The Welcome Table by Alice Walker

The Essential Conversation: what parents and teachers can learn from each other, written by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, focuses in on the “essential” discussion that occurs between parents and teachers when it comes to a child’s education and life while looking further into the hidden meanings behind this exchange. Lawrence-Lightfoot describes how often times the dialogue that occurs between parents and teachers has hidden undertones such as anxiety along with parental ghosts from the past along with several other trajectories that may impact how effectiveness of parent and teacher discussion/collaboration. The theme of Lawrence-Lightfoot’s book can best be summed up in a quote she shared about parent-teacher conferences; “Beneath the polite surface

The stereotypes of rural Black women are depicted in the seemingly dilapidated state of mama’s old homestead. This is a stereotype of the poor and humble lives of the black subsistence farmers residing in the old South. Although Dee and her friend look down upon their lives, the reality is different. Mama completely owns her own reality and she is proud

     Mrs. Turpin’s Revelation in the end of the story causes her to see the truth behind the beliefs she has had throughout her life. As her Revelation begins, “a visionary light settled in her eyes.”(352) With this light, the beliefs Mrs. Turpin had surrounded her life upon, are suddenly proved false. She sees people of every race and status lined up before the gates of Heaven. To her surprise, she finds Claud and herself at the end of the line, making it evident that nothing she had done in her life would assure her a place in Heaven. She then understands that everyone is equal and “we are all God’s children.” Mrs. Turpin also, “recognized at once those, like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything, and the God-given wit to use it right.”(352) Mrs. Turpin

Leaving the comforts of the first world, Jessica Alexander abandons her job, fiancé, family, and home to venture into the misleading volunteer work of Humanitarian aid. Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid by Jessica Alexander is a conglomeration of stories that are written from Jessica’s memory. “It is a true account based on [Jessica’s] best recollections of the events and [her] experiences.”.

During the story when The Misfit encounters the family seeking the old familiar plantation, he becomes like a Christ figure to the old southern woman. The grandmother is scared for her life but she still believes there is some good in the man. During this event, the

Since the story was set around the time when the racial discrimination was going on, the narrator had the hatred and fear at the same time, for the white people. When he recalled what his mom said to

The way the grandmother sneaks the cat into the car and lies about the secret panel brings irony to her beliefs of what it is to be a lady. Her views on the “old south” is established when she calls an African American boy a “cute little pickaninny.” June Star’s remark upon the boy not having britches on leads on to the grandmother’s remark on how he might not be able to afford shows her lack of sympathy towards the less fortunate. This also makes the reader wonder why she even says such a thing in the first place. Instead of reaching out to lend a hand the grandmother ends her statement by simply saying that she would like to “paint a picture” of the scene.

It was not all fun and games, breaking this barrier. Some challenges that she faced were worries for her safety, prayers given from her families and minister because this journey was dangerous going to a white school, and finally there was a mob after them. According to Beals the text says ,”...protect those youngsters and bring them home. Flood the holy spirit into the hearts and minds of those who attack our children.” This contradicts with the fact that they are risking their safety because the minister is asking to protect them from the danger along the way. Her initial reaction to these events was that she was nervous because everything around her seems to be going into slow motion. The text says,” walked on the concrete path toward the front door of the school, the same path the Arkansas National Guard had blocked us from days before. We approached the stairs, our feet moving in unison to the rhythm of the marching click-clack sound of the Screaming Eagles. Step by step we climbed upward-where none of my people had ever before walked as a student. We stepped up the front door of Central High School and crossed the threshold into that place where angry segregationist mobs had forbidden us to go.” This states that she is feeling like everything is going in slow motion because she is only walking

Literature is defined as written works published on a particular subject. Literature can also be viewed as witness, because it can be a source of proof based on the events it was written on. Literature as witness allows readers to get a deeper understanding of the issues that have happened based off of what the books are about. Those who read literary texts such as historical novels, memoirs and novels are witness to historical events. These texts can be viewed as witness because the events mentioned are based off of true life events. Some may argue historical fiction is not real and therefore could not be viewed as a reliable source. Even though historical fiction is made up of fictional characters, the conflicts that are mentioned are based

Strangers in the Land of Paradise by Lillian S. Williams explores the settlement of African Americans in Buffalo in the time of the Great Migration. In this book, Williams discusses the process in which migrants from the South made their own black communities in Buffalo while bringing their beliefs and traditions with them, and having those beliefs evolve over time in a new setting. Her work sheds light on the experiences of blacks in Buffalo during a time where many changes were occurring; the Civil War had just ended and the Industrial Revolution was underway. She also speaks on how Buffalo was unique in that it became the final point for those escaping the racism and violence in the South, since it was the last point before crossing into Canada. In her own words, “the book examines the growth and development of Buffalo, the movement of European immigrants and African American migrants into the city, and their ability to secure an economic foothold. It tests the extent to which family and friendship networks for blacks were a significant force in their migration and acculturation. It also describes the establishment of institutions that African Americans created to shape their modern, urban community" (p. xiv).

As time went on she became more involved in church, and religious activities. She got baptized and saved at the church that she always attended. She grew to love the black church that she grew up mocking. The old lady that always sat in the front row made her realize how deep the roots of her church were.

Although Aunt Hager believes some white people are good, Sister Johnson, a neighbor, can't stand any white people and tells her story of being forcibly removed from what the white's called Crowville in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She tells the story of how African Americans lived in the town and how they were making

The second theme exhibited by the grandmother is her class and racial prejudice, as most characters in southern gothic stories do. The grandmother exudes a sense of self-righteousness that she explains is imbedded in her because she came from a good family. Throughout “A Good Man is Hard to Find” descriptions of the south come up often. Most of the images are portrayed when the grandmother is reminiscing about “In my time” and on the “plantation” (114). Her insistent attitude and obsession about visiting the plantation shows the grandmother truly enjoyed that time period and implies she had no problem with the racial segregation in that era. She remembers back to when she was a young girl and Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden would bring her watermelon. “but she never got the watermelon”, “ because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials E.A.T.!” (115). It is clear the grandmother feels it is appropriate to use the N word when referring to African Americans, even years after slavery era. As the grandmother glamorizes Negroes and life on the plantation, it is clear she admired the ways of the Old South, a true characteristics of Southern Gothic writing. Her stereotypical character projects a prejudice that leaves the audience uncomfortable throughout the story.

In the story The Dinner Party by Mona Gardner one of the hosts was talking about how men have more self control than women in times of fright, but what he doesn’t know is that the woman sitting the quietest and politest has the most self control of them all. During the dinner party the colonial official’s wife is acting weird, but it is only noticed by the America. By the time everyone figured out that there was a cobra in the room and they all freaked out, but the colonial officer thought his point was proved right when the American closed the door shutting the Cobra out, Yet being proved wrong by what his wife had to say next. “‘Just a minute,’ the American says, turning to his hostess. ‘Mrs. Wynnes, how did you know that cobra was in the

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present: