Blue Dress By Walter Mosby

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

Some may confine to societies expectations, rebel, or even enforce them; however, Alice Walker “dances” over the categories that society has believed she should be placed in to find something more meaningful and significant about herself. Alice Walker, known for her numerous awards and 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning work, The Color Purple, is an American novelist, poet, and activist. Her essay, Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self, is an autobiographical account of an incident that caused her to go blind in one eye when she was eight years old. Walker’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions, which were cultivated by the standards and pressures of society, are described in her story. While some may overlook its purpose, the metaphor of dance is significant because it represents her individual liberation of societal standards and categorization, which in turn influences readers to consider their oppressors and realize their self-worth.

Literature can be a powerful tool for social change. Red Rooms by Cherie Dimaline is about the weaving of indigenous stories through the common element that they were patrons of an urban hotel. The narrator, Naomi, works as a housekeeper at the hotel and imagines the past, present and future existence of the patrons by what they left behind. Dimaline shows how indigenous histories and knowledge operate, in that they are not linear, and they do not have a definite beginning or an end. The novel subtly shows the need for an Indigenous resurgence, but the book itself is an act of resurgence because it shows the importance of indigenous literature. This paper will argue that Red Rooms itself acts as an act of indigenous resurgence

The hardboiled mystery novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley was first published in 1990 and was acknowledged by former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, as one of his many favorite novelists (Easy Writer). Taking place in post-war Los Angeles, the story is narrated by an African American laborer, Easy Rawlins, who is transformed into an L.A. detective after being pulled in to the affairs of local townspeople. The successful novel continued onto screen adaptation in 1995 and was directed by Carl Franklin and starred Denzel Washington, who also financed and produced the film (Easy Writer). From a well-liked hardboiled detective novel to a contemporary film, viewers and readers are restricted from

Walter Mosley’s novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, explores the racial prejudices in Los Angeles during the 1940’s. The novel takes place in 1948, when the United States was still legally segregated into black and white communities and when people divided themselves into lower and upper classes. Easy Rawlins, the main character in the book, is an ordinary lower class African American worker, who faces limited opportunities and little money to live on. Throughout the novel, Easy Rawlins experiences firsthand the blatant racism prevailing in 1948. Walter Mosley’s novel reveals how life was in Los Angeles after WWII, before the civil rights movement. By viewing an American city from the perspective of a black lead character, Devil in A Blue Dress helps one become more conscious of how racial barriers have appeared in the eyes of African-Americans.

In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, by James Baldwin there is the notion or a reoccurring theme of a conflict between light and dark between the characters. The notion is carried throughout the story of two brothers finding their own lights and trying to work towards a greater life. In the late 50’s, after the Harlem Renaissance, adolescents are faced with drug sales everywhere and crime sprees around every corner, this is one example of the darkness in the story. Kids began to form bad habits that revolved around drugs and crime because it was what they became used to seeing in their everyday routine. Later on in life they would find themselves in unthinkable situations and not finding a way out. Sonny’s older brother, who is also the narrator of the story finds himself in disbelief because he finds out his brother is incarcerated because of a heroin addiction. Sonny wanted to be a famous pianist but thought that heroin would open his mind up and make his creative thought flow. By using his music, Sonny tries to make a better life for himself and attempts to return to the light after being in the dark for so long. The notion of light and dark reflects the character’s personalities and actions as they struggle to live in the ominous city of Harlem. The author expresses the human spirit throughout “Sonny’s Blues” to reveal how the characters and ordinary people find their own light within the darkness in which they live.

Memories can last a life time, so we tend to only remember the extraordinary ones. Extraordinary like the essay “The Yellow Ribbon” by Pete Hamill, in which he talks about how a person named Vingo, was riding on a, bus recently released from jail, to this oak tree explaining to some passengers that he had told his wife to leave him if she wanted, since he went to jail or to go to this oak tree and tie a yellow ribbon around it to see if she wants him to stick around and he will go and check it out. In the end, he saw hundreds of ribbons tied on to the tree. Not only is this an amazing story, but also very unforgettable one as well, because he finds out that after four years in jail his wife has enough love for him to go to this tree and tie hundreds of ribbons just to show the type of love the women had for Vingo. I have to say that, I believe this story is truly unforgettable, but I also got a story that is very extraordinary, like the time that I got my very first car. Furthermore, I didn’t just get a car, I got the love of two truly loving parents.

1. One of the main characters in the book Black and Blue is a woman named Frannie Benedetto. Some of the roles that Frannie had were being a wife, a mother, a Catholic, and a nurse. Her role as a wife was very challenging, due to the fact that she was in an abusive relationship and was married to a New York City Police Officer. Frannie had been married to her husband Bobby Benedetto for almost twenty years. Her entire relationship with her husband has been traumatizing. Numerous times Frannie had been physically assault, raped, and belittled. Bobby physically assaulted Frannie when she was nineteen years old for the first time in their relationship. Frannie recalls many times that Bobby came home drunk and would rape her. Bobby belittled his wife by accusing her of sleeping with the doctors she worked with and by making her feel like she had deserved to get beaten up by him. One of the major reasons that Frannie stayed in the relationship with Bobby was because of their son.

