Ellison, Baraka, Lorde, Walker

The Invisible Man short story I did not find particularly fascinating; it just didn’t really seem to resonate for me.  It was somewhat interesting at parts but to be honest I found it dull and boring.  I hope I am not offending anyone by saying this, I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  I mean I thought the ending was clever because he wakes up to his grandfather’s laugh ringing in his ears—creepy yet symbolic.  He’s wrestling with conforming and fighting the norm. 

I wanted to do a small cheer when I read that the mother took the quilts away from Dee because as a character I did not like her.  The author, in my opinion, did a wonderful job of painting the picture of each character in a short amount of pages.  I think especially with short stories it can be difficult to develop characters because of the limited space.  I actually can identify with Dee because it felt like when I was younger I didn’t appreciate a lot of things about my heritage and past.  I think this is a more modern idea—taking old, traditional style and using it as decoration.  Last time I went home to Iowa I asked my mom for some of her mason jars that she keeps in the basement to use as decoration—similar to the quilt I didn’t really care about them until I got to college.  I guess you could say the author is making fun of the educated that go off to school and come back and realize how different their lives are.  Maggie just seems so different from Dee—she seems naïve but appreciative of her heritage and past.  The fact that she tells Dee that she can take the quilts because she can still remember her grandmother regardless was inspiring.