Wednesday, March 12, 2008

"He just goes on like he wsa white" (171)

OK i can't quite get off this black/white thing yet. Only because I find it so interesting how one is defined by NOT being the other. and in Chapter XV One by One, we really get to know a little boy named Buster, who looks white. Now, this isn't too much of a shock to me, I was like "ok la la la" as I read (literally!) but what really shocked me was this:
"I have the hardest time keeping that boy colored! He goes on just like he was white. Do you know what he did last week? Cut all the blossoms off my geranium plants here in the house, took them to school, and gave them to Dorothy Marlow, in his grade. And you know who Dorothy is, don't you? Senator Marlow's daughter!..." I said "Buster, if you ever cut my flowers to carry to any little girl again, I'll punish you severely, but if you cut them to carry to a little white girls, I don't know what I'll do with you....Don't you know they hang colored boys for thinks like that?" (170-171)
I was shocked at the first part, that he wasn't black enough for his mother, and that she had to show him to be black, but then that she was appalled that the flowers were for a white girl. I'm sure part of that was the urge to protect him, because a black man dating a white girl didn't work back then, but part of me is concerned that it might make him whiter. Perhaps she is worried because for the most part, if a child (like Tempy) turned white, then they were lost to their old family. Perhaps if Buster ends up with a white girl then he won't be there to help his mother... hum... just like how Tempy behaves white and doesn't help out her family.... hum ...

It boggles my mind that there are degrees of being a race too "oh he's not black miss" is something that i hear all the time from the students "he hangs out with too many white kids and he thinks he's all that but he's not! if he hung around some black people they would put him in his place" I just find it so interesting that the child this student was talking about isn't considered black enough, because of the company he keeps. Just like Buster isn't black enough, though he does hang around Sandy...

RACE IS WEIRD!

4 comments:

Mr. Wind said...

You are right about it being defined by what you are not. Does that imply that we define ourselves by what we hate. For me the H-bomb is not a word to drop lightly, but to define yourself through what you do not want to be is to show some strong dissent towards the other. I wonder how much I do this, Well actually I don't, but really I must somewhere, somehow, I know I am not a republican :). Very kewl hyper texting with the word colored it really had a strong effect on the way I read the word. Cheers. This whole internet Blog thing is kewl when it actually works like a discussioin board only better.

Mr. Wind said...

4:24 AM, MS. BEHR!

Mr. Wind said...

AH, I see it is three hours slow.

Ms. Behr said...

I was once told in middle school about how strong the word hate is, but i never really believed it... i can see now, in my sage old years!, that hate is a horrible word. especially when it can hurt so much and hurt so many. i like the chatting aspect of this too, now that i understand it!!