May the Lord forgive us and may the gods be with us

In Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks", her mother states that "Your only shame is to have shame". While it may seem like Mrs. Tan is delivering an inspiring message to her daughter: don't be afraid to be yourself, one might take it's meaning as "one is only guilty if they feel guilty". This mindset draws parallels to Gary Soto's childhood. Fully aware of the consequence of his actions- knowing "enough about hell to stop" him from stealing, Soto still enjoys the profits of his sin by eating the "best thing [he] had ever tasted". Soto is not willing to share with Cross-eyed Johnny because Johnny's presence does not invoke guilt into Soto, and as a result, Soto feels like he hasn't even stolen in the first place. Only when faced with the thought of his mother knowing of his thievery does his "stomach taut" with imagined angels attempting to flee his now-conscious "bad deeds".

In Sherman Alexie's piece, his father ironically "Goes to war for peace". A criticism for the seemingly hypocritical actions of the hippie movement, Alexie's father's iconic actions represent the split realities of every situation. To many, Alexie's father was courageous for fighting for what he believed in, against an organization that seemed so powerful yet so corrupt at the same time. To others, his father was a violent druggie, looking to harm an upright officer merely trying to do his job, and protect the peace. While Alexie's father may have had justification for his actions, making him "unguilty", action was still taken upon him, giving him jail time. With a legal system built entirely upon the notion of being innocent until proven guilty, justness is entirely subjective.

Based on the way we were branded

A motif that Angelou integrates seamlessly into her story is that of slavery. Whether it be when Carnera is "raining the blows on Louis" like the striking of a whip, or when the masses are huddle together, listening intently to "their 'Master's Voice'", Angelou recreates the pressure of 200 years of oppression without even mentioning it (Angelou 90). Angelou does this as a subtle way to continually reintroduce the idea of black discrimination in a deeper context, while not-so-subtly giving examples on a surface level:  "another lynching... a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful" (Angelou 90).

Another creator whose work frequently contains the subject of racism and black oppression is Kanye West. While this may seem surprising, many of West's works regard the treatment of African-American's in historical and modern America. Having been raised in the "era when/Clean water was only served to the fairer skin" , West sounds off about racism in many of his songs, so much so that he is called racist himself by some critics.

While it seems like a facetious comparison, drawing similarities between producing rap songs and writing poetic novels about the injustices against one's race, both artists are simply trying to raise awareness on a social issue that is extremely important to them- using their art as a platform.
Both have received continual backlash for their "controversial" work; West has received criticism from music and non-music critics alike, while Angelou's book has been censored and banned countless times. Society seems almost backwards when the oppressed are silenced while trying to address their silencing.

Inner-city tantrums

Well, they seemed like a nice bunch of folks at first. I bet that man worked hard at.. whatever he did. Looked like he had an honest wife as well. As for that man's sister, well I don't know about her, but I suppose it doesn't really matter much when your just a housewife, or your job doesn't have a lot of talking to other folks. Mrs. Younger also seemed like a nice old lady. Shame she couldn't do anything about those kids of hers. It's a shame it had to end like that. Now I just don't understand why those people were "reacting this way". They were going to get money to pay off the house and then some. Just stubborn I suppose. What bothers me is just how they didn't want to sit down and talk about it. The worlds problems "exists because people just don't sit down and talk to each other"- which is exactly what I'm trying to do! Now people don't take kindly to when their way of life is threatened, neither do people when they are thrust into new environments. I don't know why those people were acting like I was attacking them, when I was just trying to help them on behalf of all the hard working people of Clybourne Park. It's just so hard being misunderstood all the time.

You could've been somebody

Once upon a time everyone was Moses; today: pink elephants rhetoric.

Just kidding.

"The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" while written decades ago,  still provides insight into the literature and lifestyle of today.

Although the premise of the story seems pretty implausible- a man finds a diamond mountain and through deception and crime he is able to keep his family the richest in the world- Fitzgerald manages to create verisimilitude within it. Many of the characters motives, attitudes, and reactions are realistic. John is awed at the extravagance of the "floating fairyland" that is Washington's palace, horrified when he discovers what they do to their guests, and does everything possible for his own self-preservation. The Washingtons are corrupted by their vast wealth, and as a result do anything in their power, no matter how criminal or inhumane, to keep it. Percy even seems like the cold, emotional unattached child that the son of an extremely wealthy criminal would be.

