Natasha Trethewey Analysis

Alice Malsenior Walker, an African American born into poverty, came into this world on February 9, 1944 in Eatonon, Georgia. She was the youngest child of eight children born to Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walkers. Both of her parents were sharecroppers as well as expert story tellers. Things were not easy for the Walkers and Alice often witnessed her mother’s frustration of having the burden to take care of eight children with little means. Even though children of share croppers were usually made to work the fields, Alice’s mother made sure that her kids received an education. Alice was brilliant at writing poetry.

Phillis Wheatley’s, ‘On Being Brought from AFRICA to AMERICA’ is a testament to writing that utilizes irony and satire to produce a salient argument. As Susan Martin, states in her analysis of Wheatley’s poem, “a young woman who sought to assert her views on the passage from freedom to slavery, ignorance to knowledge, darkness to enlightenment” (Martin, 157). In particular, Wheatley’s aim was to construct a piece which addresses the ideals expressed by Martin utilizing irony and satire. Moreover, Wheatley, at the time of writing this poem, was amongst those enslaved. In fact, Wheatley published her first book in 1773. This is a time before America’s independence and most certainly a time where slavery was prominent. This book, which contained numerous poems, proved those enslaved were more intelligent than previously thought. Within Wheatley’s book, her famous poem, ‘On Being Brought from AFRICA to AMERICA’ was read. Read by those who supported slavery and those who opposed it. Typically, Wheatley addresses Christianity and avoids any discussion of race. However, this poem addresses racial issues straight on. On the surface of this poem lies words that when first perceived, appear to support slavery and her deposition from Africa. Moreover, Wheatley utilizes irony and satire to provide a deeper message that speaks out against slavery. More importantly, satire and irony allow two views to form. Through analysis from authors, Levernier, Loving, and Martin, their multiple perspectives can be formed into one. This analysis, will allow a better understanding of Wheatley’s intent with each line and a closer analysis of her clever rhetoric. Furthermore, Wheatley aims to reveal the improper treatment of, “Negros, black as Cain” (Wheatley), while also allowing the poem to be perceived as an appraisal of slavery. Furthermore, Wheatley utilizes each line to provide discussion on different issues regarding slavery in terms of criticizing white Christianity. Furthermore, Wheatley makes her viewpoint of slavery clear; an improper treatment that will not last.

The phrase “art imitates life” can be used to describe many works of literature. Authors and the stories they write are often influenced by the changing world around them along with the evolution of new perspectives and ways of thinking regarding a subject. While this may sound simply like a common literary trope, it is of great importance and significance in many genres of literature. None has this been more apparent than in both the anti-slavery and women’s empowerment movement of the early to mid-1800s. Two major influence authors in their respective subjects, Frederick Douglass and Fanny Fern, were heavily influenced by the changing societal trends of the time of which they expressed through their writing. Douglass’s speech in particular “What to a Slave is the 4th of July?” was heavily influenced by Douglass’s own personal experience as a slave as well as the rising prominence of the abolitionist movement in the United States. By referencing the contradictory nature of the Constitution relegating personal freedoms exclusively to white, property owning males, Douglass bluntly references the systematic inequalities faced by people of color in the United States. Never would the works of an African American author, especially one challenging the established institution of slavery, gain so much attention if not for the anti-slavery movement and shifting perspectives surrounding it.

Eudora Welty’s sheltered, adolescent life, coupled with her parent’s emphasis on education and reading, helped to shape her as the writer she was by making her stylistic approaches daring and intelligent while keeping a southern tone and state of mind.

The three writers grew up in different places. In the Essay, “The Soul of Black Folks” , Du Bois illustrates the soul of a black young boy who saw his life in two different worlds. The world of a black person and the world of a white person; the life of being black and the problems in the hill of New England where he grew up and faced racial discrimination. Du Bois was a sociologist, writer, educator and a controversial leader of the negro thought. Alice Walker wrote about how creative and artistic our mothers and grandmothers were in her essay “In Search Of Our Mother 's Garden”. She grew up in the 1960s in south Georgia where her mother worked as a maid to help support her eight children. Alice described her as a loving, strong and talented artist who showed her work in the garden. She wrote about her mother 's garden and how happy and radiant her mother was when she worked in her garden despite her busy days. She had no moment to sit down to feed her creative spirit because she was busy been a mother, a provider and a slave in the face of the society. She grew up seeing the struggles of hardworking,creative and strong African American mothers and grandmothers. She was a poet, novelist, and a womanist who was against racial and gender oppression of women. Glenn Loury grew up in Chicago’s South Side, where he attended political rallies. He described his childhood as being part of lower middle class. The writing of Du Bois , Alice Walker and Glenn Loury manifests

Frances E.W. Harper and James Whitfield are two of the most influential anti-slavery poets of all time. Both individuals use poetry as a form of resistance and as a way to express themselves during a time of great racial tension. Their poems reach out to many different audiences, shedding light on racial injustices that were present in America. Harper’s and Whitfield’s poetry, like many other works that were written during this time, help us to better comprehend the effects of slavery on African Americans.

Frances E.W. Harper and James Whitfield are two of the most influential anti-slavery poets of all time. Both individuals use poetry as a form of resistance and as a way to express themselves during a time of great racial tension. Their poems reach out to many different audiences, shedding light on racial injustices that were present in America. Harper’s and Whitfield’s poetry, like many other works that were written during this time, help us to better comprehend the effects of slavery on African Americans.

The daughter of a mixed race marriage, and later a broken household, Natasha Trethewey explores the lives and jobs of working class people in her early works, particularly of the colored in the South. In her second book she researched women of mixed race in the red light district and combined it with her own mixed race experience in the deep south. Her ethnicity has greatly influenced the mindset that she approaches her writing with and is displayed in her writing style.

She rewrites this statement several times to clarify the meaning it has to her and says, “All of these had everything to do with who I am today.”(first paragraph of “only daughter”). Reading and writing was not a challenge so to speak as it was for Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, but it was the process of what she did with that skill that was difficult. Ever since she was in elementary school she knew she wanted to go to college, she shared this with her father and he was pleased. She misunderstood understanding and states later, “What I didn’t realize was that my father thought college was good for girls for finding a husband.”(third paragraph of “only daughter”). She says that all her writing was for him, for his approval, but the ironic part of this is that he barely read anything at all, and not a word of english. He worked with his hands and read things like magazines and comics, nothing too lengthy and hard. She says he would always tell them, “ “Use this,” my father said, tapping his head, “and not this,” showing us those hands. He always looked tired when he said it.” (tenth paragraph of “only daughter”). See he believed she was smart and could make something of herself but that was not the goal he expected her to reach. He was expecting her to find a husband and make a family, this was not the goal in her mind. She wanted to become a writer and make a career for herself. He wouldn’t interrupt her with her work except for the occasional “ What are you writing?” but she wanted him to interrupt, she felt at times that he didn’t care what she did as long as she got a husband in the end. This frustrated her beyond belief along with the fact that he would always say that he had “seven sons” but in spanish it translates to that but it really just means seven children. She took this to heart and mentions it several times to get the message across that she was offended. She later had one of her

Beverly Atlee Bunn was born on April 12, 1916 in McMinnville, Oregon. She lived as an only child, parented by her mother and father. Her father first started out doing farm work, and greatly enjoyed it. Her mother called those years “slavery years” because she felt that her husband didn’t appreciate her enough. Eventually Beverly’s father had to get another job, due to the great Depression that happened in 1929. Money became tight and Beverly’s father had to get a job working at a bank. You can say she grew up an educated child, although at first she struggled greatly in reading and writing. She mastered those subjects around the 3rd grade. As Beverly grew she had a hunger for reading. Since their small town didn’t have a library, her mother

I rated my peer and co-facilitator Natasha Chamberlain at a 5/5. Natasha was committed and invested in contributing to the group whenever available, made supportive and educational

In her poem, “White Lies,” Trethewey’s theme in the story is discrimination and her struggle with her personal identity in America. Being born bi-racial, Trethewey explores racial identity that she experienced during her childhood. She was born in 1966 in Mississippi to a black mother and a white father. At this time, interracial marriages were not legal in Mississippi and were seen as shameful in society. Trethewey was very light skinned and had the desire to be white. The poem delivers the author’s experience with bigotry while living in the South (Bentley). This created an atmosphere of a racist society where the white community was superior over the African Americans. Growing up during this period, Trethewey felt like a lost little girl struggling with trying to find herself. In The Washington Post, Trethewey said, “Poetry showed me that I wasn’t alone” (Trethewey). This meant that writing poetry helped her to realize that she was not alone in this world of judgment, there were others facing the same issues that she was. The tone of her poem was sadness because of the prejudices she faced. To her, poetry was a place that could hold her grief (Bentley). Throughout her poem, “White Lies,” she desired to tell lies about who she was and how she lived. Her childhood was filled with thoughts and hopes of being white instead of being bi-racial. She states, “The lies I could tell, / when I was growing up” (Trethewey l. 1-2). These lines imply that she could easily lie to cover

“I am black, I am black!” constantly sprinkles Browning’s 1846 narrative, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” The phrase takes aim at American slavery and reminds us that its prisoners “had no claim to love and bliss,” (92) while in servitude. Boldly, the speaker asks us to bear witness to the human leftovers of this system of violence, especially in the case of a female slave at Plymouth Rock. Here, she debates existence, exposes deep emotion wounds, and murders her infant son. The act is done for “liberty,” but we find the mother’s violence difficult to digest. Starting from a point of respect, we suggest that the “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” really concerns a lack of respect for toward life that not only flaws her judgments

One of America’s most admired authors, Eudora Welty, was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She used love and guilt to write in familiar terms of family, place, and vision (Johnson 115). Welty was educated at Central High school and attended Mississippi State College in Columbia, where she studied advertisement; Later transferring to the University of Wisconsin, she received her Bachelor in Arts. Welty received a Pulitzer Prize for The Optimist’s Daughter one of the richest and strongest works of Eudora (Beuliacqua 1).

In 1610, after his fortune was made, he retired back to his homeland Stratford. He died on April 23, 1616. Among all women poets of nineteenth century, none has held higher critical esteem or was more admired for the independence and courage of her views than Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Born on March 6, 1806, she was the eldest child of a prosperous merchant family who owned a large estate in Herefordshire, England. At an early age, she devoted herself to poetry and a large part of her education was self-taught. Amazingly at the age of four, she had begun reading and writing verse, and by the time she was ten, she had read the works of Shakespeare, Pope, and Milton. At the age of eleven, she had composed her first long poetic work, a verse epic in four books, which was privately printed by her father. She was often in poor health, at the age of fifteen she had injured her spine when attempting to saddle her