The Welcome Table Analysis

So in America, segregation could not be unnoticed due to the unavoidable display of items that must be used for different races. There were different water fountains, different schools, different restaurants, et cetera. Although, while it was promised by the Supreme Court to be equal, commonly white establishments were ‘gifted’ with privilege and more wealth than colored ones. But if African Americans wanted to enter the clearly better place, they couldn’t because the sign glared at them, reading, “white.” This should evoke a feeling of guilt from the clergymen, as they told King to wait for equal rights, when clearly African Americans are discontented with facing unjust laws that don’t allow them to receive the entitlement for equal establishments with white

In today's societies, people avoid drastic change by staying along their morals and beliefs, and dissociating or segregating anyone inside them who does not fall into the standard. A similar philosophy on societies can be appreciated in the intriguing short story, “The Welcome Table for Sister Clara Ward”. This thought-provoking story is written by Alice Walker, an African American novelist and poet, who bases the plot on the immense segregation that once took place in the United States. In the story, Sister Clara Ward is segregated from her Christian church and her society as a result of a difference in skin color and class. Through Sister Clara Ward’s alienation from the Christian Church due to her race and social status in “The Welcome Table for Sister Clara Ward,” Alice Walker utilizes the citizen’s judgemental comments to display the society’s strongly believed but primitive assumptions of blacks as well as their indisputable superiority over lower classes.

One fall day in 1930, Emma Akin drove her freshly washed car down a dusty road known as Texas Street. Although Mrs. Akin had lived in the town of Drumright for ten years, this was the first time she had ever gone into this part of the town. You see, Mrs. Akin was a white woman and this section of the community consisted only of African-Americans. Mrs. Akin was not certain what she would find, as she had never even spoken to a black person. You see, during this time in history many white persons did not want anything to do with the African-Americans. They believed that white and black persons should not be friends or even live in the same area.

Although each literary piece used the same theme, the authors delivered their message of racism in different forms. In short stories “The theme is associated with an idea that lies behind the story”. (Clugston 2010) “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker was written in short story form. Here Mrs. Walker tells a story in an omniscient third person point of view. She speaks of the main character in the story from the people seeing her approaching and then entering an all-white church. Written in eleven paragraphs, Mrs. Walker uses descriptive words to describe the old black lady and the incident from the onlookers the way they perceived her to be. Unlike the short story, the theme of a poem is rarely stated explicitly: it has to be looked for, discovered. And to identify it, you must consider the implications and representations of everything that appears in the poem”. (Clugston 2010) In the poem “What it is like to be a

From the beginning, the grandmother seems to be an old fashioned southern lady who is the epitome of a good Christian woman. She puts up a front that makes her seem like a true Christian, when in reality she is not really strong in her beliefs up until her confrontation with the misfit. Before the

Similar to More, Antigone has religious transcendent interests motivating her refusal of government orders. They both believe their religious duties are greater than their duties to the state, and that any divine punishment would be much worse than the state’s punishment. More’s religious duties are tied up in his conscience; Antigone’s are more purely about obeying what she believes is her duty to God. Antigone has an additional transcendent interest in her loyalty to her family – she is fiercely loyal to her brother and preserving his afterlife. More isn’t forced to choose between family and self-interest, as is Antigone.

A young woman is walking alone on her way back from a long night shift and she passes an ally. There’s an old, huddled dark skinned old timer plopped in the ominous mouth of the allway and this woman (who was raised to have common sense) clutches her purse and refuses to look in the twinkling man’s eyes. She also refuses to acknowledge him when he calls in a sickly tired voice, “Have a blessed evening.” She just drones on thinking of the terrible things that the old “Gangster” could’ve have done to her. On her last block the young woman found a pale stranger plopped on the corner of her apartment building, he had a cup filled of change and a hat covering his eyes. He pushed the cup towards her and her stomach filled with automatic sympathy and disdain that a poor starving artist was in front of her building. The pale stranger received a five dollar bill, a blessing, and her before bed prayers. Now, this was a hypothetical occurrence was made by something we’ve seen too many times. Racism and these stereotypes will never die until races and our stereotypes die.

