LITR 4332 American Minority Literature 2013 Student Midterm Samples midterm assignment #3. Web Highlights

Jasmine Summers

Voice, Poetry, Color

The three student submission that I reviewed were "The Evolution of the African American Voice" by Tamrynn Huckabay Fett-Research Projects-2004, "Literary Analysis of "Harlem", by LF-Midterm 2008, and "Multifaceted Blackness", by JH-Midterm 2005. The first submission, "The Evolution of the African American Voice", attracted me because of the title and upon reviewing the submission I found that the student is presenting the reader with information on authors from slavery to modern times, similar to what we have done in class. I enjoyed this submission because it introduced me to multiple authors that I was unaware of, but who have made a mark on African American literature, for example Amiri Baraka. I am interested in reading more than just Stephen King, and would like to read more books by members of my culture and others as well, and would like to possibly start with Amiri Baraka based on the mini biography on the author included in this project. Also reading this submission, one can truly see how the African American writer has evolved from past to present.

            The next submission that I reviewed was a literary analysis of the poem "Harlem" and I chose this submission because I am not the best at deciphering "poetry language". I wanted to see how others interpret what they have read in poetry because many times, I don't understand them and put them to the side, but lately have been trying to get more familiar with this genre. Although I understood this poem, after reading this student's submission it helped me to view the author and the poem in a new light. The author of this literary analysis makes the statements, "The poem’s language creates descriptions that involve all five senses. The reader can see the dried up raisin, smell the rotten meat, and feel the heavy load; thus, making the poem come to life. It is as if Hughes has used a power tool to drill into the consciousness of readers forcing them to ask an unanswerable question." After reading this submission, and then going back and rereading the poem, I now feel more weight or strength in Hughes' message about "The Dream". At first I read it quickly, but did not analyze it enough and did not feel the intensity of Hughes' message. I enjoy this particular explanation of Hughes' poem, and the submission may be helpful for me when reading other poems as far as learning to look a bit deeper into the author's message and to what extent they are going through to deliver the message.

            My final review was over a short essay that focused on the objectives on color codes and how it relates to individuality and rights. I like how this student draws upon personal experience of being biracial as basis for his or her essay, as it helps to supplement the topic greatly. He or she relates being biracial, part Black, but without features common in Blacks, and the right to choose their identity.  "People must have the freedom to form their own identity without being immediately relegated to a racial “box.”, "conundrum of being biracial in America: too black to be white and too white to be black", "I am often asked why I consider myself black even though I lack most of the obvious racial indicators. I usually explain that racial identity is not contingent merely upon pigmentation—or lack thereof. People who ask why I do not try to “pass” as white are unknowingly acknowledging the system of racism that shapes how people in this country interact". I like the point that the author makes about how those that are against or uncomfortable with interracial relationships use the argument that the child will grow up confused about who they are, and the authors rebuttal to that is that biracial individuals often have concrete identities. This was an informative submission regarding issues with color and Blackness because of the personal aspect included in the essay. Although we have read the experiences of biracial individuals in slavery such as Douglass, and the pre-civil rights era, such as Hughes, their lives and experiences as biracial African Americans then, compared to biracial African Americans now was vastly different and the essay put a more modern perspective on the topic for me.

            The model assignments portion is helpful and supplemental to the work that we are presently doing in class. Although I feel I learn a lot in the classroom, the learning from this activity was different in that it had more personal perspectives on certain topics that help encourage me to view topics from different viewpoints. I also enjoy being able to read other's interpretation of poems, as it this a weak subject for me that I have lately began working on.