If you were forced to choose (and you are being forced, well, not "forced" but you know, please do this or class will be awkward and unnecessarily antagonistic if you don't) which one of these images best represents something about the narrator? It might explain his situation, his personality, his journey, his attitude, his environment—or some combination of these—you decide. Elaborate on the metaphorical values of specific details within each image. Go for a complex interpretation, beyond the obvious.
Comment below this post, indicating in what ways Saunders' advice can assist you with your own writing, whether you're writing an essay, a story, or a text. What take aways do you have after listening to him? What personal challenges for you as a writer resonate here?
Garveyism - African Activist - Rastafarian Movement - V - Economic, Political, and Social freedom for black people - Y
Born on August 17th, 1887,
- Died June 10, 1940.
- Was of Jamaican origin
- Youngest of 11 children
Civil Rights Activist
Founded the Universal Negro Improvement
-Association and African Communities League
Promote social, political, economic freedom for black people
-4 million members by 1920 under his leadership
-Political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur and orator
Inspired the Rastafarian movement
-Self-educated
At age 14, became a printer’s apprentice and began participating in pro-worker, anti-establishment movements, unions, and his political perspectives began getting formed
Known as a -“Black Moses” for liberty from racial inferiority
Arrested for mail fraud
-Died in London after several strokes
-His message inspired many during the Civil Rights movement
Goal was to transport blacks “back to Africa”
-Inspired by Booker T Washington
- Wanted International unity among peoples of African origin- like a separate society
-Created Garveyism : Black nationalism and pride, rooted strongly in religion, blended with political and economic calls for radical improvements and focus on the morals, education, and political equality for Black individuals in order for other races to treat them with respect and liberty. This is what he believed the Lord had called them to enact in the world.
Post-American Civil War, most southern states and, later, border states, inputted laws that took away basic human rights from African Americans. These laws, customs, and tendencies became colloquially referred to as Jim Crow laws which remained intact through the 1960s and 1970s. These laws separated bathrooms, water fountains, hospitals, cemeteries, etc. by race. Separate states had separate laws.
Lynching (hanging African Americans from trees) was very prevalent during this time.
Jim Crow laws were created because of backlash from reconstruction after the Civil War and it appealed to white voters who believed African Americans would take their jobs
In order to validate these laws, many false scientific notions were created to try to even lesser equalize blacks-- E.x. It was believed, through the work of craniologists (those who make allegations based on the head's shape) that because African Americans had different head shapes, they were inferior.
With WWII, America became the center of global attention. United Nations delegates were horrified at the segregation in the US, which pushed Truman to promote an agenda based on racial equality
In an effort to ease the inequality between races, Roosevelt issued the New Deal to try to give African Americans housing and employment, but Roosevelt did not back all of the legislation put forth by the NAACP
Definition of Existentialism and beliefs of proponents
Existentialism: a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
Etymology: Translates from Danish meaning “Condition of existence.”
Albert Camus’ ideas: the concept of the Absurd and the notion of Revolt. The concept of the absurd: Human beings are caught in a constant attempt to derive meaning from a meaningless world. This is the ‘paradox of the absurd’. Existential revolt – to affirm the absurdity of life and continue.
Sartre’s ideas: There are two types of reality that lie beyond conscious experience: the being of the object and conscious.
Sartre believed in the idea that it is more important to understand human existence rather than the existence of the world.
Sartre set out to find what it means to be human
Self choice can lead to bad faith
The only way to escape self-deception is choosing in a way that reveals the existence for-itself as both factual and transcendent
Soren Kierkegaard ideas:
"...the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die"
Father of existentialism. Primarily believes that people live within 2 spheres that they can choose from: Aesthetic and the Ethical.
Aesthetic lives are lived within spheres of pleasure, novelty, and romantic individualism, which he believes is an inevitability meaningless lifestyle.
Ethical lives are concerned with having a sense of duty and commitment to societal obligations. He sees value in this lifestyle but admits that living in this sphere may require compromising/sacrificing genuinely human (more emotional) faculties.
