesto ran from below with gun and lantern and I saw, before the cane- knife's wounding flash, Cinquez, that surly brute who calls himself a prince, directing, urging on the ghastly work. He hacked the poor mulatto down, and then he turned on me. The decks were slippery when daylight finally came. It sickens me to think of what I saw, of how these apes threw overboard the butchered bodies of our men, true Christians all, like so much jetsam.
Author: Robert Hayden Title: Middle Passage
This particular passage in the poem is narrated from the perspective of one of the slave ship drivers regarding the revolt of the Africans onboard his boat. It is notable in that it clearly displays bias by the narrator for the slave ship crew over the slaves, and in doing so demonstrates the dehumanization that so often leads to violence. The passage accomplishes this largely through use of adjectives like "murderous" and "ghastly" to describe the Africans, at one point denoting them as "apes." Conversely, it shows the ship's crew to be "loyal" and "poor," and their dead bodies "butchered." The narrator also takes pause (by deft use of a pair of commas) to point out that all members of the ship's crew were "true Christians." All descriptive elements here, from physical description to behavior to religion, work not just to taint the Africans' humanity, but instead to entirely eclipse it. After all, it is unlikely that even the slave ship crew would subject their fellow human beings to the conditions that they do, but it is perfectly acceptable when dealing with so-called "apes."
"She was an odd girl, all right. He felt something in her over and above the fear she inspired in him. She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as she. And he had never felt that before in a white person. But why? Was this some kind of game? The guarded feeling of freedom he had while listening to her was tangled with the hard fact that she was white and rich, a part of the world of people who told him what he could and could not do."
Author: Richard Wright Title: Native Son
At the time of this sence, the main character Bigger is working (for the first time) as a chaffer for the rich white Dalton daughter, Mary. The above thought occurs after she expresses her wish for him to meet her communist friend, Jan. Bigger is apparently troubled wanting no association with him, however, he does as Mary instructs. Bigger begins to feel the shame, fear, etc. which are the reasons for the climatic murder of Mary later in the novel.
"She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as he," represents Mary's culpable ignorance. Because of Mary Dalton's culpable ignorance, she further awakens the emotions deeply intertwined within Bigger. Bigger and Mary live in different worlds; Mary assumes that they live in the same world which is a mistake. Due to the assumption, Bigger feels as if he is being mocked by Mary. The passage is important it shows the culpable ignorance of Mary which helped lead Bigger to committ murder in addition to his fear and shame.
"Law is more than the words that put it on the books; law is more than any decisions that may be made from it; law is more than the particular code of it stated at any one time... ...of the conscience of all men in all time?" (Clark 53).
Author: Walter Van Tilburg Clark Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
This quotation is recited by Davies during a conversation in Canby's saloon that occurs amongst himself, Winder, Gil, and Art. It takes place after the initial news of Kinkaid's death, when most of the other men left to find guns and prepare for their revenge-lead quest.
This quotation is important because it is one of the earliest and most in-depth arguments in the novel regarding the morality and legality of the decision to form a vigilante group to dispense justice. Davies' view of the law is a much more ideal one than most of the other civilians have, and his argument against the lynching party (based on the idea that it undermines the authority of the law) serves in direct opposition to the immediate and violent justice that many of the other community members seek. This counterpoint holds a high importance in this novel because it provides for a debate regarding the issues surrounding the law, morality, and the administration of justice.
Passage: "He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fulness how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear and despair. So he held toward them an attitude of iron reserve; he lived with them, but behind a wall, a curtain. And toward himself he was even more exacting. He knew that the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would either kill himself or someone else" (10).
Context: This scene takes place in the beginning of the novel when the reader is introduced to the Thomas family and the oppressive conditions in which they live. Bigger has just fought with his mother, leaving her to expell her frustration of having to work so hard and "make a home for [the] children" (10). As a result, Bigger reflects on the shame he feels toward his family.
Significance: This particular passage possesses great significance because it is the first time Bigger reflects on his own feelings, his family's situation, and the social structure he is bound by. His understanding of the world is accurate considering the widespread racism. Ultimately, this is the point in the novel where Bigger hints at the motives for his seemingly inevitable actions; killing himself or in reality, killing someone else. In a sense however, Bigger allowed what his life meant to enter fully into consciousness, which resulted in his personal destruction.
