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On Tuesday, March 15 we looked at how the first 24 pages of this novel already reveal the counter-hegemonic narratives we discussed on Monday in our introduction to the course. First, we looked at the chapter titles, which denote the date and time in a unique way. Then we spent some time with the first paragraph on "the wire," in which our narrator works hard to listen to the spaces between the language of his conversation. He personifies the wire; it "whines" and "pants" and "hums" and "cries" (1). He suggests that it's difficult to hear these sounds that reside beneath the surface of the language and communication of the conversation. We looked at John's invocation that as "the rasping of your breathing fades and the hammering of your heartbeat slows," as you get your own attention to self out of the way, only then can one hear the sounds that exist beneath the surface (1). Here he asks the reader to put herself aside, so that she may hear the less common sounds of the story that is about to unfold—so that she may be Hawthorne's "sensitive observer," and read critically. Then we listed the characters we had met and what we knew about them, including Moses's outside-of-the-box thinking and actions. As Huck Finn would say, Moses "think[s] different." Finally we ended by looking at the ways in which the narrator takes on big history through his stories about historical minutia told to Judith, his knowledge of the history of his hometown, and through his treatise on civilization through its bathrooms.
On Wednesday, March 16 I asked you all to consider the circumstances and details of a moment in which you learned something about yourself. You listed moments when you were far away from home in unfamiliar places, moments when you were disoriented in terms of time, moments when you were in nature, and moments both of isolation and connection with a particular person. We then looked at how the "far side of the hill" represents tha same kind of space for John. It's a space of learning, storytelling, enlightenment, and a transcendental relationship with nature, a space that is separate from society and the mainstream, from commerce and economy, that allows John to engage in a counter-hegemonic narrative—to fill in the "gaps of history." We finished up by talking about how the "far side of the hill" is different for John as an adult than it was for him as a child.
On Monday, March 21th we talked about the long chapter, titled "Sunday, March 4th, 1979, 9pm," or "197903042100," in which Josh, Jack and Moses narrowly escape an encounter with the Ku Klux Klan. We started by talking about the things that most intrigued or interested us in this dramatic story. We debated, led by Sam, whether or not Moses lies when he tells Josh that Clydette loved him and didn't set him up. Then we began to talk about the divisions set up between white men, black men, white women and black women in this story. We noticed that they placed different value in certain things, particularly forms of knowledge. Danielle suggested that the white men act on their own set of knowledge (their understanding of the world), but that the black men in the story act on their own knowledge AND their knowledge about race — that the White men will act in a certain way because of their social status and that Josh will behave in a certain way because of his race and status. Here we saw the reflection of DuBois's idea of "double consciousness": the notion that the black individual has two thoughts (the thought: I am a human being, and the afterthought: I am a black human being, and there are expectations on me and perceptions of me that I have to deal with). Jack and Moses and Josh are engaged in double consciousness, which Bradley gives to us as "trailing" as opposed to "tracking." By "trailing," Jack and Moses use layers of knowledge and alternative forms of knowledge (the shoes and boots, the woods, each other's signs and patterns, etc) to give themselves power — the power to escape the klan, to live unafraid after their encounter with the Klan, even the power not to "leave it be…" (112).
Today in class we discussed the patterns of John’s childhood home. We looked at John’s house as a historical document that sheds light on the patterns and beliefs in his family. Although we did not discuss it in class, the house also tells John about himself. Through the photographs that John’s mother chooses to “represent [him],” John is able to understand the feelings he had as a child that made him want to leave his home (131). In studying the photographs of himself, John makes the observation, “they all had two things in common: in every one I was clad in one of the outfits my mother had made…and the configuration of my face and body was precisely the same, my eyes flat and empty, directed straight at the camera, my mouth in a straight line, without a hint of curl in the lips, my body straight” (132). This discovery leads John to the understanding that although the pose he struck might have seemed to be one of obedience, in reality “at age seven or five or two, [he] had been angry. No; furious” (132). As a youth, John’s feelings of anger at the people around him reveal his dislike for his childhood home and contribute to his desire to “go where the [trucks] were going: away” (14). Despite Jack’s later attempts to prepare John to live successfully as a black man in The County, it is clear John only wants to escape to a world less complex and confined.
