***SULA***

"A shucking, knee-slapping, wet-eyed laughter that could even describe and explain how they came to be where they were. A joke. A nigger joke. That was the way it got started. Not the town, of course, but that part of town where the Negroes lived, the part they called the Bottom in spite of the fact that it was up in the hills. Just a nigger joke. The kind white folks tell when the mill closes down and they're looking for a little comfort somewhere." (p.4)

I chose this passage from the reading because it has vivid imagery and is very depressing. In the beginning of the passage, where the author describes the laughter, you can picture somewhere laughing that hard, you yourself might have laughed that hard at one point in your life. It was just easy to see that person laughing so hard they cried. The depressing part of the passage was the fact that since the Negroes lived in a certain area it was referred to as the Bottom, even though it was up in the hills. It just reminds you of the severe racism of the time and, at least in my case, was just another depressing memory. I can think of countless times in my life when I've laughed so hard I've cried, but never at such a "joke." The passage though does remind me of the movie "Rosewood" with Jon Voight, made in 1997. The movie is another depressing portrayal of racism out of control, but one particular scene in the movie reminded me of this passage. Where the lynching mob is really out of control and they are torturing a black man to get answers out of him, but they're laughing while they're doing it. It was all just one big joke to them. It really sad that throughout history "white folks" have perpetuated this stereotype of racism, and it makes me sick.


"The day was cold enough to make his breath visible, and he wondered for a moment at the purity and whiteness of his own breath among the dirty, gray explosions surrounding him."(p.8)

I chose this passage because the word choices were very interesting to me, and vivid, easily pictured. I liked the whole description of the scene of Shadrack at war, but I chose this particular passage from the whole tale because of its use of the word white and how it was used. My image cluster was based on the image of white purity and desire. The idea of white being the symbol of cleanliness and purity and desire a man has for a woman. I like how the author used that same idea, to an extent, in the book. The was she associates his white breath with purity in the midst of darkness, it was a great image to picture and easily done. Everyone can remember being young and realizing its so cold out you can see your own breath so you pretend to be a dragon or something else. That's what this passage made me think of at least. My story and my image cluster are the first things I thought of when I read this line, and they're probably why I had the reaction that I did. One of nostalgia and one of intrigue. I was intrigued that another author would make the comparison between white and purity.