This theme seems to be the theme of the year...don't quote me on this, but I believe it comes up in every major work that we'll read this year (mainly because we're going to be reading about some oppressive and corrupt societies from which people feel the need to break free...). It is, as you know, a great problem of everyday life as well; what we want to do doesn't always neatly line up with our social responsibilities. For example, I feel like eating four doughnuts but I have a track meet in twenty minutes. Hmmm, what should I do? Okay, not the best example because I also risk stomach upset on a massive scale.
Let's have you come up with the example. Let's say you want to become the greatest [fill in blank of your dream job here] but society, or the powers that be, will not allow you access to this career because you are (too young, too old, too female, too male, etc). What should you do? In this case, we need to ask the question: Who is right in this situation? You or society? Are you a moral person living in an immoral society? If that's the case, what should you do? On the other hand, does society ask us to make sacrifices that are actually beneficial to us in the long run? Is there a middle ground? When living in groups of people, will we always have to make individual sacrifices in order to live together? How do we know when we've sacrificed too much (to society, a community, or a relationship)? Are there some things that should never be sacrificed? Where do we draw the line?
Getting back to our novels, do Janie and Maya do what they want to do or what others or society thinks they should do? Do they make some mistakes? Does this change throughout the course of the novel? How do Janie's three marriage illustrate this theme? When are they happiest? When are they most successful in society's eyes? Do these match up? Hmmmm, what do you conclude from all of this? What is the message, according to Hurston and Angelou? Where do you weigh in on this discussion?
This blog post will relate to “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
ReplyDeleteSocial responsibility is a recurring theme throughout Angelou’s book. This is because both Margeurite and Bailey are young African American children sent away from their parents at a very young age, and therefore are figuring out social obligations as they age. As they grow up in a highly segregated town in Arkansas, they are forced to comply to the standards of the white population. This results in difficulty from a very young age because Margeurite desires to work as a streetcar conductor, but because of her race she has to work every day for months before becoming the first African American streetcar conductor. This is an example of a moral person within an immoral society, because Margeurite is a victim of the segregation that created such a society. Eventually, a white business owner made the sacrifice of hiring Marguerite, which helps to lead to the idea of a middle ground. This does, however, signify the victims of segregation being right and society being wrong in this situation.
This blog post will relate to “The Things They Carried.”
ReplyDeleteSocial responsibility is very prevalent in O’Brien’s novel. The war draft is the epitome of social responsibility because men of all ages are involuntarily put into warfare and cannot back out in fear of what their families will think. O’Brien, in this novel, considered escaping to Canada after being drafted because his expectations to head off to Harvard for grad school would be postponed and possibly never happen. This is a middle ground because many believe that protecting your country is necessary, but others think that war is unnecessary and that drafts should not be legal. O’Brien ends up doing what society is telling him to do, and not doing what he wants to, just because he is too afraid of what his family and town would say. This is an example of society asking us to sacrifice for something beneficial, but it is uncertain whether the person’s life will also be sacrificed when heading to war. This is an individual sacrifice that is made to help the country, but because it is not voluntary, I think society should have drawn the line before the draft so that people could have chosen to serve during this war.
The idea of Individual Desire and Social Responsibility is stressed strongly throughout the novel of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Marguerite and her brother Bailey both were stuck with the question of "am I good enough?" for their whole life. The whole novel is a coming of age story of how a young, African American girl went about her life and all the struggles she had to face because of race, education or religion. Maya expressed her real desires throughout the novel, she is an independent girl with strong curiosity of the world around her. As an African American living in a segregated town, there were many social responsibilities she had to keep to and face daily. For example, when Maya's momma decided to take her to the doctor for her tooth ache, they waited patiently only to be refused and under that circumstance Momma decided to stray from to social norm and get in the Doctor's face in order to get what she wanted, however, even as a powerful woman, because of social issues she was still not given what she wanted. That situation in the novel would be considered a moral person in an immoral society because of Momma and Maya's desire to just get her tooth fixed, but even something as simple as that isn't acceptable because the doctor had to keep his social reputation. Towards the end of the novel, Maya decides to go her own way and make her own decisions. Her desire was to venture into the world of sexual relations so she did exactly that and decided on her own to see if after she would still be normal. From the middle to the end of the novel Maya went from having her Momma speak up at the dentist to experimenting what she desired to know more about on her own and defying social responsibility.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Janie very much does what she wants without thought of the repercussions she could face from society. Her thoughts and out look for society change gradually throughout the novel, in the beginning when Janie is forced to marry Logan Killicks she somewhat does what society thinks she should or rather does what Nanny thinks she should do, but when she leaves Logan for Joe Stark it is evident that she no longer will listen or care about what society thinks she should do. It's hard to determine when exactly all her marriages were happy, her first marriage never made her truly happy, in the beginning and end of her second marriage was when Janie was truly happy, in the beginning she was in love with Joe, and at the end she filled with joy because she was free from his oppression. In her third marriage in the middle she was happy, she completely trusted and loved Tea Cake. Each marriage followed the same timeline closely each marriage began by Janie defying society, then by her going along with society, then by her defying society.
