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Our Jes Grew of Today

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     Jes Grew represents a powerful cultural force that spreads like an uncontrollable epidemic, embodying freedom, creativity, and African diasporic expression. In Mumbo Jumbo, it is expressed as a “plague” that infects people with dance, rhythm, and joy, standing in direct opposition to rigid Western structures that try to suppress individuality and Black culture. Obviously, now we know that Jes Grew is not a literal disease, but a metaphor for cultural awakening—a rebellion against conformity and the erasure of African identity. Ishmael Reed celebrates how culture, especially music and art, cannot be contained or silenced by systems of control. During the novel, the Atonist Order symbolizes the forces that seek to suppress Jes Grew: institutions of power, colonialism, and cultural dominance. Fearing that the spread of cultural challenges hierarchy and celebrates expressions outside the normal “American” norms. In a sense, Jes Grew becomes more of a fight for authentici...
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The Coming of Age of Mother's Younger Brother?

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    As we took a deep dive into Ragtime, Mother's Younger Brother emerges as one of the most dynamic yet troubled characters in the story. Being faced with the struggles of identity and change. Initially, he is a young man living at his sister's house. drifting through life without direction or purpose. He has an obsession with Evelyn Nesbit, letting all his decisions be directed towards her. "Mother's Younger Brother was in love with Evelyn Nesbit. He has closely followed the scandal surrounding her name and had begun to reason that the death of her lover, Stanford White, and the imprisonment of her husband, Harry K. Thaw," (Chapter 8). Revealing to us his immaturity and inability to distinguish a real human connection from shallow desire. One of the reasons he falls downhill is after his situation with Evelyn Nessbit fails. Endowing him with thoughts of suicide after placing his whole life purpose in obsessing over her. "The young man was in mourning,"...
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The Power of Nostalgia in Sag Harbor

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                   In Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead creatively uses the depths of nostalgia throughout the novel to explore the bittersweet memories of adolescence and the passage of time. Benji often looks back on his teenage summers in Sag Harbor during the 1980s, creating vivid memories of frozen moments like slurping down icees, biking through town, and hanging out with my friends. Whitehead’s use of detailed, sensory descriptions really brings the readers into memories and feel the emotions that Benji is feeling. “We were all there. It was where we mingled with who we had been and who we would be. Sharing space with our echoes out in the sun. The shy kid we used to be and were growing away from, the confident or hard-luck men we would become in our impending seasons, the elderly survivors we’d grow into if we were lucky, with gray stubble and green sun visors” (Whitehead 305). This is a point where Benji is on the brink of ...
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From Moron to Moran

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            David Mitchell has brought us an amazing novel, Black Swan Green, providing us with interesting growth of Jason. The growth of Taylor and Dean Moran friendship is the one of the most profound that came from this novel. Jason initially proves to be a poor friend to Dean; at the start of the novel, Jason is deeply concerned with fitting in and avoiding the ridicule of his peers, especially the school bullies. He is desperate to avoid being labeled as “unpopular” or “gay” or “weird” by his classmates, especially by Ross Wilcox and Gary Drake. To maintain his fragile social standing, Jason usually distances himself from Dean, even though Dean has always been so kind to him.       At the beginning of the story, he doesn’t even refer to him as Dean but Moron, “Or if I called Moron “Dean” in front of everyone, it’d damage my own standing. So you’ve got to watch out.” (Mitchell 6). In the early portion of his novel, he values hi...
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Bruce the "Antihero" to Alison

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         While reading Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Fun Home, Bruce Bechdel emerges as a deeply flawed yet interesting antihero. As we heard during class, an antihero is a protagonist who lacks traditional heroic qualities like morality, courage, or selflessness, yet still commands the reader's interest. Bruce is a man full of contradictions–a devoted intellectual and a detached, secretive individual. He hides his homosexuality while maintaining a rigid, often oppressive household, shaping Alison's view of him both as a tragic and puzzling figure. Despite many of his faults, Alison still doesn't entirely disparage him, instead revealing him as a deeply complex character who struggles, though he is harmful to those around him.      Although Bruce often aligns with those of a traditional antagonist, Alison doesn’t resent him in her story about him. Alison’s narration presents him in a more nuanced light. Even when he engages in affairs with young...
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The "Bell Jar".

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    In Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, the metaphor of the bell jar really illustrates Esther's struggle to break free from both societal expectations and her internal struggles. The bell jar represents an invisible barrier a suffocating enclosure that separates Esther from the world, magnifying her sense of isolation and entrapment. She feels restrained by the rigid roles imposed upon her as young woman in the 1950s-the pressure to become a perfect woman. We noticed this when she is having a conversation with Jay Cee as she questions Esther about her career plans and pushes her to learn languages and hone her skills, it highlights the relentless pressure Esther feels to "be someone" in a way that others will approve of (Plath Chapter 4). This moment intensifies Esther's sense of being observed and judged, as if she is trapped under the glass of the bell jar, with Jay Cee and society peering in, assessing whether she measures up. .As Esther enters the mental ho...
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Revealing the Truth: Holden's true emotions

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         J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield as he travels through the depths of New York City, dealing with feelings of loneliness, grief, an frustration. While Holden often hides his true emotions when he's talking to us, the readers, there are moments when he tells people how he truly feels about them--usually during arguments or altercations. Whether it's his fight with Stradlater, his violent beat down with Maurice, or his heated moment with Sally, these conflicts bring out his raw emotions and thoughts to people that's not the readers.      One of the first major altercations in the novel occurs when Holden fights with his roommate, Stradlater. The fight is sparked by Stradlater's date with Jane Gallagher, as we know a girl Holden deeply cares about. Which leads Holden to be extremely anxious about what occurred between them, knowing what type of  "techniques" he does in the Coach's car. As they fight Ho...
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