I am going to do a close reading on week 11's reading on Cleaver. The portion of this story that I am choosing to write about is when he described the police shoot out him and Little Bobby were in. The paragraph starts off by saying "Above my head, the windshield of my car shattered and I looked behind me." This whole paragraph as well as the others that follow in the story are describing a scary situation of Cleaver's life. He was essentially getting shot at and chased that day because he was black, and the whole situation really describes what racism was and how it affected peoples lives back then. This is a break in action in this story because the whole story is about racism and the challenges he faces, but this paragraph and part of the story is a breaking point. This is when they get gunned down and his friend dies laying next to him, and I could tell the importance that he was trying to get across from this passage. I can think of some similar moments in the text like this one, but not as intense and severe.
This passage and story inside the big story is a big turning point in the book. This allows us to understand our main character a little more than we had, and also brings out a horrible situation that happened in his life that affected him and the whole community. The moments of this passage refer back to what has happened previously in the story regarding racism. This was definitely the most severe and hurtful event but it still ties and connects with the rest of the story.
Hello again, I have not read this story so I enjoyed reading your analysis on it. I also think it has the same sort of theme as Henderson's poem had so I was able to draw many similarities there which was interesting. Reading about who peoples lives were during the black art movement and around that time I think is very insightful and informative.
ReplyDeleteLogan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you,this was definitely, as you wrote, "a scary situation of Cleaver's life". In recent years, because of phone cameras we have been made aware of the racist killing of unarmed Black men by the police. However, what many people don't realize is that this is not a new phenomenon. This has been going on for years but it was not being recorded. The killing of unarmed Black men has actually decreased in recent years in comparison to those in the 1960s. Black lives just did/does not matter and homicide by police officers seldom went/go punished.
Hi Logan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your close reading of Cleaver's writings. Witnessing your friend die next to you would definitely be a stand out moment in my life. Was this the part that he was involved in the shootout with the police because of his involvement with the Black Panthers?
Hi Logan. You did a good job on writing on a dramatic scene from the story. It is horrible that Cleaver witnessed his friend get shot. It is sad that there is still racism going on today and just people in general getting killed. I do remember starting this story, but unfortunately, I didn't finish it. Maybe once I have more time, I'll get back to it. I enjoyed reading your analysis, great job.
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