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ReplyDeleteBeing an African American in post- Civil War times meant Maya had to make a choice: either she did what society expected of her or she did what she wanted to do. Although segregation was a factor, Maya did what she wanted. She was one of three African Americans in an all white school, she became the first African American streetcar operator, she did everything she wanted, therefore she fulfilled her individual desire. The definition of social responsibility is that we as people have an obligation to do what it takes to benefit society. By breaking racial standards, Maya did benefit society. She showed other African Americans that they are equal to Caucasians. Angelou shows that just because a person does something for themselves, it isn't necessarily going to harm society.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
ReplyDeleteJanie’s three different marriages do illustrate this theme. Her first marriage, Logan Killicks, was set up by her grandmother because her grandmother wanted her to live in a stable home. I guess I would say that her grandmother thinks it’s her most successful marriage even though it isn’t. Her second marriage, Joe Stark, was “true love” but only for a short time, until her husband got cocky about being mayor and no longer cared about how Janie felt. I would say that in society’s eyes, it looked like her most successful marriage. Why is it her most successful marriage? Well her second husband was a mayor and could pay for fancy things and give her what she wanted. Her third “marriage” was frowned upon because Tea Cake was younger and had Janie run away with him and it looked unsuccessful because in the time period that the book takes place, things like running away with a younger man, after two marriages was not accepted. In my opinion, I think that she couldn’t really care what society thought of her. She wanted to be happy which mattered more to her than what society thought.
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ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's life portrays an evolution of believing in social responsibility to believing in individual desire more. Her many marriages, like Sarah said, illustrate this theme. Early in the novel, Janie married Logan Killicks only to fulfill the social responsibility her grandmother told her of. Society expected women to marry when they hit a certain point in life, and so her grandmother made Janie marry Killicks. Not being happy with this marriage, Janie married Joe Starks thinking he was the love of her life. This marriage shows her change in belief from social responsibility to individual desire since running away and remarrying is not considered socially acceptable. In a way, it showed both social responsibility and individual desire because Janie was in love and fulfilling social responsibility by working at the store. Her marriage with Starks was definitely the most successful in society's eyes because of the couple's high-ranking status in society as mayor and mayor's wife. Janie's third marriage with Tea Cake was the one that made Janie the happiest. It fully showed individual desire over social responsibility. Even though Tea Cake was financially weak, Janie married him because she loved him. The message that I believe Hurston is trying to get across with Janie's marriages is that even though social responsibility exists, it is individual desire that will ultimately make you happy.
ReplyDeleteFor the majority of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie does what others think she should do. For example, Janie's first husband, Logan Killicks, always wanted her to work outside the house for him and Janie's second husband, Joe Starks, always demanded that Janie stay and work in the store. A mistake that Janie made was always following the orders that her husband gave her. At times, she tried to go against her husband's orders, but in the end, she always ended up doing what they wanted. Therefore, Janie's first two marriages show more of the theme social responsibility than individual desire. However, this changes when Janie gets married for the third time. In this marriage, Janie's third husband, Tea Cake, always wants Janie to be happy so he never forces her to do anything, instead he will suggest something and Janie willingly goes along with it. This shows more of the theme of individual desire. This is also the time when Janie is happiest. However, in society's eyes Janie is most successful when she is being told what to do. What I can conclude form this is that it is difficult to both be happy and please society. The message that Hurston is trying to convey is that in a society you can't please everyone and in some cases you have to make decisions that will benefit yourself more than others or vice versa. For me personally, I would like to say that people should be able to do what they want, but in reality, for a society to be productive sacrifices have to be made and social responsibility will rise higher than individual desire.
