TOW#3 - Visual Text: West Berlin policemen and East German soldiers face each other after a young girl made it across the border, 1955

Following World War II, Germany is in ruins and divided amongst the Allies. The English, Americans, and French controlling sectors in the West, and the Soviet Union controlling the east side of Berlin, the same was for the rest of Germany. Before and after the wall was constructed in 1961, West Berlin became a sanctuary for those who had escaped the East. In this photograph, taken 6 years prior to the wall’s construction, a young girl has successfully escaped from East Germany. Police officers from the East and the West stand on their respective sides in a standoff, guns drawn. The line down the middle, dividing two nations, and juxtaposing two ways of life. A communist East and a capitalist West. The audience of this photograph is those of West Germany, as well as the rest of the western world. It shows the threat of communism, and the dangers of escaping it.

This photograph is a symbol of the struggles Germans experienced during the Cold War, especially those of East and West Berlin and those who successfully escaped. This photograph evokes Pathos by capturing not only the particular moment, but also the emotions felt. Feelings of tension between the police forces of East and West, as well as feelings of relief and satisfaction as the girl has made it to safety. These feelings are not limited to this particular event, but all of the successful escapes from East to West Berlin.

TOW#2 - Nonfiction Text - Bop by Langston Hughes - 1949

Langston Hughes discusses the cultural significance of Bop music. The essay is written in a narrative format, and focuses on two main characters, Simple, and the author. Hughes’ audience is those whoIt begins as the Hughes is stopped by his friend Simple and is told to listen to the Bop music. At first, Hughes does not understand the significance of the seemingly non-sense lyrics. His friend, Simple, states that Be-Bop is colored folks’ music, “Be-Bop music was certainly colored folks’ music - which is why white folks found it so hard to imitate,” (Hughes 190-191). Simple goes onto say that Be-Bop comes “From the police beating Negroes’ heads… Every time a cop hits a Negro with his billy club, that old club says, ‘BOP! BOP! … BE-BOP! … MOP! … BOP!” Hughes uses diction in his interesting word choice, to parallel the style of Be-Bop music and the cultural origins of the particular style of music. After Simple explains the origins of the style, he then applies it to his own life, “In some parts of this American country as soon as the polices see me, they say, ‘Boy, what are you doing in this neighborhood?’ … And if my answers do not satisfy them, BOP! MOP! … BE-BOP! … MOP!” (Hughes 191).  His use of an anecdote, his explanation of the origins of Be-Bop music,  and the diction Simple used in his explanation, is to convey the idea that Be-Bop music embodies the struggles of African-Americans in America.

IRB Intro Post #1 - "Children of the Flames" by Lucette Malton Lagnado & Sheila Cohn Dekel

For marking period one I have chosen to read The Children of the Flames by Lucette Malton Lagnado & Sheila Cohn Dekel. The book follows the story of twins who survive Auschwitz and their lives following the war. I have always had an interest in history, especially World War 2, and I wanted to read more on the subject.

TOW#1 - Nonfiction text: “The Figure a Poem Makes” by Robert Frost - 1939

In Robert Frost’s Essay “The Figure a Poem Makes”, he discusses his view of how a poem should be perceived and read. That is that all poems should be distinct and have variety from one another, “The object in writing poetry is to make all poems sound as different as possible from each other…” (Frost).  Frost also states that poems exist not only to entertain readers but give wisdom to the reader as well, “begin in delight and end in wisdom” (Frost).  Frost’s purpose is that to educate the reader about the perspective a poem should be viewed by, the idea that poems are eternal and that a poem “will forever keep its freshness” and that “it can never lose its sense of a meaning that once unfolded by surprise as it went” (Frost).  

Frost’s audience are those scholars who differ from artists (poets) “in the way their knowledge is come by” (Frost). Frost achieves his purpose in conveying his message by connecting this abstract idea of poetic variety through connecting it to different experiences the reader may have, such as love, “It begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The figure is the same as for love. No one can really hold that the ecstasy should be static and stand still in one place. It begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down … It finds its own name as it goes and discovers the best waiting for it in some final phrase at once wise and sad -- the happy-sad blend of the drinking song” (Frost). Through this connection Frost achieves his purpose in conveying to his audience, that each poem is unique and eternal in its truth and wisdom, and should be perceived as such.

Coatesville by John Jay Chapman - 1912

Written as a response and an address to the burning of a black man. This was meant to address, not only the people of Coatesville, but the people of America as well. Chapman's purpose in writing this address is to criticize the people of Coatesville as well as the people of America for standing by and doing nothing in response to the public burning of a person. His purpose is also to inform the people of America that "A nation cannot practice a course of inhuman crime for three hundred years and then suddenly throw off the effects of it. Less than fifty years ago domestic slavery was abolished among us; and in one way or another the marks of that vice are in our faces," (Chapman). Chapman uses this quote to describe how humans accept change gradually rather than abruptly. The abolishment of slavery was an abrupt change that took years to be accepted into society. Just as today we still face issues with people's acceptance towards change in regards to the legalization of gay marriage which is still heavily opposed in society. Being treated unfairly in either situation, whether it be a burning, or the denial of a marriage license.