"It's a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here's the trunk-it's red and split wide open, full of sap, and this here's the parting for the branches...Thank your Maker I come along so's you wouldn't have to die outside in them weeds."
Author: Toni Morrison Title: Beloved
Amy Denver is speaking to Sethe (even though Sethe tells her that her name is Lu) as Amy finds Sethe running from the plantation. Sethe is laying down and at the end of her pregnancy.
The significance of this passage is that if Amy wouldn't have found Sethe to help Sethe to the river and deliver the baby, Sethe would have died.
“I thought you said we liked killing?” “Not so directly as this,” he said. “Not so openly. Not many of us, at least. We’re doing it because we’re in the pack, because we’re afraid not to be in the pack. We don’t dare show our pack weakness; we don’t dare resist the pack.”
Author: Walter Van Tilburg Clark Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
In this passage Art Croft questions young Gerald Tetley about his previous rant while they are on horseback hunting for the rustlers. Gerald responds with his analysis of the posse. This passage is significant because it show young Tetley with a mature mind regarding the sheepishness of the wolf pack. With the majority of the posse to afraid of standing against the pack and with the narrator Croft unsure of his own stance, right and wrong is not clear cut. Young Tetley’s bold, clear tone makes me believe that this is a stance Clark wants us to ponder and ultimately agree with.
"You have lynched my comrades Where the iron bridge crosses the stream, Underpaid me for my labor, and spit in the face of my dream You forced me to the bitter river."
Author:Langston Hughes Title: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
Hughes is giving the slaves a voice in this poem. This poem takes place in a white dominant society.
What Hughes is saying in this poem is that slaves were brought here by force "forced me to the bitter river," abused physically and mentally and were not compensated. The lost of people they knew through lynchings, created fear within them because they knew that the white man had the power to control their fate. They live with the constant reminder that they are slaves supressed by the white man who forced slavery upon them in the first place. "I did not ask for this river Nor the taste of its bitter brew I was given its water As a gift from you."
"He felt that he had his destiny in his grasp. He was more alive than he could ever remember having been; his mind and attention were pointed, focused toward a goal. For the first time in his life he moved conciously between two sharply defined poles: he was moving away from the threatening penalt of death, from the deathlike times that brought him that tightness and hotness in his chest; and he was moving toward that fullness he had so often but inadequately felt in magazines and movies" (149-150).
Author: Richard Wright Title: Native Son
A. This passage describes how Bigger feels about his murder of Mary Dalton the day after he commits it. It describes how he feels empowered by Mary's murder, even though it brings with itself new fears.
B. This passage marks Bigger's feeling that he has escaped the determinism he felt as a black man living in the South Side of Chicago. Before he felt that black men had no chance in life, now he feels that he has given himself a chance to determine his own destiny as he faces off against the authorities in his attempt to conceal his guilt. The image of the opposite poles Bigger is moving between starkly contrast Bigger's view of himself as a product of his environment and his new view of himself as a someone who has the ability to determine his own fate.
"For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she has settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you's have a little love left over for the next one." pg. 45
Title: Beloved Author: Toni Morrison
This passage is towards the beginning of the novel and is about Paul D talking about love in slavery. Paul D is suggesting that Sethe has too much love for her children and that it is risky. Paul D says you have to love small in slavery because at any time anything can easily be taken away. Paul D thinks that Sethe has too much love for her children and not enough love for herself. Sethe attempting to kill her children is excessive and also does not follow Baby Suggs idea of moderation. Sethe's motherly nature and love for her children makes her kill her daughter Beloved. And when Beloved returnes to Sethe, Paul D belives that she is putting to much love into her children and does't have enough self love in order to heal from her painful past.
"The reality of the room fell from him; the vast city of white poeple that sprawled outside took its place. She was dead and had killed her. He was a murderer, a Negro murderer, a black murderer. He had killed a white woman. He had to get away from here(87)."
Author: Richard Wright Title: Native Son
This is the moment in the novel immediately after Bigger killed Mary. He just realized that he killed her. He is standing in her room next her bed with her dead body next to him.
