American Art

When visiting the Apple Pie: Visions of Americana exhibit at the MMOCA, the photographs of Larry Clark caught my eye above all of the other pieces (such as the one above). This photograph in particular was taken in 1971 and shows two rebellious youths engaging in acts of drugs and sex.

The dominating theme that shows up in Clark's pictures during this time period is the use of drugs and promiscuity in order to show the social upheaval and teenage rebellion during this time of the Vietnam War.

One thing that I do not understand about this piece is how Clark cuts the woman's face off while showing her nude body and the heroine injection; this could probably be analyzed further.

This piece relates to America in a huge way in showing the motif of rebellious teens. Almost every generation throughout America has had a generation of rebellious teens and this piece shows the Baby Boomer generation at the height of their rebellion in the early 1970's during the Vietnam war.

Some things that this piece does not show are the silent majority, or the majority of both American teens and adults that were not taking part in this sort of drug/sex influenced rebellion.

A major question that I would have for Clark would be: why did you not take pictures of the silent majority? or why did you cut off the girl's face in this picture?

This piece relates in a big way to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in that both pieces of work show the rebellion of a generation. The Great Gatsby shows the rebellion of the flappers in the 1920's and their heavily-drunken influenced parties, while this piece shows the drugs/sex influenced culture of the Baby Boomers in the 1960-70's.

Thoughts on this Last Quarter

This quarter went by extremely fast! :( It seems as though, at least as a senior, every quarter this year has been going by faster than the last; we're almost done!

I thought that our class this quarter had a multitude of great discussions and we came to a lot of good conclusions concerning the identity of America through the thoughts posed by the texts that we studied. Concerning the texts, they were amazing. There were so many that I loved I can't even list all of them but my favorites were Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and of course Fitzgerald's "Gatsby." Also I thought it was cool to actually read these famous texts, such as "Common Sense," that we always here so much about in history and in school.

In all, I learned a lot about America and what people think of it this quarter. I thought it was an extremely enlightening quarter, and more than anything I'm going to miss the great people in this class...and Mr. Kunkle of course.

"The Devil Baby at Hull-House" by Jane Addams

In this essay, Ms. Addams talks about how a fictitious tale about a son of Satan was spread around Chicago. She says that the story places this child of the devil in the Hull-House, which she founded, and that as the story gained momentum more and more people were calling this place and showing up at this settlement inquiring upon the whereabouts of the child. The story goes that a baby was born to a woman whose husband had sinned in some sort of way, and because of this it was born a devil. As soon as the devil was born, the parents rushed it to the Hull-House (which was a settlement for poor immigrants at the time), supposedly. The main story that comes out of these events comes from the stories that Ms. Addams hears from the old women that come to the house in search of the baby. She tells of the wide variety of horrid stories coming from these women, including: a woman whose daughters sold themselves to prostitution, a woman whose son was in jail for life and who wanted to die just so that she could see her son again, and many other women with stories of marital brutality and great loss. The main point that she makes of all these women is that they all come to the Hull-House in search of this Devil baby because they connect with the story and see how it tells the story of their own pitiful situations.

Jane Addams was a feminist reformer who founded this Hull settlement House in Chicago as a haven for poor immigrants. At this house she would take care of the immigrants and teach them English, along with finding them jobs. As a result she would receive votes for her cause, which was feminism. Keeping this in mind, I thought that this story was extremely successful toward her cause of an increase in women's rights. The stories of the women that she meets at this house as a result of the fictitious story are so horrid that it must have struck a chord with the majority of her readers. Finally, I thought that besides being effective in this way, it was also very well-written.

I Hear McFarland Singing

The police sirens howl, as bored officers chase drunk adolescents;
City meetings are loud, with the sounds of angry old-timers trying to protect their traditional values;
Newly integrated minorities complain of the majority white population, as the majority white population complains of the minorities;
In the fall, the sound of the marching band reaches all of town;
In the winter, the sound of sirens signals another state championship;
The day is quiet and belongs to the retired, while the night is loud and belongs to the young and the restless,
All of the population singing their strong melodious songs.

