TOW #7: Let Them Eat Crack by Banksy

The unknown British street artist who goes by the pseudonym Banksy has created myriads of subversive graffiti that contains his commentary on the political and social concerns of the world. In an attempt to expose the crude reality of the corruption and injustice that is internationally prevalent, Banksy has displayed his street art in publicly visible surfaces, including the 2008 “Let Them Eat Crack” graffiti featured on a building in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Many of his works are exhibited in largely populated areas in order to bring light to the issues towards an audience that may know about the dilemmas but chooses to turn a blind eye. His explicit depiction and openness towards the difficulties speaks volumes about his morale and values.

            This graffito depicts a rat clothed in a stereotypical Wall Street businessmen attire, paws red with what seems like blood. The rat turns back to observe what he wrote, which reads in the same red liquid, “LET THEM EAT CRACK.” This phrase is a play-off of the quote Marie Antoinette is best known for, “Let them eat cake.” The background behind Antoinette’s saying represents the ignorance of the upper class on the hardships and poverty that peasants face when Marie demanded the peasants to eat brioche, “cake,” when she learned that they had no bread to eat. By creating a parody of her quote on his street art, Banksy was able to effectively deliver the corruption and amoral attitude of Wall Street and their constant hunger for money and power.

            The controversies that relate back to Banksy’s street work grasped my attention, encouraging my desire to analyze his graffiti. Many of his drawings invoke public outrage, but I believe that this piece was widely accepted by many in the public as the majority of the American population are under the 1% regarding financial stability. 

TOW #6: Bop by Langston Hughes

            Well known for his African American themes that are highly prevalent in his works, Langston Hughes is an American poet, novelist, and playwright that has made significant contributions to the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. One of his early pieces, Bop, is a dialectic exchange between two characters who discuss the emotional and cultural significance of bop music. This short essay delves deep into the racial contrast on how the traditionally African-American music is delivered depending on the singer’s skin tone. This is due to the difference in experiences that blacks and whites have encountered based on the prejudice behind their races. The crucial argument that Simple, the narrator’s teacher, makes is that be-bop traces back to the abuse and discrimination that African Americans had faced and therefore is more than just nonsense syllables.

Mentions Dizzy Gillespie, a famous jazz trumpeter

            Hughes’ intention to highlight the racial issues in the American culture is successfully delivered to the public who is predominantly unaware of the struggles behind black discrimination through the direct conversation between the two characters, Simple and the narrator. When the narrator deplores Simple for his taste in “nonsense music,” Simple explains that white folks do not understand how to successfully perform be-bop due to their inexperience of the struggles that black people endeavored. Simple continues to state that “White folks do not get their heads beat just for being white. But me—a cop is liable to grab me almost any time and beat my head—just for being colored" (Hughes, 191). This portion is major in his rationale for the difference in the meaning of be-bop between colored people and white people. The contrast in treatment based on race reinforces the notion that white people are unable to fully comprehend bop music because they haven’t experienced the same hardship as African Americans.

            The author sheds light onto the injustice the blacks faced through the perspective of Simple to build credibility without having the audience question the character’s connection to the African-American identity. In a time period where blacks were deemed inferior in comparison to whites, Hughes’ revolutionary essay greatly influenced the perception of minorities in the Harlem Renaissance. 

TOW #5: The Figure a Poem Makes by Robert Frost

                        Written in 1939, The Figure a Poem Makes exemplifies Robert Frost’s reveals of his own perceptions on the aspects a poem should encompass and how those qualities should be viewed by the readers. Backed up by his acknowledged background as a renowned poet in his time, Frost is able to convey many of his opinions: a poem should differentiate itself in the midst of other works, invoke not only entertainment but wisdom that the readers can benefit from, and deliver the parallelism between the writer’s emotions upon writing the poem and the reader’s emotions upon reading it. By methodically listing out his criteria with the use of aphorism, Frost is successful in the delivery of his purpose to his fellow authors.