We begin class looking at the patterns and routines of John’s current home with Judith. An observation that John seems to be emphasizing Judith’s motions and physicality leads us to explore a series of physical contrasts between the two characters. We identify deliberate comparisons that seemed to represent and even dramatize the physical difference of race/skin color: where John contrasts Judith’s paper-stuffed briefcase and collected clutter with his ability to “keep it all in his head,” evoking a comparison of documented “white” history and “black” oral tradition; how John can’t find the keys but Judith can, a potential commentary on ownership of the home they share; that Judith’s drink is coffee, and while John often drinks it with her his preferred drink is a toddy, Jack’s whiskey-warm drink of manhood and storytime(114). Continuing down this path and transitioning from actions to words, flip back a page to John’s description of “foul terms coming lightly, tripping off [Judith’s] one-of-the-finest-families-in-Virginia tongue as if she’d been raised at a truck stop and not on Axe Trail Road”: note the immediate contrast of his own linguistic tendency “[not to use] street language,” and how he classifies the dialect as “foreign,” comparable to the words of far-off countries and cultures in Europe and the near-east (113). A raised hand speculates that Judith and John’s shared defiance of the racial socioeconomic expectations of language presents a meaningful juxtaposition to the active routines that represent/reflect their respective races and roots.
We shift forward a few pages to where John visits his mother. We note the smooth transition from the patterns and routines of his current home to the patterns and routines of his childhood home, from his relationship with Judith to his relationship with his Mother. Dr. Witt has proposed a question: “how is his mother’s house an historical document for John?”. With this in mind, we explore the new scenery, marveling at the memories arising in abundance from every object and space. Someone likens the place to a maze of memories, a labyrinth that mimics the thought process. After a brief pause on John’s brother, Bill, and his garden (it is noted that John blames his mother for pushing Bill to turn himself in for the draft), our attention shifts to the symbolically-charged cup of coffee. The cup brings John back to the first time his mother served him coffee, an invitation to adulthood that, having drank toddys with Jack for some time, he had accepted falsely. John describes how she “poured it, sugared in, added too much milk,” at this visit exactly as she’d done years before (118). We note that coffee, its bitterness, darkness, and heat sugar-coated and diluted with milk, is the drink consumed with mother and, as we recall from the beginning of the chapter, with Judith. A smooth transition into his mother’s racial consciousness as Jack recalls his her advice, back when he was in school, imbues the beverage with the poignant symbolism. “John, don’t you forget…white men are the ones that say what happen to you” (119).
Discussions Summary: Pages 134-160
Today we talked about the question of whether its possible to be a "detached researcher", and the consensus we came to is no, it isnt possible to not develop the emotional and personal connections that come from researching something, especially something as close as your own father. We shared some of our personal experiences with researching our family histories, and in most cases we looked back far enough to feel a sense of connection to history and were able to understand some of the outcomes of that history.
In groups, we looked into the text to see how John's experience researching Moses Washington "changed, harmed, or affected" him. It was determined that John's interest in history and the ultimate reason he became a history professor was because of this event and the years he spent obsessed about figuring out his father, and human decisions in general. "I stood there feeling the flush of pride and power that comes from having been able to figure something out; pride and a surge of confidence", John says this after he figures out why the matches were left out in the attic (141). "That was how I learned history. That was where the magic came from. Because in preparing myself to track down Moses Washington, I had begun to perceive connections where others, it seemed, saw only unrelated facts, and I had begun to delight in exposing those connections to the unaware; I learned how much fun it can be to shock with the truth", this quote, with the last, combine to reveal that John's interest in history [and the teaching/sharing of it] came from what he learned while he tried to understand his father's actions (144).
Another thing we found from the text was that figuring out Moses Washington became essential to his identity. On page 147 John says "if I could not look at the things Moses Washington was looking at and, at least, discover what it was he had been working on, then I could not do anything important at all" (147). But this idea is also contrasting with Jack's vision of society, because Jack thinks that John isnt benefiting anyone or "doing anything important" by becoming involved with history.
