Shakairah Arthur
Paper #1: The Introduction
October 1, 2017
Dr. Dugan
Paper 1: Intro
In ‘Monument’ and “Myth”, the person being forgotten is Trethewey's mother and Trethewey is the one forgetting her. In “Monument”, Trethewey writes, “weeds and grass grown all around/ the landscape blurred and waving. At, my mother’s grave, ants streamed in and out like arteries, a tiny hill rising above her untended .” This tells the reader that the author has not come to take care of the gravesite. Not only has Trethewey not come to take care of the gravesite, she has not even put tombstone of any kind at the grave to identify her mother. To be this inattentive, whether it was unintentionally or not, shows she has forgotten about her mother to some degree.
The reason as to why Trethewey forgot could be feeling of guilt. The poet states in …show more content…
Blight raises the question of where did Memorial Day begin, who created it, and why. Restating the central question, he asks why must we return to where the war began. Concluding, he posits that “By their labor, their words, their songs and their solemn parade on their former owner’s racecourse, black Charlestonians created for themselves, and for us, the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution.” To reach this conclusive response, Blight claims that Black people created and participated in the earliest account of Memorial Day but the event was buried and forgotten. Blight offers several points in support of his argument, like how ‘despite massive size of the event and coverage of it by newpapers, white Charlestonians suppressed the memory in favor of their own version of Memorial Day.’ and Frederick Douglass’s Memorial Day speech in 1878 in which Douglass shined light onto to the forgotten marchers. These points make it quite clear his view on the topic of why we must remember the past. He points out that if people do not remember the past, others will forget or write over the
Paper #1: The Introduction
October 1, 2017
Dr. Dugan
Paper 1: Intro
In ‘Monument’ and “Myth”, the person being forgotten is Trethewey's mother and Trethewey is the one forgetting her. In “Monument”, Trethewey writes, “weeds and grass grown all around/ the landscape blurred and waving. At, my mother’s grave, ants streamed in and out like arteries, a tiny hill rising above her untended .” This tells the reader that the author has not come to take care of the gravesite. Not only has Trethewey not come to take care of the gravesite, she has not even put tombstone of any kind at the grave to identify her mother. To be this inattentive, whether it was unintentionally or not, shows she has forgotten about her mother to some degree.
The reason as to why Trethewey forgot could be feeling of guilt. The poet states in …show more content…
Blight raises the question of where did Memorial Day begin, who created it, and why. Restating the central question, he asks why must we return to where the war began. Concluding, he posits that “By their labor, their words, their songs and their solemn parade on their former owner’s racecourse, black Charlestonians created for themselves, and for us, the Independence Day of a Second American Revolution.” To reach this conclusive response, Blight claims that Black people created and participated in the earliest account of Memorial Day but the event was buried and forgotten. Blight offers several points in support of his argument, like how ‘despite massive size of the event and coverage of it by newpapers, white Charlestonians suppressed the memory in favor of their own version of Memorial Day.’ and Frederick Douglass’s Memorial Day speech in 1878 in which Douglass shined light onto to the forgotten marchers. These points make it quite clear his view on the topic of why we must remember the past. He points out that if people do not remember the past, others will forget or write over the