"Ballad of Birmingham"

(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

“Mother dear, may I go downtown

Instead of out to play,

And march the streets of Birmingham

In a Freedom March today?”

“No, baby, no, you may not go,

For the dogs are fierce and wild,

And clubs and hoses, guns and jails

Aren’t good for a little child.”

“But, mother, I won’t be alone.

Other children will go with me,

And march the streets of Birmingham

To make our country free.”

“No, baby, no, you may not go,

For I fear those guns will fire.

But you may go to church instead

And sing in the children’s choir.”

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

And bathed rose petal sweet,

And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,

And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know her child

Was in the sacred place,

But that smile was the last smile

To come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion,

Her eyes grew wet and wild.

She raced through the streets of Birmingham

Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,

Then lifted out a shoe.

“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,

But, baby, where are you?”

Dudley Randall bases this poem on a historical incident in Birmingham Alabama. In 1963, Alabama was the site of marches and demonstrations protesting the racial segregation of schools and other facilities. On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded during Sunday School at a Baptist church. The bomb killed four children and injured fourteen. Randall writes this poem in order to describe the limitless brutality of adversaries of the civil rights movement. For example, in the very first stanza the child would rather "march the streets of Birmingham" to pursue a movement for freedom than go out to play. This unique attitude of the child portrays the irony of the situation. The child seems to have a desire to be older and more mature in order to have the opportunity to fight for her rights. In fact, the mother refers to her child as "baby" and a "little child" as if she doesn't acknowledge this shift in her child's attitude. This relates to the idea that the child is innocent and naive. She does not understand the magnitude of the situation, which is filled with "guns and jails" and "clubs and hoses". In fact, the child is described as "rose petal sweet" after her bath, which further exemplifies her innocence. The rose generally has the connotation of perfection and love. Thus, the speaker makes it seem impossible to harm such a pure child. In fact, she is described as wearing "white gloves" and "white shoes". The connotation of white is purity. This further portrays the child's innocence as an individual.

I also think that the mother is innocent through her protectiveness. First off, she does not acknowledge the fact that her child has transitioned from a "baby" to an individual that wants to pursue her freedom. However, she denies her child by claiming "For I fear those guns will fire." According to the New England Oxford American Dictionary, fire has the denotation of a fervent or passionate emotion or enthusiasm. She seems to be suppressing her child of expressing the strong emotion of equal rights by denying her from going to the march. Instead she makes her go to church, a place where she believes everyone is safe. After the explosion, the mother looks for her child in the church but cannot find her. This portrays the limitless brutality of the adversaries of civil rights. The idea that their evilness has no limits. I feel that Randall purpose describes the innocence of the mother and child to further contrast the effect of brutality on innocence. The child had nothing to do with the movement, yet she was still a casualty. I also think it is important to note that the brutality of the adversaries of civil rights completely disregarded the sanctity of church. A place used for religious worship was bombed, and this further portrays the limitless nature of brutality with regards to the civil rights movement.

Wing Biddlebaum...A Jesus Like Figure?

"Hands"is an interesting story about a former school teacher named Wing Biddlebaum who lives in Winesburg, Ohio and seems to abnormally express himself with his hands. I believe that he parallels Jesus Christ in the way that he suffers for the expression of a movement. For example, Wing Biddlebaum tells George, "You must try to forget all you have learned," said the old man. "You must begin to dream. From this time on you must shut your ears to the roaring of the voices."Similar to Jesus spreading the monotheistic belief of Christianity, I believe that Wing is trying to spread the concept of pursuing one's dreams. Through the expression of his hands, he is trying to carry a "dream into the young minds" of children. The concept of spreading his movement is further exemplified through passage that describes him as a "one of those men in whom the force that creates life is diffused, not centralized."This also relates to Jesus Christ in the way that many biblical pictures portray him as putting his hand on a child as if he was blessing them. Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myers suffers for the expression of his movement when a child becomes "enamored" of him and the whole town of Pennsylvania begins to view him as a pedophile. In fact, Henry Bradford actually began to "beat him with his fists" in response to the false notion of his pedophilia. This beating of fists is parallel to the torture that Jesus Christ went through during his movement to spread Christianity. One of the passages in the story actually seems to allude to the Roman Empire when Wing claims, "In the picture men lived again in a kind of pastoral golden age. Across a green open country came clean-limbed young men, some afoot, some mounted upon horses. In crowds the young men came to gather about the feet of an old man who sat beneath a tree in a tiny garden and who talked to them. Wing Biddlebaum became wholly inspired." This parallel to the Roman Empire helps to support the idea of Wing spreading a movement similar to Jesus Christ. In fact, Anderson seems to be playing on the word "wholly" which sounds similar to holy and further supports Wing as a Jesus like figure.

However, the experience in Pennsylvania causes him to be like an "imprisoned bird". He wants to keep spreading his movement of influencing children to pursue their dreams but is still fearful of his past experience. For example, Wing claims, "Pausing in his speech, Wing Biddlebaum looked long and earnestly at George Willard. His eyes glowed. Again he raised the hands to caress the boy and then a look of horror swept over his face. ith a convulsive movement of his body, Wing Biddlebaum sprang to his feet and thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets. Tears came to his eyes. 'I must be getting along home. I can talk no more with you,' he said nervously."Actually, his hands clenched in a fist when talking to George act as a continual caveat from his beating in Pennsylvania that he cannot spread his movement anymore to children. Even in the beginning of the story we see Wing looking through the yellow "tall mustard weeds" to the berrypickers. Tall has the denotation of a proud or confident movement, and yellow has the connotation of a warning. Thus, Wing wants to spread his movement but cannot out of fear from his past.