Frost’s ambitions to educate the audience through his own philosophy is embedded throughout his writing through his uses of aphorism. Utilizing his didactic tone in his belief of the parallel relationship of the reader and the writer, Frost states, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader” (Frost, 177). His short, terse assertion in this aphorism indicates the sheer emphasis of the author’s responsibility to feel the emotion of his writing before expecting the same from his audience. This intimate connection between the one writing and the one reading signifies the importance of the process of understanding what the author is trying to convey. Frost’s decision to use aphorism to deliver his ideas further supports his argument by providing the audience with accepted truths.

All in all, Frost’s educational literary piece on the attributes of a poem is portrayed seamlessly through his use of aphorism and his acclaim in the 1930’s. Frost’s ideas of what a poem should embody as a major poet himself is an indication of his influence on the literature to this day. 

TOW #4: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

            While reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, I have experienced an existential crisis, the realization of humanity’s neglect of the environment, and an urge to go out and just do something to prevent the slow deterioration of nature, all in the first half of her book. Once a marine scientist who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington DC, the deceased ecologist is recognized as the revolutionist who initiated the contemporary environmental movement. Rachel Carson utilizes powerful diction with negative connotation to conjure up an appeal to the audience’s pathos. She always follows up her bold claims with scientific proof coming from credible resources to confirm herself as a plausible writer.

            Devoted to exposing environmental degradation, Carson focuses on an environmental problem and then builds the intensity of man’s impact on that specific detail. On a chapter dedicated to the strange disappearance of birds and their songs, she writes, “This sudden silencing of the song of birds, this obliteration of the color and beauty and interest they lend to our world have come about swiftly, insidiously, and unnoticed by those whose communities are as yet unaffected” (Carson 103). Using “obliteration” exemplifies the amplification of its negative connotation to invoke a stronger emotion towards the loss of “color and beauty and interest.” This conjoining of two unlike things accentuates the contrast between humanity’s eradication of the environment and nature’s endeavor to survive through the adversities.

10 out of 10 would recommend.

Continuing on, Carson supports her claim by citing a credible source which states, “…in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama the Field Notes published quarterly by the Nation Audubon Society and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service noted the striking phenomenon of ‘blank spots weirdly empty of virtually all bird life” (Carson 104). She does not stop there as she proves the credibility of her source, saying, “The Field Notes are a compilation of the reports of seasoned observers who have spent many years afield in their particular areas and have unparalleled knowledge of the normal bird life of the region” (Carson 104). Carson does this to extinguish any doubts or suspicion of the reliability of her words and to further establish her position as an author as well as a marine scientist.

Although I am only half-way finished, I cannot wait to continue reading. The information on the decay of the habitat the humans occupy is jam-packed into a single binding that is acknowledged all over the world. I will definitely return to complete my full-book review on Silent Spring by the one-and-only Rachel Carson.

The Flower Carrier by Diego Rivera

            Dating back to the mid-1930s, Diego Rivera created an oil and tempera piece that pictures a tan woman standing behind an equally dark man, supporting a large basket filled with beautiful flower upon his back. This vibrant masterpiece, The Flower Carrier, was painted during the time period of mass unemployment in America, around the same time when Rivera was painting several murals in the United States.

The Flower Carrier

I analyzed this visual with the idea that the woman and the man represents the working class of Mexico in the States, inferring from the traditional attire and because Rivera is also of Hispanic descent. The contrasting colors of the subjects behind the rather dull background creates an emphasis on the individualism of the pictured figures. This generates a value to each of the workers that are struggling to carry the flower basket as well as their burden to please the capitalistic world.

What I thought was very ironic was the strikingly beautiful flowers that is crushing the man down to all fours. The man is not carrying normal cash crops such as corn, but flowers. This might be alluding to the ornamental center piece that adorns the homes of the wealthy. Therefore, it suggests that Rivera’s purpose of painting this piece is to shine light onto the debilitating endeavor of the working class to maintain the opulent lifestyle of the upper class.