"Civil Disobediance" Thoreau aka "The Man"

What to say about this essay, I do not know. It seemed that every word Thoreau wrote spoke to me, personally. It was simply an amazing experience for me reading this piece.

First off, the main point that Thoreau is trying to get across in this essay is that when men pay taxes and are a part of society and the State, they are nothing but "machines" or "slaves" to the State, letting this State run their lives. He starts off his essay twisting Thomas Paine's quote "Government is best which governs least" into "Government is best which governs not at all" which basically summarizes his point. Also, he talks about how men should not pay taxes or follow the laws of a government that does not hold up their best interests. He asks not at once for "...no government, but at once for better government...." By this he recognizes that obviously the government will not yield to his opinions at once, or ever, but that we should have a more democratic democracy that holds up the ideals of the people. I think that the main reason why Thoreau held this opinion is that at this time during the Mexican War, senators were not elected by the people but by congress so that parties had a self-sustaining system. Also, there was a lot of decision-making being done, especially in the Compromise of 1850, over the heads of the American populace; while, at the same time poll-taxes among others were still instituted in order to pay for all these acts.

Many activists have been influenced by Thoreau's ideas of peaceful activism, such as Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Mahatma Gandhi. These men, among others, must have read how Thoreau believed that the only way in which to a have a peaceful revolution, which is what he wanted, against the government is for people to quit their government jobs, break the law, and not pay taxes, being "counter-friction to the machine" which is the State. Also, they must have been influenced by Thoreau's idea that Jail is the most Just place for a Just man because it is the only place where he is truly free from the Unjust State.

Overall, I loved Thoreau's essay, as many have before me, and I think it is overall the most enlightening thing I have ever read.

On Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is a class of persons to whom by all spiritual affinity I am bought and sold; for them I will go to prison, if need be...."-Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is one of my favorite quotes in all of Emerson's essay On Self Reliance. This quote tells how the rich control society by controlling the government and how they control the poor by keeping them poor and essentially deciding what their lives are going to be. This passage alludes to his main point in this essay which is that one must cut their strands with society and rely on oneself, because society is corrupt. While I completely agree with this entire essay, I do not believe that it is healthy for someone to completely cut their ties with society. The main reason why I do not think this is a good idea is because society does control our lives and if we cut ourselves away from it we are either doomed to lives of misery or isolation. Personally, these two things are too high a price to pay; but, at the same time it is society that tells us that living a life apart from society is doomed to misery and isolationism, and it is also society that tells us that we must "play the game" or end up a burnout and bum in the eyes of the rest of society. So, while society is bad in most cases because it is so controlling, we do have the choice to play the game and stay in it, or to cut our lives out of society at the cost of failing in the eyes of the rest of society, which is a good thing.

"The Great Gatsby," In Review

First off, I hold to my statement made in the previous blog post that this book is still by far one of the best that I have ever read. One simply cannot deny the perfection of Fitzgerald's prose. This being said, the last couple of chapters did not disappoint.

The story climaxes in the death of Gatsby after he has had his heart broken by his long time lover, Daisy. The most moving scene comes from Nick's description of what must have happened as Gatsby approached his pool:

"If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about...like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees."

This scene describes how Gatsby's world falls in on him as he sees that everything that his life had revolved around for four years has been for nought. While sad, this scene also alludes to the greater point that Fitzgerald was trying to make in this novel; that is how shallow the lives of this society really are. He describes this scene especially through the character of Gatsby, because as Nick explained in the first pages of the book, "Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction--Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn."

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, initial thoughts

This masterpiece, by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, is by far one of the best novels that I have ever read. From the first page, Fitzgerald's beautiful prose shows itself in full colors. His style is simply amazing and I could name multiple lines that caught my attention for their unique beauty.

Some things that especially caught my eye right off the bat is his insistent use of colors in describing almost everything there is to describe in the novel. For example: he uses yellow to describe Gatsby's car, Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's glasses, the women's dresses, hair of Daisy's child and the light among other things; he uses pink to describe the light in Daisy's room and Gatsby's suit among other things; he uses both black and white in a lot of descriptions and in Tom's racism; he uses green to describe the light from Daisy's dock as viewed by Gatsby and to describe the cars of Mr. Wilson and Tom, among many other things; he uses blue to describe Tom's coupe as well as Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's enormous retinas; finally, he uses grey to describe the region between "West Egg" and Queens along with describing all of the ash that is another important motif in the area. All of these motifs of color, ash and especially the billboard of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg bother me because I have absolutely no inkling as to their importance, if there exists any.

