LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature
Sample Student Midterm, Fall 2007

Fernando Trevino

9-26-07

The Dimensions of Knowledge

            The Classic Slave Narratives and Song of Solomon provide an exceptional account of the evolution of the black experience in America through an historical tint by serving as bookends of a specific place and time. The two books examine, with keen observation, the social circumstances that contributed to the frustrating disposition of African-Americans. Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” contributes to the two texts by attesting to the challenges and frustration facing present and future generations stemming from the residual effects of two centuries of slavery, the turbulent transition of free blacks into society, and the more recent period of social inequality that foster apathy and hostility in the black community. All three texts espouse the need for blacks to persevere and attain a sense of empowerment and identity.

            The ability to persevere, as specifically demonstrated by Douglass, Equiano, and Milkman, is the silver lining from a life and time that easily encapsulated the mind and spirit of many individuals in perpetual darkness of ignorance and fear. The perseverance shown by the main protagonists from these texts is more than remarkable since almost every perceivable factor or circumstance surrounding their lives gives testament that change for the better is not forthcoming.

            That is not completely true since the ability to persevere seems to be ignited, sustained and perpetuated by the acquisition of information or knowledge; knowledge that, which cultivated to serve a purpose, can substantially alter the lives of the individual who uses it. Given the circumstances surrounding the characters, knowledge is a fluid thing, being one thing for all yet a specific need to one and not the other. For example, knowledge provides a sense of identity for Douglass, Equiano, and Milkman, however literacy is more of a prominent factor in the lives of the former slaves than Milkman, and while literacy plays a role in Milkman’s life as it directly affected the fortunes of his ancestors, it does not function directly for him as it does for Douglass as he used literacy to write a pass for himself to escape.

            The greatest challenge within the dimensions of knowledge for the protagonists is that knowledge can be both a blessing and a hindrance. Knowledge can be a blessing in the sense that it can provide a glimmer of hope that evaluates an individual’s resolve.

In Douglass’s case, when Douglass realizes he is a slave, he is more conscious of not only his disposition but the brutality that goes unabated upon people of the same skin color, but when Douglass learns the power of literacy, by the unease with which Mr. Auld addresses Mrs. Auld about teaching Douglass to read, a fire of motivation and defiance consumes him. For Milkman, when he realizes at a young age that man can’t fly, he grows up discontented with life and unable to have a meaningful relationship with the people around him, however when he learns that he is a direct descendant of Solomon, he swells with prime and a greater sense of compassion and caring immerges.

            The hindrance that accompanies knowledge can result in a devastating blow to an individual’s psyche when hope for change doesn’t come to fruition. Certainly, this can be seeing in greater completion and complexity in the character of Guitar and Macon Dead Jr. and attested in broader terms by “A Dream Deferred”.

            Knowledge, along with experience, has created for the characters the perspectives to realize the circumstances surrounding their lives and the need or drive to create change of their circumstances, which ultimately, whether they succeeded or failed, created for the main protagonists’ feelings of self-actualization. This can mean a sense of identity as in the case of Milkman, empowerment as in the case of Douglass, or a sense of solace, not to be confused with acceptance or compliance with their disposition, but a humbling sense of self that dissolves the dreary elements of a person’s disposition as in the case of Pilate.

             Equiano noted as he detailed his life in Africa before his introduction to slavery, that “cheerfulness and affability are two of the leading characteristics” of his nation and it is such values that sustain him through this troubling period in his life. The horrible events that followed, the kidnapping of himself and his sister, and the anguish he felt gave way to a certain degree to the astonishing things he saw upon his arrival to first, the West Indies, and then to America. But the novelty of a watch, snow, horses wore off as the day to day realization of his disposition was fully attained. “However my surprise began to diminish, as my knowledge increased; and I ceased to feel those apprehensions and alarms which took such strong possession on me when I came first among the Europeans, and for some time after” (72).

            The events that followed his initial life away from Africa, though certainly appalling, never measures up to the deplorable experience of Douglass and others in the Classic Slave Narratives, perhaps because of his literary style. Equiano seems to chronicle events while Douglass is able to articulate the emotional turmoil he felt about his predicament. Equiano was fortunate to stay around good people who “treated me always extremely well” (80) and “often used to teach [him] to read” (82), particularly Miss Guerins, who had treated him with so much kindness and who sent him to school.

            The knowledge gained from the opportunity to read allowed Equiano to resemble in a way the English people and imbibe their spirit as his literacy helped him to brighten his own spirit. After he learned to read and write, Equiano was able to understand that Africans are also respectable people and concluded that they have human rights similar to the rights of white people. Inspired by this revelation, nothing could prevent Equiano from his dream because of his awareness and belief that all human beings should have the privilege to possess god’s liberty. His literacy immensely helps him to understand these facts thereby allowing him to enjoy his freedom.

