Monday, July 14, 2008
Chapter 2: A Disasterous Road Trip
*How is the road in the first paragraph used as a metaphor?*What is the rhetorical purpose of the Founder's stance?*How are diction and syntax used in the description of the trustees' arrival at Founder's Day?*How are allusions used in the initial description of Mr. Norton?*How is repetition used in the chapter?*What makes the sleeping farmer "the kind of white man [that the narrator fears]"?*How is juxtaposition used in the conversation that the narrator and Mr. Norton have with Jim Trueblood?*What is the tone that Trueblood uses to tell his story? What do you make of this?*Why do you think Trueblood receives more charity from the white community than from his own?*Why do you think Mr. Norton gives Trueblood $100?
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Phew. I've inferred that theres a LOT of symbolism in this book. Everything is there for a purpose, so lets see if I can connect some dots!
Trueblood's story really intrigues me. I propose that he has subconsciously internalized racism, and thus, lives up to those demeaning ideals. He does this by impregnated both his wife and his daughter, something I can assume that is considered "lowly" and thus associated with African Americans. The white folks see this, and look down upon him. Its reinforcing the idea that African Americans are lower beings, but also making the white men take pity upon him. So Trueblood gets support, but only out of pity.
The story of Trueblood is told, I felt, through the emotion some what selfishness in the fact that he doesn't want to blame himself for the crimes he committed. He seems to blame it on dreams and how it was an accident, but in reality he did what he did.
the founder seems to be a strange person. everyone in the chapter seems to be proud of him bordering on reverance. the strange thing however is that we never even know his name. his principles and his idea are loved by the community, but he himself is apparently not important enough for anyone to know who he is. this reinforces the idea of an invisible man in the book (not just the narrator) whom no one really remembers. also, hes described as having vacant eyes as if hes blind, just like the rest of society and the school, to the actual social stance of educated blacks.
The white community pities Trueblood, his situation, and the black community. They think it is very typical of a black person to make such a huge mistake like that. By giving Trueblood charity it makes them feel better about themselves by helping him out. That is why he receives more charity from the white community, the white community thinks they should help this loser out to keep him away from us and ultimately feel good for helping their own community out.
Trueblood’s own black community does not want to help him out for a couple of reasons. First they feel like Trueblood brought disgrace to black community, which he did. If Trueblood would have never done that they community would be fine. But since he did it feels like Trueblood is bringing the whole community down with him because of the color of his skin. If this had happened to a white person hardly anyone would take the time to get upset. Second the black community probably can’t help because they could be struggling with problems of there own. Or they don’t even want to get involved and bring further disgrace to their community.
We all know Truebloods story would leave some mark on Mr.Nortons life but when he gave Trueblood the money I was shocked. I suppose he did it because he knew that the children would go through challenges its whole life because of Truebloods dream. I suppose Mr.Norton would just want to have the children have some nice things in life. Trueblood makes it seem like it wasnt from his actions but just from a dream and Mr.Norton takes pity upon that.
I think that the sleeping farmer is "the kind of white man that (the narrator) fears" because he seems to be the type who would be first to react with violence towards the narrator. His wagon is broken-down, and he is described as ragged. His face is "lean, hungry." He seems to be the kind of person who, if seen awake, would be bitter about his station in life, and would want to take out his frustration on someone or something else. Because of the general worldview of African American's at the time, he would probably view the narrator in the same light as a dog, easily kicked, with no repercussions.
Trueblood tries to tell his side of the story in a way that makes him look almost as a victimized person would. The way that he tells it, he claims he is not at his own fault; but he puts nobody else at fault, which can not be the case. The black community refuses to help him while the whites do. This is mainly because the blacks are trying to gain equality and show that they can be a respectable race to the whites. What Trueblood did didn't help their case, and the white community, more than likely, continued to think of Africans as an unfit race.
I agree with Corey that theres A LOT of symbolism in this novel, but there was so much to Trueblood's story that i couldnt tell what any of it was.
The way I look at the novel, the sleeping farmer might be refferring to one of the "sleeping ones" introduced by the narrator in the prologue, although im not completely sure why he's afraid of him.
Also, I think the white community gives Trueblood more money than his fellow black people, because the black people think of him as a disgrace to their race (hey, that rhymed!). So, the white people probably help him merely out of pity.
I think it is interesting how the founder is talked about here. First of all, we never learn this man’s name, even though people at the college seem to have a lot of pride and reverence for him (I’ll steal dustin’s words there- they fit good. :-)) The statue of the founder is supposedly lifting a veil off the face of a kneeling slave. Yet, in looking at it, it occurs to the narrator that he may be actually setting the veil on the slaves face, blinding him even more. I think that this is fitting since at the college they are encouraging black men and women to be complacent and follow white people with meekness- In effect, putting a veil over the students faces to make them obedient. Blinding them to the reality that they ought to fight for equality. Ironically, in pushing students to become ‘invisible,’ so to speak, the founder himself has gained a sense of invisibility-though he is remembered, his name isn’t even mentioned.
I believe that Trueblood receives more charity from the white community than from his own because the African Americans from Trueblood's community look upon Trueblood's act as a violation to their community. The white community takes pity on Trueblood and wants to help him.
I believe that Mr. Norton gives Trueblood $100 because Trueblood is part of Mr. Norton's fate. Mr. Norton wants Trueblood's life to become better because Trueblood's life depends the outcome of the years Mr. Norton has spent helping the school. Mr. Norton doesn't want someone who attended his school to have a bad future.
The tone used in Trueblood's story is one filled with emotion. Through his tone, many whites feel bad for him, having them help him out. I think he receives more charity from the white community than from his own because they, the white people, feel bad for him. They think that he did what he did as an accident because of who he is and what his dream is. This is especially shown through Mr. Norton's action (he gave him money).
Trueblood's tone that he uses while recounting his story to the narrator and Mr. Norton is one of pity for himself. Trueblood impregnates both his wife and daughter, widely considered an immoral act. Of course the consequences of this action cause Trueblood to be alienated by the white and black community. While Trueblood is recounting his story, I feel he his trying to victimize himself. Impregnating a woman is clearly voluntary--and with the way Trueblood describes it--it could not have been an accident or part of a dream, which he blames it on.
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