Grutter V. Bollinger

In the book “Roll of thunder hear my cry”, Mildred D. Taylor uses symbolism to provide context, and background information of the how their community is, and who the Logan’s fit in it. A great example when the author provides context and background information would be the fig tree. When the author is describing the fig tree, she describes it as “It keeps on blooming, bearing good fruit year after year, knowing all the time it’ll never get big as them other trees.” (pg 206) The author is trying to describe how the Logan family fits in in the community.

In “On The Subway,” Sharon Olds depicts an affluent white narrator’s initial description of the blatant differences between her and a poor black boy seated on the opposite side of the subway car. The narrator’s external observation then shifts into an introspection of the subtle similarities shared between the two individuals despite their socioeconomic differences. Through juxtapositioning the physical differences between the narrator and the boy, allusions and comparisons of the boy to slavery, Olds asserts that white individuals achieve false superiority through their racist act of discrimination and oppression of the not-so-different African Americans. Old’s repeated allusions to slavery and racism demonstrates that even in modern day,

“We are stuck on opposite sides of the car…” This quote establishes the contrast between the two characters in Sharon Olds poem, “On the Subway.” This immediate contrast at the beginning of her poem reflects societal conflict through the use of poetic devices, organization and imagery. Olds uses many similes and metaphors to relate the white woman to the black man.

“Nikki-Rosa” Poem Analysis In the poem “Nikki- Rosa,” Nikki Giovanni writes with diction and imagery to prove that’s she had a happy childhood in spite of her family’s hardships. Giovanni creates a poem, that although short in words, provides a lasting effect on the reader. Giovanni’s creative use of language and descriptive words, the distinction of black culture from white culture, and memories of average times that made her childhood unique and happy made this poem distinct and exceptional. Giovanni frequently references to her happy childhood in her poem using words and phrases that create an image in your mind showing you that her childhood was in fact a happy one.

The IAT Harvard survey consisted of multiple topics regarding race, genders, thoughts on sexuality and so on. One topic was if one prefers European Americans over African Americans. Surprisingly, the results were that most people strongly prefer European Americans over the other. Why is that? Maybe it’s because many people place stereotypes and other ideals towards another individual, whether they have a different skin tone, whether they are male or female, as well as other characteristics one may notice.

The hate poem by Julie Sheehan struck my attention starting with the first time I read it, I immediately thought that I could relate to this poem. Julie Sheehan has quite a few pieces that I had read because of my initial interest in the hate poem but none of the other poems I have read have been as relatable as this one. Julie had many different forms and ways of showing her hate for the person or people that she is talking about. She helped to show me that you can take almost anything happy and put it into a hate poem in someway, which is quite funny when you read the poem. “I dissect you cell by cell, so that I might hate each one individually and at leisure.”

“Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough” – Mary McLeod Bethune Mary McLeod Bethune was one of the most important, prominent African American women of the first half of the twentieth century – and one of the most powerful. Having the name of “First Lady of the Struggle” she devoted her career to improving lives of African Americans through education, political, and economic empowerment. Personally Bethune displays that it’s never about where you are now, it’s about where you’re going. The qualities are what made it possible for her to shape the south specifically Florida.

For my poem analysis assignment, I chose Making History, by Marilyn Nelson, published in 2014. The speaker of this poem is a young child, perhaps in grade school. Upon reading some of Marilyn Nelson’s other works and a bit about her past, we can come to the conclusion that this child is African American, as it focuses upon the African American history, their significant Firsts and the authors childhood. As a child, Nelson was often the only African American child in her classes and she would know the struggles of being an African American girl at the time of the Civil Rights Movement, which supports the idea that this is a young African American girl which is speaking in this poem. The tone of the poem is at first confusion and disagreement,

In the pome. Balled of Birmingham, by Dudley Randall. Mr. Randall uses of irony to describes the events of a little girl request her mother to go to Freedom March. The Freedom March is to free the African American people from discrimination and segregation. This pome uses a little girl is acting like an adult in the situation.

This poem its mainly about a women , whose personifying her self on a diamond. She thinks its funny how a diamond can come from flames and still be something beautiful . In the poem she is a diamond whom society is trying to break down despite her natural brilliance. Audre Lorde wrote this poem to open her self and to let the world know how words sometimes can hurt people. She definitely feels that words are very important and sometimes they can have different meanings.

“ The Journey “ by Mary Oliver is an easy to read poem, yet the overall message is so powerful. The title speaks for itself for the reason being that, “ The Journey “ is literally about a journey one takes throughout their life. One day you wake up and realize this is not the life you want to be living, so you begin to transition. However, with this transition comes hardships that weigh you down and make it seem impossible to succeed. Once you leave all the negativity and keep the determination and drive you will be able to achieve that goal and complete your journey.