The significance of this passage is from Biggers thoughts. He is in complete fear of the events unfolding around him. At his viewpoint there is nothing he can do about what happened. He does not even mention an excuse, or that the murder was an accident. He only focuses on what everyone else around him will think. He has no thoughts revolved around himself and the crime. They are all revolved around society, "the vast city of white poeple that sprawled outside took its place." From his thoughts it is evident how clear society made it to him that he would be killed if he touched a white girl, simply because of his race "He was a murderer, a Negro murderer, a black murderer. He had killed a white woman."
"I could fly one of them things if I had the chance," Bigger mumbled reflectively, as though talking to himself. Gus pulled down the corners of his lips, stepped out from the wall, squared his shoulders, doffed his cap, bowed low and spoke with mock deference: "Yessuh." "You go to hell," Bigger said, smiling. "Yessuh," Gus said again. "I could fly a plane if I had the chance," Bigger said. "if you wasn't black and if you had some money and if they'd let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane," Gus said. Page 16-17
Author: Richard Wright Title: Native Son
The speakers in this passage are Bigger and his friend Gus. They are talking about taking flying lessons while looking at a plane writing advertisments in the sky.
The purpose of this passage is to show how much white and black people are separated. Bigger would like to do many things, one of which is flying, but he can't because he is black. Bigger realizes that he is capable of so much more than what society will allow him to, but because he is black he will never be able to try the same things as white people. Gus here serves as a reality check, he serves as a "friendly" reminder from society. Gus does not let Bigger really ponder over what he could do if he wasn't black.
"Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one."
Author: Toni Morrison Title: Beloved
These are Paul D's thought after Sethe defends Denver for being rude to him. Paul D thinks it is dangerous for Sethe to love her children so much since in slavery they can be so easily taken away. This passage is significant because it illustrates how the institution of slavery has restricted the ability for people to love and how they cope with it. Paul D chooses to love small in order that he might have some left over once they take it from him. He sees Sethe's love as dangerous because it is too much.
"Wait be patient," you say. "Your folks will have a better day." But the swirl of the bitter river Takes your words away. "Work, education, patience Will bring a better day." The swirl of the botter river Carries your "patience" away. "Disrupter! Agitator! Trouble maker!" you say.
Author: Langston Hughes Title: The Bitter River
The speakers involved in lines 38-47 are an African American and a white person, taking place in the south. These lines include a conversation about the patience for a better day for African Americans.
The significance of these lines is embedded in the idea that the bitter river is referring to the high pressures on whites to treat African Americans a certain way. I think to understand this, it is significant to note which race the "your" and "your's" are referring to. some of the white race could be telling the black race to be patient and wait for a better day, but this can never be because the bitter river, or pressure by society, will force white people to treat African Americans in a certain way.
" 'The men in those buildings are afraid. They want to keep what they own, even if it makes others suffer. In order to keep it, they push men down in the mud and tell them that they are beasts. But men, men like you, get angry and fight to re-enter those buildings, to live again. Bigger, you killed. That was wrong. That was not the way to do it. It's too late now for you to...work with...others who are t-trying to...believe and make the world live again...But it's not too late to believe what you felt to understand what you felt...'
Bigger was gazing in the direction of the buildings; but he did not see them. He was trying to react to the picture Max was drawing, trying to compare that picture with what he had felt all his life.
'I always wanted to do something," he mumbled."
Author: Richard Wright Title: Native Son
This passage comes after Bigger Thomas has been condemned to death and is reflecting on what he has done.
This is one of the only passages in the novel where the true nature of what Bigger has done is explicitly laid out. At all other times in the novel his situation is described one side at a time, but this passage allows for all sides at once. Bigger's statement at the end serves as his explanation for why he did what he did. He only wanted to "do something", which couldn't be done WITH the white people so he had to do it in spite of them.
"So close had danger and death come that he could not feel that it was he who had undergone it all. And, yet, out of it all, over and above all that had happened, impalpable but real, there remained to him a queer sense of power. He had done this. He had brought all this about. In all of his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly and deeply, no matter what others might think, looking at him with their blind eyes."
Novel: Native Son Author: Richard Wright
1) The speaker (or rather thinker) is Bigger. He is addressing his feelings towards the murders he has committed as he sits in the broken down house. This feelings of power is similar to that of Sethe's in Beloved. Sethe does not wish her children to live through slavery so she has the power to kill them to avoid slavery.
2) This passage is important to the novel because it displays Bigger's emotions after killing and the power he feels. Bigger still feels that he has power over the "blind" people because he, "the ignorant black man" has overcome the fear of the white's. This power is a common feeling that several people under slavery felt, such as Sethe. This shared emotion is something that not only gives the enslaved people hope, but allows them to fight for their rights.
Then she did the magic: lifted Sethe's legs ad massaged them until she cried salt tears. "Its gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "Anything dead coming back to life hurts."
Author: Toni Morrison Title: Beloved
This happens when Sethe is trying to run to Baby Suggs place, and ends up half dead on the road where Amy Denver finds her.
The significance to this passage is it demonstrates a possible theme of the book. There are many times throughout the book when memories bring pain because they are bringing the past back to life. Also Beloved herself can be seen as something dead brought back to life (as either Sethe's daughter or the slaves on the boat) and this brings great pain to the house, but eventually allows them to move on.
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"It's murder, murder and nothing less. I warned you, Tetley, I warned you repeatedly, and Davies warned you, and Osgood. You all heard us: you were all warned. You wanted justice, did you? Well, by God you shall have it now, real justice. Every man of you is under arrest for murder. We'll give you a chance to see how slow regular justice is when you're in the other chair."
Authtor: Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
The speaker of this passage is Judger Tyler speaking to the men in the lynching party, especially to Tetley, the ex-confederate officer/leader of the lynch mob. This occurs at the forseen climax of the novel when the men find out that they had just hung three innocent men.
The significance of this passage comes from the fact that the men knew that there was a chance they could be wrong, and were told to wait off by the judge and others, but still preceeded in killing the men they suspected were cattle rustlers. Judge Tyler repeatedly says "you" and "justice." This is important in that he connects how they were looking for justice, but now it is they who will be judged.
"There he is!" the mother screamed again.
A huge black rat squealed and leapt at Bigger's trouser-leg and snagged it in its teeth, hanging on.
"Goddamn!" Bigger whispered fiercely, whirling and kicking out his leg with all the strength of his body. The force of his movement shook the rat loose and it sailed throught the air and struck a wall. Instantly, it rolled over and leaped again...
Native Son Richard Wright
The speaker is Bigger and his mother facing the rat at the beginning of the book.
This is the huge set up for Bigger, the rat is in the same situation as him; cornered with nothing to do but lash out at his surroundings. Bigger like the rat has grown far outside of himself much like the rat is an over sized specimen of its kind. The rat like Bigger also refuses to be beaten the rat is flung against the wall and it attacks again while Bigger flees from the newspaper men and later kills Bessie again lashing out at his impossible situation.
Exhausted by the rigors of the storm,
we were no match for them. Our men went down
before the murderous Africans. Our loyal
Celesto ran from below with gun
and lantern and I saw, before the cane-
knife's wounding flash, Cinquez,
that surly brute who calls himself a prince,
directing, urging on the ghastly work.
He hacked the poor mulatto down, and then
he turned on me. The decks were slippery
when daylight finally came. It sickens me
to think of what I saw, of how these apes
threw overboard the butchered bodies of
our men, true Christians all, like so much jetsam.
Author: Robert Hayden
Title: Middle Passage
This particular passage in the poem is narrated from the perspective of one of the slave ship drivers regarding the revolt of the Africans onboard his boat. It is notable in that it clearly displays bias by the narrator for the slave ship crew over the slaves, and in doing so demonstrates the dehumanization that so often leads to violence. The passage accomplishes this largely through use of adjectives like "murderous" and "ghastly" to describe the Africans, at one point denoting them as "apes." Conversely, it shows the ship's crew to be "loyal" and "poor," and their dead bodies "butchered." The narrator also takes pause (by deft use of a pair of commas) to point out that all members of the ship's crew were "true Christians." All descriptive elements here, from physical description to behavior to religion, work not just to taint the Africans' humanity, but instead to entirely eclipse it. After all, it is unlikely that even the slave ship crew would subject their fellow human beings to the conditions that they do, but it is perfectly acceptable when dealing with so-called "apes."