We also brought up the idea that there is a maze or path for John to follow or solve, left there by Moses. The labyrinth style house, along with all the weird 'clues' left after his death, like the verse on the open page of the bible, suggest that Moses left a trail for his son. John tracks it pretty effectively, even Jack agrees (145-6), but it isnt explicitly said that he was trailing, and because of this he never really reached his goal and ultimately gave up. However, after he gave up, he pursued history in his education and became a professor, which was initially inspired in him by the whole ordeal with understanding his father, so those years were not necessarily a waste.
The interaction that occurs when John is about to leave for college between him and Jack was the most interesting thing about the reading for me that was mentioned in class. At the very beginning of the interaction Jack begins to talk to John in “what he had always called his ‘white folks’ voice”, first revealing Jack’s own double consciousness but also the fact that he has identified John as a traitor to his race, someone who has decided to become part of white culture (135). Jack was charged by Moses to make sure that John wasn’t too influenced by his mother, someone who was trying to fit into the parameters that white society had set our for her, by John leaving town for college Jack has failed. Jack realizes that by attending college John will never actually challenge the power structure of the town even though he is in a position to do so, as John tells him “Now they think you’re somethin’. Course, they ain’t xactly sure what, an’I’spect as how they’re jest as pleased you ain’t gonna be around her makin’ ‘em try an’ figure out what” (135). John’s intelligence will be used within the parameters set out for him by white society and its narrative. Jack tells John that he’d “read enough of damn books to turn your head clear white”, that he has rejected the counterhegemonic culture and oral tradition that Jack had fostered and spent so much time trying to make John a part of (135).
Today in class we discussed the relationship that we, the readers have, with John. The main question being; 'are you sympathetic to him?' It's hard to relate to John in the first place because throughout the story it seems as though he is a cold person who is purposefully alienating himself from others because of an inability to connect through his obsession with his father's history. He becomes entwined in his search believing that, if he could not discover what Moses Washington was “working on” then he “could not do anything important at all” (147). John’s obsessive nature on his search for information is a factor that makes the reader both sympathetic, while also distancing them from any connection. He is seen as more relatable because John describes his search as something that he almost has no control over as he says that it would’ve been impossible for him to “climb back down and go on about his merry way” (140). After going into the attic, John is so fully thrown into his curiosity and need for the truth that it would’ve been impossible for him to come out of the situation unchanged. This fact makes him more relatable to the reader because it seems as though he is vulnerable to the whole experience and that feeling of not having control over your current situation is extremely sympathetic to people. On the other hand, John allows his obsession to completely absorb his life and therefore his fragmented relationship with Judith and all others are really by his own doing. Throughout the story, his encounters with other people seem to be manipulative and cold. He unable to connect to the emotional side of other human beings, which is evident in his justification of raping a woman because she was “white.” John is removed the reality by his obsession with the past, something that disconnects him from others making his situation seem like a helpless one.
I found the contrast between tracking and trailing in John's research of Moses Washington's history a fascinating aspect of Thursday's discussion. In Monday's discussion on the chapter in which Old Jack and Josh nearly die at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, we had debated the merits of tracking (using and following your own knowledge) and trailing (using knowledge to put yourself in someone else's head, to think that person's thoughts, and act the way he or she would act). We had agreed that trailing was a superior method of following information, and that it was also counter-hegemonic, since it was a manifestation of W.E.B Dubois' idea of "double consciousness." On Friday, the idea was brought up that John was tracking his father's past, instead of trailing it; he "had put it together and [he] had studied it until [he] could command every fact, and then [he] had stepped back and looked at the whole and seen… nothing" (146). He realizes then that he "could not look at the things Moses Washington was looking at and, at least, discover what it was he had been working on," because he "could not imagine, and if you cannot imagine, you can discover only cold facts, and more cold facts; you will never know the truth" (147, 146). Because John is tracking, and not trailing, his father's past, he is unable to put the pieces together and make sense of any of the facts he has gathered.