However, the book manages to appear extremely realistic, but misrepresent reality at the same time. The only thing we know about the characters is how much is told to us. All we know of Braddock is that he is a cold man with "intelligent eyes." Nothing of his character, or internal struggle was revealed. All we know is that he was and liked being rich. Perhaps once upon a time he was a master orator, an expert on rhetoric; instead of asking "yes or no" to his following, he inquired: "Did Moses not part water with the cane? Did Noah not build an ark when God made it rain?" Instead of addressing his audience, he inspired. Percy is described as a "quiet, handsome boy," and nothing more. We have no idea how much a toll being the only son in a family that cares about nothing except diamonds is.

A pink elephant might seem like a real elephant. It might be in the shape and size of an elephant, but the difference in color is a glaring difference. And who knows what a pink elephant might be hiding on the inside.

Shade, Hue, and Tone

What remains of the 1920s can be observed today through the black-and-white cinematography of that era. It seems ironic that many of the records of lifestyle in the 1920s are monochrome, when color is such an important motif in The Great Gatsby. 

The same color of the dollar bills that many residents' of the 1920s lives revolved around so much, Gatsby is basked in a "green light" which serve to enhance his mysterious yet prolific aura.However, green is also a symbol of nature. It represents the rebirth and growth that plants go through every year, just like how Gatsby's new wealth allows him to develop as a person.  On the other hand, there is the color that represents the old wealth. The gold that has been a symbol of opulence and richness since the ancient times. Daisy, being of old wealth, is described as a "golden girl". This is contrasted with the yellow that also appears in The Great Gatsby. Although it appears as bright as gold, the dull sheen serves only as an imitation of the extravagance that comes with gold. Just like the yellow car of Gatsby that struck Myrtle and "ripped her open," the yellow- the faux luxury of the new wealthy, is tearing Tom's life apart, as Gatsby's new found riches are what allowed him to reacquaint himself with Daisy.  Fitzgerald uses the motif of color to develop his characters more thoroughly, and it's amazing how simple shades allow for so much perception of depth.

I embody every characteristic of the egotistic

Humans are a self-centered and selfish species. David Foster Wallace is absolutely correct when he says "there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of." In the "day-to-day trenches" of everyday life, it is only ourselves who we pay attention to. It frustrates us to have to get up early everyday, sit in school for 7 hours, and go home to do another couple hours of homework.  However we pay no mind to the 2000 other students that share our same routine, or even the teachers who must wake up earlier, stay after school later, and go home to grade homework even longer.

This idea is even more prevalent in literature. Even though a book might be about fictional characters entirely different from ourselves, we are still the centers of attention. We react, then assign motives and emotions to characters based on our own personal experiences and opinions.

In The Bluest Eye it takes an entire chapter of narrative in Cholly's perspective to understand his backstory, and how all the experiences he had leading up to the rape of his daughter caused him to do it out of love and tenderness, instead of lust and rage. It then takes the reader to sympathize with him, or choose to antagonize him even further.

In The Great Gatsby it seems like Gatsby buys a huge home, and throws extravagant party just because he can- to show off his wealth. In reality, he moves to East Egg so that "Daisy would just be across the bay." Actions and feelings can only be truly be comprehended by the doer, or one with the exact same perspective as the doer. In Gatsby's case, his spending was all done because he was lovesick, and it still takes the reader to interpret whether his actions are romantic and noble, or if it is scandalous for him to pursue a married mother. The beautiful thing however, is that both views are entirely correct at the exact same time.

Sophisticated ignorance

There is an idea that punctuation reflects upon the quality of society and this is entirely true but many people believe a change in the rules of punctuation to reflect a "social decline" (Hitchings) because they believe that Earth will become a "dystopia" (Lee) where uneducated and illiterate individuals reign supreme however this is entirely untrue

What the change in punctuation and a possible further change in punctuation in the future reflects is the dynamic nature of society as technology has evolved and communication has evolved alongside with it since "Language evolves in conjunction with culture" (Lee) if punctuation were to remain stagnant then our society would become stale with it because the only thing that changes in punctuation would actually show is the evolution of mankind as a complex species looking to refresh himself from the outdated and mundane

Throughout history one thing that has remained constant is the need for mankind to express himself and since it is not enough for him to tell others his opinions he must share his emotions and feelings with the world by opening the windows to his soul in "A house fairer than prose" (Dickinson) being poetry with Dickinson showing how expressive one can be with words without the chains of punctuation and Elizabeth Austen displaying how much more creative and flowing writing can be without the constricts of punctuation with a "trail of possibilities" for each word that she may chose to place as without punctuation "tightening the leash" (Austen) on the creativity of mankind we can finally move forward as individuals and as a species

I hope you were able to understand my blog without the aid the following: commas, periods, semi-colons, apostrophes, dashes, exclamation points, question marks, and periods.