The seven men approached Okonkwo who was limp in the tall tree. They took him for dead, but little did they know, he was merely testing them. As they stood talking, he had been listening to to their conversations. He heard how his own people refused to touch his "Devilish" body. It hurt him to hear such things, but most of all it angered him. As the Commisioner and his men tried to retrieve his body from the tree, Okonkwo leaped downward and with one stroke, he slashed the necks of all seven men. Afterwards, he continued down to the "white man's land" and waged his own war against the men whom he had been waiting to avenge. Throughout his life, Okonkwo remained true to his promise to never be seen like his father. He would never back down from any task, and he would never risk being thought of as a woman. He was a brave man who never ran from danger, and had no tolerance for weakness. He was Okonkwo, the strongest man in the land, and in his eyes he would remain that way forever.

After responding to three postings from the 10:00 and 1:00 classes, I learned that most people felt that it was a pretty good movie. It seemed as if they enjoyed it because it brought out several characteristics that they could relate to in everyday life. That was the one thing that stood out to me because everyone seemed to a have a childhood story that went along with something that happened in the movie which seemed to make the movie ten times more realistic and enjoyable to them.

After hearing that Frederick Douglass' second wife was a white woman I decided to ask, " Why did Frederick Douglass decide to marry a white woman?"I asked this question because he was a slave and was beaten and suppressed by white people for the majority of his life.
I typed the question into the search screen at www.yahoo.com and it gave me a ton of results. I strolled through about twelve of them before I finally found an answer. There was this one site, www.nps.gov/frdo/fdlife.htm, that gave an autobiography of his life. In the autobiography, it stated that Frederick Douglass' first wife,a black woman, represented his mother's race, and his second wife, the white woman I wanted to know about, was representative of his father's race.
I felt content with that answer because it sort of made sense to me. I could see how he could be sympathetic towards both races considering the fact that he, himself, was a mulatto child.

From the short story, "Sonny's Blues" and from reading other postings, I learned that no matter how bad things seem to be you always have the power to change the final outcome of any situation. I say that because even though Sonny had been addicted to drugs and had gone to jail becauseof it, he was able to make a positive change in his life when he got out. He managed to stay "clean" and he continued to work towards his dream until he finally accomplished it. His situation and his reaction to it could sort of serve as a type of motivation because there may be a lot of people in that same position but can't seem to find anything better because they get faced with too much opposition and negativity because of their past. However, the story about Sonny could change that because he made it through the struggle even though his friends and even his family members seriously doubted the fact that he would ever amount to anything in life, or that he would ever be able to stop using drugs. Sonny struugled quite a bit, but in the end he achieved his life's goal by becoming a musician regardless of the amount of opposition he had to deal with which proved that anything is capable of happening as long as you put your mind to it and work hard enough for it.

"... it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling."
Sure enough, that was the last time my brother, Sonny, drank from it again. No longer would he be afraid of disappointing others, or feeling discouraged because he lacked true meaning in his life.
Following that performance, Sonny was granted the opportunity to perform at the "joint" every week for a pretty good sum of money. Of course, he took advantage of the opportunity and it was there that he met his wife, the mother of his three children. From that point on, it was as if Sonny had found new life. He was a new person, and for the first time, I really understood and admired him.
It was just a few months later. I was sitting on the porch reading the paper. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I was sad, but at the same time I was overjoyed. Sonny had made it big and was moving away to launch his career and make his first record.

Hello! My name is Tracy Muse. I am 20 years old from Montgomery, Al. I attended Lanier High School, and I am currently a sophmore here at AAMU majoring in Biology with a Chemistry minor. Upon graduating from AAMU, I plan to become a Forensic Pathologist in the state of Florida or Tennessee. Overall, I have enjoyed myself at AAMU, but I have also had some bad times. Hopefully, by the time I graduate, I will have had the ultimate college experience.

"Reaction to 'Sonny's Blues"

I enjoyed "Sonny's Blues". There may have been a few points that I missed, but, for the most part, I understood the story to be about a schoolteacher's younger brother who had been arrested for his usage and/or possession of heroin. After reading about it in the paper, the schoolteacher begins to ponder how he could have missed his brother's problem, and he begins to wonder if the same thing is going on with the kids in his classroom and everyone else around him. He speaks with Sonny's old friend who only makes him more afraid for his brother. He decided to write Sonny in jail. He also allowed Sonny to move in with him following his release from jail, but he then discovers that he doesn't really know how to approach Sonny about his problem, what he's been through, or what led to it. His main concern is whether or not Sonny has or will be able to recover from his addiction.However, it is not until the end of the story that the schoolteacher realizes his brother's situation. Sonny explains to him that he wants to continue to pursue his dream of being a musician and wants him to accompany him to a show. Once he hears Sonny play, the schoolteacher realizes Sonny's pain because he can hear it in his music. It becomes obvious how much Sonny aches to become something meaningful in life without ever having to worry about letting people down or hurting them in any type of way. The schoolteacher realizes that there is really nothing wrong with Sonny, he just wants and needs a way to express himself to lighten his "load" and take some pressure off in hopes that someone will understand what he's saying withjoput ever having to speak a word.

I think that "Sonny's Blues" is very realistic. It is my very own personal belief that there are people in life, such as myself, who are not very comfortable expressing themselves verbally around others, so they find other ways to do it, whether it be through writing, singing, dancing, or anything else that can help show emotion. I think it's just a part of life, and that it has become so common that many people often recognize it in other's performances without really looking for it. It really highlights the old saying that " actions speak louder than words."