Thursday, May 1, 2014

What is the tone of this poem?




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I believe the tone is gloomy and straightforward. Gloomy because of the description she gives and straightforward because she's saying things as they are. Can anyone help me out though? Why would it be gloomy?


Saturday morning armies
of Black women
young
and old
and, young and old in the same time
in the same face
in the same care and time and work-worn hands
you rise with the dawn
leaving home and brown babies
behind you, in the day's early light
pulling coat and scarf close
avoiding the mirror
shrinking of the cold morning of
bus ride
to prestigious street corner

you are not alone
you are with your sisters in this
Northend - to Southend
Jane Finch - to Rosedale
Montreal - to Outermont
Harlem - to Scarsdale
wearing head-rag
carrying dust-mop, scrub-bucket
in-service three days of week march in the dawn.

you possess a key, cherished girl (never woman)
of this house
you tap and scuffle and wipe feet at the back
and enter the world of
day's
day's
day's work in service
taking your place in that army of
round and strong and weary backs
moving with grace and sure familiar stride
from your kitchen
your babies
your own forgotten morning at home
to this
three days-a-week armies of Black women
in service



Answer
I feel it is more realistic of life than truly gloomy. Capitalism and for that matter any system in any age creates a hierarchy and some are at the top of the pile while the majority are at the bottom or in stages between. This poem deals with people (women) being exploited by the system but they appear to be black. For centuries those with white skins have dominated those with yellow, brown or black skins. Why is this? I feel that when the mass immigrations of around 30,000 years ago out of Africa those who travelled to Europe had their skins changed to a paler shade due to the lack of sunshine. The 'whites' found they were in latitudes that helped them develop advanced feudalism that led to industrialised capitalism, which exploits everyone whether they are black or white. If you are working class and black you will feel very exploited and this will give rise to this type of poem. Gloomy not, realistic yes.

US history: Suburbia?







What factors fueled the rise of the new suburbs surrounding Americaâs cities? What were some positive and negative effects associated with the rise of the suburbs? What factors caused the suburbs to be overwhelmingly racially white, creating a 'segregated landscape'? Can you predict any problems this might cause in future years?


Answer
the web page (below) provides: An Overview of Suburbs
The History and Development of Suburbs
What are Suburbs?
Suburbs are the communities surrounding cities that are usually made up of single-family homes, but are increasingly including multifamily homes and places like malls and office buildings. Emerging in the 1850s as a result of a fast rising urban population and improving transportation technology, suburbs have remained a popular alternative to the city even today. As of 2000, about half the population of the United States lived in suburbs.
Suburbs are generally spread out over greater distances than other types of living environments. For instance, people may live in the suburb in order to avoid the density and untidiness of the city. Since people have to get around these vast stretches of land automobiles are common sights in suburbs. Transportation (including, to a limited extent, trains and buses) plays an important role in the life of a suburban resident who generally commutes to work.

People also like to decide for themselves how to live and what rules to live by. Suburbs offer them this independence. Local governance is common here in the form of community councils, forums, and elected officials. A good example of this is a Home Owners Association, a group common to many suburban neighborhoods that determines specific rules for the type, appearance, and size of homes in a community.

People living in the same suburb usually share similar backgrounds with regard to race, socioeconomic status, and age. Often, the houses that make up the area are similar in appearance, size, and blueprint, a layout design referred to as tract housing, or cookie-cutter housing.


History of Suburbs
Though they appeared on the outskirts of many world cities in the early 1800s, it was only after the general implementation of electric railways in the late 1800s that suburbs began to grow extensively, especially in the United States. Such a relatively cheap and quick method of transportation made it practical to travel from home to work (in the inner city) on a daily basis.
Early examples of suburbs include areas created for lower class citizens outside of Rome, Italy during the 1920s, streetcar suburbs in Montreal, Canada created during the late 1800s, and the picturesque Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, created in 1853.

Henry Ford was also a big reason why suburbs caught on the way they did. His innovative ideas for making cars cut manufacturing costs, reducing the retail price for customers. Now that an average family could afford a car, more people could go to and from home and work everyday. Additionally, the development of the Interstate Highway System further encouraged suburban growth.

The government was another player that encouraged movement out of the city. Federal legislation made it cheaper for someone to construct a new home outside of the city than to improve upon a preexisting structure in the city. Loans and subsidies were also provided to those willing to move to new planned suburbs (usually wealthier white families).

In 1934 the United States Congress created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), an organization intended to provide programs to insure mortgages. Poverty struck everyone's life during the Great Depression (beginning in 1929) and organizations like the FHA helped to ease the burden and stimulate growth.

Rapid growth of suburbia characterized the post-World War II era for three chief reasons:


â¢The economic boom following World War II
â¢The need for housing returning veterans and baby boomers relatively cheaply
â¢Whites fleeing the desegregation of urban cities brought on by the civil rights movement (the "White Flight")
Some of the first and most famous suburbs in the post-war era were the Levittown developments in the Megalopolis.


Current Trends
In the United States more jobs are now located in the suburbs than in central cities as a result of the movement of commercial and industrial parks from the inside to the outside of the city. Express highways are constantly being constructed to and from major hubs or edge cities, and it is on these roads where new suburbs are being developed.
In other parts of the world suburbs do not resemble the affluence of their American counterparts. Due to extreme poverty, crime, and lack of infrastructure suburbs in developing parts of the world are characterized by higher density and lower standards of living.

One issue arising from suburban growth is the disorganized, reckless manner in which neighborhoods are built, called sprawl. Because of the desire for larger plots of land and the rural feel of the countryside, new developments are infringing upon more and more of the natural, uninhabited land. The unprecedented growth of population in the past century will continue to fuel the expansion of suburbs in the coming years.

see web page for more and embedded "hot links"




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