Journal #12

The Wedding Day is a story that gives hope and then takes it away. Paul was about as racist as they come. He looked forward to having the chance to beat up on those "white American crackers." All they had to do was utter the 'nigger' and he would unleash his fury and hatred. Paul's feelings were known throughout the bars in France that he frequented. Once he shot two white men and was sentenced to jail. He was released to fight in the war, but during all of these years he had not changed his attitude and malice still filled his heart.

Paul was so full of hatred that he couldn't even entertain the idea of being with a woman. The thought of someone whispering sweetly into his ear did not sound appetizing in the least. One day he is caught completely off his guard when he meets Mary. She is a white woman, lost and hungry, who claims to have not qualms against black people. Paul's first reaction is to walk away, can't trust Americans or women, and she was both! Yet there was something about her urgent pleading that made him want to help her. Since then they became a couple. Even though she had made a lot of mistakes in the past, Paul was willing to look past her years of prostitution.

They were to be married that day. No one could believe that the Paul they knew was about to wed a white woman. It went against everything that he stood for. But this story shows that anyone can change, racisim is not something that we are born with, it can be thrown away. It is possible to open your heart to someone, to trust. Paul wakes up on his wedding day to a letter, the content is not revealed until the end as he boards a subway. He is slightly delusional, convincing himself that a beautiful day will protect the marriage when all along he knew that she had left him. She just couldn't do it, we do not know the real reason. I suspect it was because she knew that she couldn't settle down, she wasn't the type. She knew she wouldn't make Paul happy and he would not have been able to make her happy either. Race could have had something to do with it, or it could have played no part at all. But Paul's heart was broken, and with that he may have come to adapt his old ways and continue to hate.

The Typewriter reminded me of the last chapters of Quicksand. Like Helga, this janitor was stuck in a job, a family and a life that he realized he had no desire to have. He wanted an escape from all of the nagging and the responsibilities. When his daughter Millie needs a typewriter to acquire the skills for a job, he concedes to buy her one. At first he loathed the terrible clacking. But then he began to use it as a means of escape. Living vicariously through the names of 'big time' lawyers he could imagine that he was something more than just a janitor. He put all of himself into his letters, imagining multi-million dollar business deals and accomplishing important transactions that would impact the nation. He grew to love the typewriter, and used Millie as a means for his fantasies.

When Millie gets the job that she wants, she sells the typewriter. Her father is stunned at it's disappearence and realizes that she has sold it. His outlet to his dream is gone, and he is left with the same life without accomplishment. Not willing to continue his dismal existence and unable to appreciate what he does have in life, his life ends. Why can't he appreciate what he has? Did he ever really try to make something of himself or did he resign to the life of a husband and a father thinking that he would never be able to achieve anything?

Works Cited
Bennet, Gwendolyn. "Wedding Day." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David Lewis. New York: 1995. 363-369.

West, Dorothy. "The Typewriter." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David Lewis. New York: 1995. 501-509.