Blog #6~

What might have been helpful to know before reading this book?
It would have been good to know just how intellectual this book is. Tinkham mentioned that this book, even for a college level, was pretty high up there (super smart). But like I kinda just brushed it off and was like ‘Pshhh I can read it, this book ain’t too smart for me’, then after the prologue (haven’t even gotten to the first chapter yet) I was so lost. So I guess a warning to students before they pick like a “Hey, this book uses big words and metaphors and shows more than tells so choose wisely”. Which it isn’t a bad thing that this book is so well written, like that’s the whole reason why people love this book and call it a ‘classic’. Just, in my opinion, it’s not really meant for freshmen nor is it exactly at a high school level.

Is there anything else that the book didn’t address or answer that you wish it would have?
It would’ve been cool to see this book written from a white persons POV. Like two main characters, a white man and a black man. Or even two main characters, black male and black female. That would be cool to see in any book but especially this book since it’s discussing mainly racism which is a very serious topic and affects everyone of every race and having a book from two main characters of different races’ POVs, that would bring a whole nother amazing element to the book. Also seeing how differently racism affects men and women of the same race.

Why does this book matter (or does it?)?
It matters because it’s a well-written and well-told story about the challenges that black Americans face in their everyday lives. And even though this book was written in the 50s, racism is still going strong to this day and a lot of racist things that happen in this book still happen today (i.e. people not seeing the narrator’s full potential/personality due to his dark skin, blacks being undermined in general, the narrator’s friend being shot in a racially motivated attack by white officers, etc).

Why is it relevant to readers today (or is it?)?
Kinda like what I said in the answer above, it’s relevant because racism is still a thing, whether it be small things like locking your car door when a black guy walks past or big things like burning down several black churches in your local area- IT’S ALL STILL RACISM AND IT ALL STILL HAPPENS TO THIS DAY. And people need to be educated on this type of stuff and through books is a good way to go.

Expand on your answer—-why might this book be on a list of books that I gave you to choose to read? Convince Tink to keep it there or to take it off, and be specific as to why you think that way.
I’m kinda conflicted. I like this book’s message and I like the way it’s written buut, it’s still a very big-worded book and it’s very easy to get lost. I feel like this book was meant for ages 18+ not 14 and 15 year olds. I’d probably say to keep/add books to the list that tackle racism and inequality but this specific book, either take it off the list or give a big warning to students that this is a very smart book.