Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Street- Part 1
The character development throughout The Street was convincingly portrayed in the first four chapters, especially in the character of Lutie. I found one scene particularly intriguing, when Lutie was walking home from work only to find a boy following after her, harassing her to allow him to shine her shoes, only to find it was her young son. Instead of praising her son for his ambition to work hard in order to allow her to worry less about their family finances, she scolds him for working on the streets. "I'm not going to let you begin at eight doing what white folks figure all eight-year old colored boys ought to do. For if you're shining shoes at eight, you'll probably be doing the same thing when you're eighty. And I'm not going to have it." (Pg. 71) Thus far in the novel I've found that one of the biggest struggles for Lutie is not only her class, but the racial stereotypes prevalent during that particular time period that she struggles against so diligently. What other examples of this have you found?
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I liked the part where she says to her boy that if he shines shoes at eight, then, he will do the same thing when he is eighty. She was worried about her son's future. Then, I thought that she, somehow, wants her son to have better life, unlike her.
ReplyDeleteI found this part interesting, as well as the fact that she perpetually does things that negate the previous thing she did with her son. On page 78, it says in regard to her letting Bub go to the movies after he has been scolded for shining shoes, "It wasn't right, though. She should have told him to go Saturday morning or in the afternoon after school." I can't help but wonder about her parenting. I realize that she is trying really hard to make ends meet, and be an independent woman, but I also can't help but think that this foreshadows something bad happening to Bub, especially because she makes it such a focal point that she worries about him throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this part too. I like she is doing her best to have her son become something more than white folks think he ought to be. It shows her determination and her ambition for her son to have a better life.
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