The Purpose of Writing

In the last post, I spoke, briefly, about "white privilege" and society's "rules." Today, I would like to continue that conversation some, focusing more on why Gaines, and others, chose to write. During the same class period I spoke about last post, we read Judith Ortez Cofer's "Myth of the Latin Woman." Cofer speaks about her encounters with individuals in England and in the United States and how they project their stereotypical images of Latin women upon her. In one instance, a man confronts her on a bus and begins to sing a song from West Side Story, At a reading in Florida, a white woman sitting at a table "mistook" Cofer for a waitress and asked her for a cup of coffee. When Cofer took the stage and read, the white woman could only duck her head and avoid eye contact with Cofer; she ultimately raised her eyes, causing Cofer to says, "when I willed her to look up at me, it was my victory, and she graciously allowed me to punish her with my full attention." Cofer's desire, through her writing, is to call attention to the stereotypes that many hold about Latin women and to change those perceptions by reaching one individual at a time.

Cofer concludes the essay with a poignant paragraph that talks about her desires to counter the misrepresentations she faces everyday. She ultimately argues that education and her parents gave her the opportunity to face these stereotypes and "books and art have saved [her] from the harsher forms of ethnic and racial prejudice that many of [her] Hispanic companeras have had to endure." Cofer continues by simply stating, "My personal goal in my public life is to try to replace the old pervasive stereotypes and myths about Latinas with a much more interesting set of realities. Every time I give a reading, I hope the stories I tell, the dreams and the fears I examine in my work, can achieve some universal truth which will get my audience past the particulars of my skin color, my accent, or my clothes." Essentially, Cofer uses her writing to enlighten others about her life and the lives of Latinas.

Many authors write for the same reason, to counter stereotypes and confront "white privilege." As part of "The Power of the Word" post back in July, I quoted James Baldwin who said, "You think your pain and heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive." Books have the power to illuminate the realities of this world and to create empathy and understanding among readers. This is something that Gaines does in his writing as well. In 1986, he told Marcia Gaudet and Carl Wooton that is he was pressed to say who he writes for he would say, "I write for the black youth of the South. And if there were two groups, I'd say I write for the black and white youth of the South. Those are the people I would write for" (215). For the "black youth," he writes to show them that they are somebody, and for the white youth, he writes so that they can understand themselves and their neighbors. He concludes by intoning, "So that's what I'd want: the white kids to understand what the black kid is, and the black kid to understand who he is" (216). Essentially, Gaines wants to show the "universal truth" of human existence that Cofer voices in her essay.

Even looking at The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, we can see this drive in Gaines to write about those who may eventually be forgotten or who have be oppressed. When the teacher comes to speak with Miss Jane, Mary asks him why he wants to speak with Miss Jane. The unnamed editor tells her, "I teach history. . . . I'm sure her life's story can help explain things to my students" (v). Still confronting the teacher, Mary asks him what is wrong with the history books the students already have. He simply says, "Miss Jane is not in them" (v). He wants his students to see Miss Jane, her struggles and her joys, her survival. The on;y way to do this is for him to speak with her and transcribe what she says for his students to read. Her story will allow them to live together and see the "universal truth" of human existence.

In the short speech pictured above, Gaines ends by stating why someone should read about Miss Jane. He says:

 To anyone who might ask why should I read about someone who did not fight war, make laws, marry a great politician or Statesman or writer, or doctor, I would say read about Miss Jane because she survived with strength, dignity, love and respect for men, God, Nature, baseball, and vanilla ice cream, during the most demanding hundred years of American history.

There are numerous authors who espouse these same sentiments. In the comments below, tell me who some of the authors are that have inspired you to see the world in a different manner?  For a great piece on the power of books, see the video below of Malcom Mitchell, UGA wide receiver, and the book club he participates in.

   

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. New York: Bantam Books, 1972. Print.
Gaudet, Marcia and Carol Wooton. "An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines." Conversations with Ernest Gaines. Ed. John Lowe. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. 200-216. Print.

