LITR 4332: American Minority Literature

 Student Poetry Presentation 2004 

Presenter: Tamrynn Huckabay Fett

Respondent: Sherry Mann

“Song No. 3”

(for 2^nd & 3^rd grade sisters)

by Sonia Sanchez

link to pictures of Sonia Sanchez

Author Biography:

          Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Al. on Sep. 9, 1934 to Lena and Wilson Driver.  Her mother died when Sanchez was one year old.  After which, her sister Pat and herself were moved around the family until they finally were taken permanently by their father to live in New York City. 

Sanchez received her B.A. from Hunter College, in 1955.   Malcolm X was an inspiration to Sanchez as she began her writing career.  Sanchez writes about the struggles of being black in an anglocentric society.  Both her poetry and her plays reflect the major themes of the Black Arts Movement. She began teaching in 1965 at the Downtown Community School in New York.  She is now a professor of Black American History, and Creative Writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. 

          She married Etheridge Knight, and had three children, but the marriage later ended in divorce.

Objectives:

          Obj. 2: To observe representations and narratives (or images and stories) of ethnicity and gender as a means of defining minority categories.

          Obj.  5a.: to discover the power of minority writers in the “canon” of what is read and taught in schools.

Term:

          Tone: the attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work.

          The tone of this poem is cynical, taking a serious subject and deep feelings and making a mocking joke out of the issue.

Interpretation:

          I certainly agree with Vicki Issac’s interpretation about the poem in 2000 when she said that “appearance has an effect on how people perceive you.  If you are not of the Anglo culture you are stereotyped”

The  poem is a great deal about being different in appearance than the people around her, and this difference is a direct result of her race.  She knows the prejudices that exist for her people and she knows that she will receive no help from the out side world.  There is a great deal of distrust of the people around her: “you smiling to make me feel better but I see how you stare when nobody’s watching you.”  The added issue to her blackness is that she is poor: “my clothes have holes that run right through to you.”

Questions:

    Some features are universally “ugly” (short, skinny, small nose, short hair). Do you think that  ties in with other races or does the focus stay on blacks?  

    Were you ever in an area or situation that you were the only person who looked like you? How does the poem reflect that?

    What is the significance the sub title “for 2^nd and 3^rd grade sisters?

    Do you think of the person in the last line as being white or black, why?

    What do you think of the title “Song No. 3”?

Works cited:

          www.speakersandartists.org/people/soniasanchez.htm

          www.pbs.org/immaw/sanchezbio.htm

          http://authors.aalbc.com/sonia.html