NAME CLASS DATE

LrrE RATURE ACTWIrY The Weary Blues

The Harlem Renaissance was a resurgence of literature, art, and music that centered in New York’s Harlem during the 1920s. Langston Hughes, who was known as the Poet Laureate of Harlem, wrote about the movement: ‘We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark- skinned selves without fear or shame.. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too... We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain free within ourselves.” The poem that follows was published in Hughes’s first volume, The WearyBlues,in 1926. Mother to Son Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

1. In what ways is this poem both universal and specific? In your answer, con sider the main idea of the poem, the speaker, and the person being addressed.

2. Why is the image of a crystal stair a particularly vivid one?

3. Predicting Consequences How might life have been different for the speaker if life had been a crystal stair 2

16 • Literature Activity Chapter 21 Survey Edition Chapter 11 Modern American History Edition NAME CLASS DATE

I ‘TLWY Tales of the Jazz Age

C F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered to be the spokesperson for the Jazz Age, the frenetic H decade following World War I. Years later, he wrote that he was grateful to the A Jazz p Age because “it bore him up, flattered him and gave him more money than T he had dreamed of, simply for telling people that he felt as they did.” The excerpt E below is from Talesof theJazzAge, a collection of short stories published in 1922. R 21 As you read, think about how the main characters reflect the new manners and morals of the 1920s. The Jelly-bean

The Jelly-bean walked out on the porch to a “For the gum of course. I’ve got to get it off. I deserted corner, dark between the moon on the can’t dance with gum on.” lawn and the single lighted door of the ballroom. Obediently Jim turned to the cars and began There he found a chair and, lighting a cigarette, inspecting them with a view to obtaining the drifted into the thoughtless reverie that was his desired solvent. usual mood. “Here,” he said after a moment’s search. Suddenly the square of yellow light that fell He turned the spout; a dripping began.... through the door was obscured by a dark figure. “Ah,” she sighed contentedly, “let it all out. A girl had come out of the dressing-room and was The only thing to do is to wade in it.” standing on the porch not more that ten feet away. In desperation he turned on the tap full and Jim heard a low-breathed “doggone” and then the pool suddenly widened sending tiny rivers she turned and saw him. It was Nancy Lamar. and trickles in all directions. Jim rose to his feet. “That’s fine. That’s something like.” “Howdy?” Raising her skirts she stepped gracefully in. “Hello—” She paused, hesitated and then “I know this’fl take it off,” she murmured. approached. “Oh, it’s—Jim Powell.” She stepped daintily out of the gasolene and

He bowed slightly, tried to think of a casual began scraping her slippers.. . on the running- remark. board of the automobile. The Jelly-bean contained “Do you suppose,” she began quickly, “I himself no longer. He bent double with explosive mean—do you know anything about gum?” laughter and after a second she joined in. “What?” “You’re here with Clark Darrow, aren’t you?” “I’ve got gum on my shoe. Some utter ass left she asked as they walked back toward the veranda. his or her gum on the floor and of course I “Yes,” stepped in it.” “You know where he is now?” Jim blushed, inappropriately. “Out dancin’, I reckon.” “Do you know how to get it off?” she “The deuce. He promised me a highball.” demanded petulantly. “Well,” said Jim, “I guess that’ll be all right. I “Why— I think maybe gasolene—” got his bottle right here in my pocket.” The words had scarcely left his lips when She smiled at him radiantly. she grasped his hand and pulled him at a run “I guess maybe you’ll need ginger ale off the low veranda, .. . toward a group of cars though,” he added. parked in the moonlight by the first hole of the “Not me. Just the bottle.” golf course. “Sure enough?” “Turn on the gasolene,” she commanded She laughed scornfully. breathlessly. “Try me. I can drink anything any man can. “What?” Let’s sit down.”