In 2009, Dr. Sylvia Earle wrote The World is Blue to educate and alert the reader about human impacts on marine ecosystems. Through this book she conveys her passion and methodical arguments concerning the importance of the conservation of the ocean, which encompasses approximately 80 percent of the earth’s surface. Dr. Earle states “the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume” (17). This statement emphasizes the significance of the ocean, not only for marine life, but all life forms on earth. The book implies that currently in today’s world, the conservation of the ocean requires a global effort to reduce human damage from the past generations. Using facts gleaned from credible scientific resources, she defines the problems of overfishing, bycatch, and pollution. By analyzing human impacts on marine ecosystems, Dr. Earle determines successful and unsuccessful solutions to these problems and suggests various ways individuals can change their lifestyles to reduce impact on the environment as a whole.

In On The Run, Alice Goffman focuses on a particular group of young Black men living in a poor neighborhood, struggling to live a “good” and “fair” life. These boys from 6th street are segregated from resources that would be found in more economically advanced neighborhoods. A “resource” that they do run into more than often is over policing in their neighborhood. As they are disproportionately targeted for arrest to fill quotas, this constant behavior and events deemed as a norm (even little children play a game about cops catching and being overly aggressive to Black boys), hinders their process at advancing within American society. Systematic oppression against a minority group slows and puts racial tension progress at a standstill, as they are continued victims of larger forces. What truly works against them once locked up and released, is that they were not given a chance based on race, now it becomes based on race plus their criminal history. People in such situations are left with one option, in order for them to survive and provide for their families, they must do it through illegal activity. Locking people up and returning then into the same environment which had limited resources does nothing to solve larger powers at play. Laws and documents may exist that describe an “equal” and “fair” society, but without action, words seem to hold less value. The Declaration of Independence, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are both documents meant to symbolize

Red Jackets’ “Reply to the Missionary Jacob Cram” and the poems written by Phillis Wheatley both have something in common. Belief in a God/god(s). Red Jacket provides that in his culture there is the belief in the Great Spirit which Jacob Cram wants to change to the almighty God and Phillis Wheatley shows how what she went through as a slave brought her to an un-denying devotion to God. Religion is something that has developed continually over the years, but one thing has remained the same… every individual has their own God or god(s) that they profess their faith in. What does the belief in a Great Spirit or the belief in God reveal about Red Jacket and Phillis Wheatley? It reveals who they are as an individual, how they live their life, their character, and also shows their past and how they have gotten where they are today.

John Crowe Ransom’s poem, “Blue Girls,” is one speaker’s attempt at trying to help a group of young school girls develop a more grown up view of themselves and the world around them. Ransom attempts to portray the reality of the actions and attitude of its targeted group, the blue girls, and attempts to enlighten them as to truth of the real world- namely that their teenage-hood and general life is actually a short experience and that in which no one can prolong any portion of it. By providing a depiction of a group of somewhat silly and irrational young girls, the speaker attempts to show these same girls the hard truth- they’re not so different from their elders whom they ridicule. This writer finds the identity of the speaker of the poem

I read a book called “I hear what you say, but what are you telling me?” was written by Barbara Madonik. I was recommended to read this book by my friend long time ago but I just got the chance to read it. This book talks more about the strategic use of nonverbal communication in mediation. It details an excellent set of nonverbal techniques to help mediators resolve conflict and break impasses. It also presents negotiators with the tools to gain a strategic advantage during their next negotiation. The author has created a very helpful and much needed exploration of the hidden dimension of mediation. She provides the tools to access a whole new dimension in mediation.

Women is a poem by Alice Walker from the textbook on pages 752-753. I chose this poem to analyze the structured language. The poem describes the strength and determination these women had in fighting for their children’s right to equal opportunity in education. Both tone and imagery are used in communicating this theme. Tone used in English language defined by Merriam-Webster as “a quality, feeling, or attitude expressed by words that someone uses in speaking or writing”.

Ezekial Ralins, known as Easy, is an African American World War II Veteran living in Los Angeles, a city legally divided into black and white communities. Easy has just been laid off from his job at a Champion aircraft company. He is concerned about having money to pay for his mortgage. One day after recently being laid off, Easy is sitting at Joppy’s bar, a hangout for working-class black men, when a white man walks in and offers Easy an undercover job. Easy accepts Mr. Alberts offer and agrees to look for Daphne Monet, who frequents is seen at black speakeasies. He takes a one-hundred-dollars cash advance to help pay for his house mortgage.