Finally, something that I have been thinking about is what Fitzgerald's inspiration was to create what he did. First, I thought that Fitzgerald's life was that of Nicks, then that of Toms, then that of Gatsby's; but, I recently came to the conclusion that all three have been influenced by bits and pieces of Fitzgerald's life. First, Tom was on an Ivy League football team as Fitzgerald was. Also, Tom goes to France with his wife as Fitzgerald does as well. Then, Daisy has an affair with a WWI veteran as Fitzgerald's wife Zelda did. Then, there is the story of Nick who was born in the Midwest, as Fitzgerald was. Nick then goes to school out east, lives most of his life there and serves in WWI, as Fitzgerald did as well. Finally, Nick returns back to the Midwest, disappointed and with much contempt for the upper class, as Fitzgerald did as well. Finally, there is the most interesting character of Gatsby. I think that the idea of Gatsby dives the deepest into Fitzgeralds life and his struggles with the upper class, though it has been said the Fitzgerald based this character loosely upon an infamous bootlegger of the time.

Overall, I love this book a lot and have not found any problems with.

Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America by Benjamin Franklin

Ben really hit it on the head in this oppositional essay written in 1784. In this brilliant essay Franklin makes observations on how the society of Indians (mostly the six nations of the confederation of Iroquois tribes) differs from that of the white English in America, the main point of his essay being how the Indians are anything but savages.

He makes a lot of interesting observations in this essay, first being when he compares the government in the Indian public councils to that of the British house of commons. First, he talks about how in the Indian council when someone is to speak he rises while the others stay quiet and listen, then wait after he is done for him to recollect anything he has missed, for they see it as "highly indecent" to interrupt the speaker. Then, he talks about how in the British house of commons people talk over each other so much that frequently the speaker has to call the house to order. He goes further in comparing European society to the Indians that when the society speaks they have to do so "with great rapidity" otherwise being cut off in the middle of a sentence "by the impatient loquacity of those you converse with...." This is a good observation of how Indians, in fact, are more civil to our standards than we are.

The final observation that Franklin makes is in a story of a group of Indians that were encountered by a Swedish minister trying to conform them to Christianity. The Indians acknowledged his ministry and his religion but declined to use it in their society, responding with a story of their own religion that he denied outright. They told him how this is indecent of him seeing as they recognized his religion, but he shunned theirs as "mere fable, fiction and falsehood," failing to believe a word.

My favorite part by far of this essay is when the Indian tribes, after turning down the offer of the English to educate their warriors offer to educate the English's boys and turn them into real men.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards

First and foremost, I had a lot of problems with Jonathan's sermon. I found a lot of contradictions throughout the speech and his ignorance and standpoint made it very hard for me to read; given he does come from a far different place and time than myself I have to cut him some slack in this respect. I guess the main problem I have with this sermon is in the title itself, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Even though I am no biblical scholar I do know enough about Christianity that the bible talks about how god does not succumb to human emotions but merely punishes man in order for him to learn from his mistakes. This is what confused me, because this theme of an angry God appears consistently throughout his sermon.

Furthermore, Edwards talks initially about how the only reason why man does not "burst into flames" and enter the gates of hell as he sins is because of God's "restraining hand". Later though, he says that the only reason why we don't burst into flames is simply because of God's pity or in most cases because of his likeness.

The most extraordinary thing preached in this sermon was when Edward's is reaching his climax on how terrible God's wrath is by stating "God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only 'laugh and mock,'...." This is the most bothersome line of the entire sermon for me merely by the fact that he twists the line that God will "Laugh and Mock" sinners out of the bible. Seriously, it is to his own fall that he pictures god as this bully who pushes man around under his foot much as a DICTATOR.

In all, this speech may have been effected towards the ignorant colonial crowd during the "Great Awakening" of the early 18th century, but to any other crowd not at all. Finally, to his credit he did use a lot of effective similes...

