Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Sui Sin Far







Author Quote: “But the Little One shrunk from her and tried to hide himself in the folds of the white woman’s skirt” (Norton 886).

Internet Quote: “In addition to Far's significance to the history of Asian American literature, these critics saw in Far's stories a complex and insightful treatment of Asian identity and the Asian immigrant experience. Commentators applauded Far's success in giving a voice to Asian immigrants through her many fictional narratives” (www.enotes.com/short-story-criticism/far-sui-sin)

Summary: The short story “In the Land of the Free” tells the story Chinese Immigrants. The woman, Lae Choo had been living with husband, Hom Hing, while he was working in San Francisco. When he found out his wife was pregnant, he sent her to China to give birth in their homeland and return with the child to join him later. When she arrives by boat with their two-year old son, the customs officers informs them the baby cannot enter the country without immigration papers. The baby is taken away from them until they can acquire the necessary papers. Lae Choo is soon fading away from depression due to being separated from her precious child. After a ten-month wait, she gives her jewelry to a lawyer to get the papers. Once they finally have the papers, she goes to the mission to retrieve her son, only to find that he does not remember her.

Response: It is easy to identify with the heartbreak of the parents suffer during the ten months waiting to get their child back. It might be easier for the father to endure, he has his work and he has only just met the baby for a few minutes, but the suffering of the mother is nearly more than she can endure and as she fades away from life we wonder if she will ever see her son alive. When she goes to retrieve him, she is told they have changed his name and although the story does not confirm this, they were most likely speaking English to him the entire time, as well. The missionary woman heartlessly tells Lae Choo “He had been rather difficult to manage at first and had cried much for his mother; ‘but children soon forget, and after a month he seemed quite at home and played around as bright and happy as a bird’” (Norton 886). While the mother was probably relieved to hear he was doing well, it must have torn her heart out to think he had forgotten her. The baby apparently adjusted to Americanization quite well, maybe too well, but we are left to wonder if Lae Choo will ever recover.

Jan McCutcheon

English 48B
Journal for Winnemucca

Author Quote: “If women could go into your Congress I think Justice would soon be done to the Indians” (510).

Internet Quote: “Sarah Winnemucca (1844–1891) was a member of the Paiute tribe born in what would later become the state of Nevada. She was the daughter of the Chief Winnemucca and granddaughter of Chief Truckee. Her Paiute name was Thocmetony (or Tocmetoni), which means “shellflower”; it is not known why or when she took the name Sarah. Having a great facility with languages, she served as an interpreter and negotiator between her people and the U.S. Army. In 1878 when the Bannock Indians revolted and were being pursued by the U.S. Army under General Oliver Howard’s command, Sarah volunteered for a dangerous mission. Locating her father’s band being forcibly held by the Bannocks, she secretly led them away to army protection in a three-day ride over 230 miles of rugged terrain with little food or rest.”

Summary: In Sarah Winnemucca’s autobiography Life Among the Piutes she describes growing up in the territory that is now Nevada. Her grandfather welcomed the “white brothers” to their land, but the white settlers did not embrace the Piutes, in spite of the repeated efforts by the Indians to befriend them. When news spread that the whites were killing all the Indians, and coming to their camp, Winnemucca’s mother buried her and her cousin in the sand to hide them for fear they might be killed and eaten. She describes the tribe’s coming of age rituals and tells that the tribe is decreasing because mothers do not want to have more children to suffer the misery brought by the whites. The final chapter in our reading describes how the military ordered the Piutes to move to the Yakima Reservation during severe winter weather. Sarah pleaded with them not to do it, but they could not be persuaded.

Response: It is shocking to read how terribly the whites treated the Piutes. Winnemucca learned to speak English and was the translator between the two groups and saw how inhuman the so-called civilized people behaved toward the so-called savages. She became an activist for her people, but it did little to change the brutality inflicted on them.

Kill the Indian and save the man?

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Zitkala-Sa

Author Quote: “I prefer to their [Christian] dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan” (1132).

Internet Quote: “the first American Indian woman to write her story without aid of an editor, interpreter, or ethnographer, but she was a devoted social reformer unafraid of assuming unpopular positions. Her writing and activism were informed by social criticism and rebellion, conflicts between tradition and acculturation, between literature and politics, between American Indian spirituality and Christian religion, and other dilemmas, such as mother-daughter conflict and gendered family role expectations. With these themes and others, she tapped the potential of merging literary art and protest and thereby paved the way for contemporary activist and experimental writers to do the same.” -Roseanne Hoefel "Zitkala-Sa: A Biography”


Summary: In “The School Days of an Indian Girl,” Zitkala-Sa describes growing up with her mother, being convinced to go with missionaries to the east to be educated, and her experiences at school, then later as a teacher of other Indians. She describes the conflict between mother and daughter, Indian and white, and Native American religion and Christianity. In “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” she describes a young man returning to his home to find his dying father. He is saddened by his inability to provide food for his parents, and in desperation steals meat from a nearby ranch. When he returns home with the stolen food, it is too late and his parents are dead. In “Why I Am a Pagan” Zitkala-Sa tells why she would rather believe in the Great Spirit than the religion inflicted on her people by the missionaries.


