*How is the road in the first paragraph used as a metaphor?
*What is the rhetorical purpose of the Founder's stance?
*How are diction and syntax used in the description of the trustees' arrival at Founder's Day?
*How are allusions used in the initial description of Mr. Norton?
*How is repetition used in the chapter?
*What makes the sleeping farmer "the kind of white man [that the narrator fears]"?
*How is juxtaposition used in the conversation that the narrator and Mr. Norton have with Jim Trueblood?
*What is the tone that Trueblood uses to tell his story? What do you make of this?
*Why do you think Trueblood receives more charity from the white community than from his own?
*Why do you think Mr. Norton gives Trueblood $100?
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26 comments:
I found the tone of Trueblood when telling his story to be innocent.I laughed at his tone actually because his story sounded rehearsed and like he told it one to many times. Trueblood mad it sound as if he was in no wrong and it was purely an accident of what happened. I thought that it was weird how the narrator sounded guilty when telling Bledsoe what happened and he was innocent.However Trueblood seemed like he was better at lying which Bledsoe thought every black man should no how to do but the narrator couldn't when talking with Mr. Norton.
The road in the first paragraph is used as a metaphor in my opinion by explaining the narrator's life journey. How when he started off in college the road was beautiful and his future was bright. Then as the road lingers on it slowly becomes dark, where the narrator loses focus and doesn't really know which way to go. Then finally the road ends at the insane asylum. The narrator has lost himself and becomes invisible.
I agree with Abby about Trueblood. He had told his scadalous story so many times that it became exaggerated and fake. When Mr. Norton was first introduced in the story, I knew he would be a strong influence in the narrator's life. However, I was very curious as to why Mr. Norton even wanted to talk to Trueblood in the first place. He was a shame to the black society and the narrator was more than hesitant to allow Norton to meet this disturbing man. So why would the narrator give in when he knew that his position as a college student was on the line?
I agree with abby and megan about Trueblood. His story sounded very rehearsed so that it made him sound completely innocent even though what he did was wrong and digusting! I think the white community takes more pity on Trueblood than his own community because he gives the black community a bad name. The fact that Mr. Norton wanted to make major changes in the black community was one of the reasons he wanted to talk to Trueblood after hearing his story. Mr. Norton also says the students decide his fate.
I agree with Megan, Abby and Erica. Trueblood tells the story with an innocent tone, acting as if what he did was not wrong. He makes the listener feel sorry for himself when he tells about his family not speaking to him anymore. The actions he made toward his daughter during his dream were not okay. When Trueblood tells his story to Mr. Norton, however, he makes it seem that doing what he did to his daughter was acceptable. His family does not believe him and therefore will not speak to him anymore.
I think that Jim Trueblood was treated better by the white community than the black community after his act of incest as it gave them an opportunity to claim that blacks were inferior to whites. The black community, however, shunned Trueblood as it made them look bad. Many of the people at the college wished to become the next Booker T. Washington as the narrator did and help blacks become equal to whites but they believed Trueblood's act only hindered their efforts. The blacks also looked down on Trueblood as he
was only a poor sharecropper and they felt he was inferior even to them.
I agree with Gabby on why Trueblood received charity from the whites. The black community recognizes what he did as sick and wrong. They ostracized him because it made the entire black community look like mongrels to the whites. The whites looked upon Trueblood as some dumb lower being, that was uncontrollable over his actions, like an animal. The whites only help him to show how much superior they are over him, as if he is helpless with out them.
The sleeping farmer is the kind of white to be feared because of his deep hatred for blacks. Many poor white southern farmers where still bitter over the end of slavery, even into the 1930's, and believer blacks had a certain place. Poor white farmers were only a class above blacks, which made their hatred even worse. This type of poor white was very uneducated at this point in history, so the racism taught in families was never expunged by interaction or experiences. This type of poor white would also be the type to harm a black person for simply being black.
Truebloods story seemed fearful. It didn't seem as thought he feared judgement from men, but from God instead. There was a slight similarity between his story and a child explaining his misdeed to his parents.
Also i thought the comment above mine left by Ashly was very well insightful.
I didn't believe Trueblood's story at all. I'm thinking that he is trying to act innocent so that other people, including his family, would feel sympathy for him. I was still suprised that Mr. Norton gave him $100 when he had already known that Trueblood has been recieving suffient work to support his family. I belive that Trueblood's family has a right to shun him as he is only proving to the whites that their assumptions over the blacks are true.
i dont believe Truebloods story. I agree that his story sounded rehersed and that it sounds fake. Its also weird how Trueblood felt that what he did was not wrong, just a mistake. He also wants pity from the people because his family does not believe him and he wants to be believed and apart of the community.
I totally agree with what beth said. I must agree that his "story" of what happened was rehearsed and just a way to get sympathy. The thing about trueblood that actually bothers me even more than what happened with his daughter is that he doesn't even think he did anything wrong. I think it is very interesting that the multimillionaire Mr. Norton even cares about someone who dislikes his school. In many people money corrupts so i thought it was really neat how much he cared about the school he helped make.
