Reading Response Writing in Context: New Perspectives Directions: Use this document to write your answers to the guiding “Reader Response” questions tha
Reading Response Writing in Context: New Perspectives
Directions: Use this document to write your answers to the guiding “Reader Response” questions that have been posed here about each of your readings. Then, use these responses to help you formulate your response to the Quizzes.
“Sweat”
1. Find examples of biblical allusions or religious symbolism in this story.
a. What is the relevance of each?
i. How does Hurston use these allusions and symbols to further her theme?
2. From what in his life does Sykes’ anger stem?
a. Where does he direct his anger?
i. Is this the appropriate place?
A. Why or Why not?
3. What is Delia’s position in life (think beyond her actual job)? You might do some research into Hurston’s reference to black women and their place in the world to help you understand this question and consider Delia’s position in life.
a. How does she handle this position?
i. Does it affect her character or her outlook on life?
4. How are Delia and Sykes’ positions in life similar, and why do you think they react so differently to them?
a. How do you think Hurston would explain the disparity between their characters and outlooks?
i. Are these characters stereotypes? Does it matter?
5. Although the whole town, including the men of it, know of Delia’s situation and the regular beatings she receives from Sykes, they do nothing. How do you account for their behavior and lack of real response?
6. What is the conflict in this story? What is the crisis? How is the conflict resolved?
7. How does Hurston use irony in this story’s ending?
a. Do you feel sympathetic toward Sykes at all?
i. Why or why not?
A. Do you agree with what Delia did?
8. Is inaction a form of action in this story? Explain.
Select Poems by Langston Hughes
https://poets.org/poem/negro-speaks-rivers
1. In Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks Rivers,” what do the rivers symbolize?
a. What is the speaker’s connection to them?
b. Why is this an apt metaphor?
c. What does the speaker mean by “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”?
2. In Hughes’ narrative poem “Mother to Son,” how does stair-climbing work as a metaphor for the mother’s life?
3. What is significant about this conversation being a lesson passed from mother to son?
a. Why does that aspect of the lesson (mother to son vs. father to son) make the lesson especially poignant?
b. Why is a mother’s experience different from a father’s?
i. List all the differences, both culturally and historically.
4. Read the following discussion of the “Call and Response” tradition in African American cultural art forms, principally music (spirituals, blues, and jazz.
a. Then read Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing America” and Hughes’ poem “I, Too.”
i. How is Hughes’ poem “I, Too” a “response” to Whitman’s claims?
ii. How does the speaker define himself as American?
iii. Who is the “they” in the poem?
iv. Why will “they” be ashamed as the speaker proclaims in the second to last stanza?
5. In Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B,” what does the speaker refer to when he writes, “I wonder if it’s that simple?”
6. How does the speaker identify himself racially?
a. How does he identify himself in ways distinct from race?
b. Why does it matter that he does this?
7. What is his theme for English B?
Readings
https://poets.org/poem/negro-speaks-rivers
https://poets.org/poem/theme-english-b
https://poets.org/poem/i-too
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47559/mother-to-son
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46480/i-hear-america-singing (Walt Whitman)
This Portion has to be 300-350 words
1. Finally, utilizing your work on the above (and any guidance you received from your instructor), answer the Discussion Board question(s) below.
· How do the writers draw from other cultural forms of expression and communication to reflect reality and advocate for social change?
· How do the themes of these works relate to your lives today?