There are several issues in the “Tradition” reading that made me angry. For starter I’m an African American male who experiences the ugliness of Southern Tradition every day. It is my hope for the sake of America that people of all color and differences be treated with respect and dignity. With that being said, the one thing that was common in reading the stories was the unwillingness of the people of hate to change. I can’t for the life of me understand how someone who is no better than me as a human being can believe that they are above me I any capacity. This country was founded on the bases of protecting the rights of all men. As Thomas Jefferson stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they

In the beginning of the story, the strong belief in Christianity of grandmother

One of the themes proposed in Antigone is that there is no greater loyalty than that of a family’s. Life deals out countless tests to determine “whether you are who you are, true to your seed and generation…” or if your allegiance lies elsewhere (Heaney 8). Antigone is the character used to portray this particular idea, and she attempts to bring her

She stands alone in her fight against racism and it seems that she and society exist upon two different poles of earth. The conflict takes shape with her dressing in the very beginning of the story. She gets ready to join the Sunday Prayer; however, she is not permitted to enter the church of the Whites. Instead of getting disappointed, she stands at the outside stair steps of it and keeps her conflict alive with the rest of the people. The issue of racism is significant factor in the story as it keeps the whole story unified.

Throughout the entire world, there is an idea of the social facade of how one should appear and no one is an exception to this. The south is particularly known for this and is seen throughout the various stories read in this class. One author who demonstrates this concept of social facade is Katherine Anne Porter in her story, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall. It is the story of a grandmother who is a hypocrite, not only to herself, but the whole town and obsessed with her appearance in how people view her and her family.These ideas can also be seen in Flannery O’Connor’s story A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Porter’s other story, The Old Order. The main theme seen in these stories is this idea of social facade and hypocrisy.

Aashirya is a charismatic and energetic 58-year Indian woman working in the local beauty salon in Kabul, Afghanistan when we met. She is a dedicated Hindu and a widow who began working for the Army and Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES) after her husband died. She is the mother of two sons and eight grandchildren all living in El Paso Texas. Her sons who were both in the Army were the reason she became a member of the AAFES staff. Aashirya’s family was her number one priority. She loved to travel, she enjoyed meeting Soldiers and spent most of her time making them feel beautiful and as she would say, “I will make your hair look great if only for a few moments.” Everyone loved talking to her, and she was the most favorite beautician in the store, according to the owner, both male and female customers would ask for her by name and would wait if she was busy. Aashirya would have dinner with my coworkers and me at the local Italian restaurant very often, and like myself, she preferred vegetarian meals. She would share stories of her childhood in India, her love for Indian music and movies from Bollywood. The family was quite large, and they spent most of their time together. Religion was a big part of their lives, and she spent quite a bit of time in the Temple. She had heard about Jesus Christ, however, in reality, she hardly knew him nor did she have much knowledge about Christianity. She believed in honoring her religious beliefs, its customs, and traditions.

In my second field experience, I’d decided to go to a Baptist church. However, I did not come from a religious background. Although I am not completely in the dark when it comes to religion I have learn about different religion through friends and books. Therefore, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally experience a service and put my ignorance aside. Meaning the assumption and expectation I had of church service. Furthermore, it provided me the opportunity to challenge myself and my own biases I have towards going to church. Once I went to church I was surprise to see so many black people, for the first time since I moved too Greensburg, I was actual able to see a room overflowing with individual who looked just like me, my first emotion was excitement and enjoy. Some of my expectation, was something I have learned from my mother. My mother always told me that “black people churches last longer”, with this in mind I was prepare to be there for a long time. However, to my surprise it did not last as long as I’d expected it to. My overall experience, was warming, peaceful and positive.

The cultural assignment allowed me to gain a new perspective on the differences of others. I have grown up in a household of dissimilar belief systems. My mom is a dedicated Christian while my dad is unassociated with any religious beliefs. Though, he grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. There differing belief systems have been the cause of various conflicts within their relationship. I often wondered if people with contradicting beliefs could effectively and peacefully discuss their belief systems. This cultural experience showed me that a peaceful discussion is possible between individuals of dissimilar beliefs.