The poem that stuck out most to me was "Oriflamme". I really liked how in the begining Fauset included a passage from Sojourner Truth because it helped to understand what she was trying to portray in her poem. I feel like in the poem Fauset is describing a sistuation that in in the present but looking towards the past. She mentions slaverys mortal scars which makes me think slavery is over but the person is remembering what occured.

I assumed that the person Fauset is describing looking at the stars was thinking of lost children like Sojourner Truth describes doing because it was the only way that one could feel connected with their family because they look at the same stars. This poem is extremely heartfelt and draws on the readers emotions because it's almost impossible to imagine being torn from your parents and then having no way of communicating with them. It really illustrates another evil of slavery.

I found the Mckay poems from this week interesting because I feel like in his work he talks about both the past and looks towards the future. He repeatedly talks about Jamaca and it's beauty but also expresses his respect for the US. He is very skilled at unobtrusively pointing out flaws in the US.

I liked how in poems like Exhortation: Summer of 1919 he calls for action from the African American community but is not attacked the majority of the population. I think that he realizes that change has to begin within the attitude of the black community itself and then spread.

What interested me most in the second half of the book was how the narrator ended his journey emotionally. I felt as though he did not accomplish all in life that he had hoped and was left without a real feeling of purpose. I think that it was a shame because we always hear about wasted potential.

It was very obvious in the end that he felt as though he did not have a real sense of belonging or acceptance. I think that most people in life look for a place where they can belong and if you do not find that place it is very emotionally draining. The narrator is left with this feeling of loneliness and lack of purpose. The only part of his life that he finds any sort of comfort is from his children.

chapter 6-9 blog post

In this reading what I found most interesting was the description of New York City begining on page 89. I first noticed that the author talks about the city as if "she" were a person. The author gave the city human characteristics and the ablity to make or break ones life. The author describes the cities allure as being able to suck one in with the initial glow and once inside the true nature is uncovered. I think that this description is given because while a place may seem ideal from the outside there are always internal demons, the one in this book being segregation.

In my opinion the city is used to also describe life or a sort of predestination. The passage "some she at once crushes beneath her cruel feet, others she condemns to a fate like that of gally-slaves, a few she favors and fondles riding them high on the bubbles of fortune" pg 89. illustrates this. I think that this statement is rather pesimistic on the authors behalf because it does not include those who work hard in order to better their lives. I think that the author speaks this way because of the state the country was in at the time dealing with racial tensions.