Kate Chopin: American Realism

In the writings of Kate Chopin there were both its similarities and differences in comparison to that of the American romantics and the lilacs. The way that she writes show a more of a fantasy fill in the romanticism. She also speaks towards real life situations meanwhile the romantics comes more across as normal. One thing that was common between both Kate and the American romantics were that they both used nature in there writings. Threw out the romantics writing looked to me that nature was symbolized as an expressed look towards the life, and Chopin uses the lilacs to symbolize that. The story it self was kind of confusing but there were many questions I had towards the usage of using the lilac. To me I thought that the lilacs were used to maybe represent the different lifestyles that Adrianne was living with her leaving her convent and stuff. This was because when the lilac was to die would have symbolized he leaving and it starting over and blooming could show her fresh start. Kate Chopin is a wonderful writer and it is shown that she specifically writes her stories for a special group of people. Both stories that i read had a similar background which was that both women had more then one lifestyle. Being that I'm not really a huge fan of reading, I really liked the usage of the lilacs to form a meaning and so far Kate Chopin is one of my favorite writers.

The Great Gasby Journal

After reading the first couple of chapters of The Great Gatsby, in the story we meet a character named Nick Carraway who is the narrator. After moving to a island part of New York called the West Egg which is where most of the people there have become wealthy only recently, mostly from investing in the stock market. There aren't many nice houses but there is this one in particular that stands next to Nick apartment, and thats Jay Gasby.  On the other side there is a town called the East Egg which it is filled with people who have inherited wealth through their families. To attend a dinner party that one of his friends the Buchanans, Nick has to travel to the East Egg. Nick and his friend Tom Buchanan had been friends for a while being that they both attended Yale University. While sitting at the dinner table Tom recommends this book called, "The Rise of the Colored Empires," this book promotes mainly white supremacy.  In this Tom believes that all of the whites make up the dominant race are true, and that proves and shows how much of a racist Tom is. Towards the end of the chapter, Nick meets the man who lives next to him in the mansion named Jay Gatsby for the first time by the water. He suddenly looks back but comes to notice that Gasby is gone. After reading the chapter it left me wondering what was really going on. But that was one reason why I wanted to keep on going to figure out and answer my wondering questions.

Legacy: Amari Baraka

Link to Legacy Poem
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171264

The poem I chose to read was written by a poet named  Amari Baraka. His studies in philosophy and religious studies at Rutgers and Howard University proves why his audience and critics respond objectivity to his work. When using vivid dialect and images to make the reader picture and imaging how he feels as he writes is very intelligent. Without writing huge words to explain what he is saying he draws out what goes on by using simple slang. That is one of the reasons why I chose to pick this poet for this weekends assignment. When I read this poem I was almost at the edge of my seat. Only because I thought there should have been more with the structure of the poem and the tone. I felt like I was there during the time period which he speaks about. 

The poem that Amari Baraka writes clearly makes him distinctly an American in many ways. There were many stories that my great grandmother and my grand parents told me that connected to the writings of this poet. From the lives of a southerner to the ways they had to survive with no money or places to sleep or use the bathroom. The fact that he is American poet but the fact that he can write what actually went on during that long hard period of time down south makes him a distinct American.