As I read through this, and read how Mr. Norton was asking the narrator to contact him later in life, it left me having a idea that this was like history in a way. It seemed that as Mr. Norton was saying that his fate rested in the students at the college. This seemed like a slavery time plantation idea where Mr. Norton of the College is depending on the work of the students (such as the narrator) and I couldn't help but notice this.
I think that it is interesting how Mr. Norton wanted to know what the narrator ends up doing later in life. Mr. Norton wants to know what the students become, to know if his money, hopes, and time that he invested into the college were worth it. In a way, he seems to live through the students' futures. As in, if the students do well, and become important people, then it is as if he, himself, has done well, and is an important person. Mr. Norton seems very concerened with "fate." It is interesting how he bases his "fate" off of one student, (the narrator) as well as all of the students that do attend, or have ever attended the college.
I agree that Trueblood's story seems fake and rehearsed. I think that he knows that he did something wrong, but is just lying in his story to make himself not feel guilty, and not sound guilty. He may even believe that he did nothing wrong because he has told that story so many times, even though what he did was very wrong and horrible. I agree with Gabby that the whites treated Trueblood better than the blacks treated Trueblood because then they have a reason to claim that blacks are inferior to whites. I still do not understand why Mr. Norton so badly wants to hear Trueblood's story. I think that there is a reason behind why he wants to hear the story so badly. Maybe Mr. Norton committed an act of incest, just as Trueblood has, and by listening to his story, it makes Mr. Norton feel less guilty about his own crime.
I wonder why Mr. Norton gave Trueblood a hundred-dollar bill. Trueblood does not deserve any money after what he did to his daughter. I know that Mr. Norton gave him the money to "buy toys for the children," but Trueblood did not deserve it! Like I said in my previous comment, I think that Mr. Norton has some reason for being interested in Trueblood. Now Mr. Norton is even being nice and generous to him by giving him money. Something is strange about that situation, and I really wonder what the underlying story is.
I agree with what Cynthia said about Trueblood being guilty, but I have no idea why both his daughter and his wife were really angry with him yet neither of them left. Right after I read that all I could think about was why they didn't leave him. I thought that whole part was insanely disturbing and I don't understand why Mr. Norton would give Trueblood money. Also is Trueblood's name of any significance?
I am honestly weirded out by the fact that Trueblood was like 'i was sleeping and woke up having sex with my daughter'.
how does that happen exactly. and why are people giving him money? i wouldnt. i agree with everyone when i say it was rehearsed and sounded like he wa searching for sympathy.
I think Trueblood receives more charity from the white community then from his own because the people in his own community are trying to become more accepted by the whites. The people in the black community with higher education want to be separated from the ones with hardly any. They disown them to show that they want nothing more to do with them and want to fit in with the white community. They want to conform into it so they can get better jobs and be treated a little more equally.
I too dont believe Truebloods story. Everyone seems to think that he had it well and reharsed and repeated it a lot of times. He wanted to justify what he did by making up a story that he thought could swindle all he told it to. I think Mr Norton gives Trueblood the money is so he will let Trueblood try and find out about himself and maybe try and straighten him up.
I never thought anything about Trueblood's name until Monica mentioned it. Maybe it is just ironic that is name is the opposite of his situation. This book is packed with irony so i wouldn't be suprised if it had another meaning. But there is no way of us really knowing for sure unless its a direct comment from the author.
Trueblood is getting money from the white community that is involved with the school. I think the reason they are supposting him while the nearby black communnity is shunning hin is that the people at the college want to keep his stor quiet. They are worried about the school's image.
I have to say that I love this book for presenting the complexities of racism. When the narrator and Mr. Norton are at the Trueblood cabin the narrator says that he and the rest of the blacks at the college look down upon the "black-belt people, the peasants" for "pulling" the educated students down. The black students are resentful at the poor blacks for continuing to give the white people examples of how "bad" the blacks are. That is why the black community does not aid the family. It is ironic in the fact that the white community has given the family more aid than the black community for the purpose of having somebody to showcase why the blacks are so "bad."
In an earlier post I expressed my "difficulty" in understanding the first chapter. I have to say that this chapter is much better. The use of dialect that an uneducated southern person would exercise during the time period is spot-on in this chapter. Mr. Trueblood's language is true to the context of the setting and makes the chapter easier to understand than the first. However, after about ten pages of dream sequences it was difficult to get through Trueblood's story without wanting to believe that some of it was real just to know that one wasn't wasting one's time on a dream sequence.
Mr. Norton gives Trueblood 100 dollars for pity. I believe the tone in which Trueblood told his story makes Mr. Norton look down upon him and therefore he feels sorry for him. Trueblood turns the story around making it seem like and innocent act when it was not, and Mr. Norton buys Trueblood's version. He also may give the money to him to help the women in the family. If Trueblood treats them right and buys them the things they want and need, the women might forgive him.
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