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ReplyDeleteThis theme is shown throughout the book of Their Eyes Were Watching God because Janie’s individual desire at the beginning of the novel is to find out what love truly is by exploring what she wants instead of rushing into a marriage. But her grandmother tells her that she should be married sooner rather than later for her grandmother’s sake. Janie does marry Logan Killicks just for her grandmother and really had no interest in him. But she does what her heart tells her to in that she runs away from her husband in favor for Joe Starks. They get married and Janie feels she’s fulfilling her grandmother’s wishes by just being a housewife and that she’ll not be forced to work like her first husband made her. Janie thinks that she loves Joe for this but in reality, things change, and Joe Starks makes Janie work in the store, which she doesn’t want to do but society thinks she should do whatever her husband tells her. She follows through with what society wants her to do and works in the store. After Joe Starks died, Janie met Tea Cake and he promises that he will work for her and she wouldn’t have to work, but Janie finds out what love truly is and decides to work alongside him. This theme shows in the book that Janie was only doing things in her life to make society happy with her marriage to Joe and Logan but after she falls in love she realizes that it doesn’t matter what society wants of her as long as she’s happy. The individual desire to just find true love overrides any social responsibility that Janie has to do because love is all that she really wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas of individual desire and social responsibility are shown throughout the book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Maya is faced to decide whether she is going to do what she wants with her life or if she is going to do what society believes African American women should do. Segregation is a major component of society. With all of the pressure with sexism and racism Maya still decides to do what she wants. She has to work really hard to get to where she wants to be. She wants to be a streetcar conductor but will have to extra hard due to being an African American. After a while she is then hired into store with a white owner. At this point society begins to realize that even though people are both black and white they are all still people and need to be treated with equality and should have the same rights. African Americans can be just as good employees as whites even with the different color skin.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of Why The Caged Bird Sings at first Maya does whatever society thinks she should do and near the end of the novel she does what she wants to do. Maya wants to become a conductor and society won’t allow her to become one because she is an African American. At the end of the novel Maya doesn’t care what society thinks of her and she care more about individual desire. In society you should never have make too many sacrifices for to live together. In the end of the book Maya eventually became the first conductor of a street cart in San Francisco so she chose Individual desire.
ReplyDeleteThroughout "I Know Why A Caged Bird Sings" Maya has to deal with the choice between individual desires and society's expectations throughout her life. As a child she was expected to dislike all literature works of white men and absolutely love works of a colored man. For example, Maya absolutely adored works by William Shakespeare so her and Bailey planned on memorizing and acting out a scene of one of Shakespeare's play, to only not follow through with the idea because it would upset their Momma. Maya even went to school where there was only three other blacks besides herself because her desire of knowledge. As Maya grew into her own it is found that she more and more chose individual desire over society's expectations.
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ReplyDeleteThroughtout the book Maya battles between doing what society wants and doing what she wants. In the beginninng of the book Maya wants to blend into society. She wants to fit with her peers in Stamps. Throughtout the rest of her years in Stamps Maya begins to toy with individual desire. She wants to do what she wants to do not what is expected of her. She is becoming her own person. By the end of the book, Maya has learned that what she wants she will have to fight for. She become the first African American to work at the street car. She learns that her choices are hers and that they are what matters the most.