© Prentice-Hall,Inc. Chapter2l LiteratureActivity • 29 NAME CLASS DATE IVITYLWLI!L!ALUREAC (continued)

She perched herself on the side of a table. aren’t really worth dressing up for or doing TTaking out the cork she held the to flask her lips sensational things for. Don’t you know?” and took a long drink. He watched her fascinated. “I suppose so—I mean I suppose not,” C “Like it?” murmured Jim. H “No, but I like the way it makes me feel. I “And I’d like to do ‘em all. I’m really the only A p think most people are that way.” girl in town that has style.” T Jim agreed. She stretched out her arms and yawned E “My daddy liked it too well. It got him.” pleasantly. R “American men,” said Nancy gravely, “don’t “Like to have boat,” she suggested dreamily. 21 know how to drink.” “Like to sail out on a silver lake, say the Thames, “What?” Jim was startled. for instance. Have champagne and caviare sand “In fact,” she went on carelessly, “they don’t wiches along. Have about eight people. And one know how to do anything very well. The one of the men would jump overboard to amuse the thing I regret in my life is that I wasn’t born in party and get drowned like a man did with Lady England.” Diana Manners once.”

“In England?. . . Do you like it over there?” “Did he do it to please her?” “Yes. Immensely. I’ve never been there in “Didn’t mean drown himself to please her. person, but I’ve met a lot of Englishmen who He just meant to jump overboard and make were over here in the army, Oxford and everybody laugh.”

Cambridge men—you know. . . —and of course “I reckin they just died laughin’ when he I’ve read a lot of English novels.” drowned.” Jim was interested, amazed. “Oh, I suppose they laughed a little,” she “D’ you ever hear of Lady Diana Manners?” admitted. “I imagine she did, anyway. She’s she asked earnestly. pretty hard, I guess—like I am,” No, Jim had not. “You hard?” “Well, she’s what I’d like to be. Dark, you “Like nails.” She yawned again and added, know, like me, and wild as sin. She’s the girl who “Give me a little more from that bottle,” rode her horse up the steps of some cathedral or Jim hesitated but she held out her hand church or something and all the novelists made defiantly. their heroines do it afterwards.” “Don’t treat me like a girl,” she warned him. Jim nodded politely. He was out of his depths. “I’m not like any girl you ever saw.” She consid “Pass the bottle.” suggested Nancy. “I’m ered. “Still, perhaps you’re right. You got—you going to take another little one. A little drink got old head on young shoulders.” wouldn’t hurt a baby. She jumped to her feet and moved toward the “You see,” she continued, again breathless door. The Jelly-bean rose also. after a draught. “People over there have style. “Good-bye,” she said politely, “good-bye. Nobody has style here, I mean the boys here Thanks, Jelly-bean.” Reprinted with permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, from THE SHORT STORIES OF F. SCOTT’FITZGERALD, edited by Matthew J.Bruccoli. Copyright © 1920 by Metropolitan Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1948 by Zelda Fitzgerald.

1. In what ways does Nancy Lamar represent a typical flapper? Cite details from the excerpt to substantiate your answer.

2. Determining Relevance How do Jim and Nancy reflect the revolution in morals and manners that characterized the 1920s?

30 • Chapter 21 LiteratureActivity © Prentice-Halt,Inc. Name Date

LITERATURE SELECTION from The Big Money . by John Dos Passos

In The Big Money (1936), one of the novels in his trilogy, U.S.A., Dos Passos uses a Section 1 series of shifting scenes to explore American life. In this excerpt, he focuses on the Sacco- Vanzetti case. The “newsreel” section intersperses news headlines with the lyrics to a song to give a feel for the times. The “camera eye” section records the narrator’s stream-of-consciousness reactions. The paragraphs printed in italics are excerpts from Vanzetti’s prison letters. Judging from this excerpt, how do you think Dos Passos felt about the Sacco-Vanzetti trial?