TOW #2: Corn-Pone Opinions by Mark Twain

In Mark Twain’s “Corn-pone Opinions,” the main concept encompasses and depicts society’s inherent aptitude for conformity. Widely recognized as “the Father of Literature,” Twain delves deeper into the human tendency to blend according to their peers and environment. Through his writing, he attempts to make the unconscionable behaviors of compliance known to his audience worldwide.

            When Twain was a boy of fifteen, he lived in a time period of slavery and inequality. Black slaves were to do as told despite the severity or the questionable logistics of the task. Although it was apparent that the ideology of white superiority was morally wrong, no person went against the norms of the “corn-pone opinion.” When Twain describes his friend as “a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black man” but goes on to pause and reveal the underlying disadvantage: “a slave” (Twain, 1). His mentioning of his friend’s race in the description of what makes him who he is, it reflects the societal norms of racial discrimination. Although the black man was the complete opposite in regards to race as young Twain, he was of great admiration to the developing child. Twain’s ability to shun the accepted values of his surrounding white neighbors displays his awareness of right from wrong.

To Twain, his friend was “a wonder. I believed he was the greatest orator in the United States and would some day be heard from. But it did not happen; in the distribution of rewards he was overlooked.” (Twain, 1). For him, his black friend was just as equal and deserving of renown as those of the accepted race, but because of the norms of the south back then, Twain was unable to understand the reasoning behind the societal belief that blacks should go unnoticed. It was within the nature of society during his time that the intelligence and talent of black slaves were overlooked. This goes on to suggest that this repeated practice of indifference continued as no one had the courage nor the need to go against the public opinion. Twain goes on to state that he does not agree with the widely accepted view that blacks are inferior than whites, but ends the anecdote with resignation to his efforts as “that is the way, in this world” (Twain 00).

Just in case you didn't know, this is a corn-pone bread

Contrary to the “corn-pone opinions” of his neighbors, Twain believed that the world was in need of racial equality. His personal anecdotes and the insight into the most private part of his mind further strengthens his argument as a writer.  Despite that this essay was written over one hundred years ago, the meaning behind his writing is still applicable to this day. 

TOW#1: How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston

                Written during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” portrays the self-discovery and confidence of the author, Zora Neale Hurston, despite her racial identity in a predominantly white community. Acknowledged as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth-century African American literature, Hurston recounts the first realization of the connotation behind the pigmentation of her skin. After moving away from her Negro hometown in Eatonville, Florida to Jacksonville, she instantly becomes aware of her “colored-ness” as she begins to distinguish the differences between her and her white peers. She mentions how she “was not Zora of Orange Country anymore” but “a little colored girl” (Hurston, 115). However, Hurston remained determined all throughout her life to not to let her dissimilarity prevent her from staying true to who she really is.

                In the conclusion of her essay, Hurston illustrates an extended metaphor, drawing connections as she compares herself with a brown bag filled with a random assortment of junk. She continues to develop the metaphor across a greater scope as she describes other people the same way. She goes on to indicate that if the contents of the bags were to be emptied and refilled, there wouldn’t be a significant change that would alter the bag entirely. Hurston reminds the readers that “a bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place – who knows?” (Hurston, 117). The “Great Stuffer of Bags,” as Hurston described, represents God the Creator who may have purposely created the human race this way since the beginning. The purpose of her analogy as well as her entire essay is to remind the audience that we must rid ourselves of prejudice and look beyond another’s race because at the end of the day, none of that matters. The contents of the brown bag symbolize the same human character that everyone shares despite the physical differences that may ostracize them.

                I believe that Hurston’s attempt to familiarize each other’s similarities that may have been previously overlooked was successful. Raising awareness of the logic behind social equality with the use of her analogies was easier to register and instill the lesson within ourselves. Despite releasing this essay in a time period of racial hatred and discrimination, I am sure that her way with words was widely accepted by the public as she was able to deliver her influential message to anyone and everyone.

Zora Neale Hurston
https://www.plainfieldlibrary.info/pdf/Pathfinders/HarlemRenaissance.pdf