Response: Zitkala-Sa stories show the loss of culture for Native Indians as whites attempted to “educate” them. The chilling quote “Kill the Indian and save the man!” sums up the school’s lack of understanding of the children they were trying to educate. The program destroyed all remnants of their previous life by cutting their hair, burning their clothes and forcing them to speak only English without consideration to the harm it would inflict on these children. Their attempts at saving these children was at the expense of ripping them away from their culture and families. This left children who could read and write but never be fully human or connected to the things that mattered to them.

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal on Randall poem

Author Quote:
The mother smiled to know that her child Was in the sacred place, But that smile was the last smile To come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion, Her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick, Then lifted out a shoe. "O, here's the shoe my baby wore, But, baby, where are you?" --from Ballad of Birmingham 1969


Internet Quote: Dudley Randall (January 14, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was an African American poet and poetry publisher from Detroit, Michigan. He founded a publishing company called Broadside Press in 1965, which published many leading African American writers. Randall's most famous poem is "The Ballad of Birmingham", written during the 1960s, about the 1963 bombing of the church Martin Luther King, Jr. belonged to in Birmingham, Alabama in which four girls were killed. Randall's poetry is characterized by simplicity and realism.


Summary: In the poem Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, Dudley Randall summarizes the argument between Washington and DuBois.


Response: At the end of the poem, it is clear that, although both have valid arguments, DuBois is not willing to listen when Washington says "It seems to me," DuBois cuts him off with “I don’t agree.” I think the criticisms of Washington by DuBois are warranted but I do not think DuBois gave Washington enough credit for all he accomplished considering the situation. While I agree more with DuBois, I don’t think he was willing to listen to Washington because he was so passionate about pursuing full equal rights. He was blinded by the idea that it might be better to achieve part of what you want, instead of nothing at al. I think you should accomplish what you can but give up and be content with only that part, but need to keep working toward your dreams.

The contrast of the two stories and this poem remind me of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” because Clinton wanted to gays to be able to openly serve in the military, but settled for the compromise of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 1993, believing that it was just one more step towards equal treatment of gays. Like Washington’s program, it was an advancement but also lead to other problems. Now, seventeen years later, the bill has finally been repealed. I think Clinton had good intentions in his campaign promises to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but he realized prejudice needs to be eroded gradually. I also find it interesting that it is being repealed now, because there is a problem attracting and keeping soldiers, so that something that seemed unacceptable is now being considered out of necessity. It was also the case with integration of African Americans (and women) in the military because they needed more soldiers. I think bigotry is not easily swept aside for some people but after a gradual exposure to what they fear, they find out that these “others” are not as different and as threatening as they imagined and they gradually realize these others are more similar than different. Then once a practical need is present, they drop (or sweep under the rug) their prejudice for the advancement of what they want. It’s sad that some people are so afraid of change that they need an excuse (or a law) to finally get over it. Randall’s poem makes fun of the way people (DuBois in this case) are so set in their ways that they can’t hear other opinions. It’s ironic that DuBois, a radical and champion of change, seems to also arrogant and fearful of listening to another opinion.

We Shall Overcome. Someday.

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for DuBois



Author Quote: “Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys” (908).


Internet Quote: “We cannot talk of Dr. Du Bois without recognizing that he was a radical all of his life…Dr. Du Bois' greatest virtue was his committed empathy with all the oppressed and his divine dissatisfaction with all forms of injustice.” --Martin Luther King, Jr. at an event marking the hundredth anniversary of Du Bois' birth, at Carnegie Hall in New York City


Summary: “The Souls of Black Folk” is W. E. B. DuBois’ critique of Booker T. Washington, claiming “criticism of writers by readers, of government by those governed, of leaders by those led,--this is the soul of democracy and the safeguard of modern society.” He argues that Washington did not ask for enough, and expected blacks to give up too much of their self respect in exchange for training in menial jobs. DuBois was more radical and fought for much more.


