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Dudley Williams’s Dance to I Wanna Be Ready

The song “I Wanna Be Ready” arranged by James Miller and performed by Dudley Williams has a message expressed through the lyrics of James Miller and through the dance of Dudley Williams.  Lyrically, the words of the song sends a strong message in that the speaker/singer wants to be ready to see the Lord. He wants to be cleansed of his sins (such as gambling) because if not, were the Lord to call the speaker/singer, he would not be ready. The song repeats the same verse several times, each time ending with the same line, “Ready to put on my long, white robe.” Going along with the visual aspect, the idea of “white robe” and the fact that the dancer, Dudley Williams, is also wearing all white emphasizes the idea of white and its relation to purity and innocence. The dancer starts out staring into the sky, which seems to be him looking into the heavens for his Lord. The dancer can be observed  peering into the sky many times throughout the whole piece. He is looking into the heavens for assurance that he is ready for the calling of his Lord.

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Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”

In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the narrator was not given a name. Although he called others by their name in the last five pages, the narrator was only known to the readers as a mysterious black man. What stood out was the significance of the seemingly useless briefcase. When the men asked the narrator what was in the suitcase, he simply answered them with “You.” I found it peculiar when the narrator had to burn the contents of his briefcase for light. Of the various ways to produce light while trapped, the author decided to make the narrator burn the items inside the briefcase. The briefcase contained his high school diploma, an anonymous letter, and other items. I believe the author had the narrator burn the contents of the briefcase in order to reveal some of the narrator’s life to the readers. Small details about the narrator’s life were shown such as him being part of the Brotherhood and being named by Jack. Prior to this, the readers knew nothing about the narrator, not even his name. Not only did burning the items in the briefcase expose some of the narrator’s life to us, but it also showed him moving towards a new life. The briefcase contained objects and papers that described his past. By burning them, the author showed us the narrator putting aside his past and moving forward to a new life while still trapped inside. This goes back to when he answered the men about what was in the briefcase. By figuratively putting the men in his briefcase and burning it, it showed how he was burning up his past. While stuck there with no way of escape, he began to see reality clearly.

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Invisible Man

Since we were assigned the last few pages of The Invisible Man, the storyline was pretty difficult to follow. After reading both the ending and the epilogue, I started to realize that the narrator was not actually invisible, rather he felt as though he was invisible due to his status in society. From my understanding of the excerpt, the narrator was a free, African-American man who was trying to escape from a few men, whether these men were real people or illusions I do not know. The narrator was experiencing internal conflicts about his role in society and his identity; he was frustrated and felt hopeless as he was trapped underground. Towards the end of the epilogue the narrator seems to achieve peace; he realizes that he is invisible but he is not blind.

From the little that I have read, it seems to me that Ellison is trying to portray the problem that many African-Americans faced during this time period and that problem is one about identity. Less than a century after the Civil War, African-Americans still faced discrimination and unequal access to certain facilities. This book was published in 1952, before Brown v. Board of Education, the Rosa Parks bus boycott, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speeches, therefore it would make sense that African-Americans would feel as if they were second-class citizens and this could cause them to lose hope. This book really addresses an issue that was quite prevalent at the time and it allows readers to see the issue from the African-Americans’ perspective.

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Thesis- Plath and Emerson

Only when one experiences death and loneliness, then can one truly communicate with nature and understand it. Sylvia Plath’s poem, “I Am Vertical,” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s piece, “Nature,” both include the narrator being accepted by nature through death.

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Thesis- Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl & “I am Vertical”

Both Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Sylvia Path’s poem “I am Vertical” share the commonality of lack of verticalness. With this lack of verticalness, both narrators are looking from the ground up in search of some sort of escape. However, both pieces differ in the type of escape the characters are looking for. In Jacob’s excerpt, the narrator is looking for an escape from captivity. But in Path’s poem, the narrator is looking for an escape from the world, ultimately desiring death.

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Why do you choose the two text you have chosen to compare and contrast?

 

What do you ultimately want to say about the relationship between these two texts?

 

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What is your frame of reference for comparing these two objects?  (Note if you pick two texts from the syllabus and if you form an argument within the theme of the course, then verticality is automatically a frame of reference, but I encourage you to be a little more specific.  Are you focusing on looking down or looking up? Are you focused on the images of the vertical and class status?  What is it that you are talking about that enters into conversation with these two texts?

 

What is the common ground for putting these two texts in conversation?

a) what are other comparisons you could have made to talk about the text you wanted to talk about?

b) what do the two texts you chose have in common (other than being on the syllabus)?

c) what do you get from putting these two texts in conversation that you don’t get from putting two other texts in conversation?

 

What is your thesis?

a) what is the relationship between your two text?

b) which texts are you primarily focused on (if both say so)?

c) what is your ultimate argument or claim about the relationship between these two texts.

 

How will you go about structuring this paper?

a) Will you use a text by text?

b) Will you use a point by point?

c) What points would you use, if you use a point by point?

 

How will you link your text together throughout?

Write out 2 out of 3 of your topic sentences.

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Class Reminders

1. Meeting times are listed in the previous post.

 

2. Bring to class on Wednesday two texts that you want to compare.  If you really really want to do an outside text, then bring your outside text plus an inside one, and you can make a case for your outside one in class, but you will be prepared in case I say no.

 

3. Please remember that the third paper is due Monday December 1st at 10:00 am.

 

4. Also on Dec 1st we will end class early by 30 minutes.

 

5.  and lastly we need volunteers to do their workshops on Dec 1st.

 

 

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Meeting Times

Here are the meeting times.  Please note I have tried to make it so that there are 20 minutes between each meeting. I plan for the meetings to be about 15 minutes long, but I want there to be a 5 minute cushion in case something goes longer or there’s some unforeseen delay in the schedule.   Unless otherwise noted (in the parenthetical notes below) meetings will be in my office in VC 7-298.   It’s in the English department all the way in the back.  Keep curving to the right.

If you arrive early and are waiting, you can wait in the hall outside.  If we get to your meeting time, but I am still with the previous student, please politely knock on the door to let me know that you are there, and I will get to you as soon as possible.

Please do not miss your meeting time.

Thanks,

Allison

 

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Wednesday, November 12

2:20 Dmytro

2:40 Joy

4:40 Tanzim

5:00: Mark

 

Thursday, November 13

2:15 Jasper

2:35 Ray

4:00 pm David

 

Monday, November 17th

2:20 Milly (at 17 Lex)

2:40 Zach  (at 17 Lex)

4:40 Dafna (in transit back to office)

5:00 Rachael

 

Wednesday, November 19

2:20 Aqsa (at 17 Lex)

2:40 Phil (at 17 Lex)

4:40 Cindy (in transit back to office)

5:00 Tiffany

5:20 Jacob

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Group Paper

The Group Paper has been graded.  Comments and grades are included in this document: Group Paper Final Draft with comments and grade Group Paper Final Draft with comments and grade

 

Individual grades are a combination of

-The Paper Grade

-In Class Participation  (based on attendance and my observations of your participation)

-Self Evaluation (based on thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and a general sense of honest reflection)

-Peer Evaluation (based on average of group grades and ranking in your group)

 

Each part is worth 25 percent.  I will email students their individual grades.

 

Best,

 

AC