In the very beginning of the book when she (Dorothy Allison) and her class get “a substitute teacher right put of college and full of ideas”(pg7). I was extremely intrigued by these four short paragraphs. I felt it set a tone for what was to come with further reading.
I will start backwards and bring light to the symbolic use of a magazine. When the class was asked to makes family trees, the teacher states “cut pictured out of magazines to represent people- anything you like”(pg8). This project was assigned because of the up roar thy was cause by watching the news and having to write a report. Instead of watching the news and being shown the realism of life, the children had to make family trees and could use magazine images to “makes something your families are going to want to keep”(pg8). A magazine is commonly known as a false and idolized representation of men and women. This use of a magazine symbolizes falsehood. I think this reinforces how Dorothy was forced to view her family structure while he was younger. To always make things look okay in images whether or not it is true. And I believe this stands true with the images Dorothy use within the book. Though the images portray women strong and smiling, the words we read are much different. And in historical context the magazine images are nothing like the people of Birmingham and Little Rock. While the country was in turmoil in which these children would eventually be warped into, they were making family trees of magazine images.
I didn’t see that while I read it, but you have a really good interpretation of the text. I do believe that the point of starting the memoir with this part was because it represents how even the teachers in her school wanted to sugarcoat the way life was there. They wanted the children to somehow create this idea of family, which would symbolize where you come from and what you will be; your roots. But not consisting of the whole truth but to be covered with fantasy of magazine pictures.
I apologize for all the typos!
I thought it was very interesting. The idea of the young teacher and young educated mind had her ideas and ways of teaching oppressed because of the school district. I think that this could be argued as a analogy of the government over the people at this time in history.
Also there is another time when a magazine is stated on page 33. “Wide hands marked workhorses with dull hair and tired eyes, thumbing throug magazines full of women so different from us they could have been another species.”
This is a very interesting scene to focus on, Meghan! I think you are absolutely right that this is making some claim about appearances versus reality.