feeder 3.1

The True South
In analyzing all of the literature and films that have been provided I have come up with a thesis for what seems to be portrayed as the south in these literary works of art. I have picked three pieces of work that all symbolize the basis of my thesis. These pieces of work are Cats of the Confederacy, and Dying for Dixie. In these literary pieces when the characters discuss what southern pride is to them they show certain aspects of racism. Southern pride seems to be portrayed as a hidden racial battle between blacks and whites. Southern pride is shown as a nice way of covering up true racist activity.
In the literary piece by Horowitz called Cats of the Confederacy you see some symbolization of this hidden racism. He talks to the civil war activists who seem to have a pride for the south because of the ancestors that fought in the civil war. When he talks to these people they do not mention racial problems or anything dealing with race, but it is later pointed out in the story how you rarely see , if at all, African Americans in their meetings. They are also very secretive about their meetings when it comes to other races besides whites. Horowitz also highlights this problem when he talks to the African American preacher about the way he feels about this southern pride among the whites in his town, and he makes a brief statement that says so much. He says that if there is no racial tension between the whites who celebrate their southern pride then why are they so secretive about it, and why do you see white people in this black church but you never see black people in the confederacy meetings.
In the piece called Dying for Dixie a lot of racial tension is protrayed. A man is killed for his display of southern pride. In this story you see the real side of southern pride. The hidden racist battle between blacks and whites is clearly shown in the piece of literature. A boy named micheal dies because he was hanging a confederate flag on his truck. His reasons for hanging this flag were totally different from the reasons he was killed for hanging this flag. He said that he hung the flag because it matched his truck. This may have been an incinitive to hide his real reason for hanging the flag whether it be for southern pride or racism, but either way he was killed for it. The boy that killed him was a young black male who did not really know the history of the confederate flag, because he was originally from the north, but he had heard about this flag from other blacks in the south who seen it as a form of hate towards blacks. This kid was not a normal black kid, but a rather troubled kid, who did not mind doingg bad things. When he saw this man driving in a truck that displayed a flage that he had been told was a symbol of hate towards his race it enraged him, and he killed the man. When the boy died he was seen as a martyer for southern pride, but the irony of this was the fact that he himself was not flying the flag for southern pride. As a result of his death the hidden battle of racism was unleached and blakcs and whites became more and more hostile towards one another.
In both of these pieces you can see the symbolization of southern pride being a hidden battle between blacks and whites. One thing that differs between the two of them is the extremity in which this symbolization is shown. In Cats of the Confederacy you see the hidden battle but the whites and the blacks have very little interaction with one another, and this is also a result of the racism hidden in southern pride, because the preacher argued about this interaction between them and how it resulted from southern pride. But in Dying for Dixie the blacks and whites do interact with one another it is just in a violent way. I believe that both of these pieces prove my thesis in different ways and aspects. This portrayal of the south is accurate, because there has always been a racial battle between blacks and whites when it comes to southern pride for years. Every year the intensity of this battle can be shown through violent interaction, or hidden through no interaction at all.
The south has always been portrayed as a region of racial tension between whites and other minorities, and these pieces of literature have further confirmed that. The south has been seen as a place that holds great pride in what and who it is and thet also is portayed in these pieces of literature. When you put those two things together you get southern pride along with a battle of racism. That is how the south is protrayed and that is how it ruely is when it comes to southern pride. So the question is answered southern pride is just the name for a hidden battle etween blacks and whites.

Responce to Dying for Dixie

I thought this peice of writing was very contriversal, and it raised a lot of racial issues that are still going on to this day. I believe Horowitz did a great job in the order that he put this story. He gave a little history about the town at the beginning, and then towards the middle he starts to get into what happened with Micheal's death. He talks about how the town had been divided in a war between blacks and whites over the confederate flag, and whether the flag should stay as the school mascot or not. As a result of thee arguing over this flag a lot of racial tension rose, and blacks were beginning to speek out and wear things advertising malcom X. The KKK memebers started to recruit people, and town hall meetings were being held, but the death of micheal caused the greatest uproar of all. Micheal was killed by freddie a black male, and freddie was charged with felony charges. Horowitz talks about the two young men, and discovers that they both were similar in charcteristics, and he saw this as not just a cause of racial tension, but a cause of two young teenage boys clashing egos. Horowitzs revals through his writing his sympothy for both young men at the end of the chapter when he talks to both of their families,and you get to see the good in both of the young men. This chapter I beleive shows the consequences of rascism whether its a black man being racsist towards a white man or the other way around. It shows that it is wrong period, and it only leads to death or jail.

My autobiography for Dying for Dixie

Like I have talked about in my previous blog, I have dealt with rascism at school as a child. I can relate to this story because of it. I must say that it was harder for me to deal with than the blacks in this story, because I was the only black at my school, so I was kind of alone on this, and I did not know how to deal with how I felt, because I had no one to relate to. Because of the rascism in my school, and not having anyone to talk about it too I became depressed,because I did not understand why I was not accepted among my peers. One day I just began to cry. In the story I kind of sympothize with freddie and in some ways I dont. I understand how it feels to watch people walk around with confederate flags everywhere and expect for you as a minority to feel like its okay for them to do that because they are exercising their civil rights, but I would never resolve the way I feel about that by killing another person. The only way you can end hate is through love not more hate, and I think the young black boy in this story did not understand that, and took j=his anger out the wrong way. That is one thing that I did when I was in school. Instead of retaliating to the rascism I showed love towards the person who did it. I did let him know that the things he said were wrong, but I dont hold a grugde against him, and I forgive him, and I have more love for him than any other person at the school, even though he was the one that caused me the most pain. So dont try to overcome hate with hate.