A Conflicted "Mother"

"Mother" is a story in Winesburg Ohio that centralizes around Elizabeth Willard and her conflicted nature. Elizabeth was once very young and "dreamed of joining some company and wandering over the world" to express her interest in stage. However, her passion for it was always neglected by her father who claims that "nothing will come of it". It is this experience that causes Elizabeth to be insecure and selfish of the success of others. For example, Elizabeth claims, "If I am dead and see him becoming a meaningless drab figure like myself, I will come back," she declared. "I ask God now to give me that privilege. I demand it. I will pay for it. God may beat me with his fists. I will take any blow that may befall if but this my boy be allowed to express something for us both." Pausing uncertainly, the woman stared about the boy's room. "And do not let him become smart and successful either," she added vaguely." It struck me as very contradictory that Elizabeth does not want her son to represent her "drab figure", but also does not want him to become successful either. It seems as though George is representative of her former self. She wants him to follow his dreams, but is conflicted because she was able to achieve success in her own endeavors to become an actress. Thus, her selfishness and motherliness conflict to cause her uncertainty. 

Anderson provides a pretty interesting metaphor for Elizabeth's conflict when he describes the relationship between the cat and Groff the baker. For example, Elizabeth claims, "For a long time there was a feud between the baker and a grey cat that belonged to Sylvester West, the druggist. The boy and his mother saw the cat creep into the door of the bakery and presently emerge followed by the baker, who swore and waved his arms about. The baker's eyes were small and red and his black hair and beard were filled with flour dust. Sometimes he was so angry that, although the cat had disappeared, he hurled sticks, bits of broken glass, and even some of the tools of his trade about."Elizabeth has tried to pursue her passion but is constantly beat down by those around her who seem to disregard her. This is why she is able to identify with the cat who tries to pursue his desire, but is also beaten down by those around him. In fact, according to the New England Oxford American Dictionary, the denotation of dust is human remains. Thus, Anderson seems to be indicating that the failure to achieve one's desire may be the cause of Elizabeth's living death. 

When Tom begins to talk to George about his future and tells him to "wake up" to become successful in the future, Elizabeth has a frightening response. She begins to have thoughts of killing Tom Willard with scissors that were held in her hand like a "dagger". After having these thoughts she also decides to take out her old theatre make up and use it. I believe that she does this because she is trying to relive her  past as an actress. In a wider scope, it represents her inability to accept her son's success without her own success. It is this contradiction that causes her extraneous behavior throughout the story. 

Tintern Abbey and Frankenstein?

In the text Frankenstein, Mary Shelley makes an allusion to "Tintern Abbey"which helps to elucidate the idea that Henry Clerval is a past version of Victor. Dejected and lonely, Victor's creature asks Victor to create a female counterpart for him, an Eve that can complement an Adam if you will. Out of fear, Victor eventually consents to the request and decides to go to England with Clerval in order to work on his creation. It is in this scene where Shelley references "Tintern Abbey" and the reader can truly see how the characteristics of Clerval help to further portray the past qualities of Victor and his change over time.

In the poem "Tintern Abbey", Wordsworth utilizes the past, present, and future to describe the substantial changes that occur between an individual and an environment over time. For example, he immediately describes the present at the beginning of the poem when he claims, "Once again do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, which on a wild secluded scene impress thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect the landscape with the quiet of the sky." He remembers the relationship between himself and the environment in the past when he describes how Tintern Abbey was related to his "boyish days". He then touches on the future by pondering over the idea that his sister will go through the same transformation that he is going through in his relationship with the environment.

I believe that Shelley alludes to "Tintern Abbey" with Clerval as a way of describing the monumental change that Victor has gone through as a result of the detriments of a pursuit for knowledge. Clerval claims, "This is what it is to live, he cried, now I enjoy existence! But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are you desponding and sorrowful" (Shelley 138). This quote sets up the current contrast between Victor and Clerval. Victor is unable to enjoy himself because of the burden that he has to make a female counterpart for his creation; however, it seems as though Clerval is enjoying himself to a a point of excessive indulgence. Before alluding to "Tintern Abbey", Clerval's interest in nature is described as an "ardent affection" so much that not even "human sympathies" were able to "satisfy his eager mind" (Shelley 139). Similar to how Victor fell into the excessive indulgence of a pursuit for knowledge, Clerval is falling into the excessive indulgence for the nature that he "loved with ardour". This exemplifies the idea that Shelley is not just commenting on the excessive pursuit for knowledge, but rather the idea of overreaching. The denotation of an overreach is an injury to the forefoot of a horse resulting from it having overreached. Maybe the death of Clerval was fitting as a warning because it metaphorically represents his "injury" as a result of having "overreached" with his love for nature. Shelley actually references a part in the poem that describes Wordsworth's relationship with Tintern Abbey in the past. I believe that she does this to portray how Victor sees Clerval as a past version of himself. To me, the "sad music of humanity" is the dangers of an abnormal pursuit of something. Shelley compares the past (Clerval) and present (Victor) as a warning that over indulging in a pursuit for something can sometimes be for the worst.