While reading “FIRE!!”, I was particularly drawn to the play due to my interest in scripts. In “Color Struck” I was admittingly thrown off by the language when I first started to read. It was honestly a bit difficult to read along at first until I got the hang of reading it. Since it is a script, it’s meant to be read out loud and understanding this made the reading experience that much more pleasant. The style of the language is assumingly meant for emphasis on the southern accent for example, “Whut kin Ah do?” (page 10) meaning “What can I do?”. It is interesting how the “broken english” sounds fine when used in spoken word but is much more difficult when written. The emotions, (written like this), also adds to understanding the scenes better as it is more apparent to see the contrast between emotions such as nervous, dull, awkward and etc.

The poem, “From the Dark Tower” by Countée Cullen, felt sad and heavy yet it also showed a sense of hope and potential. The sadness can be felt through the first line “We shall not always plant while others reap”. According to when this poem was written, I assume that the reference in this line has to do with the treatment of African-American slaves. The hope and potential that could be seen is in the last line of the first stanza, “We were not made eternally to weep.” My interpretation of this line is that this is a cry for help or maybe even a cry for justice. Saying they aren’t made to weep forever means that they too have more to live for than the white man’s orders.