First Quarter, In Review

Overall, this quarter went very well for our AP Composition class. I thought that, while we were at each others' throats most of the time, the energy that our class shared helped exponentially in making the discussions both more interesting and intuitive.

Also, I thought that while some of the readings seemed a bit unnecessary (Mary Wollstonecraft), most of them proved to be quite entertaining, if not enlightening. Some of my favorite texts that we read include: "Death of a Fish," by Adam Gopnik, "From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies," by Dennis Baron, "What is Poverty," by Theodore Dalrymple, "What Are Master-pieces and Why Are There So Few of Them," by Gertrude Stein, "A Carnivore's Credo," by Roger Scruton, and "A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift, among others. I especially enjoyed said texts because they dove into the most readable, deep depths of intellect that seemed reasonable (if not truthful) to me.

In finale, I hope that next quarter proves to be as enthralling as this quarter and that our class's energy is maintained in both our discussions and analysis of these exceptional works.

Initial Reaction to O'Brien's Masterpiece

This book is amazing!!! I share 100% the enthusiasm of my fellow classmates for Tim O'Brien's novel The Things They Carried. O'Brien has a beautiful voice and his uncensored description of the war in Vietnam is proving very effective to me. I especially love how his book is laid out as a series of short stories about his life around the time of the war and how they are all interconnected, enhancing the story.

The main stylistic point that has made an impact on me thus far in reading O'Brien's novel is in the first chapter when he makes a lengthy description of the things that the men in his Alpha Company carried during the war. He explains not only the obvious physical things that they were required to carry (guns, radios, etc.) and the things they were not required to carry (condemns, marijuana, tranquilizers, etc.), but also the emotional/psychological things that they were all burdened with, such as the deaths of many of the men in their company.

Thus far, this book has made an impact on me both as a writer and as a reader, and I cannot wait to read on and experience Tim O'Brien's amazing writing.

"Times have changed for student protestors" by Lampert Smith

In this article Lampert Smith recognizes how times have changed for political protests concerning college students in the United States. He recognizes how many students do not find the motivation for joining protests, and instead watch television or do other things. Also, the students that do take interest, are not nearly as emotional/active in the protests. Mainly, Lampert is comparing the modern-day protests with the vehement, anarchy-established protests of the 1960's.

My personal response to this issue is that I share, 100% the observations made by Lampert Smith. Today young people, especially college students, care more about drinking, partying and watching television than they do about their country/political landscape. Whether this be because there is no draft or direct contact with these students, as Smith believes, or if the students simply do not care, I believe it is that latter more than the former. Students over the past forty years have become increasingly selfish and in need of constant satisfaction in their lives, which leads them to care about partying, drinking and watching television more than the more important political topics that will come to affect their adult lives in the real world.

"A Carnivore's Credo" by Roger Scruton

This essay, by Roger Scruton, ranks as one of the most enlightening essays that I have read thus far in AP Composition. In said essay, Scruton devises an argument for the persuasion of non-meat eaters to eat meat. First, he makes many observations such as to the causes for the vegetarian movement of the past fifty years. He blames this movement primarily on the growth in the fast-food industry and on the decline in eating as a family pastime. Also, he states that eating has switched from a moral encompassing ritual, bringing families together in thanks for their food, to a savage affair that often separates family members. To bring this back to his point on why people have moved towards vegetarianism is that the current generation yearns for some sort of ethical basis in their lives, so they eat vegetables as a direct connection with mother earth; this movement has also shown up in the recent "Green" movement.

In order to tie these points into persuasion, he brings out the ethical argument near the end of the essay. First, he talks about how it is the duty of the people that recognize the need for animal appreciation, primarily the vegetarians, to eat meet so that they can bring that appreciation back into the process and not leave its future to burger-gobbling pigs. Finally, he makes a point that if we treat the consuming of meat with more respect, then the procurement of said meat and the treatment of the animals will in turn improve.

