Kolvenbach and King

Kolvenbach and King

While reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” I found myself making a lot of comparisons and connections between his writing and the experience of Celie within The Color Purple. As King says, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 2). Throughout the first portion of The Color Purple, Celie seems to be acting in survival mode. While seems to show an understanding that she is being unjustly treated, she acts in a way that seems submissive from the external eye but is truly an act of her internal feeling that it is her only way to survive. 

However, eventually she does come to this conclusion that King talks about and does demand her freedom. And as King continues to speak on the idea of the oppressed, he says, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it” (King 4). This struck me as I read it because then I was reminded of Celie and wondered what her turning point was into making the decision to demand her freedom and was this turning point something that reminded her of her birthright freedom. I would say it was certainly her relationship with Avery Shug, but when I took an in-depth look, I thought it was when Avery Shug showed Celie how to touch her own body. In this moment when she is touching her breasts, she is reminded of her children and describes it saying, “I haul up my dress and look at my titties. Think bout my babies sucking them. Remember the little shiver I felt then too. Sometimes a big shiver” (Walker 77). I think this was her turning point because it reminded her of her own womanhood through this memory of her being a mother. Celie’s experience with men had never been positive, but this reminder of her womanhood despite her constant oppression by men allows her to reclaim her womanhood and desire freedom. 

Within the Kolvenbach piece I found myself identifying the pieces of the Jesuit tradition and connecting them within my experience at Loyola. As Kolvenbach expresses, the service of faith and promotion of justice are crucial within the Jesuit experience. He emphasizes how the students of Jesuit universities are the true measure of the success of a Jesuit university saying, “They should learn to perceive, think, judge, choose and act for the rights of others, especially the disadvantaged and the oppressed” (Kolvenbach 25). I found a lot of the traits that Kolvenbach expressed to resonate with me and my experience with my community at Loyola, however, I definitely think there are some issues and pitfalls in the Jesuit teaching at Loyola. I find it ironic that one of our missions is to serve the disadvantaged and oppressed when our school is 73% white, myself included. I have only had one black teacher at my time at Loyola thus far as well. I think also find it ironic that to engage with our community and serve is one of our missions when we have a fence around the back half of our school and are encouraged to serve York Road but then not walk down it. We deem places safe to serve but not to engage with on a real, human level. And I am always asking myself which is more important? I love Loyola and its dedication to service, but I think there are also many areas to improve on within Kolvenbach’s discussion of Jesuit values and practices.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Let Them Define You

     The book  George , by Alex Gino explores the struggle of gender and identity within the main character, George. One of the themes that I found prevalent in this book that I believe relates to the entirety of the course is the idea of defining things. Throughout many of the works we have read throughout this course there has been an underlying notion of society trying to define certain people. Such as Starr, for example, who was defined by both her white friends at school and by her black community as different things for different reasons. Or in  Lysistrata  where the women were defined by their sexuality and pleasure that they could provide to their husbands. Throughout society in the real world and in many of the books we have read, definitions and labels are always being imposed on people. And as we can see through the practice of banning books, society does not like when people try to expound upon or reject these labels. They have a need to be stra...
Read more

Ringel

     While reading Ringel’s article, “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children,” a quote really struck me: “More broadly, keeping books about certain types of children or experiences out of libraries or putting them on separate shelves perpetuates a troubling vision of a sheltered American childhood that in fact has rarely existed” (Ringel 4-5). By telling American children that their experiences and lives are not valid or appropriate, we run the risk of making them even more excluded than they already feel. Keeping the books that deal with relevant life experiences out of libraries and on separate shelves is troubling. Even as a twenty-year-old, when I look in the LGBTQ+ section of Barnes and Noble, I barely feel safe around my family. They question why I am even looking in that section to begin with, telling me that it is a sin to read these types of books and that they will "turn me gay." The fact that it is separated allows for more marginalization and could possibly o...
Read more

Ringel and Mullally

In the articles "How Banning Books Marginalizes Children" and "Banned Books," Paul Ringel and Claire Mullally provide a compelling discourse on the banning of books. Specifically, the authors explore the implications these decisions have on young students.  One aspect of Mullally's article that I found especially interesting was her discussion of book banning today compared to book banning in the past. In its earliest days, book banning was often associated with the destruction of texts. If a book was deemed unsuitable for the public, it was common for the book to be burned and destroyed. At this point, this decision was controlled by secular and religious authorities rather than the individual beliefs held by people. Because this was prominent in Europe, it unsurprisingly spread to the Americas. Initially, book banning continued in the United States as a unified system. This is seen most prominently through the development of the Comstock laws, enacted by the...
Read more