Napoleon's Hidden Hand (Max Bolton)

  Octavia Butler's Blurred Boundary Between Past and Present ***Disclaimer: There will be spoilers***           Octavia Butler's Kindred uses time travel to revisit the forgotten history of slavery in the American South, highlighting the institution’s forceful environment and induced hierarchy. Dana, a black novelist, is forcibly summoned into the slavery-driven antebellum south of 1815, her abnormal connection with Rufus Weylin bridging their two seemingly separate realities derived from the same historical source. As a modern figure, Dana’s presence in the past and her minuscule yet critical effects on Rufus and the Weylin plantation symbolize Butler's apparent collapse of the sequential flow of time (the present existing and affecting the past). However, along with Rufus's continuous life in the past, Dana’s existence and return to the present with permanent physical injuries, emotional trauma, and 1815 environmental acclimation from the antebellum...

  Jes Grew Lives On     In his novel  Mumbo Jumbo , Ishmael Reed illustrates the conflict between Jes Grew and the Atonist Path during the Harlem Renaissance (1920s). But, where is Jes Grew now? Has the Atonist Path obliterated it from history as it intended? Or, as PaPa LaBas states, is Jes Grew "life" with "no end and no beginning" (Reed)? Is it hidden behind a veil of obscurity and censure, waiting for a new Text to bring it into the limelight? To understand the present state of Jes Grew, we must first define the widespread cultural phenomenon and the underlying significance of its conflict with the Atonist Path before exploring its relation to our current society.     Viewed as a disastrous pandemic by Western critics and Atonist followers, Jes Grew holds distinct parallels to jazz and the Harlem Renaissance movement in promoting Afrocentric music and art popular among youth. Reed strengthens this positive nuance while challenging the Atonist's patholog...

  Mother's Younger Brother: Discovering His Path         In Doctorow's Ragtime , Mother's Younger Brother evolves from an idealistic, lost man to an experienced, purposeful revolutionary, reconstructing a new identity after encountering Emma Goldman and Coalhouse Walker. During the first half of the novel, Mother's Younger Brother pursues Evelyn Nesbit, relying on her to stay by his side and help him live his life. After failing to court Evelyn, Mother's Younger Brother returns to New Rochelle and meets Coalhouse Walker, whom he idolizes as a symbol of masculinity after witnessing his unwavering resolve to court Sarah. Due to this encounter, Coalhouse inspires Mother's Younger Brother to independently act and pursue Evelyn Nesbit again, resulting in a reality check by Emma Goldman. While Emma Goldman reminds Younger Brother to be more independent and free, she also inadvertently inspires him to become a revolutionary who stands against injustice. Aspiring to be ...