Fire and Cloud - A sample assignment of WR121 PDF

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A sample assignment of WR121...

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Vu Nguyen WR121 John Williams Fire and Cloud

1. Since most of the stories were written by Richard Wright during the segregation period, it is no wonder that the plot of the stories revolve around African American being oppressed by the white people. Only “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” was told in the 1 st person point of view, the other three stories were told in the 3 rd person point of view. Short stories are characterized by dilemmas, the four stories have their own dilemmas. However, different from the rest of the other three stories, the dilemma in “Fire and Cloud” was psychological dilemma, which occurred mostly in the mind of Reverend Taylor. Also, Reverend Taylor was also the first and only person in Uncle Tom’s Children to triumph, most of the other protagonists tried to escape the hardship and look for a better life while Taylor remained vigorously unsurrendered.

2. _Allusion: an indirect or passing reference. Right from the start, reader can easily detect the use of allusion, it is the title of the story. “Fire and Cloud” doesn’t have just simple meaning, it represents the oppression and the superiority of the white people. _Allegory: a story, poem that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Richard Wright chose to use God’s gospel to speak on behalf of the problem and described Taylor as Moses trying to spread the words of God. _Invocation: the action of invoking something or someone for assistance or as an authority. Throughout the whole story long, Taylor was hesitant to march and was

constantly looking for help from the authority as well as trying to ease the tension between the three groups: the authority, the two communists and the church followers.

3. Although we see a lot of conversation between the protagonist and the antagonists as well as normal people, the story is told from the 3rd person point of view

4. The protagonist full name is Reverend Taylor. Taylor was facing a psychological dilemma. Taylor was hesitant to march and he was trying to placate the three groups that appeared in the story: the governor, which was the mayor, the two communists, and the demonstrators. Taylor initially resisted the communists because he realized that going in their ways means war against the white people. Furthermore, Taylor was also being pressured by the demonstrators who kept urging and blaming him for not joining the march. They said that he would be responsible if their demonstration failed and their people were slaughtered. Taylor also felt the tension in the church as church deacons were looking for a leader and some followers tried to bash him out of his church. Even so, Taylor was conscious on his action and still waited and talked to the mayor and the police. However, not until Taylor was brutally whipped, tortured and threatened not to march by the so-called “peacekeeper” that he started to considered changing his mind. Taylor was still loyal to “not ordering protest”, but “following his people”. He joined the march.

5. The fat African American woman uttered that statement before marching. The title of the story consists of two parts: cloud and fire. The fire means the oppression, the actual physical abuse created by the white people on the African-American. Meanwhile, in a society that the white is superior over the African American, every morning when an African American wakes up, the only thing he/she can she is the cloud, it’s a white cloud that represents the white people. Richard Wright entitled this story “Fire and Cloud” to give reader a confusing time thinking of the actual meaning of the story. “Fire and Cloud” also proposes the use of allusion.

6. “Violence” is the keyword in this short story. Richard Wright wants to point out the

cunning of the white people contradicting to what they appear to be. On the outside, they were men talking about fairness, about paternalism, about their will to help African Americans if they agree to leave the demonstrations peacefully. However, hadn’t it been for the endurance of the main protagonist, a.k.a Reverend Taylor, nobody would ever know about the persuasion with means of violence such as whip and gun. And through that Taylor had realized to give up his belief in individualism to collaborate with the collective action to rise against the white, for only the superior can confront such powerful antagonist like the chief of the police and the mayor....