Gray GBS3299 Blogs

 This poem by Derek Walcott first caught my attention by the title. I assumed that this poem would be about a fight or an argument between two people, or two opposing sides. After reading the poem, it was much about something much different than I had originally assumed, it was about love. I believe the poem talks about someone who loosens their grip on someone they love. They don't fully let go, but they let go enough to have the individual realize that they will not always be there. They then tighten up their grip on the heart again and the individual feels just as loved as before. They then think "when have I ever not loved the pain of love?" (Derek Wilcott, The Fist). The pain of love will drive someone crazy is what the poem is saying. Someone who is in love will love the feeling of being in love. Someone who loves the feeling of love is crazy and is on the edge of mania due to the effect of love. You want to hold onto this feeling of love because it is the only way ...

 The story titled The Inheritance of my Father: A Story for Listening is a story about a man's home country and a child's dream to visit where her father is from. The child dreamed about going to her father's homeland to see where he came from. It is important to know where you come from especially where your parents came from. It gives the individual a sense of belonging to a certain culture and background. The child's grandmother which was the mother of the child's father wanted her grandchild to visit so badly that she would call the home every day and tell her to come to visit. The grandmother was still in her homeland and she knew she didn't have much time left on the earth. So needed to see her grandchild before passing on. The grandmother had a large piece of property back where she lived. She would have given the property to her son when she passed on but since he moved away and disobeyed her, she decided to give it to her grandchild instead. "Ever...

 The short story Passport to Paradise is a little different than some stories we have read this semester. The women in this story seem to be the ones working all the time in the field and take care of all eight of her children. "Their cane crop had all been harvested the day before, so that day she had begun to weed her vegetable garden. As she always did, she sang one of the old tunes which came from deep in her memory to keep time with her hoe as she dug up the weeds.  She loved her man, her healthy children, her clean house; she was blessed with the strength and courage to work" (Myriam Warner-Vieyra, Passport to Paradise). The woman in this story is the one who has to stay strong. She is the one who is working, taking care of the children, and managing the house. Most of the other stories we have read have the women below the men. This story is an exception in that the women is the main person in this story and everything revolves around her and her doings. Even when the...

The short story  My Brother's Keeper  is a story that shows the significance of sibling love. The story starts with the boy finding out that his father died in a car accident in Florida. The boy was devastated and torn apart, and it didn't help that someone was going to live with him and sleep in his bed with him. This was his little brother who he had never met before. In the beginning, when he first saw him he didn't like him at all. "I don't like hating people, but when him step in through the door with him new bag, new shoes, new shirt, and new pants, and me sit down there in the living room, barefoot snd tear-up, tear-up, I hate him even more" (Geoffrey Philp, My Brother's Keeper). What both boys do share is the love they had for their father. That is a bond that will forever stay strong and the boys feel they can relate through the love they had for their father. Umpire, the older boy in Jamaica was promised a watch by his father when he would come b...

 The short story titled Morris Bhaiya  starts off by discussed how Morris is surrounded by Indians while he is not Indian. He tried his best to be integrated within the culture by going to parties and being with his friends. His friend Pat is a good example of how cultural differences can create a divide between Morris and Pat. The political system and the divide between African and Indian, the divide between communism and democracy. By the end, the dissimilarities cause separation between Pat and Morris. There is so much difference in this story and the word Bhaiya means "Big Brother". It is ironic that the term brother is used because there are no close relationships in this short story. Personally, the term Big Brother reminds me of a watchful eye over society, almost like a watchful government. Morris rejected both forms of the new type of government. Maybe he didn't want a new form of government or a form of government at all. It all goes back to the difference in so...

The story titled When Women Love Men  demonstrates an excellent example of race and class within the Caribbean. There are two different women in this story, both being total opposites of each other. The first woman is a white middle-class woman whose husband has just recently passed away. She only inherited half of her husband's possessions. The other woman is a black prostitute who is the mistress to the white middle-class women husband. She inherited the other half of his inheritance. From the start of the story, there was a clear difference between the two women. It almost creates tension between the two women with all of their vast differences. One woman being an upright middle-class white woman and the other being a black prostitute. I find it interesting that the husband found both of these women equally important to him. He clearly thought they were important enough to be able to split his inheritance. So the question is, what makes these women different but the same? What w...