Summary on readings - Essay Example

Kidnap Poem This intriguing poem by Nikki Giovanni offers a unique and chilling perspective of being kidnapped if the kidnapper were a poet. The kidnap victim would become the subject of a poem as they are placed “in my phrases and meter.” Giovanni’s idea of kidnapping someone for the sake of a poem sounds more like a romance in the making than a legitimate kidnapping. The victim would be taken to either to Jones Beach, Coney Island, or to Giovanni’s house. Kidnap victims are seldom treated to such beautiful, romantic places.

Then the doting poet would shower their victim with lilacs, run with them through the rain, and roll around with them on the beach – all the makings of a love story. Indeed, Giovanni believes that their victim on the beach would complement the poet’s vision. Giovanni would play the lyre for their victim in an attempt to win them over, and even show them off to her mother. In Giovanni’s eyes, to make a poem out of a kidnapping, show would have to show her victim love. My Dungeon Shook/Dear James James Baldwin begins his letter to his nephew by telling stating that it took him five tries to perfect his letter.

This suggests either unsureness in his words, a reluctance in writing to his nephew, or just the inability to properly relay what he feels. James then compares his nephew to his father, or James’ bother. His nephew reminds him of the tough and vulnerable nature that his father exhibited. He also attempts to compare his nephew to his grandfather but is unable to find similarities. The grandfather had collapsed under the lies of the white man that he was the definition of what the world knew as a nigger.

James encourages his nephew never to let that word break him and that it really is just a lie. He wants his nephew to know this because he loves his nephew, and his love is something else that he does not want his nephew to forget. James shares with his nephew how he knew his father for their entire lives. As the older brother, James watched his little brother go through every stage of life. When he looks into his brother’s face, he sees the faces that he had grown into and then grown out of over the course of his life as though he were a living scrapbook.

James even sees memories in his brother’s faces that he doubts his brother even remembers, like the time when his brother fell down the cellar stairs. James remembers it all, even when his brother does not, because he had been there to witness his brother go through life. More than anything, James knows “what the world has done to my brother and how narrowly he has survived it.” He acknowledges that his fellow men are in the habit of destroying lives and will continue to do so in a domino effect of human nature.

James reminds his nephew that most of mankind is guilty for their own acts of destruction, but that does not mean that all of mankind shares in this guilt. The letter continues with James pointing out that his nephew was born into a world that was not much different from the world one hundred years ago – a world that did not look with favor on people who were not white of skin. James reveals the purpose of the letter, which is to teach his nephew how to handle such a world without losing himself.

Part of James’ reassurance is that his nephew’