BITTER GROUNDS by Neil Gaiman

         Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman, a story told in the book Mojo Conjure Stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson, is about a man in search for the Haitian Coffee Girls. In the story it does not tell who the man is but one knows that it is a single narrative story, meaning its being told by one person by the usage of I. The story takes place in Tennessee where the narrator first decides he needs to leave; and ends in New Orland’s. The story does not have a time set era. In this paper I will be stating the plot, weather the setting is important, characters and the narrator’s conflict, what African American Motifs I read within the story, and the value the story was to me.

            The plot does not have a frame structure, in other words, it does not have an outer story framing a flashback inner story. I believe that the setting of the story is important because you cannot retell the story and make it have the same meaning and stay the same in a different time. In the story, page 284, the narrator encounters himself in the “Night’s Out Inn” lobby, with a man named Jackson Anderton, where he offers him a ride, and Mr. Anderton states “this is like a Phantom Hitchhiker story, meeting new people and remembering that people come into your like for a reason”. This saying stays with the narrator throughout the story as he continues his quest for the Haitian Coffee Girls. I don’t believe the narrator could have been anywhere else and encounter the same people and still find this Haitian Coffee Girls. Without these people that he encounters he would have not found the Haitian Coffee Girls.

            In the story there are several characters such as, the anonymous narrator, the one telling the story, Jackson Anderton the anthropology professor who is presenting a paper on the Haitian Coffee Girls, Campbell, the narrator’s friend who is also an anthropologist, and Shanelle Gravely-King, the mysteries woman with the white or red bow. The protagonist in the story is the anonymous narrator and the antagonist is his inner want for the Haitian Coffee Girls. The conflict that the protagonist is going through is an inner force. He is dealing with an inner force because he wants the Haitian Coffee Girls coffee, which is like a drug in which the old way a person would get it is if they call upon them. The Haitian Coffee Girls is a mythical story in which the narrator is presented by Jackson Anderton, on page 286 and again on page 299. The Haitian Coffee Girls were considered zombies that sold coffee that was considered drugs that controlled or possessed people to do things for them. I say the conflict is an inner force because in the beginning of every passage of the story it leads to the conclusion that he is dealing with the Haitian Coffee Girls. On page 289, passage two, “Tongue brought me here” the taste of the coffee is so close that he can taste it, knowing that he is near his destination.

            An African American motif is a theme, symbol, recurring structures, and literary devices. In the story I found two African American motifs, the first being Archetypal characters, in a sense that the narrator is a traveling man. He is traveling man in search for what he wants, the Haitian Coffee Girls. The second African American motif that I found was Journey motif going North, in which the narrator is heading South instead of North because than the world would end to fast. In this motif the narrator is on a journey to his finding the Haitian Coffee Girls, but instead of heading North to freedom he heads South were the world will continue to grow and expand.

            This book was a value to me because it made me look into detail what the Haitian Coffee Girls were; they were hope for people to live and continue their journey but under the control of the coffee drug. The story is a Ghost tale story. The Haitian Coffee Girls were a tall tale in the beginning of the story and at the end, they appeared to the narrator. This story was interesting and mysteries with zombies, love, and drug. It illustrates to explore and encounter new things. Just remember, people come into your life for a reason.  

Rosewood

Rosewood, by John Singleton is an African American film based on segregation in South of Florida in the early 1920’s, between two towns Rosewood and Sumner’s. After watching the film I was able to understand segregation, the conflict people had in the early 1920’s, and the heroic people that stood up for what is right.

Segregation is the enforced of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment. It started after the Civil War ended, the northern states attempted to influence equality among the races throughout the South. In the movie Rosewood, Rosewood was the town of African Americans and Sumner’s was the town of white people. Both blacks and whites were allowed to work together, travel together, and even being around each other. They were not allowed to live in the same town, be friends with one another or have relationship with one another. For example, in the film it showed both blacks and whites working together in the lumber area. Also in the film Aunt Sarah, an African American, worked for Ms. Fannie Mae Taylor. Most jobs where in Sumner’s, most people would have to travel to find work or do work. Another insistent of segregation was when Emit was taught by his father to not have emotions towards black people, kill them, and not be friends with them. Emit would still hang around with Arnett, an African American boy, that would cut would at the lumber area. After watching the film I never really paid any attention to segregation or what people had gone through in the past for a better tomorrow. They were separated my color, which means nothing to the world today, but there is segregation in the world by wealth. There is lower class, medial class, and high class. People segregate each other based on wealth to determine how one may be treated, respected, and enforced.

In the film there was more conflict than just segregation, but racism. The people from Sumner’s would blame black people for the rape of Ms. Fannie Mae, knowing that she is an easy going lady with the men. Ms. Fannie Mae cried out rape form a black man, that made all of Sumner’s want to go after all African Americans even though they where suppose to be only after a man. Rosewood was considered wealthier than Sumner’s which caused a lot of conflict between both towns. This made Sumner’s jealous which also caused a lot of racial acts. For example, the white people from Sumner’s were jealous of Sylvester, Aunt Sarah’s son, because he had a piano in his house. Sylvester had a piano because he was educated and was a music teacher. He worked hard to get what he has, yet the people from Sumner’s where jealous because they claimed that they should have nice things in their home because they are white. There was one thing in the film that I never know the term, but know what it was, lynching. Lynching was the hanging of a person by the throat and killing them. It was very graphic in the film, but reality. This is the prevention of a racial act that killed thousands of innocent people. People did not care if you were a man, woman, child or elder but if you were not white you were going to get lynched or shoot at.

There was one person in the film that really caught my attention that was strong, a women and white, Ms. Wright. At first I thought she was just another white lady that was living in Rosewood for the money. Yet people from Rosewood trusted her and Mr. Wright. They were the only family that was fair to both towns. At first looking at Ms. Wright she seemed confused, not fully there, being the step mother of her new children, and weak. But how most people say “be careful with quite ones, they are the ones you need to worry about”. During the attack of Rosewood, Ms. Wright and her husband Mr. Wright were taking in African Americans to her home to protect them. Once the mob wanted to come in and check the house, she stood tall, powerful, and brave to the white men without showing fear. Ms. Wright really under estimated me, being weak at first yet standing up for what is right at the end. I would have never thought that in the early 1920’s there were outstanding people like Mr. and Ms. Wright that helped others in need, especially going through segregation, racism, and war. There really isn’t that many people in the world that would do that, but there is people in the world that have good hearts to fight for what is right.

This film has really opened my eyes to the things that have changed over the last ninety years and the things that have somewhat stayed the same. It showed me the reality of life and how things have a habit of repeating. I am glad to find out information on African American culture because it made me want to discover more about my own culture. I was really glad that I got to find out new information such as lynching, racism, and strong women. 

What is the most important thing I learned from reading the big mama stories?

Gonzalez Kristal
                 After reading The Big Mama Stories, by Shay Youngblood, I learned that family is the most important thing in the world. Big Mama was not the blood mother of the young narrator, Rita, yet she kept her and her brother and raised them as her own. Throughout the stories Rita is understand history and traditions, there is a unity between friends and family. For example, in the story Independent Women, Aunt Mae taught Rita that you can be single and still be successful. Rita said; “I wanna to be like Aunt Mae, I wanna be independent so every day be like the fourth of July”. Rita looked up to all her mothers’ that helped her grow up. This was important to me because not only in African American cultures is family a unity, but as well as in other cultures. In my culture family is strong and sticks together through thick and thin, this is how it is shown in The Big Mama Stories.