I completely agree with most of what Roger said. He brought up a lot of good observations surrounding the argument of carnivorism from both sides of the issue and I thought that his theory for the causes of the vegetarian movement was spot on. The only thing that I found a little weak in his paper was his overgeneralizing in describing the raising of cows in particular. While he recognizes the pig battery farms, he generalized the raising of cows to be positive in all cases; by this he says that most farmers treat cows with utmost admiration, taking care of them and feeding them well before they are slaughtered, and at the time of slaughter it is humane and virtually pain-free.

"What is Poverty" by Theodore Dalrymple

In this essay, Theodore describes what he interprets to be the state of poverty in varying countries in today's world. His main focus resides in, what he terms the "welfare state", or England. Dalrymple talks about how in England people take advantage of the government's welfare system, which in effect eliminates his understanding of poverty; by this he means that even the poorest class in England are treated with shelter, food, medicine and entertainment free of charge by the government. He contrasts this state of poverty with that which he observed in Africa: lepers with their noses rotted off, people with heart failure walking eight miles in 120 degree heat to get treatment and then walking back home, etc.

The main point that Theodore tries to get across throughout his essay is that in "welfare states" such as England and most of the current members of the European Union, it has become practice for the poorest of the poor to take advantage of the government; thereby not learning/gaining any values out of the experience of being poor and keeping the "Devil's Temptations" a part of their daily lives (drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc.).

Overall, I loved Theodore's essay on what he believes to be poverty. I agree with him in his observations of the welfare states and how their poor are suckled into contention. I also feel that having poverty is healthy for a society, being a capitalist, because it evens out the scales and teaches good ethics/morals; every family tree has a low point on it, and this is where they find their values to live by.

"From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies" by Dennis Baron

This quaint history of writing by Dennis Baron was quite dry in parts, but was effective in outlining the main events in the development of writing. After reading the chapter in Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs, and Steel about the history of writing, I was already somewhat informed on its roots in Sumerian Cuneiform and so on, but what I especially took from Baron's article was his description on how people have accepted different writing technologies as they have come to be over the years.

Dennis talks about how every time there is a technology invented in the advancement of writing, it is not widely accepted at first and may not even be taken seriously. For example, when writing was first developed on stone tablets that were inscribed using styluses, because the majority of people were illiterate they took the scribes as being a joke much as people took the computer geeks of the nineties (when this article was most likely written). Another example would include Plato's criticism of writing when it was developed during ancient times, because he believed that written events weakened the actual memories of said events.

Besides showing how many people rejected the new technologies, Baron described how people over the ages reacted to the new technologies. First he told the story of how pencil makers initial rejected Morse code and the basis that they did not see it being effective. In turn, the developer of Morse code rejected the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell on the basis that he did not see it being effective because one could not record the conversations (in the initially invention).

The final point that I took out of Baron's article was that of differing reactions to the technologies of the pencil, the typewriter and the computer. First, the pencil grew in wide use by the fact the the only alternative was the pen and bottle of ink, so the pencil was a portable technology that could be easily taken anywhere. Also, with the invention of the typewriter and eventually the computer, the QWERTY keyboard system was developed in order to slow down typing speed so that the given machines would not break. This odd system of keyboard has stuck to this day due to widespread popularity.

My Genome, Myself: Seeking Clues in DNA by Amy Harmon

This essay was one of the most well-written and engaging choice essays that I have encountered during this term. In this essay, Amy Harmon tells the story of how she entered herself into a genome testing facility in order to be able to read her own DNA and find out clues to what her physiology will be like in the future. She talks about how she could see what traits she was given by her genes and also what diseases she would be at risk for in the future.

Throughout this essay, Amy brings up the question of whether or not it is ethical for humans to control the power to see their own make-up and their own future physiology? I believe that this is ethical, because saying that it is not is saying that every scientific breakthrough, including the discovery of DNA in the first place, is unethical. Humans have been blessed with the evolutionary capability of constantly increasing our knowledge due to our need to find out more about the world around us.

As to whether or not I would ever go through this genome testing, my answer would be no. This all seems like a waste of time to me because, while it is quite interesting, my genes do not write who I have to be. I could have some genes that say I am suppose to be ten pounds heavier than the average male, but because I am athletic and exercise constantly I am not. Also, I'm sure I do have some genes for a future of Heart disease or Kidney disease, but because I have a healthy diet I am not worried about these things.

