all posts from now on will be for african-american lit
all posts from now on will be for history as fiction
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Milkman and the Past
Song of Solomon puts a lot of focus on the past. Most of Milkman’s story is about his parents and Pilate’s past. Most of part one is learning about his family’s history and it sets the stage for part two where Milkman goes on a “quest for gold”. One theme in the book is how Milkman doesn’t really look to the future and how he is really passive. He doesn’t really plan for the future and only can see the past, as shown by the car ride in chapter 2, “But riding backward made him uneasy. It was like flying blind, and not knowing where he was going – just where he had been – troubled him” (32). This shows how he can’t really see the whole picture, only the past. Milkman’s “quest for gold” is him trying to look to the future and start being more active. He wants to be able to get away from his family but to get to his future he needs to learn more about his family’s past. Milkman’s future is very much influenced by his family’s past and heritage....
Imprisonment
In Ragtime , Houdini has an encounter with Harry K. Thaw in the Tombs. Houdini is trying to escape his cell as part of a performance, and his cell is across from Thaw’s, who is there for killing Stanford White. Houdini’s encounter with Thaw is pretty wacky but you can glean a lot from it. Houdini’s cell is a normal one. He starts off naked then after escaping puts his clothes back on. Thaw, on the other hand, starts off clothed and decides to undress. His cell isn’t really a cell because of all the stuff he has. Thaw’s living a great life while in jail. There are a lot of differences between Thaw and Houdini. A major one is who is free and who isn’t. Houdini may have escaped from his cell, but he isn’t really free. Thaw doesn’t need to escape because he’s living the life in his cell. Thaw also knows that, because he is so rich, he’s not going to lose the trial. In reality, thanks to his wealth, Thaw is the free one, even though he’s the one in jail...
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