In " I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings", Maya constantly combats with her wants and what society wants for her. In the beginning of the book, Maya strives to become apart of what society expects from her. She wants to fit in at Stamps and be seen as a "normal" person of society. I think its very hard for a person to turn against society. Especially in her case as a black southern women. Racism, segregation, and the traditional roles as a women have a big impact on what society expects of her. However, as the years go on, Maya starts to experiments with her own personal wants. Eventually, she becomes the first African American to work at the street car. This is because she put her own wants above what society expected of her. Society didn't stop her from fulfilling her desires. She showed that the individual person can rise up and do what they want, despite societies intentions.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie started off putting what was expected of her in society before what she truly wanted to do. Her first marriage with Logan Killicks was an example of doing what was expected of her by society. Her grandmother believes that he will provide a stable life for her, with a nice house and a good job, and that she will eventually learn to love him. Janie listens to her grandmother, and marries Logan. She was not happy with this marriage and decided to run away and marry Jody Starks, thinking that he was the love of her life. She is realizing that what society expects from her is not what will make her happy. She marries Starks because she loves him. This marriage shows both social responsibility and individual desire because her husband is a rather wealthy mayor, and she also loves him. Over time, Starks loses interest in Janie and is more focused on being mayor of his town. She works in his store as society would expect her to until Jody dies. A while later Janie meets a man named Tea Cake and she finally sees what true love is. Although he promises he would work for her, like it was expected, she decides to spend more time with him and work with him. This shows that she is doing what she truly wanted to do, and she didn't let society's expectations get in the way of that. She was finally happy and in love, which was all she had ever wanted.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God it's evident that Janie does what she wants with thinking of the consequences of her actions. In the beginning she is forced to marry Logan and she goes through with it. By agreeing to the forced marriage it shows that Janie listens to what society believes she should do in some way. Janie eventually leaves Logan for Joe Starks and by doing this she shows that she is done listening to what society has to say about what she should do. Janie starts off as a very happy woman with Joe but is joyful when she is free from his constant desire to have control over her. She final finds love and happiness when she marries Tea Cake who let's her be her own individual person.
ReplyDeleteIn I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings it is very obvious that Maya and her grandmother have to do things that society thinks is right, instead of what they think is right. This is of course because they are in a town where racism is as common as breathing. It would be wonderful for someone to stand out against the cruelty and unfair treatment of African Americans, but the risks for the loved ones they hold dearly is terrifying. So instead of actually making a difference, pride is withheld and Maya and her grandmother are forced to bite their tongues.
ReplyDeleteIn “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, individual desire vs. social responsibility plays a big role. Of course, the best example would be when Maya wants to be the first African American streetcar driver. However, we can’t forget to include the conflicting ideas that Maya was influenced by. When Maya lived in Stamps, she was heavily influenced by Momma to do her “social responsibility”, and forget her desires for the good of the whole, not the individual. However, as Maya grew older, Maya met her mother, who was the complete opposite of that idea. Maya’s biological mother, Vivian Baxter, was a large advocate for one’s individual desire. As illustrated in the novel, “Mother’s beauty made her powerful and her power made her unflinchingly honest…She wouldn’t bust suds for anybody nor be anyone’s kitchen bitch. The good Lord gave her a mind and she intended to use it to support her mother and her children.” Vivian’s bull-headedness, determination, and kind words rubbed off on Maya, causing her to shift from a predominantly socially-responsible personality to a more individualistic-desired approach to life. Maya learned to stand up for what she believed in, which caused her to get her job as the first black streetcar driver.
ReplyDeleteThere are pros and cons to both an individualistic desire and being socially responsible. Being too much of one side can result in being branded egocentric for an individualistic approach versus a people-pleaser for being too socially responsible. With most things, a healthy balance of both is what is ideal.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel Maya follows the segregated society. During the novel Maya realizes that the rules of this society is completely wrong against her rights but she lets them control her anyway. Even when she tried to see a dentist she was denied access for being african american. Maya learned to be her own person and not to let society shape who she was. During the end of the novel she broke through the status quo and was the first african american to be a conductor in San Francisco.
In the novel "I know why the Caged Bird Sings", Maya and her grandmother did many things that society said was right. People in the town of stamps never stood up to racism, but they could not do that because of the fear of death of their loved ones or even themselves. Closer the middle of the book, Maya started to realize the wrong in the society she lived in. At the end of the novel Maya finally was able to get out of the town and start her life.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Janie did what society expected and was unhappy so she did what she wanted and in the end she was finally happy. Janie makes many mistakes as we all do. As life goes on Janie starts doing more things that she wants instead of doing what society expects. Janie's three marriages show that she did what society expected but was unhappy and did what she wanted. Janie was happiest with Tea Cake but most successful with Joe which shows that society is not always right. The message is that you shouldn't always follow society. I agree that what society wants is usually not what i want.
