Looking again at the 'Daughters of the Dust' makes more sense knowing that the character Toady is probably female. The scene of the club they run at first reading sounded like just a party place, and didn't know why none of the people from there would not go to church also; seeing it as a queer space makes the marginalization of the people and the interactions a lot better. I do wonder why there was the constant gender mixing going on, and wonder about the whole scene being based on some real place. What struck me the first time was the focus on memory and the way it was sort of 'taken for granted' and yet an integral part of the people. Also, in a way it was dissapointing to see the stories of Haagar and Yellow Mary because in my mind had created an entire history for them that didn't match what was told!!! In the movie my favorite characters were Haagar and Nana, so to find Haagar later described as "equal parts rage and censure" was actually confusing. Haagar had seemed pretty bitter and unillusioned but not that bad, she actually reminded me of my eldest sister (the one I don't speak with anymore) and reading that has made me look again at that sister to see what I saw mirrored in the character! It was also strange to me to think of how isolated that 'queer community' would be, the people have their own customs and dialect and since they are thought of as 'backwards and ignorant' by the mainlanders, would pretty much be stuck on the island. Must be pretty strange, and wonder how welcome strangers (tourists, etc) would be, compared to how welcome they would be on the mainland? Oh, speaking of memory, the speech Nana gave in the graveyard was great, about the power and strength of having memories to grow from. Guess that is what a lot of the search for 'history' in many stories we've read is about. Also Eula's comments on the difference between Yellow Mary and the so-called respectable women were pretty powerful, along the lines of 'let her that is without sin cast the first stone' but in the context of ex-slaves, saying that none can be considered 'pure' is depressing! It made me wonder also about how people ignoring their past or pretending to be other than they are can easily turn to attacking others for not being as good as they. Anyone who looks at their own history will find a lot of bad stuff, when the issue of slavery in the USA is added, the reality is scary! Oh, a few years ago I read a book written by an ex-slave, and the main bad guy's family name was 'Cheney' so guess some people should be more careful than others to look at the past!
About the bad blogging, this is the third time I reset my password! After each logoff it resets my info, and for some reason keeps sending my password info to a mac.com account that I don't have! Technology is scary!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment