Friday, December 5, 2014

Could you write a literary analysis (not summary) of the April 1900 section of The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers? Thank you.

The April 1900 section of The Glory Field revolves around the symbolism of the Glory Field itself, which is the land the Lewis family gains after the Civil War. They have eight acres of their own to plant and sow, but it proves difficult to do so. As Myers writes, "The white people around Curry had to learn that the blacks were free, and the blacks had to learn just what being free meant" (75). It is difficult for the Lewis family to farm their own land and make a living, and whites in Curry resort to terror tactics and joining the KKK.
The land itself is symbolic of these difficulties and of the double-edged nature of the freedom black people like the Lewises experience after the Civil War. The Lewis family owns the land, but they own it tenuously. They may lose it to the bank. In spite of their difficulties, they have the joy and pride of possessing their own plot of land. Grandma Saran notes that someone from their family has been tilling the land since their arrival as slaves in America (75). Now, they own the land, rather than just working it for whites.
Like the field itself, the freedom the Lewis family has been given will take some time to bear fruit. They are still affected by racism, as the KKK carries out terrorism and the bank refuses to provide Moses and Saran with a loan. In addition, Elijah does not receive recognition for saving the life of a white person. Like the land itself, their newfound freedom is promising but will take some time to come to fruition. Therefore, the Glory Field in its first stages of planting by the Lewis family is symbolic of the family's situation in 1900.

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