During this semester the reading that had the most meaning to me is “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. This reading had the most meaning to me because Young Langston was forced to lie and sit at the alter with the other children. When I was young, I remember going through something like this. My mom loved going to church and would drag me along. She would get really upset and hated that I refused to participate. A few times my mother called me into her room, just so I can listen to her read the Bible; I always fell asleep, and she hated it. One day I told her I’d take the Bible and will read it, from that day on she calmed down a little. She wanted me to believe in God and Jesus just to make her happy, but it made me miserable; that’s when I came up with a way to make her happy without making myself sad or mad. This goes to say that “Salvation” by Langston Hughes is an example that sometimes adults will force kids to be religious when a child can care less.
Daily Archives: December 13, 2022
In this semester, I did many readings in this class. The one that had the most lasting impression on me was “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. Other than doing my research essay on this short story, I saw many ideas in the short story. In “the lesson,” I read about the economic injustice at the time. I also saw the growth of the character throughout the short story. Something that I connected to myself. People grow every day, whether big growth or small growth, whether physically, mentally, or just by learning something new. You can say it’s in the nature of humans to grow and adapt. Even this semester, I am growing as a reader and as a writer. Not just in this class, but my other courses help me grow more professionally. I really like most of the texts that we read this year I really did find them to be interesting. I wish everyone good luck on the exams and have a good holiday.
The story we read this semester that had the most meaning to me was “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. The reason this story resonated with me so much was because growing up my mother has always been really religious. My father was not religious at all and I feel like maybe my parents didn’t talk much about about religion before having me but decided not to baptize me as a child and ultimately gave me the decision to make my own choices once I was old enough. My mom always took my sister and I to church every sunday and we attended sunday school but we never participated in the religious celebrations most children would have like baptisims, first comunion’s , ect so I always felt really left out. As a preteen I went to a church camp with my youth group and at the camp people were “being saved” and some were speaking in tongues and saying they had seen the holy spirit, I wanted to fit in so badly that I pretended to speak in tongues and said I felt saved. Looking back this story is hilarious and reading “Salvation” brought back those memories for me. Just like Hughes wanted to get the salvation over with I wanted to just finally feel like one of the people who had been saved.
I really enjoyed our most recent reading of the semester “The House on Mango Street”. It felt like a very comforting read. I think partially because so many stories are relatable and also because the author talks about her own childhood and they are true stories and experiences which makes it more special. Another reason is that most of her stories brought up some of my childhood memories I haven’t thought of in a long time. Her writing style is something I would choose to read when looking for a book that would distract me from day to day things and create a window to a different world. The diversity of topics and people’s destinies that the author reflects on in her stories kept me very curious and engaged. I thinks it’s more rare to come across a book that seems simple but in a very unassuming manner presents important points.
The reading that had the most meaning for me was Little Snow-White. I’ve always liked fairytales and Snow White was the only one I can remember watching in my childhood because I watched it so much. For me it brings back memories of when I lived with my grandma and she had a vcr of it and that was the only Disney Princess film she had. I also like that as I got older I found out that most disney princesses had a twist in their story that made it much darker than disney portrayed. I find it interesting to read the different versions and interpretations of such a classic tale. Reading Little Snow White was really interesting because fairy tales are supposed to teach a lesson to children until Disney made a version of these fairy tales without the dark elements. Even though these stories may not have been child friendly, they still serve a purpose to show us how dark the real world can get.
I personally resonated most with “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. As a fan of psychological fiction, reading it made me really think about the way young girls present themselves. In a modern setting, often children now imitate adults and can be put into unsafe situations. The power dynamic between men and women is overlooked but in almost every circumstance, plays a big part in privilege and much more. Many young girls are vain because that’s all they have control over at that point in their life. Coincidentally, I found out she created a novel recently called “Babysitter” and wanted to read it. I lost my love for reading for fun a while ago but since then I’ve gotten the book on Audible and it’s been a good read so far. It’s nice to have a certain awareness as women of possible violent situations or look back at your formative ages, now being more capable of better decision making. Overall, I’d never think I would be back reading outside of coursework but I’m glad I’m giving it another try after being introduced to an author, It gave me more insight into the importance and enjoyment of it,
The reading with the most meaning was definitely “Araby” by James Joyce because of the epiphany that the protagonist discovered. This short story intrigued me since it can be relatable, and it comes with a lesson. There was extreme desperation from the boy to be liked by his friend’s sister which he was extremely infatuated with. There were obsessive moments of lust and vanity which is something many readers can relate to. The boy was seeking fulfillment in Mangan’s sister since his life was described as mundane. I truly admired the accountability and maturity that the narrator manifested towards the end of the story. It takes a lot of growth and courage to be able to own up to unhealthy behaviors.