"She was an odd girl, all right. He felt something in her over and above the fear she inspired in him. She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as she. And he had never felt that before in a white person. But why? Was this some kind of game? The guarded feeling of freedom he had while listening to her was tangled with the hard fact that she was white and rich, a part of the world of people who told him what he could and could not do."
Author: Richard Wright
Title: Native Son
At the time of this sence, the main character Bigger is working (for the first time) as a chaffer for the rich white Dalton daughter, Mary. The above thought occurs after she expresses her wish for him to meet her communist friend, Jan. Bigger is apparently troubled wanting no association with him, however, he does as Mary instructs. Bigger begins to feel the shame, fear, etc. which are the reasons for the climatic murder of Mary later in the novel.
"She responded to him as if he were human, as if he lived in the same world as he," represents Mary's culpable ignorance. Because of Mary Dalton's culpable ignorance, she further awakens the emotions deeply intertwined within Bigger. Bigger and Mary live in different worlds; Mary assumes that they live in the same world which is a mistake. Due to the assumption, Bigger feels as if he is being mocked by Mary. The passage is important it shows the culpable ignorance of Mary which helped lead Bigger to committ murder in addition to his fear and shame.
"Law is more than the words that put it on the books; law is more than any decisions that may be made from it; law is more than the particular code of it stated at any one time... ...of the conscience of all men in all time?" (Clark 53).
Author: Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
This quotation is recited by Davies during a conversation in Canby's saloon that occurs amongst himself, Winder, Gil, and Art. It takes place after the initial news of Kinkaid's death, when most of the other men left to find guns and prepare for their revenge-lead quest.
This quotation is important because it is one of the earliest and most in-depth arguments in the novel regarding the morality and legality of the decision to form a vigilante group to dispense justice. Davies' view of the law is a much more ideal one than most of the other civilians have, and his argument against the lynching party (based on the idea that it undermines the authority of the law) serves in direct opposition to the immediate and violent justice that many of the other community members seek. This counterpoint holds a high importance in this novel because it provides for a debate regarding the issues surrounding the law, morality, and the administration of justice.
Title: Native Son
Author: Richard Wright
Passage: "He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fulness how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear and despair. So he held toward them an attitude of iron reserve; he lived with them, but behind a wall, a curtain. And toward himself he was even more exacting. He knew that the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would either kill himself or someone else" (10).
Context: This scene takes place in the beginning of the novel when the reader is introduced to the Thomas family and the oppressive conditions in which they live. Bigger has just fought with his mother, leaving her to expell her frustration of having to work so hard and "make a home for [the] children" (10). As a result, Bigger reflects on the shame he feels toward his family.
Significance: This particular passage possesses great significance because it is the first time Bigger reflects on his own feelings, his family's situation, and the social structure he is bound by. His understanding of the world is accurate considering the widespread racism. Ultimately, this is the point in the novel where Bigger hints at the motives for his seemingly inevitable actions; killing himself or in reality, killing someone else. In a sense however, Bigger allowed what his life meant to enter fully into consciousness, which resulted in his personal destruction.
"It's a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here's the trunk-it's red and split wide open, full of sap, and this here's the parting for the branches...Thank your Maker I come along so's you wouldn't have to die outside in them weeds."
Author: Toni Morrison
Title: Beloved
Amy Denver is speaking to Sethe (even though Sethe tells her that her name is Lu) as Amy finds Sethe running from the plantation. Sethe is laying down and at the end of her pregnancy.
The significance of this passage is that if Amy wouldn't have found Sethe to help Sethe to the river and deliver the baby, Sethe would have died.
“I thought you said we liked killing?”
“Not so directly as this,” he said. “Not so openly. Not many of us, at least. We’re doing it because we’re in the pack, because we’re afraid not to be in the pack. We don’t dare show our pack weakness; we don’t dare resist the pack.”
Author: Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
In this passage Art Croft questions young Gerald Tetley about his previous rant while they are on horseback hunting for the rustlers. Gerald responds with his analysis of the posse.
