One of the poems I read was “White Lies’ by Natasha Trethewey. While I first starting reading the poem, I couldn’t fully grasp what exactly it was that I was reading. This is when I had encounter with the first assumption, which is that readers think they should understand what it is that they are reading on the first read, which is not true. We all read and interpret things differently. Eventually, I had to read the poem over a few times to really get a feel about what I was reading, and the story behind it. The speaker in the poem appears to be a young black female, who lives on the poorer side of town, but says she can get away with telling the white people that she lives in a better area. I was feeling a sense of shame from the speaker’s point of view. Her mother had punished her for lying about who she was. Overall, I’d say the meaning behind this story is all about the difference in racial dynamics.
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3 thoughts on “Fatima Butt Week 13 Discussion”
I enjoyed your interpretation of the reading. I took the speaker as a little girl who was maybe half black and half white but could pass for both races? Meaning, she had the looks of a white girl, which I got from her saying that a white girl squeezed her hand and said “now there’s three of us in this class”, but she went to school and lived in a predominantly black area. I also took it as if she wasn’t in too much of a good state financially growing up because mentions she could’ve lied about shopping in what seems like a known and expensive clothing store, and living in a better looking house than she did.
Fatima, this is an interesting look at your experience, but have you specifically addressed the week’s prompt?
I agree with your interpretation of this poem and the feelings of not understanding what it going on. I too have that same issue whenever I am reading poems. Most times my mind drifts and I can’t fully grasp the true meaning until I read it over several times and try my best to break it down. I also agree with your statement that we all interpret things differently and we all will not get the true meaning of something solely based off the first read.