Overall, while genes may seem valuable on the surface, they are not the final answer to any question. Our lives will never become predetermined, because of the simple fact of human ability, meaning that we can do whatever we set our minds to as long as we keep in mind two factors: devotion and patience.

For me, I'll just stick to the practice of seizing the day, because you never know if it will be here tomorrow.

My Fear

While most people fear things such as snakes, spiders, death, or other objects associated with some form of pain, either physical or emotional, my fear outlines an internal struggle that has bugged me for a while now. My only real fear is that by my time of death, I will not have had a legitimate effect on the world and that I have not experienced my consciousness to the full extent.

I struggle constantly with thoughts of why we are here on this planet and what we are suppose to be doing. Obviously most would say that we are here to reproduce and make the earth and our species/ecosystem last as long as it possibly can, but the question that I struggle with is if our only purpose is solely to reproduce and extend the longevity of our race, then why have we come to be blessed with the complex consciousness and ability to think that we have?

This question always ends me in the philosophy that no one can truly answer this question, as Douglas Adam's novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, satirically points out, and that one can do nothing but enjoy the consciousness and the time that one has on earth, as the most famous of Latin phrases states,"Carpe Diem."

So, while I am not particularly afraid of physical or emotional pain or death, I am afraid of the fact that I cannot answer the question of life's purpose. I recognize that I will most likely never develop an answer for this, so I have come to put this fear at the back of my mind and live to Horace's philosophy of taking advantage of the time that we have here.

On Everything Is An Argument By Andrea A. Lunsford, John J. Ruszkiewicz

This reading was one of the most stimulating readings that I have encountered thus far in AP Composition. In this reading Andrea and John talk about how every text can be a form of an argument, whether its a flat out argument, a persuasive essay or even just a political campaign poster. I think that this reading is mainly interesting because it outlines, though not outright, how itself is an argument for arguments being in all texts.

One of the parts that I found particularly interesting in this text was the section pertaining to the ancient Statis Theory. I thought that this theory follows a good path by laying out the questions in order: Did something happen? What is its nature? What is its quality? and What actions should be taken? If answered correctly, this theory of argument would be able to solve most forensic arguments.

The section that I found most interesting in this texts was that pertaining to the Rogerian argument. This form of argument involves the aggressor finding common ground with the opponent, thereby establishing a form of trust and then presenting their argument in a non-threatening manner. I have seen this form of argument being used a lot in our society, and this seems to me to have become the most devious, yet effective form.

While I disagree that every text could be perceived as an argument (as we can define anything in any way that we choose), I liked this reading a lot and found it vary informative in enhancing my knowledge of different forms/theories on arguments.

The Courthouse Ring by Malcolm Gladwell

I thought that the Courthouse Ring was an amazing insight on the thoughts surrounding racism represented in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In this essay Malcolm Gladwell talks about how before the famous Brown vs. Board of Education trial, the southern half of the U.S., especially Alabama was effected by moderate politicians such as Jim Folsom, governor of Alabama. Malcolm explains how Lee represented the moderate Folsom in her famous book through the portrayal of Addicus Finch. The main idea behind Folsomism and Jim Crow politics of the time was the frase "Separate but Equal," or segregation of blacks and whites. Jim Folsom was a man that was known for his moderate appeasement of both blacks and whites, and how he would throw lavish parties for blacks in Alabama, yet did nothing really to try and integrate the south. Now a lot have said that this is just as good as racism, because you are still keeping the black population separate from the white, and in this act one would say that it is impossible for them to truly be equal, and I would agree with this. What I don't agree with is people saying the "big Jim" was a bad man for doing this. What one has to keep in mind is that Folsom had grown up during the twenties and thirties, during some of the most racist times in America, and in Alabama of all places. One must see that Jim could never have been able to fathom integration of blacks and whites, because before he was around there was never an inkling of a thought to this. Jim did simply the best he could understand doing, and that is treating the negro as best he could, even better than the white in most cases. Therefore, while Jim and Addicus were neither radical nor liberal in their racial standings, it was not truly their fault, because they could not fathom true integration of blacks into white society in the time and place that they grew up and were living in.