AGENDA:
MORNING REFLECTION: Please wait on this until Wednesday (I really want to see your morning reflection)
THINK, PAIR, SHARE DISCUSSION: With a partner (or small group), discuss Questions 4, 5, 6, and 7
from the previous post of Mudbound Discussion questions. Post your responses as comments on this post.
Try (as always) to use text EVIDENCE to back up your CLAIMS. You should now have comments on questions 1-7 posted!
WRITING: Work on your own Mudbound stories. First drafts are due on Friday.
HMWK: Continue reading Mudbound for more discussion on Wednesday,
Zoë Hodge
ReplyDeleteMs. Gamzon
Contemporary Writers
September 22, 2014
4. The story is narrated by two farmers, two wives and mothers, and two soldiers. Compare and contrast the ways in which these parallel characters, black and white, view and experience the world.
The two farmers, two wives and mothers, and two soldiers each have a black person as one person. The black people face different experiences. For instance, when Ronsel returns from the war, he is treated differently. He is told to use the back door to exit the shop instead of the front door. He is also told to “remember that he is back in Mississippi now, and he better remember it.” He is also called a “jig in the uniform” instead of a soldier.
5. What is the significance of the title? In what ways are each of the characters bound—by the land, by circumstance, by tradition, by the law, by their own limitations? How much of this binding is inescapable and how much is self-imposed? Which characters are most successful in freeing themselves from what binds them?
The significance of the title is that each of the characters are bound together in some way. Hap and Henry are bound by the land because they both rely on the land for crops. Laura is bound by the circumstance because she doesn't want to live in the country, but she has no choice. Florence is bound by circumstance because she has to work in the fields when Henry gets injured. Jamie and Ronsel are bounded by their own memories and accounts of the war. Jamie and Ronsel’s bindings are inescapable and self-imposed because they have to beat their own inner conflicts to be able to face other conflicts. Florence, Hap, and Henry’s bound are inescapable because they just have to deal with it.
6. All the characters are products of their time and place, and instances of racism in the BOOK run from Pappy’s outright bigotry to Laura’s more subtle prejudice. Would Laura have thought of herself as racist, and if not, why not? How do the racial views of Laura, Jamie, Henry, and Pappy affect your sympathy for them?
I don’t think Laura would have thought of herself as racist because she isn't outright racist like Pappy does, but she still is a little racist. The racial views of Henry and Pappy lessens my sympathy for them. The racial views of Jamie and Laura improves my sympathy for them.
7. The novel deals with many thorny issues: racism, sexual politics, infidelity, war. The characters weigh in on these issues, but what about the author? Does she have a discernable perspective, and if so, how does she convey it?
I think Hillary Jordan has a discernable perspective because I think she might have experience with theses issues.
ReplyDelete4. The story is narrated by two farmers, two wives and mothers, and two soldiers. Compare and contrast the ways in which these parallel characters, black and white, view and experience the world.
florence and laura feel like they should obey their husbands and that defiance is bad.florence doesn’t mind the farm as much as laura, who would prefer spending her time in the city. henry isn’t impressed by much nature but when it comes to wheat he is inspired; whereas hap is on the farm to make a living. ronsel views the world as the “white man's place.” even after the war, ronsel is still treated like a white guy. jamie is just sad and depressed after the war.
5. What is the significance of the title? In what ways are each of the characters bound—by the land, by circumstance, by tradition, by the law, by their own limitations? How much of this binding is inescapable and how much is self-imposed? Which characters are most successful in freeing themselves from what binds them?
laura hates the farm so much she names it mudbound. hap, florence and the children are bound to the land by racism and happenstance. seeing as they are african american, the struggle to get far in life is hard. ronsel doesn’t want to leave his parents but he can’t stay in the delta. ronsel dies in the delta. jamie escapes it the longest, traveling around after the war.
6. All the characters are products of their time and place, and instances of racism in the book run from Pappy’s outright bigotry to Laura’s more subtle prejudice. Would Laura have thought of herself as racist, and if not, why not? How do the racial views of Laura, Jamie, Henry, and Pappy affect your sympathy for them?
i doubt laura would consider herself racist. she tolerated the african americans and in her time, this was considered nonracist. the views of pappy and of henry make me feel less sympathetic for them. as for jamie and laura, they try being nice and treating them equal.
7. The novel deals with many thorny issues: racism, sexual politics, infidelity, war. The characters weigh in on these issues, but what about the author? Does she have a discernable perspective, and if so, how does she convey it?