The reading with the most meaning to me this semester would be “The House on Mango Street”. While the other stories we read offered great explorations into some heavy subjects such as morality, maturity, faith, and belief; The House on Mango Street felt more fleshed out. The other stories read this semester were all contained to one day or moment in the lives of their characters. The House on Mango Street stretched out over a year. It introduced characters who felt relatable, dealing with real-world problems. Each character felt reminiscent of someone I’ve known, encountered, or me. I see myself having a similar plight concerning my name just as Esperanza did, I had a friend dealing with a situation like Sally’s. I understand the vignette “Those Who Don’t” because I come from an environment where outsiders view my friends, family, and me as a potential threat. I had a neighbor who, like Rosa Vargas, had too many unruly children; some were my friends. The environment also felt familiar, growing up in the urban inner city myself, in what would be considered a poorer neighborhood; I could picture the way she described her own vividly. It was also great to not only be introduced to diverse characters, but for them to also be given such depth in their vignettes really aided in fleshing out the overall world of the story, making it a very enjoyable read.
Out of all semester’s readings the one that had the most meaning for me is “how to Read a Poem” this is mainly because it really change the way I see and read poems. I used to thought poems was simple but it showed me poems can be way more complicated than it may seem on the surface level. It also taught me that the way I was reading poems was wrong and showed me how to fix that by giving me tips and a thorough explanation on how to read them the right way. This really expanded my knowledge on poems, and made it easier for me to understand them. Before reading this I didn’t care for poems but now I really like and enjoy reading poems.
The reading this semester that had the most meaning to me was “The Lesson ” by Toni Cade Bambara because of the lesson it showed and the characters. The story started off with children just wanting to do whatever they want and go play. They are then made to take a trip to an expensive toy store by their neighbor Miss Moore and the kids don’t know why at first. All the kids are just left speechless by the price of all the toys there and leave after a while. When asked what they learn only two kids Sylvia and Sugar learn the lesson and the rest don’t. The reason this had the most meaning to me was because it made kids who were innocent to the unfairness of the world be shown firsthand the unfairness. After being shown I was surprised at how the kids reacted with one of them even wanting to go back again. I also liked how it was inspirational as it showed the two kids who understood the lesson wanting to overcome the unfair distribution of wealth.
The reading that had the most meaning to me was “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. All of the readings were interesting in its own unique ways, but “The Necklace” was more relative to todays society in my opinion. In the story you have a woman with a good man who provided and tried to make her as comfortable as possible, however she longed for something much more. She wanted the materialistic things in life. She also wanted to appear as if she was of higher standard than what she was. Her husband worked hard to get her into a room full of prominent individuals and because she wasn’t content with who she was, she borrowed a necklace in which she lost. Her and the husband borrow money to buy a necklace just like the one she borrowed and had to work and tear down their bodies for a long time to get out of debt, all for the necklace to wound up being fake. In todays society social media had portrayed individuals to be happier, richer, stronger , and wiser. Behind the scenes the same individuals may be battling depression, wearing fake jewelry and clothes, weak minded, and copying and pasting others words. It is important to be comfortable with who you are, live within your means, and work for what you want. Be patient, your time is coming. Thank you Professor Conway for enhancing my understanding of literature. Happy Holidays everyone!
The vignette that resonated me the most in the weeks reading of “The House On Mango Street” was titled “Minerva Writes Poems”. This vignette detailed a generational curse of being a single mother. It also details how much some women will put up with so they won’t be alone. Growing up in a family of majority women and having a lot of female friends, I’ve witnessed what Minerva is going through on many occasions. The domestic violence, the humility, the abandonment issues, and the toxicity around children were some of the things discussed with women and men as I became a listening ear too many. In the vignette where it states “one days is through and lets him know enough is enough” is something that I feel we all can relate to. At some point in an unhappy relationship, we say these words. We act on it and then we realize it kind of gets lonely. In Minerva case she was extremely forgiven and she lets her man back in. There is no change, but the same toxic behavior appears as soon as he is forgiven. Physically she doesn’t have an out, but I think that writing poems is therapeutic for her.
“Salvation” by Langston Hughes is the reading that I connected with the most because of the experience Langston faced. His aunt wanted him to be “saved” to hear and feel Jesus in his soul. Me, I went to Catholic school growing up but never paid attention during mass and religion class because it wasn’t of great interest to me. My grandmothers specifically would tell me to always pray, go to mass, and invite Jesus into my life. This was something I didn’t want to do because quite simply it wasn’t important to me and just like Langston, I never felt anything. Langston went through the whole celebration and was the last one to go up to the altar because he didn’t feel or see anything. Langston ended up crying that night because he knows he deceived everyone in the church and lied about his experience because he didn’t feel anything. I related to Langston’s exact feeling because after my sacraments I lied to my family about feeling like a brand new person and more spiritual.
My favorite reading this semester was “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. This story truly had a lesson, from the Author perspective it shows how African Americans struggle to live a life that’s equal and fear. “The lesson” make me feel that these ideas depicted belong to me as a child growing up watching my parents trying to figure out how and what we are going to eat today when things were bad at that time. I can relate to the group of kids, looking at the prices of things knowing how expensive things were and can’t afford them. I think that anybody that read this story get her message and reflect on this serious issue about inequality among the African American people living in the United States and raises the issues of injustice in the society. I learn a lot from reading this story and i appreciate the Author and how she choose the group of kids to spread her ideas.