NEWSREEL LXVI THE CAMERA EYE (50) HOLMES DENIES STAY they have clubbed us off the streets they are stronger they are rich they hire and fire the A better world9 in birth poI1t1ciamsthe newspaperedtors the old judges the Tiny Wasps Imported From Korea In Battle To small men with reputations the collegepresidents Death With Asiatic Beetle the wardheelers (listen businessmen collegepresi dents judges America will not forget her betray— BOY CARRIED MILE I)OWN SEWER; SHOT OUT ALIVE ers) they hire the men with guns the uniforms CHICAGO BARS MEETINGS the policecars the patrolwagons all right you have won you will kill the brave Forjustice thunders condemnation men our friends tonight Washington Keeps Eye On Radicals there is nothing left to do we are beaten we the beaten crowd together in these old dingy Arise rejected of the earth schoolrooms on Salem Street shuffle up and down the grittycreaking stairs sit hunched with bowed PARIS BRUSSELS MOSCOW GENEVA ADD THEIR VOICES heads on benches and hear the old words of the a) > haters of oppression made new in sweat and (J, it is the/mat conflict a) agony tonight Cl, Let each stand in his place a: our work is over the scribbled phrases the Geologist Lost In Cave SixDays nights typing releases the smell of the printshop the sharp reek of’newprinted leaflets the rush for Ci The International Party C Western Union stringing words into wires the a) SACCO AND VANZEITI MUST DIE search for stinging words to make you feel who are your oppressors America Shaltbe the human race. D America our nation has by 0 been beaten 0 Much I thought of you when I was lying in the strangers who have turned our language inside out death house—the who have taken the clean words our fathers spoke a, singing, the kind tender voicesof a, the childrenfrom the playground where there tca and made them slimy and foul 0 all the lfe and the joy of liberty—just one stepfrom their hired men sit on the judge’s bench they sit Cl) the wall that contains the buried agony of three back with their feet on the tables under the dome 0Cu buried souls. It would remind meso often you of the State House they are ignorant of our beliefs a) of E and of your sister 011(11 wish I could see i/onerery they have the dollars the guns the armed forces the Cu moment. but I feel better that ioii will not conic to powerplants the death houseso that ijou could not see the horn— they have built the electricchair and hired the Me picture of three liring in. agony waiting to be executioner to throw the switch electrocuted. all right we are two nations America our nation has been beaten by ) strangers who havebought the laws and fenced off

Politics of the Roaring Twenties 11

12

be

undertaking

quiet

of

ance,

how

ure.

our

men.

lived

new

tonight

the

printer

from

boilermaker

Back

of tonight

mouth

immigrants

to

the

turned Name

the

oppression

UNIT

seen

now

the

hire

full

If

the

but

beaten

This

we

wealth

meadows

before

forjustice,

out

I

it

the

Bay

the

might

haters

men

of

on

life

had

of

their

do the

do

our

6,

do

my

is

Coast

an

socialworker

men

a

CHAPTER

the

by

they

they

can

our

nation

executioner

out

they

pleasant

parlor

not hobo

in are

lfe

from

work

old

have

lie

of

an

and

streets

the

of

we

career

of

to

been

for

know

being

oppression

know

quiet

talking

died

woman

accident.

from

the

is our

died

Frisco

come

in

is

cut

hope deathhouse

man’s

not

for

20

over

cities

the

conquering

that

that

people

and

in

renewed

down

Arkansas

in

unknown,

to

LITERATURE

at

to

forgotten

here

these

from

black

North

who

the

understanding

streetcorners

the throw

into

our

the

do

is

the

the

and

in

mouth new

such

hopped

Pittsburgh

things,

old

old

suits triumph.

made

slums

in

End

the

immigrant

woods

the

nation

unmarked,

when

blood words

in

American

tonight

work

the

in

mouth

our

of

switch

the

SELECTION

and

I

freights

the

might language

the

for

an

to

they

Never

for

and

are

of

ears

old

of

of

sweated

in

little

scorning

Italian

pulp

city

haters of

the

man

a

toler

not

words

speech

agony

the want

a

husky

have

a

clear

fail

in

is

and

to

of

as

2.