This passage is significant because it show young Tetley with a mature mind regarding the sheepishness of the wolf pack. With the majority of the posse to afraid of standing against the pack and with the narrator Croft unsure of his own stance, right and wrong is not clear cut. Young Tetley’s bold, clear tone makes me believe that this is a stance Clark wants us to ponder and ultimately agree with.
"You have lynched my comrades
Where the iron bridge crosses
the stream, Underpaid me for my
labor, and spit in the face of
my dream You forced me to the bitter river."
Author:Langston Hughes
Title: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
Hughes is giving the slaves a voice in this poem. This poem takes place in a white dominant society.
What Hughes is saying in this poem is that slaves were brought here by force "forced me to the bitter river," abused physically and mentally and were not compensated. The lost of people they knew through lynchings, created fear within them because they knew that the white man had the power to control their fate. They live with the constant reminder that they are slaves supressed by the white man who forced slavery upon them in the first place. "I did not ask for this river Nor the taste of its bitter brew I was given its water As a gift from you."
"He felt that he had his destiny in his grasp. He was more alive than he could ever remember having been; his mind and attention were pointed, focused toward a goal. For the first time in his life he moved conciously between two sharply defined poles: he was moving away from the threatening penalt of death, from the deathlike times that brought him that tightness and hotness in his chest; and he was moving toward that fullness he had so often but inadequately felt in magazines and movies" (149-150).
Author: Richard Wright
Title: Native Son
A. This passage describes how Bigger feels about his murder of Mary Dalton the day after he commits it. It describes how he feels empowered by Mary's murder, even though it brings with itself new fears.
B. This passage marks Bigger's feeling that he has escaped the determinism he felt as a black man living in the South Side of Chicago. Before he felt that black men had no chance in life, now he feels that he has given himself a chance to determine his own destiny as he faces off against the authorities in his attempt to conceal his guilt. The image of the opposite poles Bigger is moving between starkly contrast Bigger's view of himself as a product of his environment and his new view of himself as a someone who has the ability to determine his own fate.
"For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she has settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you's have a little love left over for the next one." pg. 45
Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
This passage is towards the beginning of the novel and is about Paul D talking about love in slavery. Paul D is suggesting that Sethe has too much love for her children and that it is risky. Paul D says you have to love small in slavery because at any time anything can easily be taken away. Paul D thinks that Sethe has too much love for her children and not enough love for herself. Sethe attempting to kill her children is excessive and also does not follow Baby Suggs idea of moderation. Sethe's motherly nature and love for her children makes her kill her daughter Beloved. And when Beloved returnes to Sethe, Paul D belives that she is putting to much love into her children and does't have enough self love in order to heal from her painful past.
"The reality of the room fell from him; the vast city of white poeple that sprawled outside took its place. She was dead and had killed her. He was a murderer, a Negro murderer, a black murderer. He had killed a white woman. He had to get away from here(87)."
Author: Richard Wright
Title: Native Son
This is the moment in the novel immediately after Bigger killed Mary. He just realized that he killed her. He is standing in her room next her bed with her dead body next to him.
The significance of this passage is from Biggers thoughts. He is in complete fear of the events unfolding around him. At his viewpoint there is nothing he can do about what happened. He does not even mention an excuse, or that the murder was an accident. He only focuses on what everyone else around him will think. He has no thoughts revolved around himself and the crime. They are all revolved around society, "the vast city of white poeple that sprawled outside took its place."
From his thoughts it is evident how clear society made it to him that he would be killed if he touched a white girl, simply because of his race "He was a murderer, a Negro murderer, a black murderer. He had killed a white woman."
"I could fly one of them things if I had the chance," Bigger mumbled reflectively, as though talking to himself.
Gus pulled down the corners of his lips, stepped out from the wall, squared his shoulders, doffed his cap, bowed low and spoke with mock deference:
"Yessuh."
"You go to hell," Bigger said, smiling.
"Yessuh," Gus said again.
"I could fly a plane if I had the chance," Bigger said.
"if you wasn't black and if you had some money and if they'd let you go to that aviation school, you could fly a plane," Gus said.
Page 16-17
Author: Richard Wright
Title: Native Son
The speakers in this passage are Bigger and his friend Gus. They are talking about taking flying lessons while looking at a plane writing advertisments in the sky.