Societal Rules and Privilege

A couple of weeks ago, I had my students read Don Kulick and Thais Machado-Borges' article "Leaky." The article talks about Brazil's openness regarding plastic surgery and definitions of beauty. Part of the argument is that middle class Brazilians undertake plastic surgery, in part, from their desire to obtain a level of whiteness that the upper class has. The authors put it this way, "[M]odifying your body in Brazil is fundamentally about displaying your wealth. But since money is associated with race (a well-known Brazilian proverb is 'O dinheiro embranquece'--'Money whitens'), changing one's body is about approximating whiteness" (120-121). This reading, along with others that we read for the week, led one student to approach me during the break to ask a question about the texts. Essentially, the student pointed out that the texts had a feminist leaning (we were in the gender section of the reader) and that they pushed against the the construction of whiteness as an indicator of beauty and white privilege.

At one point, the student asked, "Why should I feel guilty for this?" The question didn't strike me as odd. It is actually something that I expect students to ask. Speaking with the student, I told him that while we have no power to determine the color of our skin upon birth and in life, we have the power to counteract the history of elevating whiteness at the expense of others. Even though he may feel guilty about all of this, I informed the student that most people don't even get to that point because they don't realize that such a thing as "white privilege" actually exists, or they downplay it. The student's acknowledgement, whatever the reaction to that acknowledgement, constitutes the first step in working to rectify the problem that has evolved over the past 400 years in this nation.

Gaines tackles the subject of "white privilege" throughout his works. Typically, the discussion appears either in the memory of slavery and 400 plus years of oppression. Elsewhere, the conversation revolves around the "rules" of society. For example, in "Book III: The Plantation" in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Tee Bob wants Mary Agnes, a Creole schoolteacher, to love him. Tee Bob eventually tells his friend Jimmy Caya about his feelings for Mary Agnes. Jimmy informs Tee Bob that he doesn't have to wait for Mary Agnes to love him; instead, because of his "white privilege" and the "rules" of society, all he has to do is take her. Jimmy tells him:

If you want her you go to that house and take her. If you want her at the school, make them children go out in the yard and wait. Take her in that ditch if you can't wait to get her home. But she's there for that and nothing else. (183)

Tee Bob did not choose to be born into a society that allowed him the "privilege" of taking Mary Agnes whenever he so desired. However, he does realize that he loves her, but he does not know how to counter the "rules" that have been place before he came into the world.

After Tee Bob kills himself, Jules Raynard drives Miss Jane home. In the car, he tells her that Tee Bob wanted to love Mary Agnes despite the societal rules. Mary Agnes knew they could not exist together because "she knowed the rules" (205). The "one drop African blood" in her veins would not allow him and her to be together as man and wife (205). This is the crux of Gaines' Of Love and Dust (1967) as well.Jules even tells Miss Jane, "We all killed [Tee Bob]. We tried to make him follow a set of rules our people gived us long ago" (204). Like my student who asked why the readings cause a feeling a guilt, Tee Bob felt the same way. He did not make the rules. He did not choose to be born into the "right" strata of society. However, he must conform to the rules. He does acknowledge the problems, but since everything around him tells him he can't change the rules, he feels helpless.

Unlike Tee Bob, my student has the opportunity to dismantle the "rules" that hold up the idea of "white privilege." No, the student did not choose to be white. Yes, the student does realize that whiteness comes with certain advantages. This means that the student can either accept those advantages and move on, or the individual can strive to inform others of the disparities that "white privilege" breeds and work to counter it throughout life.

There is, of course, more that could be said here. Please, remember to carry on the discussion below. For now, I would like to conclude with a verse from Brother Ali's "Letter to My Countrymen." The video of the song is below.

We don't really like to talk about the race thing
The whole grandparents used to own slaves thing
Pat ourselves on the back in February
Looking at pictures of Abe Lincoln and the great King
But the real picture's much more embarrassing
We're still not even close to really sharing things
The situation of oppressed people
Shows what we feel it means to be a human being
What does it mean to be American?
I think the struggle to free is our inheritance
And if we say it how it really is
We know our lily skin still give us privilege
Advantages given to the few
That are built into the roots of our biggest institutions
That's the truth in life we got to choose
Do I fight in the movement or think I'm entitled to it
This is not a practice life
This is the big game we got to attack it right
Each one of us is headed for the grave
This old crooked world won't be saved by the passive type
This is a letter to my countrymen
Not from a Democrat or a Republican
But one among you that's why you call me brother

Ain't scared to tell you we're in trouble 'cause I love you 

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. New York: Bantam Books, 1972. Print.
Kulick, Don and Thais Machado-Borges. "Leaky." One World, Many Cultures. Eds. Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson, 2015. 115-125. Print.