Research

1.

crowd

looking

where

burned

to

downcast

on

Find

opinions to

writer

also

Passos

Find

Sacco

newspaper.

obituary

Sacco

the

we

the

they

the

supported

beaten

the

stand

the

streets?

out

out

with

class

have

or

or

or

we

and

faces

wet

bodies

about

that

Vanzetti’s

about

artist—besides more

Bartolomeo

line

defeated

scared

poet

how

won

nation

Include

sidewalks

Options of

might

on

the

the

Sacco

about

another

of

the

this

why

Edna

eyes

the

the

curbs

case.

life

America

beaten

have

relevant

person

are

all

and

the

streets

Vanzetti.

immigrants

St.

at

elbow

and

prominent

the

in

they

novelist

the

appeared

life

Vincent

Vanzetti.

The

death.

the

voiced

way

you

details

coffins

of

to

scared

the

Big

Then

drizzling

either

elbow

to

see

John

streets

are

Millay—who

Money

American

his Then

in

the

about

only

write

to

a

to

Nicola silent

or

Dos

cemetery

be

1927

be

rain

continued

belong

explaiii

her

the

either

seen

an

pale

we

.

I

0)

0)

-J

U)

C)

0 C)

a)

(S

c,)

U)

U) a)

I O

Cl)

C)

0

D

c,)

0) C.)

C,)

(I) 0

0

0

2.

Discussion

1.

And

With

Stands

Forlorn,

And

Out

Moving

Beneficent

Shall

We

Not Let

Fostering

Sour And

Shall

Is

Let

Name

What

How

poem?

and

the

stalks

but

this

Section

have

us

of

the

in

us

the

sit

a

the

to

the

Vanzetti

cold

cannot

the

our go

peaceful

the

cloud?

does

abandon

images

the in

the

petals

warm

forlorn,

of

bent

Give cloud

larkspur

home,

quack

the

blue

glittering

day

upon

earth

them.

blades

1

fruitful

the

conquer;

the

sitting-room.

winds

examples.

drop

are

best

go

hay-rack

sound.

poem’s

then

and

and

us

under

Questions

blades

blossom

over

executed? of

you

Snow Edna

LITERATURE

seed

convey

to

bay,

weed,

be

sit

corn

our

the

read

and

this

speaker

in

St.

blown

and

by

of

gardens

ground,

the

or

Wncent

the

we

the the

the our

cloud,

Other

the

sitting-room.

inward

have

poem,

mood

sun

empty

hoes

feel

SELECTION

corn

and

Milay

Poems

rise

after marched

against

of

think

go

from

mow.

grow

as

this

wrote

(1928),

home

Sacco

before,

about

the

under

the

upon

by

“Justice

this

sea

after

its

poem,

Edna

mood.

the

3.

With

And executions

And

At

Leaving

We

Here

Let The

Evil

We What

See

Furrows We We which

The

Leaving

Compare

St. the

doorway,

the

subdued—

withered

have

us

have

shall

shall

now

a

this

larkspur

does

Denied

sun

a

in

Sacco

blighted

from

was

Vincent

step

broken

sit

the

to

elm,

the

that

the

seen sweet

inherited—

die

not

here,

overwhelm

of

published

our

of

the

Millay’s

sitting-room

and

the

Sacco

tree

slug

Politics

in

and feel

warmed

Death

them

hoe.

children’s

earth

to

sit

splendid

darkness,

Date

weed

Vanzetti

unfruited.

and

the it

the

Millay and

still,

in

again.

and

go

in

to

on

of

corn;

grain,

the

our

uprooted—

The

Vanzetti

under.

till

the

the

Massachusetts”

Dos

dead

until

children

case.

and

mildew

stooping

Buck

walk,

Roaring

and

Passos’s

be

we

As

in

the

buried

die;

the

rise

plunder.

this

backs

weed

Twenties reactions

and

beautiful

in

and

go;

the

to

rain. 13