Posts from now on are for English-African American Lit.

Bledsoe 1, Bledsoe 2, Bledsoe 3

Is it just me or are there different versions of Dr. Bledsoe in "Invisible Man"? In almost every chapter, there is an African American character that resembles Dr. Bledsoe (except for the people at the Golden Day). The first person is Dr. Bledsoe himself (duh). The second is Brock from the Optic White paint factory. Then there is Mary, whom the narrator met in the streets of New York. To me, they resemble Dr. Bledsoe, but again, they're different versions of him. It's almost like a hierarchy. At the top, you have Dr. Bloesoe. Despite his achievements and a successful career, he is the worst of the worst. He acts formal and polite in front of white people but behind the scenes, he backstabs his own people to maintain his power and reputation. Take for example the incident with Dr. Norton. The incident isn’t the narrator’s fault but he gets blamed and punished for it. Dr. Bledsoe gives hope to the narrator at the possibility of returning to the college, but what hap...

Relationship Between Denver and Sethe

Throughout the reading of Beloved , I have noticed a trend in the relationship between Sethe and Denver. Denver always seems slightly tentative towards Sethe and we know why. She is scared that her mother might kill her just like she did with Beloved. For instance, on page 206 (according to my version of the book), Denver states, “When she finishes the combing and starts the braiding, I get sleepy. I want to go to sleep but I know If I do I won’t wake up“. It is disturbing to see the distrust Denver has for her mom, despite no ill intent from Sethe. The animosity between them, however, hasn’t always existed. There is a point in time where Denver is clueless of Sethe’s past. It’s probable that their relationship might have actually been a normal mother and daughter relationship. The truth comes out after Denver’s incident with the bullies at her school. The effect of the truth impacts Denver so much to the point where she is un...

The Revenge of the Odyssey

From our class discussion last week, a topic came up that I thought was very interesting. It was that the Odyssey has a series of revenge cycles. Throughout the book, almost every character has wanted to take revenge on someone. The most notable of these is Odysseus’ mass murder of the suitors. They ransacked his house and tried to court his wife, so it makes sense that he would be looking to get back at them. Another example of revenge in the Odyssey is when Odysseus decides to blind Polyphemus after he killed Odysseus’ crew members. This incident set off Poseidon’s rage and he trapped Odysseus on Calypso's island for 7 years. The cycles of revenge continue to the very end of the book when the suitors’ fathers want to murder Odysseus. I think that all of these revenge cycles were set off by one incident: Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. If he had kept his cool and not blinded Polyphemus, then everything would have been fine. He had another chance to save himself and crew, simply...

Hakuna Matata

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