All Aboard Dunbar’s Train
A Pennsylvanian train station during the Reconstruction period, which is likely a similar setting evoked by Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Goin' Back"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_railroads_in_North_America)Paul Laurence Dunbar was a storyteller. Throughout his writings, Dunbar projects a deeply intricate perspective, with readers rarely able to connect with Dunbar as the speaker in his works. By forming these stories, Dunbar, although born in 1872 and publishing the majority of his popular works after the 1890s, goes back to the Reconstruction period frequently in his works. Narrative poetry forms the vessel Dunbar uses to transport readers into vivid perspectives, leaving the reader to analyze the environments that forged the speaker’s lifetime and confront the emotions, troubles, and life paths of newly freed African Americans. However, Dunbar used his storytelling not just to document the past, but as an opportunity to stretch his audience further in processing the true extent of emotions faced by people in Reconstruction. Past the factual understanding of the political and economic complexities of the Reconstruction period, Dunbar unbandages deep personal conflicts in each speaker, subtly surfacing double consciousness.
His writing of the antebellum period and Reconstruction soaks in subtle conflictions to the audience that prods for further questioning and analysis. To understand and fully digest these conflicts, Dunbar urges a repeated reading through the work by carefully placing nuanced details and wording. In “Goin’ Back”, where the elderly man tells his story of missing the South, Dunbar seeds a conflicted understanding of the South into the audience. The elderly man directly argues against the common understanding of the Reconstruction period: Freed African Americans were better off moving to the North for prosperity. The conflict against the audience is challenged further by the joyful, light manner the old man narrates his story to the speaker, where a thoughtful and wise reflection can evoke both agreement with typical stereotypes about the geographical culture and irks from the audience. As the man describes the dampened North as, “they hadn’t the warmth an’ passion an’ fire / That all my life I’d been ust to seein” Dunbar allows the reader to look between the lines and question the old man’s perspective. Does the old man truly wish for the newly fond memories of the antebellum past? A finer analysis could nitpick the usage of the words “passion” and “fire” to describe the cultural perspective of the South. Dunbar riddles “Goin’ Back” with more questionable statements that hide themselves under the guise of staying consistent with the surface narrative.
Nevertheless, Dunbar builds questions for the audience through intricate word usage, and that questioning allows for the critique of the elderly man’s thinking. That critique easily points to the elderly man facing the deeper pressures within Reconstruction society, where harsh expectations and hustle requirements at the time washed past the elderly man, leaving him behind, damaged, and incomplete. African Americans needed to fend for themselves in the now competitive and oversaturated North, which didn’t have enough resources to provide for the influx of freed slaves. Dunbar digs into this qualm of the Reconstruction period without ever needing to elaborate past the elderly man saying “money was skeerce”. After repeated reading and analysis, double consciousness clearly explains the joyful, childlike memories that now occupy the elderly man. On a surface level, Dunbar paints the narrative of a freed slave regretting his travel up North, but by contradicting general opinions and understandings of the Reconstruction, Dunbar forces the reader to analyze the elderly man further and find the drowned oppression that creates inaccurate memories of his home.
Drowned oppression, similar to double consciousness, often appears within Dunbar’s poetry both as its focus (“We Wear the Mask”) and as a side effect. With respect to the Reconstruction era, this drowned oppression reigned supreme, where many African Americans began to integrate into White society, facing varied contradictions to their livelihoods and expectations. Through Dunbar’s expert word choice in narrative poetry, he creates a meta-critique of the Reconstruction, where he both forces the audience to confront the speaker’s own double consciousness and drowned oppression created by the very attempt to redress the wounds from slavery.
