The Ideal Sister: Sophie

Ka Kei Tam
Professor Lennon
English 1B
April 29, 2014
The Ideal Sister: Sophie
The character that most impressed me through the semester is Sophie. Sophie is one of the characters in the Flyin’ West that written by Pearl Cleage.  Although Sophie is not wealthy, educated, or well looking, I learn three things, which are independence, family values and the important of education, from her.
For Sophie, family always comes first. She makes all the decisions not only for herself but also for her sisters. For example, she decided to leave Tennessee because of lynching happened and moved to west with her family. For me, I am away from my hometown as an international student studying aboard. I always miss my family. I was touch when I was reading this story because I also have two sisters, and I am the middle one. This taught me family should always come first because they are the only one who supports you behind.
As the elder sister of Fannie and Minnie, Sophie is independence because she supports her family and does not depend on men. Although it is hard for her to work as a wheat farmer for living, she still shows her responsibility as the elder sister to take care her sisters. She is the ideal model of women. This taught me that how hard to be an elder sister and reminded me about my elder sister. This came into my mind because she always supports me and helps me while I am studying aboard. She did so many things for me that my family members might not know. I will definitely return to her when I become successful in life.
Sophie protects her land from Frank and the outsiders. It is because owning land is the only guarantee for African American in Kansas during that time. As a reader, my reflection is that owning land is important but not every property is guaranteed, having knowledge in our mind is permanent in the rest of our life. This is why education is important for me because others could not take away from you.
In conclusion, I believe the three things that Sophie has taught me are very useful in daily life. Through the whole story, I learn that woman should be independence while no one can help you. We should always make the best decision for our family and be thoughtful for them because they sacrifice too much for us. At last, we should gain more knowledge because this is the property that people cannot take away from us.

Flyin’ West: Sophie’s Traits

Ka Kei Tam

Professor Lennon

English 1B

3-11-2014

                                                Flyin’ West: Sophie’s Traits

            Flyin’ West is a play that written by Pearl Cleage. The whole story highlights the conflicts of African-American females’ during the fall of 1898, outside the all-black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. As the eldest sister of Fannie and Minnie, Sophie has two character traits that are independence and responsible.

            Sophie protects her sisters in many ways, and she shows her responsibility while she makes choices that are the best for her family. For example, she decided to leave Tennessee because of lynching happened, and headed to west for their safety. For Sophie, owning land as their property is very important while they are living in Kansas. They work as wheat farmers for living. This related to the conflict between Frank, the husband of Minnie, and Sophie. Frank thought himself superior than other African-American because he was the son of a white slave owner and black slave mother. He wanted to sell the part of land from Minnie to the white since he lost all his money from his father. On the other hand, Sophie is the one that protect her land from selling to the white. Without land, there is nothing guarantee for them.

            For me, Sophie is a positive character in the whole play. She did not depend on men to survive and she makes decision that’s the best for her family. When I was reading the play, Sophie’s characteristic stands out the most because it always reminding me about my eldest sister. She was like Sophie, always protecting me while I studying aboard, and as my guideline. This is my first time to read a play in English. As a reader, I easily can understand what’s going on between each character because the story well connected every scene.

                        

Rosewood Character

Ka Kei Tam

Professor Lennon

English 1B

February 1, 2014

                                                                   Rosewood

            Rosewood, Florida, is where the historical event occurred. It was happened in January 1922. This setting was important because the area was well known as the center of racist. Although every African American in Rosewood had their lands compare to other places during that time, and seemed like their rights were equal to everyone in Rosewood, but actually they were not treated equally. Between the conversations in the movie, the white residents called the black residents “boy”, but the black residents called the white residents “sir“. This is one of the survival skills in the movie. The whites attacked the African American in the towns and burned down their houses.

The story began as a white woman, Fanny who lied to people in Rosewood; a black man beat her and robs her house. Sarah, a black woman, who worked for Fanny knew the fact, which was a white man did that to Fanny. But she could not tell others the truth because people would not listen to her, and they might arrest Sarah for being of the same party with the target. The white residents in Rosewood believed in Fanny’s word and went to every black resident’s house for searching the target. They used violence way to persecute the black resident, such as shooting them and burning their houses down.

            The character that I have is Duke Purdy. He was a white supremacist man, who had a son called Emmett Purdy. At the beginning of the film, he taught techniques and beliefs to his son, such as how to use gun to shoot a deer, and how to make a noose in order to hang the black residents. He was always the one that leading people in Rosewood lynching the black residents.

            AA motif is the elements or themes in African American stories. Duke Purdy in the AA motifs is intimidation, terrorism and threats or acts of violence. He acted violent against the black residents in Rosewood. He was a racist, and he hated the black residents in the Rosewood. He was the one that lynching the black residents, such as shooting Sarah during her conversation to the white residents, hanging, burning and killing children and men. In the movie, he also taught his son the belief that African Americans were inferior to white. He taught him how to make noose for hanging the innocent black residents.

Impression of Waters

Ka Kei Tam

Professor Lennon

English 1B

3-27-2014

                                                               Impression of Waters

                   According to the flashbacks in the interrogation, Waters used to drink and treat the corporal and private bad. He acted violence in front of his people. Peterson was beat by Waters after Waters got drank. He hated Southern African American because he thought they were all lazy and shiftless, and this was the reason why he arrested C.J. by attacking him and hid the gun under bed. In fact, he knew C.J. did not do that. He acted like he was white but this did not change the fact that he was African American. White officer still treated him unequally but he put his pressure to his same kind people. He had the characteristic conflict inside himself because he wanted to be accepted by the whites.

Discussion Questions: Flyin’ West

1.    What is the significance of Nicodemus, Kansas being primarily dominated by blacks?

The significance of Nicodemus, Kansas being primarily dominated by blacks is that it gave Blacks the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and establish successful businesses that created jobs for blacks. This enabled blacks to improve their quality of life. At the time Nicodemus was mostly populated by blacks because they were able to buy their own land. This was important to the African American population because having their own land was essential to their freedom. This is why the idea of selling land was such a huge issue for Sophie and her sisters, their land was the only form of freedom they had and they were not about to give that up to white speculators.

2.    Why do we speculate that Frank does not like America and prefers Europe?

The British Slave trade was completely abolished in 1834 and no Jim Crow Laws were enforced. Therefore, this gave Frank the ability to gather with whites and feel equal to them. This makes Frank feel superior to others especially when he is Kansas. Especially, because he is a mulatto, a person who is half black and white. Frank can also be considered a black man who has assimilated into the white culture. Frank had a white father that allowed him to travel to London at such a young age. As a result, Frank developed a liking for Europe and decided to move there when he was older.

3.    What motifs did you come across with during the reading?

The motifs that we came across during Act 1, scenes one to three was Family, Home, Community and Traditions and the Black Female. The reason why we chose Family, Home, Community and Traditions because the Sisters established a sisterhood bond without being sisters by blood. They all decided that it was better to leave Memphis, Tennessee because of all the riots and violence that blacks were faced with. Therefore, the Sisters with other blacks established communities in Kansas that were primarily dominated by Blacks. Kansas became associated with the Underground Railroad which freed slaves. The reason why we chose the Black Female was because Sophie represented the aggressive black female. Sophie was the one who was going to pass the law about the white speculators leaving the Nicodemus land alone. She was not going to let white speculators take her land so, she did something about it. She confronted the situation and was going to make sure the land would not be sold. On the other hand, Minnie represented the passive black female. For example, Frank would repeatedly beat on Minnie and threaten her but, Minnie never did anything about it. She would let him control her and her life. She couldn’t even visit her sisters as much as she wanted to because Frank would not allow it.