Home Cubed

In Barack Obama's book, "Dreams of my Father", I found the passage where the family is discussing 'Home squared' to be interesting. The children in Nairobi referred to the family's house on its ancestral land this way because though it was not their full time residence, it was considered to be where the family 'was from' if asked. At this point, Barack's relatives told him it was his 'Home cubed'. This insinuated another degree, not of separation from Kenya, but another circuit line run in parallel. If the relatives in Nairobi have two homes, the city they have gone to for work and their ancestral home, he has three. This terminology is interesting since it does not insinuate that the family home in Africa is less important or should mean any less to him than it does to his relatives in Africa. I think this is interesting given the classical Dubois-ian idea of double consciousness that is applied to Obama, or even extrapolated to 'triple consciousness'. For each place where a person must live, comes a new sense of consciousness. There is the way that Obama sees the world when he is with his white grandparents, the way the world runs when he is with his black friends, and now the way that his black Kenyan relatives see him and the way he can look at both his other worlds through their eyes. In every action he takes, he has the burden or blessing to be able to assess it as any of these people might.

Last Blog

I think it is interesting what people have been writing concerning our discussion comparing Obama and Birdie. One instance that stuck out to me while reading was in the being of "Dreams of my father." It was the part where Barack was playing at recess and he began chasing and playing with Coretta, the only other black child. When the other kids started making fun of them and saying that "Coretta's got a boyfriend!" Barack became really upset and started being mean to Coretta as well, pushing her and telling her to stay away from him. I think that part of Barack did this because he wanted to fit in with all the other (white) kids at school. It reminded me of Birdie when she was going to school and was one of the only white kids there. She desperately wanted to fit in with all the other black kids. I think for both Barack and Birdie their childhood experiences helped to shape who they were.
I also think that it is really interesting what people keep talking about in regards to gender and race in these two books. As megan pointed out, there definitely was a parallel between Barack and Birdie where they both were curious and question the relationship between their white mothers and black fathers. Much of this could have come from growing up in a time where this was not entirely common, and many people may have judged their families because of it.

The man who lived underground

Well it has finally come, the last class and blog of the semester. I would like to talk about one of Richard Wright’s stories, the man who lived underground. I found that story to be a very interesting one. It is really interesting to read about a man who ends up being accused of murder and has to spend time underground in complete darkness. While he is down there, he notices things and can see things better than the way other people can see things. He notices people singing in a church, a dead man, and even the shopkeeper. While being down there, he looses his ability to really see in white light. It is almost like he is transforming into a whole new person. A part that I found interesting was the part when he steals the money from the safe. He goes through a lot of effort in digging a tunnel and taking money out of the safe. The interesting thing was that it says that he did not want to spend any of that money. He only really stole it because it was exciting to him. Who steals money just because it is exciting? Overall, the story was very interesting to read and I enjoyed it a lot.

Connection Between Gender and Race?

I agree with Hannah. I found it interesting that we had the chance to compare "Dreams of My Father" and "Caucasia."I can't give a definite answer to whether or not gender correlate, but in my mind they do. Instinctually children I feel as though children have more of a bond with their mother. In Barack's and Birdie's case they well left in the care of their mother. It does not seem as though Barack or Birdie seem to question their mother's gender to their whiteness, but they do seem to question their mothers relationship to their fathers who are black. In other words, it as if they question the relationship between the two races in the first place, instead of the inherent actions as a parent of a particular gender. As Hannah posts, I think curiosity plays a role as well. I know that if I were denied the option to live with both of parents, I would be curious as to how living with the other one would be in comparison to the one I am currently living with. To build upon that, it seems more complex in Birdie's and Barack situation because of the added level of race. Since they reside with one parent who is of a certain race, they would most likely be curious as to how living with the other one would be. This reminds me of Birdie's day in the park with her dad and her father's encounter with the police who believe he is trying to rape her. From that example, one can see how perception of oneself with a particular parent plays a large role in the curiosity of child. In addition, one can see Barack's curiosity in his visit to Kenya and his notable name because of his father..

Last Blog Silent Racism

Since it is our last blog I thought I would talk about Silent racism just one more time. This week I was interested in what Jessica said in her blog what are minds do when we look at a picture of people from a different race. According to Trepanier, the brains in whites will send signals that demonstrate fear. I am not sure that I agree with this quote. I found this to be very interesting. I don’t think that is true at all. I like how Jessica brought up what her roommate said about the “nonracist” manner. I am not sure that I agree with some of the things that Trepanier said in her book. Especially when she explains how all whites are somewhat racist. That is not a very fair thing to say. I feel that some of her points are very good, and have really agreed with her ideas, but some of her other ideas seem to be counter active. I think that her book has made many of us much more race aware and hopefully we can all become less racist. Other than that I though Trepanier made some very good points. I really enjoyed reading her book and learned some valuable things about becoming more race aware.

It was interesting to read and to compare Caucasia to Dreams From My Father. Both Birdie Lee and Barack Obama are children of a black father and a white mother. They both struggle to establish a sense of identity, and they grow up chasing after two different races. I know we already discussed Caucasia in detail, but I wonder if it would have made a difference if Sandy had been black and Deck had been white. Was Birdie more determined to identify herself with her father’s race because he’s black or because he’s a male? Could there be some Oedipal longing here (I don’t think so) or is she trying to find a way to relate to her father? Obviously she is more comfortable with her mother, but she ends up denying her and going after her father. It’s just that after comparing this novel to Obama’s, I’m realizing that there is more at work here than just race. Perhaps gender, favoritism, or curiosity affects Birdie’s decision to go after her father. Maybe she does leave her mother because Birdie wants to be black, or maybe she just thinks her mom has gone crazy and can’t relate to her anymore.

Review for the Final!

You can now download the final review here.

Please let me know right away if you have any trouble accessing it.

Also, please note: There's a timeline of publication dates, historical context, etc in your Norton starting on p 2695.