Response: When reading Washington, I thought he was right to take whatever gains he could make but I thought his goal was eventually to have for full equal rights. He was able to talk in a way that was not offensive or threatening to the white Southerners so he was more likely to get their cooperation. When reading DuBois, I also agree with him that the gains can not stop where Washington left off, but it was important to continue to fight for full equal rights and as it still is important today. I definitely agree with DuBois that you have to demand what should be rightfully yours, not grovel and take what you are given. DuBois recognized the gains made by Washington but also believed that strategy lead to the African Americans being treated as an inferior class and lead to the withdrawal of aid for institutions of higher education. I think the best would be for Washington to make what progress he was able and then for DuBois to build upon that progress with his demands for the right to vote, civil equality and higher education. It seems hard to believe we are still fighting about equal rights more than 100 years later.

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal on Washington



Author Quote: “In my contact with people, I find as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls--with the great outside world. No man whose vision is bounded by colour can come into contact with what is highest and best in the world” (684).

Internet Quote: “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.” --the inscription on the Booker T. Washington Monument at the center of campus at Tuskegee University (wikipedia).


Summary: In “Up From Slavery” Washington describes his life growing up in the last days of slavery in the United States. He describes his unstoppable desire to get an education, and his eventual triumph to found the Tuskegee University, become friends with President Grover Cleveland and be invited to speak to a large audience of white Southerners at the Exposition. Washington has probably done more to advance the rights of African Americans than any other in history but from today’s perspective is often judged as being too sympathetic to whites. He chose a non-violent, non-confrontational approach to achieving civil rights, which helped whites to accept what he had to say. His approach was to to reject bitterness, blame and hatred. He was tireless in his pursuit of education and a chance at a better life for ex-slaves. He said he felt sorry for all people affected by the institution of slavery and worked for the improvement for all people regardless of color. He believed that “few things, if any, are capable of making one so blind and narrow as race prejudice” (684).



Response: I was surprised at Washington’s sympathy towards his white masters and his pity of the whites who did not know how to do things for themselves because they relied on blacks for cooking, housekeeping, childcare, farming etc. I never thought about how their dependence on their slaves could be seen as a handicap. He describes how a white boy might not have to struggle to get things, but that the black child would appreciate it more, due to the struggle. He also claimed that blacks maybe be better off in the United States, in spite of the horrible circumstances that brought them here, than they had been if they stayed in Africa. He was perhaps being political in pointing out these things in his speeches to assuage the guilt of the whites and help alleviate the bitterness of the blacks.

Washington had clear goals in mind from a very young age. First, to get an education, then to help others to have a vocation so they could take care of themselves. He worked tirelessly to achieve these goals without letting negative emotions get in his way. While Washington can be criticized for not pushing for higher education or equal rights for African Americans, I think he received more cooperation from whites because he was not pushing for an equal or better life for blacks and was not a threat to them. I think he achieved more with the whites as allies instead of as adversaries. He took a longer view of the progress needed and chose a less antagonistic approach to achieving his goals.

Like a Splinter in Your Mind, Driving You Mad

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Gilman



Author Quote:

"Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?" (808-809).

Internet Quote:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935) was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story The Yellow Wallpaper which she wrote after a severe bout of postpartum psychosis. (Wikipedia)

The short story, The Yellow Wallpaper” is told from the point of view of a woman who’s worsening mental state is in response to the way women in the late 1800’s were treated for “hysteria.” In the story the woman is confined to bed rest to treat her postpartum depression. This parallels Gilman's real life hospitalization and the treatment where she was prescribed: “Live as domestic a life as possible. Have your child with you all the time... Lie down an hour after each meal. Have but two hours’ intellectual life a day. And never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live.” The character in the story disagrees with her husband’s insistence that she is not sick, but only needs rest. She realizes that resting and isolation is making her condition worse.


Being confined to bed rest might sound attractive in the short term but I believe after a few days it could begin to drive you mad. In the 1800’s there was little understanding of mental illness. What would now be treated as a brain injury or hormonal imbalance was treated as a “nervous breakdown.” Women were treated for “hysteria” differently than men. The thinking seemed to be that women needed to be more feminine, passive, calm and domestic. Men, on the other hand, were prescribed more manly pursuits, such as hunting and exercise. Gilman said “There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver.” She realized the treatment for her own depression was divorce, sending her child to live with the father and writing.

While having an orderly household and raising children can be rewarding, it is also a tedious life which I think is unsuited for certain personalities. Having raised two separate families myself, I can relate to the character in this story slowly going insane due to lack of mental stimulation or creative outlet. When raising young children, I saw myself and my friends being confined to a domestic world that requires a great deal of attention to detail but most of it boring. Mothers often feel isolated and starved for adult conversation but quickly realize even when they have other adults around, they have little to discuss outside of food, play dates and bowel movements. Obviously children do need to be cared for, but I think most caregivers need to balance it with work, classes, art or other pursuits to keep from going brain dead. When I think of an intelligent, creative woman being confined to bed rest and isolation I can imagine how torturous that would be.