            For Douglass, knowledge gained by experience made him conscious of the brutality of his disposition at a young age. When accounting the first time he witnessed the lashing of a women, Douglass remarks:

            I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember any thing. It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. (343)

            When hearing blacks sing songs by slaves, “even now, afflicts me; and while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek. To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery.” (349). Such experiences along with the knowledge that literacy would one day make him become “unmanageable” and prove a “pathway from slavery to freedom” forged Douglass to attain literacy at any cost. Ultimately, Douglass’s determination lead him to eventually find employment as a free man, dirty work which he did it with a ‘glad heart and a willing hand’ because he was “own master”. “It was the first work, the reward of which was to be entirely my own… It was to me the starting-point of a new existence.” (428)

            As Douglass and Equiano’s experience can testify to the substantial benefits of literacy, Song of Solomon testifies to the substantial drawbacks and disadvantages that illiteracy can do to future generations. Milkman’s distorted personality is not entirely his fault as Morrison shows us that generations of slavery and abuse have played a part in developing Milkman’s selfish personality. Racism, a central cause of suffering in the novel, has long-lasting damaging effects on the community as slavery caused Solomon to flee toward freedom and end his marriage to Ryna. This flight begins many generations of trauma, ultimately resulting in Milkman’s grandfather to grow up an orphan. In turn, Macon Dead Jr. witnessed white men murdering his father becoming an obsessive and vicious man who raises his own son, Milkman, to share the same characteristics.

            The knowledge or belief that prosperity can be attained by African-Americans is what drives Macon Dead Jr. to seek wealth, but, in turn makes him an emotionally dead slumload which transfers to Milkman and contributes to the young man’s inability to achieve social cohesion with other African-Americans. This inability to achieve social cohesion whether that means a lack of solitary among the black community or the inability to be fully assimilated and become affluent in white society creates that fester despondence for Macon Dead Jr., Milkman, Guitar, and Robert Smith that is so eloquently expressed in “A Dream Deferred”.

            Langston Hughes’ poem describes a broad range of dispositions African-Americans exist in as the promise of better lives continues to evade them. In Song of Solomon, in particular, Macon Jr. could be seen as ‘dry up like a raisin in the sun’. Though he is able to present moments of true pleasure such as when hearing Pilate sing, or briefly reminiscing about his childhood on the farm, any vitality Macon Dead ever had is gone now. The line ‘like a syrupy sweet’ can be embodied in the comforting characters of Pilate and Sweet and the line ‘sag like a heavy load’ can be personified by Ruth’s lackadaisical existence or Mr. Smith’s burden that prompts him toward suicide.

            The incident involving Robert Smith’s leap off the roof of Mercy Hospital wearing blue silk wings and claiming that he will fly to the opposite shore of Lake Superior but plummeting to his death is not only a tone-setter for the novel, but a testament to the frustration of African-Americans face in recent history. When Solomon leapt he did so to escape slavery, but as the narratives suggest, Mr. Smith’s life was absent of the abuses that accompanied slavery; he had a decent job although a monotonous life. So what in his life, what trifles and suffering in his life made him feel he needed to escape? His life appears to be one of a dream deferred; a life of aspirations that he believed would never come true and as the observers of Robert’s flight encourage him rather than rush to prevent his leap, implies that they do not see his flight as a suicide attempt, but an attempt at freedom from less recognizable abuses on par or far worse than abuses at the hands of slavery.

            Perhaps more fitting is the character of Guitar, rife with angry, that epitomizes Hughes’ ‘Or does it explode’ sentiment. The knowledge that his father died because of his white employers’ negligence makes Guitar especially sensitive to the injustices perpetrated against African-Americans. Emmett Till’s murder and the Birmingham Church bombing remind Guitar of his own tragedy, transforming him into a ruthless, vengeful murderer. Guitar’s story shows that racism alienates its victims from their native communities and causes them to lose touch with their own humanity.

            Despite what may be perceived as a negative metaphor, the line ‘Or does it explode’ can also possess a positive connotation. The theme of flight in Song of Solomon as exhibited by Milkman’s quest can be seen as an explosion aligned with “A Dream Deferred”. Milkman’s flight from Michigan frees him from the dead environment of Not Doctor Street. On the other hand, his flight may seem to reinforce old behaviors as his flight can be seen as selfish much like Solomon as Milkman causes Hagar to die of heartbreak the way Solomon’s flight lead to Ryna’s mental breakdown.

            The novel’s epigraph attempts to break the connection between flight and abandonment. Pilate, as Milkman notes, is able to fly without ever lifting her feet off the ground; she has mastered flight, managing to be free of subjugation without leaving anyone behind. For the long period of time during which Milkman doubts the possibility of human flight, he remains abnormal in the eyes of his community. Only when he begins to believe in the reality of flight, a belief fermented by the knowledge of his ancestry, only then does he cease to feel alienated.

            Belief inspired by knowledge and action inspired by belief seems to be the underlying message of Douglass and Equiano’s narratives, a theme in Song of Solomon, and an answer to Hughes’ question. Certainly, it is not enough for African-Americans, as portrayed by the characters or actually people in the slave narratives, to be inspired by knowledge alone since, in the example of Guitar or Macon Dead Jr., knowledge with a combative or disingenuous temperament can lead to results counterproductive to the stability and prosperity of the individual with the black community and society as a whole, thereby deepening wounds and perpetuating frustrations. One thing that can be surmised by the texts is that ‘the dream’ however defined continues to be evasive for most, but that knowledge and perseverance as demonstrated by the protagonists in the texts is an important factor that can provide solace and attainment of the dream for a few.