Racism and sexual politics are a big part of their everyday lives. It is evident in pappy thinking that Ronsels mother was for his own use, seeing as how she was black and a women. When Laura tried to argue with henry, he didn’t understand where her “defiance” showed up from. If women hadn’t spoken out we would still be under the thumb of our husbands, with no voice. It was for our very being that we became defiant of the men.
Karla, Grace, Aleah, Radezia
ReplyDelete4. All of the different perspectives feel a sense of struggling but of course there’s inequality when it comes to the black race in comparison to the white people. The blacks experience harder obstacles because they have to deal with derogatory terms being thrown at them and less opportunities. Whereas whites run the farms and have access to numerous jobs but they still have to make sure the farm is in tiptop shape and is being run properly.
5. All of the characters are bound to the farm. Florence and Hap are of course tied to the farm because that’s their way of life and they have to work on it to be able to survive. For example Hap said, “I promised you I’d never ask you to do field work again.” (Page 113). And this shows that he had to go back on his words and have his wife Florence work on the farm because he was now injured and that was their only means of survival. Laura and Henry are bound to the farm because they’re the owners of it. They put all of their money into the land and they have invested their lives into it. Laura is more so bound to the land because she wants her family to stay intact and she wants to support Henry even though she’s miserable.
6. I don’t think Laura would look at herself as racist. She is very sympathetic towards Hap but especially towards Florence and connects with her due to them both being mothers. She still refers to them as the help but from her point of view she probably feels that she isn’t racist due to her tolerance. Henry and Pappy are much less sympathetic, mainly Pappy. He’s the oldest so he must’ve grown up with the thought of whites being superior engrained in his mind, and then he passed those values on too Henry. Henry was instilled with those values but as he grows with Laura he’s growing more tolerant.
7. She doesn’t have a prominent perspective because she conveys point of views from numerous individuals. She more so speaks on each idea and makes them prevalent in all of their lives in different ways.
Mitchell Duncan, Austin Hammond, Jacob Gilbert-Manhoney
ReplyDelete4. These perspectives are very different and offer more depth in the story. It also shows us the different struggles of each character. This helps us understand the complex feelings of the characters.
5. The title is significant because it is representative of the setting and it also shows how the character is sentimentally or financially attached to the land. Just as Henry is bound to the land because he owns a farm, Laura is bound to it because of her love for Henry, as well as the emotional toll his father took upon her. While Henry's binds appear inescapable, Laura's are self-imposed, due to her lack of exposure to love and the low-esteem she hold herself in.
6. Laura most likely didn't think of herself as racist. She is likely just a product of her environment and Pappy's influence. The time period also caused people to think differently. Laura and Jaime try not to be as racist and look down on Pappy for his actions.
7. Hillary Jordan is a discernible perspective because she may have experienced these actions first hand. She also displays multiple perspectives from people with different backgrounds. Jordan doesn't convey this so much through their speech, but rather through their thoughts. For example, Laura states "Violence is part and parcel of country life. You're forever being assailed by dead things: dead mice, dead rabbits, dead birds." (Page 98). This shows her ability to convey her experiences through the character's thoughts and beliefs on aspects of their lives.
Grace Keller -- Mudbound questions 8-10
ReplyDelete8. The inevitability of something terrible happening to Ronsel makes his character even more interesting. The fact that the author allowed us to know that something is to happen but didn’t tell us when helps to draw the reader in closer and characterizes Ronsel’s situation as almost a “ticking time bomb.” The turning point for Ronsel happens when he first appears back in Mississippi at Tricklebanks when Pappy, Henry, Ossir, and Doc Turpin disrespect him, telling him to exit using the back door after coming home from the war. Ronsel complies but makes sure that he says something to these men before doing so as he states on page 140, “We didn’t go in the back over there, they put us right out in the front. Right there on the front lines, face-to-face with the enemy. And that’s where we were there. The Jerries killed some of us.”
9. I can’t necessarily say what I would have done in each situation in this book, it is impossible to tell due to the fact that I was not present during this time period. We all like to believe we’d be the hero, do the right thing, and accept everyone but truthfully the reason these people are the way that they are is because of the era and location in which they live. Just like how I am the person I am and have the beliefs that I do because of the time and location in which I live.
10. In the last chapter of Mudbound, Ronsel addresses the reader exactly because it offers a certain sense of closure to the story. The story in its entirety is narrated by a series of different characters as the plot is laid out for the reader. Addressing the audience wraps things up and also assists to make the reader feel more connected as well as involved with the story itself.