The purpose of this passage is to show how much white and black people are separated. Bigger would like to do many things, one of which is flying, but he can't because he is black. Bigger realizes that he is capable of so much more than what society will allow him to, but because he is black he will never be able to try the same things as white people. Gus here serves as a reality check, he serves as a "friendly" reminder from society. Gus does not let Bigger really ponder over what he could do if he wasn't black.
"Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one."
Author: Toni Morrison
Title: Beloved
These are Paul D's thought after Sethe defends Denver for being rude to him. Paul D thinks it is dangerous for Sethe to love her children so much since in slavery they can be so easily taken away.
This passage is significant because it illustrates how the institution of slavery has restricted the ability for people to love and how they cope with it. Paul D chooses to love small in order that he might have some left over once they take it from him. He sees Sethe's love as dangerous because it is too much.
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"Wait be patient," you say.
"Your folks will have a better day."
But the swirl of the bitter river
Takes your words away.
"Work, education, patience
Will bring a better day."
The swirl of the botter river
Carries your "patience" away.
"Disrupter! Agitator!
Trouble maker!" you say.
Author: Langston Hughes
Title: The Bitter River
The speakers involved in lines 38-47 are an African American and a white person, taking place in the south. These lines include a conversation about the patience for a better day for African Americans.
The significance of these lines is embedded in the idea that the bitter river is referring to the high pressures on whites to treat African Americans a certain way. I think to understand this, it is significant to note which race the "your" and "your's" are referring to. some of the white race could be telling the black race to be patient and wait for a better day, but this can never be because the bitter river, or pressure by society, will force white people to treat African Americans in a certain way.
" 'The men in those buildings are afraid. They want to keep what they own, even if it makes others suffer. In order to keep it, they push men down in the mud and tell them that they are beasts. But men, men like you, get angry and fight to re-enter those buildings, to live again. Bigger, you killed. That was wrong. That was not the way to do it. It's too late now for you to...work with...others who are t-trying to...believe and make the world live again...But it's not too late to believe what you felt to understand what you felt...'
Bigger was gazing in the direction of the buildings; but he did not see them. He was trying to react to the picture Max was drawing, trying to compare that picture with what he had felt all his life.
'I always wanted to do something," he mumbled."
Author: Richard Wright
Title: Native Son
This passage comes after Bigger Thomas has been condemned to death and is reflecting on what he has done.
This is one of the only passages in the novel where the true nature of what Bigger has done is explicitly laid out. At all other times in the novel his situation is described one side at a time, but this passage allows for all sides at once. Bigger's statement at the end serves as his explanation for why he did what he did. He only wanted to "do something", which couldn't be done WITH the white people so he had to do it in spite of them.
"So close had danger and death come that he could not feel that it was he who had undergone it all. And, yet, out of it all, over and above all that had happened, impalpable but real, there remained to him a queer sense of power. He had done this. He had brought all this about. In all of his life these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him. He was living, truly and deeply, no matter what others might think, looking at him with their blind eyes."
Novel: Native Son
Author: Richard Wright
1) The speaker (or rather thinker) is Bigger. He is addressing his feelings towards the murders he has committed as he sits in the broken down house. This feelings of power is similar to that of Sethe's in Beloved. Sethe does not wish her children to live through slavery so she has the power to kill them to avoid slavery.
2) This passage is important to the novel because it displays Bigger's emotions after killing and the power he feels. Bigger still feels that he has power over the "blind" people because he, "the ignorant black man" has overcome the fear of the white's. This power is a common feeling that several people under slavery felt, such as Sethe. This shared emotion is something that not only gives the enslaved people hope, but allows them to fight for their rights.
Then she did the magic: lifted Sethe's legs ad massaged them until she cried salt tears. "Its gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "Anything dead coming back to life hurts."
Author: Toni Morrison
Title: Beloved
This happens when Sethe is trying to run to Baby Suggs place, and ends up half dead on the road where Amy Denver finds her.
The significance to this passage is it demonstrates a possible theme of the book. There are many times throughout the book when memories bring pain because they are bringing the past back to life. Also Beloved herself can be seen as something dead brought back to life (as either Sethe's daughter or the slaves on the boat) and this brings great pain to the house, but eventually allows them to move on.
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