Washington vs. Du Bois

I apologize if some of my knowledge is from stuff other then what is precisely in the text. This has been a main focus in every American history class since middle school so my outside knowledge is a little difficult to ignore for this. One of the first things I noticed when reading The Atlanta Exposition Address is the angle by which Washington approaches this task. On page 762 when Washington says “To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know…” it seems he is bribing the whites into aiding the blacks in work with the fact that they won’t have to deal with learning to understand a new culture with foreign labor because the blacks have already adjusted. In that section and the following lines he really pulls on the hearts of the whites. His description of the connection they have over the years is very intense. I think those few lines could be the foundation for most dramatic scenes in literature, television, movies, soap operas, episodes of Oprah, etc. Washington does share some ideas with Du Bois, an example of this is when Washington says “let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making him the most useful and intelligent citizen.”(762) Where they seem to differ from what I got was that Du Boise was more interested in making a few much more successful then many a little bit more successful. I am against this however I do like how Du Bois was more for political action and more unforgiving. They each seem to have their advantage to their side. Washington understands the concept of small steps; this society wasn’t made in a day and won’t be changed in a day. The advantage of Du Bois is that he is very active and shows no signs of giving up. He’s a mover and shaker. He seems to be the kind of guy who you briefly mention an idea to in light conversation and the next day he comes back with full written plans, all the paperwork and supplies, and a readiness to kill anyone/thing that could possibly inhibit his ability to achieve this goal. However, each seems to be a little bit too much with their side. Washington is a little too much of a push-over and Du Bois is trying to fix the problem with out any room for adjustment or easing into. I know that I’m adding in a bit more then what the reading implies because I am making Du Bois sound rather ruthless when in fact he was a bit merciful to Washington in the reading and I am basing a lot of this off the accomplishments of Du Bois such as his part in creating the NAACP and as well basing it off of his ideas of The Talented Tenth. However, I feel even with this mercy to Washington you can get a sense of his aggravation boiling over from underneath his skin. Much like in a cartoon when a character yields to a request against their will and replies with an overly-proper abdication through clinching teeth, you can hear the emotion seeping through when he says “In his failure to realize and impress this last point, Mr. Washington is especially to be criticized. His doctrine has tended to make the whites, North and South, shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’s shoulders and stand aside as critical and rather pessimistic spectators.” I apologize I made that a bit too wordy but I feel that was the way I could most accurately describe the severity of the statement. So anyway all-in-all with the readings Washington was more for preparing the black community for a struggle and asking them to work hard while also pleaing for the whites to have a bit of tolerance and understanding. Du Bois seemed to be unexcepting of giving an inch because he felt that asking for help from a society which has no history of help or understanding was only going to result in stagnation in the movement and progress of black rights. Oh one last thing sorry about being a few hours late. I had a lot of work for other classes and in all the confusion I was thinking this was just due before class and not at 8 PM. I was made even more late by the fact that for some reason it would not allow me to log into my account and after reseting my username AND password through google i finally was able to fix all problems and post this. If you take points off for being late I understand I just hope you still accept it.

Henry James and Edith Wharton

Well, to begin with I felt most of the time while reading "The Art of Fiction" as though I was listening to a friend who is describing something that he mentioned when I wasn’t paying attention. James seemed most of the time like he was getting at a point and developed it so much in his head that when he put it on paper her didn’t pay much attention to the extent of explaining the basis of his ideas. I’m not criticizing him for doing so because I do this most of the time myself but it did make it rather difficult to follow for me. This is what I got from it although I’m almost positive my view is skewed from his direction. There are multiple points about fiction which he is making. The first of which is that it is being overly critiqued. The second is that the writers are being too apologetic over their work instead of being proud. The apologies coming from writers, that he describes, seem to as though the writers feel this enormous pressure on them. As though a massive eye is on them peering over their shoulders as they write. They seem to feel as though there are rules to what they write and their apologies are the result of them needing to bend these rules. He also seems to feel that authors are experiencing a pressure to owe some debt to history. It was as though most authors are afraid of being mistaken or being crucified for someone finding something they say and turning it against them. A common example of this is the situation “You look pretty today.” “So what are you saying I don’t look pretty every day?” While reading his essay I pictured a tormented writer sitting at a desk, hunched over a marked piece of paper with sweat dripping off of him, in a panic attack over the way his words are used and running through all possible results of the words he writes like a move in chess. The problem with all this is that IT’S FICTION! It’s an art form and should be studied with great focus but it should not be held under a critical light for the statements it makes but rather the effect it has on the reader. Art should hold no boundaries. It’s the effect on the reader that is what makes a piece of art great or not great. This is seen when he says “Literature should be either instructive or amazing.”(556) I think I agree with him on this one. It’s much like a good relationship. The two things that make a great relationship in my view, and probably James’ view as well, is that each member gains something from it; or in other words grows as a person (smarter, stronger, more stable, better directed, etc.), or they should just be having fun enjoying the time they spend with the person. A relationship shouldn’t be based on being similar or because in the eyes of everyone else it is correct (in every sense of the word.) However I will admit these things can help aid to make it work well but it’s not required of it. Historical reference and solid rhyme structures don’t make a great poem but can defiantly help augment it to make it good. I know that was an odd analogy and I apologize but I’m trying to make sense of this concept without mere word for word description. So anyway, he seems to feel that critics should not make rules about what an author can do within their work. I agree that an artist is the sum of all their experiences in life thus far and also agree however that they can write what they want to write about for the simple fact that it is fiction. The idea of fiction is to create your own world or rather make a new one. Fiction can also create a world that is a distorted version of the real world because you have a perception of the real world and therefore it is on your pallet and able to be used.

Now the connection to "Souls Belated.” First off I want to say, Wharton really seemed to be breaking convention and setting an effect on the reader with the way the story was presented which made me love it. Lydia seems to be the protagonist and would seem to be just in her pursuit but seems to be suggested as being wrong by the way the narrator speaks. Generally you take the side of the narrator with all stories and often the protagonist and the narration seems to put a small bit of guilt and pressure on Lydia. In returning to the connections though the story is slightly reflecting of Wharton’s life. She involves a world based in intricate social analysis of the person whom she’s speaking with and the people around her. The complex social world of Lydia is a part of her own and shows through vibrantly. As well showing through is her unavoidable history and experience of trouble and drama with love situations. However, she breaks her own reality in the content of the story as well in the ending by creating a happy ending; whish also coincides with James article. Perhaps though she wrote the story this way in fulfillment of her real life failure. We enjoy happy endings because they are comforting to us. It is comforting to know everything will be alright. She may have been seeking a comfortable resolution to her situation from life. These are examples of how she let her personal experiences bleed through but was still able to use experiences outside of her own personal past.