My autobiography

I am from the south. I was born and raised in the south, and I have the accent to go along with it. I love the south with all my heart. I love the hospitality, and the family values that are greatly pressed in the south, and I love the upholding of the impportance of religion. There are many thhings that I stand for as a person that I get from my southern upbringing, but it is also hard being a minority in the south. I can say this because I am not looking from the outside in, but from the inside out and what I am saying is true. Over the years as a child I have been used to being the minority, and usually the only minority. I went to a private school that was basically all white when I was in middle school. Since I was the only minority there I was treated differntly. Many of thhe girls had boyfriends, but I didnt because I wasnt white. They shared a lot of commonalities that I didnt necessarily share with them, but I was determined to fit in anyway. But there was a young man who was very strong in his southern beliefs, and believed in upholding and supporting the confederacy to the fullest. Of course he woould talk to me and tolerate me, but what he was taught and his beliefs were against me because of my race. He didnt believe that I shoould have the chance to be anything inlife because of my race. I had to sit and listen to him sing songs about the south that totally degraded the racial background from which I had came from. This was supposed to be some one that loved the south just as much as I did, but they hated me. Therefore its hard for me to support the south and everything it stands for at times, because I am constantly reminded of how the south wnated me to be a slave.

Response to confederates in the attic

I thought this was an interesting chapter of this book. I think it depicted both views of the confederacy, but mainly the white views. This book depicted an analysis of the confederate wars and the confederacy, and how it effects peoples lives in the present day. It seemed to be that the south was the only region holding on to this war. They mentioned in the book that this is true, because the south feels as if they lost so many people, and the deaths remained unknown, so they search and search for their dead ancestors as away to restore the whole in their hearts. Some of them feel as though they are still soldiers on the battlefield, and that Southern people are born fighters. The people in this book live their lives for the confederacy and their history. I believe that it is great to understand your history, for a man that does not know his history can not possibly predict his future, but I also believe in learning from your history to have a better future. not reveling in the past, and doing nothing towards your future. That causes you to become stagnant and I believe that that is where a lot of people in this book are right now. I love the south, but I dont think I want the people in this book representing who I am as a person, when in all actuallity they did not believe my ancestors were people in the first place.

Observation#3 Bus Riders

On my second bus ride I got on the bus and it wasnt very many people on this bus. So I decided to get a seat at the very back to make it easier to observe everyone. I sat for a while and not very much was going on people were just sitting and starring out the windows. I noticed that on this bus there were a lot of older people so I knew that this bus would probably be going to a neighborhood somewhere off campus. At the next stop which seemed to be the last stop on campus all of the younger people who seemed to be students boarded off the bus. I watched as this young man struggled to get off, because there were news papers on the floor of the bus and he almost tripped on them and dropped his stuff. No one really bothered to help him, but they all made sure they thanked the driver for the ride. I found that very ironic. I was left on the bus with three other adults The driver drove and the riders all got off at different stops. The driver noticed me at the back of the bus and she had come to the end of her route so she just assumed that I was lost and let me stay on the bus. We got to our next stop and the driver picked up an older lady. She seemed to know the driver because she ran up to the bus saying hey and very excited to see the driver for her daily ride on the bus. She got on and they quickly began to start a conversation about the weather. Then we came to the next stop and an older man got on. I guess he knew the woman and the driver because he quickly joined into the conversation. They all three continued to talk but conversation ceased when other people boarded the bus, and it started to fill up. I noticed that older bus riders are more apt to make friends and talk on the bus than younger bus riders.

Observation#2 Bus Riders

On my second bus ride I got on the bus and it wasnt very many people on this bus. So I decided to get a seat at the very back to make it easier to observe everyone. I sat for a while and not very much was going on people were just sitting and starring out the windows. I noticed that on this bus there were a lot of older people so I knew that this bus would probably be going to a neighborhood somewhere off campus. At the next stop which seemed to be the last stop on campus all of the younger people who seemed to be students boarded off the bus. I watched as this young man struggled to get off, because there were news papers on the floor of the bus and he almost tripped on them and dropped his stuff. No one really bothered to help him, but they all made sure they thanked the driver for the ride. I found that very ironic. I was left on the bus with three other adults The driver drove and the riders all got off at different stops. The driver noticed me at the back of the bus and she had come to the end of her route so she just assumed that I was lost and let me stay on the bus. We got to our next stop and the driver picked up an older lady. She seemed to know the driver because she ran up to the bus saying hey and very excited to see the driver for her daily ride on the bus. She got on and they quickly began to start a conversation about the weather. Then we came to the next stop and an older man got on. I guess he knew the woman and the driver because he quickly joined into the conversation. They all three continued to talk but conversation ceased when other people boarded the bus, and it started to fill up. I noticed that older bus riders are more apt to make friends and talk on the bus than younger bus riders.