Jenny Davis Journal 2

June 23, 2010

Prompt #3

I believe the Welty story is about a white man who shoots a black man in his own garage while his back was turned. “Id already brought my rifle, I’d already taken sights. And I’d already got him, because it was too late then for him or me to turn by one hair.” (welty p2) This is the obvious conclusion. I had a hard time figuring out what was really going on in the story. The Dialect was hard for me to understand. “Trust you to come off and leave it.” (p3) The wife says this to her husband after he has come home and told her he left the gun behind. I also had a hard time figuring out whose name was whose. So I am just going to refer to the two men as the white man and the black man. I believe that the black man was a political figure and the white man was both disagreeing with something going on in the government and he was also an obvious racist.

I sympathize with all characters involved. I of course sympathize with the man who has been killed and his family because such an occurrence would be a great loss. But, I also sympathize with the white man because he seems in my opinion to be ignorant giving his racist nature. He must have grown up in a racist home and I do pity those who are living in this free world believing that anyone is inferior to them. At the same time I sympathize with the white mans wife although I don’t know much about her.

We pretty much found out what was happening in the first few pages of this story. At the very beginning of the story it was also obvious that the white man was going to do something reckless “I says, I could find right exactly where in Thermopylae that nigger is living…” This statement was on the first page in the 5^th line. So I would say this story was predictable but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

When I began to read the O’Connor story I found it was much easier for me to follow. It was more of a story than a monologue with dialogue, as the Welty story seemed to be.

The O’Connor story began with a son Julian taking his mother to an exercise class. Very early on you can recognize that Julian is not happy about having to do this, but is trying not to allow his mother to sense that. Julian is discouraged by his mother’s attitude towards black people. The story goes on, to show us how much the mother has given up for him, “her teeth had gone unfilled so that his could be straightened” (oconnor p5) She had sent him to college, and was still supporting him. He wanted to be a writer and was therefore a year out of school and making no money selling typewriters to make a little extra on top of what his mother provided for him.

Julian feels a lot of resentment towards his mother the author uses “In spite of” (p5) countless times when referring to how Julian feels he has turned out, “…in spite of growing up dominated by a small mind, he had ended up with a large one; in spite of her (his mother) foolish views, he was free of prejudice and unafraid to face facts.” (p5) Julian considers his mother to be “small minded” (p5) which I must agree with to an extent. I believe that all who have such a severe prejudice are small minded, but I sympathize with them because that is probably how they grew up. But, Julian shows that through exposing himself to other worlds he could overcome the prejudices of the home he grew up in and could be open minded.

I predicted early on that something bad was going to happen to Julian’s mother while reading how much he resented her. By the end I Julian finally stood up to his mother and told her all that was wrong with how she viewed the world. Next thing he knew she was on the ground. I am not certain if she died, but I think she probably did. She died of shock from realizing her wrongs I believe and the sadness of the realization that her son thought you low of her.

I believe the O’Connor story has an important theme of class, ignorance and educated intelligence and the contrasts between them. Julian’s mother feels that she is high class. I have concluded that her family was once very wealthy. Where the money went I am not sure. But, they did not seem to be wealthy any longer. But, his mother still felt that she was high society given her ancestors. She also believed that the blacks were low society given their ancestors. “He would have liked to get into a conversation with the Negro and talk to him about art or politics or any other subject that would be above the comprehension of those around them…” (p6) Julian obviously values intelligence higher than ancestral lineage. I conclude that he believes being ignorant and prejudice is low class.

I think that politics are important in the Welty story because the man who was killed was a black political figure and that was what seemed to enrage the white man and provoked him to kill the man. In comparison I did not see a clear reference to politics in the O’Connor story, although the social politics of class are clearly evident, as I have described above.

Sin and bad behavior is also a big player in both of these stories because of the contrast between what each character considers as a sin. “There wasn’t a thing I been able to think of since would have made it to go any nicer. Except a chair to my back while I was putting in my waiting.” (welty p2) This passage clearly shows that the white man in the Welty story shows no remorse for what he has done. I think he even believed his actions to be noble, and that he has done his country a favor. He obviously believed that the black man was the one who had sinned and deserved to die.

In comparison to the Welty story, in the O’Connor story there are also two characters that have a very clear difference of their beliefs of right and wrong, sin and misbehavior, Julian and his mother. The mother considers her son not wearing his necktie to be bad behavior and embarrassing to her; while the Julian is constantly embarrassed by his mother’s racist comments in public. Although the mother misbehaves in this way, she cares deeply for her son and has sacrificed a lot for him; therefore he did not want to hurt her by scolding her actions. He shows his mother respect, although he doesn’t necessarily feel respect for her. But, he did ask her to change the subject a few times because he was obviously feeling uncomfortable.

I believe the overall purpose of these two stories was to show the contrast between the thoughts of a prejudice person and what is really right. There are still many ignorant people in the world. And, it saddens me to think that just because someone is “different” they are treated poorly. I am of course guilty of having a prejudice at one time or another. I believe everyone is. These two stories have reminded me of that. They have reminded me that we all think differently and that none of us can rightly judge anyone else. If you are judging someone, they are probably judging you right back. So the lesson I have learned is to have a heart full of grace and love for my fellow man and try to live by the golden rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."