Comments on: The Harlem Renaissance

By: Lacey Babekuhl

Lacey Babekuhl — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:22:21 +0000

Within the Harlem Rennasciance, one notices the similarities between some of the works we have read. While Cather and other authors wrote about the struggles of being an immigrant and a woman, Hughes and Larsen addressed the struggles of being an African American. Upon reflection, one can see that they both suffered immensely to escape the subaltern persona in the early 1900’s.

By: Justin Heyd

Justin Heyd — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:45:08 +0000

I think that the issues addressed by Hughes and Larsen are very similar to the issues brought up by Pound, Cather, and Frost. Yet the modernism expressed by The Harlem Renaissance is very unique and can never be replicated. These two writes and among many others spoke for a generation of people and their ancestors that had no voice or opinion about how the world worked and its progression. I feel that the authors addressed the decades without a voice but in return, they also learned to accept the beautiful qualities in their history and the ancestors history.

By: Sam Matzke

Sam Matzke — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:35:12 +0000

With any Renaissance there need to be people out there writing about peoples experiences to get the movement going. Blacks and women for the longest time were viewed as either property or second rate to white males. I find it funny that in our history black men could vote before white women. These authors brought to light the injustices people wanted to ignore and just turn their heads from. It is hard not to look at issues when people are writting books, poems, and articles about these topics and not just from a white male but from the perspectives of those groups themselves.

By: Kevin G. Myrmoe

Kevin G. Myrmoe — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:26:40 +0000

Modernist writers from the Harlem Renaissance effectively portrayed the struggles that African Americans were faced with. These writers are not afraid of writing about issues that they were surrounded with. I respect these writers for what they wrote because of the fact that for hundreds of years, African Americans were treated unfairly.

I think that writers such as Larsen and Hughes touch on the idea of assimilation just as Cather did. Assimilation has played a large role in millions of peoples of lives, even though I do not believe completely in assimilation. These writers were not afraid of bring up this issue in their writing, and I feel that it was effective in the fact that people were aware of the consequences of it. Writing can be a great way to establish a person’s beliefs, and these writers did that by writing stories and novels that had a powerful message within them.

By: Trenton Mendelson

Trenton Mendelson — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:15:28 +0000

The Harlem Renaissance brought about a great deal of issues regarding identity for African Americans. African American writers, as well as women writers faced a number of issues concerning their identities. They wanted to be true to themselves, while at the same time have their works read. Some people attempted to hide their identity, like Cather and Du Bois. I understand there was a great deal of resentment for people in each ‘category,’ and do not blame them for this decision. However, people like Hughes and others who embraced their identities despite all the negative aspects surrounding doing so, are to be admired.

By: Chris Berke

Chris Berke — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:59:14 +0000

I think Cather, Hughes, Larson and Pound all address the same issue in a different way; Human Rights. Hughes was saying that we needed to change the image of the black man and Cather was trying to change the image of the woman. Both set in different times, but fighting the same issue. Women and Blacks alike did not have many rights when these were written and it was very bold of these authors to confront the issue.

By: jolene slagter

jolene slagter — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:05:55 +0000

I also think that the writings about new immigrants and african americans all have the same kind of tone and deal with the same issues. As in Antonia, we are shown a family who is tricked and cheated out of a lot of their money when they come to america. As they struggle they are heart broken because they expected the complete opposite when they came to America. It is the older generation that struggles the most, the mother is heart sick most of the time and the father kills himself. Even their friends, who are also immigrants become sick and die or end up leaving America. The younger generation is able to work hard in america and bring to themselves a different fate, even a prosperous one. As in the wrtings in the Harlem Renissaince it shows hardship, but then the ability to work hard and make a prosperous life for themselves such as in hughes “I, too”.

By: Everett Wall

Everett Wall — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:02:57 +0000

I believe that Cather’s character of Antonia has several similarities to the character of Helga in ‘Quicksand’. Both women are forced to live in what could still be considered hegemonic societies. Antonia and Helga are both subjected to attitudes and social mores regarding the type of work that they are best suited for as well as the place of women in society. While Antonia eventually leads an uncharacterstic (for that era) life that is very labor intesive. Helga, however, is drawn to the lifestyle of the social elite. Both women struggle to gain identify in America while taking very different paths. I found it interesting that Antonia lived a harsh life upon arriving in America, while Helga was treated very well in Europe. In the end, however, Helga’s struggle for identity took her into the South into a life that she resented. I feel that both women struggled with “fitting in” so to speak and neither woman truly found herself.

By: Alana Wolken

Alana Wolken — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:36:04 +0000

There is a very striking resemblance between the females characters in Larsen’s and Cather’s stories. Larsen’s character, Helga, is a young mulatto woman who is often times seen as a sexual object in the eyes of society, which was common of mulatto women. In Cather’s novel, the character Antonia has a similar plight in that she struggles to escape the common image of women in her time and wants be seen as a free-thinking woman. Both Helga and Antonia have a similar struggle although each is living in a different time than the other.
I also saw similarities in Edna from The Awakening and Helga as well. Much like Helga, Edna is seen as an object in her society. Edna struggles day to day trying to find her own identity and escape the image that society has bestowed upon her. Both Edna and Helga are shackled within the confines that community norms have formed around white women and mulatto women.

By: Michelle Faw

Michelle Faw — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:11:44 +0000

For a long time black Americans were condemned to a kind of permanent immigrant status. Not just immigrant but unwanted immigrant. Which is ironic since they were forced to come here. Hughes and Larsen both write about the second class citizenship that came along with that status. Cather wrote about the immigrant group most people think of when they say immigrant. Their lives were hard but over all they were more accepted, and more easily integrated into society, than African Americans were. Modernists were concerned with meaning and the kind of sadness that life can become filled with. All three of these writers saw those things in life and put them on paper.