Monday, November 17, 2008

The Artificial Nigger on the Second Read

One of the ways that I saw the moral and religious views in this story go along with the geography in this story is how their paths changed once they got into the city. In the country, they were able to follow a straight path and take the train. The train didn't jump the tracks, so they followed a certain path that they were stuck on. Once they got to the city though, they did not know where they were going, and got lost in a maze of streets and buildings. I think this could become analogous to how when they were in the country they had a very set way of how they lived their life. They were able to take the train and follow on this straight path, never veering. The city became the place where they have to in a way defend their way of life. In the city, they are confronted by new views and get lost in a maze.

There is also that confusing bit about the grandson's continual assertion that he has been to the city before. Since he keeps saying this in a somewhat cryptic way, I know that this is an important part of the story, but I am still not sure what to make of this and how this could relate to the geography of the story.

1 comment:

meaganflannery said...

I thought of this too. I thought that maybe he was asserting his birthplace because it was the one thing he had over his grandfather. Since his grandfather tries to put him down a lot, Nelson might have thought his city birth gave him something concrete that his grandfather couldn't take away from him. Also... he might have been looking for something to explain his past? He had no parents or much history, and since he can't go to his parents to find out more about himself, maybe the city is the closet thing?