The way Cassius finds himself uncharacteristically and unintentionally boosting the slave labor market in order to support himself is reminiscent of Bigger Thomas' accidental murder on the first day of his new job. The way Steve Lift forces Cassius to rap in front of a cheering white crowd reminds me of the battle royal scene, as both Cassius and the narrator's supposed racially-inherited skills become entertainment for the benefit of white people. Detroit's afrocentric art reminds me of Zora Neal Hurston's poetic prose and focus on life in black communities. WorryFree is a slave labor system capitalizing on circumstances people can't control, a modernized "Beloved." The white voice Cassius uses could be likened to Gunnar's white shuffle, as both characters struggle to cater to two separate groups of people.
Yeah, some of those comparisons were a stretch. But I guess my point is, it's cool to see how the themes we've discussed over the semester connect. The American social systems we've done our best to analyze are infinitely more complicated than one book or poem or film can capture. But by stepping back and seeing how these works are similar, it's easier to get the big picture. Like, how we were able to discuss race and class simultaneously in our discussion about "Sorry To Bother You." It would've been harder to have that conversation if we hadn't had five novels worth of discussion under our belts already.
I'm not saying five books and a handful of poems granted us a full understanding of the American Social System. I don't think we could quite get there in one semester. And obviously we all came into the class at different places, in terms of our understanding of concepts like race and class. Nevertheless, I think the more we expose ourselves to literature, poetry, and art, the more we'll understand about the world we live in today. Especially if we can connect that literature, poetry, and art to the historical context in which it was made.
Oof. That was such a Mr. Leff sentence.