Your blog's point on Dunbar's deceivingly simplistic poems, such as "'Goin Back" was really interesting. It makes me wonder more about Dunbar's approach to writing poetry--was this a conscious choice he consistently made, or did at times his message come through un-intentionally, perhaps because of the fact that these characters were not himself did he accidentally channel a part of him nonetheless? I was also wondering what you meant by "drowned oppression?" Drowned feels like such a unique word choice and I think the connotations it adds are interesting. You use the term pretty consistently and I wish you explained it a little further. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Max,
ReplyDeleteYour analysis does a very good job of showing how Dunbar's storytelling can go beyond the surface narratives to reveal the deeper struggles of Reconstruction. I found it especially interesting how you connected the old man's description of the South in "Goin' Back" with the ideas of double consciousness. Before reading this blog, I did not even make that connection, so I would say that this blog really helped to weave those ideas together. Very nice work Max!
Hi Max, your interpretation of the elderly man's decisions helped me gain a deeper understanding of the ongoing oppression that was still very much present, even after slaves had been freed. On the surface level, I agree that the character seemed very reminiscent or nostalgic, and especially being older, would find it easier to return to familiar lifestyles. But while this could be a valid point of view and reasoning for going back south, it could be covering up underlying issues during the reconstruction that make the journey north disadvantageous to people of lower status. I was curious about your wording of "drowned oppression". Is it that oppression has been built into the system that people are immersed in it wherever they go? Or did you mean it differently...
ReplyDeleteHello Max,
ReplyDeleteYour argument connecting the old man's nostalgia to drowned oppression allowed me to better see why the man missed the South despite its racism and oppression. Your analysis reminded me that a) there was still racial discrimination in the North and b) the contrast of cultures between Northerners and Southerners was another thing for Black Southerners to get used to, especially since they couldn't leave very far from their master's home. The culmination of these facts made it hard for former slaves to get used to the North, so much so that they forgot about the hardships they faced in the South, resulting in the "drowned oppression" you discussed here.
Hi Max, this depiction of Dunbar's works is incredible. I love how you describe how Dunbar feels about the Reconstruction in immense detail but then go on to add how he gives us questions or aspects of his stories to think about to formulate our own opinions or maybe convince the reader to see his point of view. One of my favorite works of his which you covered was Goin' Back because it describes a person wanting to go home or to familiar land despite the efforts of the Reconstruction or Harlem Renaissance and I love that Dunbar also includes many questions that the narrator themselves have but also questions that a reader could analyze.
ReplyDeleteHi Max, you really went very deep in your analysis of the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. I liked how you illustrated that many of the core themes in "Goin' back" are hidden under the surface. It might seem at first like an overly assimilationist point of view, but his sentiments are really just a product of the confusing system to navigate. Also, the phrase "drowned oppression" was spot on, a really good way to describe how people can develop false nostalgia for their past life when they live under the tunnel vision of current circumstances.
ReplyDeleteHi Max! I'm glad you pointed out the complexity of Dunbar's poems since that stood out to me when reading them. I found your questions about the old man's narrative in "Goin' Back," and I wonder myself why Dunbar decided to use culture in the South as a reason for going back to a place that would undoubtedly have been very conflicting and difficult to return to. I also like that you talked about the negatives of the North because the old man's perspective seems pretty rare in comparison to many other people who had similar experiences, although maybe there haven't been as many visible narratives of people who felt that living in the North was worse than in the South. The concept of "drowned oppression" is very intriguing to me and I am definitely urged to consider it in the context of other narratives in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Max! I like how you represent Dunbar's poetry; by talking about the historical timing and his poems. I like how you say the elderly man as incomplete. The missing parts of him are definitely shown in his memories with all the missing parts to his past. His focus on current memories is what holds him holds/pulls him back. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteI like how your paper reaches under the seemingly simplistic take of "Goin' Back" and shows the nuances in the character's reasoning. Not only is it a blend of nostalgia, but also a reaction of the unrealistic depiction of the North. While being seen more progressive with its free states, racism and discrimination is still a large part of northern society, which really shows how entangled racism is with American history. I also like your interpretation of his yearning for the South is due to double consciousness, which is not a connection I had made.
ReplyDelete