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ReplyDeleteMaya is affected by societal pressure throughout the entire story and acknowledges it to the reader. One scene where this is directly brought to the attention of the reader is at Maya’s graduation from grammar school. During her graduation Mr. Donleavy gives a speech which explains how the white high school in the area would be receiving chemistry equipment while Maya’s school would be receiving a paved play field. This just showed that all the African Americans could be good at in the eyes of the white people was being athletes. Maya directly addresses her feelings on this to the reader, saying, “It was awful to be a Negro and have no control of my life.” This quote greatly sums up much of the discrimination that Maya has to face throughout the book.
In "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", Maya and her family were considered wrong in what they did by society at the time. It was considered backwards for a black person to own land. It was crazy to think that a woman would earn a living. Combine the two of these and they were bound to be thought of as insane. It was also considered crazy that any African American would be considered equal to any white person. It is similar to just a few years ago when it was considered a sin for a man and man or woman and woman to be in a relationship or to get married. For both, it was realized that that type of thinking was wrong so society changed. Society is always changing and always has something wrong with it. It is important to believe in what you think is right and not do something because society says it is right. Be who you are and do what you want to do.
ReplyDeleteIn "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Maya is pressured by society the whole book. But she doesnt listen to them and with the help of faith she pushes for what she belives in and doesnt cave into the pressure of society.
ReplyDeleteIn "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Maya's grandmother would mostly deal with her social responsibilities. With being an African American they were suppose to follow a certain role in society and they did. They kept out of the way of white folks, did the dirty work, and didn't ask for much. Maya at one point in the book realized that how society treated them was wrong.
ReplyDeleteAt one point in the novel "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings", Maya's grandmother is being verbally abused by a group of "powhitetrash." While the abuse is taking place, Maya feels the personal desire to attack the group of girls back, but is afraid of the repercussions of her desire, and decides to wait for the attack to end. I believe this is how Maya deals with the dilemma of personal desire versus social responsibility until later in the book when she realizes that even though African Americans are expected to behave a certain way, some things just need to be done.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of individual desire vs. social responsibility is definitely stressed throughout "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings." Different characters believe different things. Momma focuses on social responsibility and this is part of the reason for her kindness and self-discipline. She doesn't indulge herself and gives respect to everyone. She lent money during the Great Depression, she gave respect to the "powhitetrash" girls who blatantly disrespected her. Marguerite definitely is influenced by Momma and her strict Christianity, but she is also met with influence from the people in her life who are geared towards individual desire, like her mother, her father, and even Bailey. Marguerite lies somewhere in the middle of the debate. She defies the rule of social responsibility by stealing candy as a child, and later on, leaving her father during her vacation with him, but she also defies individual desire by being against lying, trying to counsel Dolores after Dolores and Marguerite's father had a fight, and regretting getting Mr. Freeman in trouble after he is killed for what he did to her. Being in the middle is probably the best way to be, to avoid alienating other people and being egotistical and self-centered.
ReplyDeleteIn O`Briens, "The Things They Carried", I thought that Tim`s individual desire was different from the social responsibility. O`Brien knew his social responsibility was to go to war when he was told but instead he fled North and met a guy named Elroy who helped him at the Tip Top Lodge. Elroy even set out on a boat to take him fishing and gave him the chance to flee to Canada but Tim made the good choice and went back south. Many people can't distinguish between individual and social desire because they don't know who makes the standards. Its more of a moral point, in which O`Brien thought it was morally wrong to flee from the war.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Janie in the beginning of the novel she does what the society thinks she should do. Like her Nanny telling that she has to marry Logan. Janie thinks that love will come eventually after marriage but a year later there was still no love there. This changes throughout the novel when she leaves Logan for Joe. Everyone makes mistakes but we learn from them as its shown in the novel. Most successful marriage was the second marriage because he could provide for her and she loved him at first. She was never really happy during her marriages except the beginning of the first marriage with Joe, also when she knew she could trust Tea Cake. But the message that Hurston was giving in this novel was to follow what you want and not the what the society wants because you know yourself the best.
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