I think that John’s inheritance as a gift is very interesting, because the inheritance is either a gift of manliness or a gift of a puzzle. The inheritance is a gift of manliness because Moses is giving John land, specifically the far side of the hill, where Moses would go to make his toddy, be a man and do manly things. However, the inheritance may just be another puzzle, another piece of a bigger puzzle that John is entranced to spend so much time on. Even though Moses has died for many years now, he has left a puzzle for John that makes John become frustrated and uncomfortable for many years. His frustration is something Moses seems to take pleasure in as we can see from John’s childhood. When John was younger, he was trying to tear apart a toy that his father, Moses, had given to him but could not and started crying. When Moses approached John’s mom, Yvette, with the thought of giving John another toy she was scared. Scared, because even Moses himself could not break the toy, if the toy was given to John she would lose him. Nonetheless, I think that Moses is just giving John another puzzle to figure out, but even when John has solved this part of the puzzle, it does not really lead him anywhere. These puzzles and inheritance were all apart of one of Moses’s crazy plans that mean nothing. Even if John reads the folio under the lamp light, nothing will tell him what motives were really behind Moses’s crazy ideas.
Today's class discussion commenced by addressing questions regarding the somewhat unclear role of the Scott family. First, it was noted that that the Scotts are lawyers to the Washington family, as well as a former customer of Moses. We were also reminded that Yvette works in their office. After establishing a basic understanding of the relationship between the two families, we proceeded to thoroughly examine each Scott member, Randall and Judge, respectively. For Randall, one of the most significant details we uncovered was his volatile relationship with John (due to the fact that Randall turned Bill's funeral into a political speech earlier in the novel). Another unfortunate relationship that Randall harbors is with his very own father, Judge, who happens to be the state superior court judge of PA. Though the two characters seem very similar in terms of their occupations and close ties to the county they inhabit, Judge is vastly different in terms of his upbringing as a rugged, self-made man and the physical manifestation of the American Dream.
From here, our discussion took a more abstract turn, as we explored the question whether or not it is a good thing for John to inherit the "hill". A resounding no followed the proposal, justified by the accompanied inheritance of the problems of his family's past/history. Another interpretation of the inquiry revealed a different type of inheritance; a sense of "manliness" and opportunity to fulfill the (African) American male experience. Depending on ones perspective on the implications of a hegemonic narrative, this bequest can either be a gift of a burden for John, who is subsequently constrained to his father's identity and furthermore, the stereotypes in which society lays out for him. Another subtle moment of double consciousness can be observed on page 198, in which it states "But a colored man…believes that this isn't the kind of world in which a colored man's plans have any kind of change of working, and so he just does, and if it works out, then it's God's will, and if not, at least he's saved himself all that planning". Not only does this quote insinuate the subservient nature of the African American culture, but it also reveals the different cultural and social definitions in which blacks are subjugated to.
Class ended promptly on a moment of insight, as we explored the qualities of the lamp light in the final pages of the chapter, which included intimacy, portability, and enlightenment.
In class yesterday, we talked about John’s history of slavery, in which John sardonically criticizes other historians for their study of the slave trade, claiming that black historians use it only to legitimize their positions, and that white historians are incapable of grasping exactly what this history brought to the Africans – death. We discussed how the hybridization of traditional African religious beliefs with Christianity altered the African relationship with death, and conflicted in some ways with the African belief of an afterlife married to the world, rather than separate from it. We talked about how many black people, recognizing white hegemonic power, attempted to assimilate to white culture, and the subsequent generations found themselves unable to fully connect with their heritage, thereby completing the amalgamation of traditional African and white cultures.
We then discussed how we see John adhering to this African tradition at Old Jack’s funeral – although the funeral itself is Christian, he dresses Jack not in his Sunday finest, but in work clothing, along with two pairs of boots – one brand new and one worn in – in case one or the other should prove more comfortable wherever Jack was going. The songs sung at the funeral, too, reflect a hybrid version of traditional African culture and Christian tradition. Although the songs are largely based on Christian values, we noted that they express death in positive language, which is consistent with the African view on death, and they rely on communal participation, an attribute of traditional African music. We noticed that although Yvette, who symbolizes assimilation to white values, is unable to rouse the funeral goers with her hymn, the Judge, the only white man there, gives perhaps the most successful performance of anyone there. In class, we attributed that to his Irish heritage and experience with racism, as well as to the message of his song, which is fundamentally a peace offering to all of the African American’s present. And once again we saw John (who gives a fairly poor speech) unable to connect to his cultural traditions, much as he is unable to use “street language”, or unravel the mystery of Moses Washington – to borrow an idea from his history of slavery, he is too consumed by the factuality of history to truly connect to or understand his heritage, too focused on going through the motions to glean any true meaning from them.