frustrated
befuddled
appreciative
"The rules that governed race relations were written down nowhere, but you were supposed to know them anyway." (76)
This line haunts me. Not because it was true (as it was), but because the line does not say: The rules that governed race relations WERE NOT WRITTEN down… It says: The rules that governed race relations WERE WRITTEN down nowhere…
I'm not an english scholar (nor studied english in college) so I don't know what this structure is but it has gripped me. The rules not being written down but still existing and being followed is one thing, but one thing that leaves the possibility for one not knowing, or missing, or not applying…because the are NOT written down.
But WERE WRITTEN down NOWHERE. Nowhere is somewhere. Nowhere exists. You can not deny the rules, ignore the rules, or not apply the rule because the are written down…even if nowhere.
'"The rules that governed race relations were written down nowhere, but you were supposed to know them anyway." (76)'
ReplyDeleteYes, this line really haunts me too, Darin. What really freaked me out is how this kind of madness is learned--especially the "Alabama" school book. It's insane how it's permeated to children from adults and how it takes hold in the minds of people like an infection.
Thank you for your thoughts, always, Darin! ~m
yes, but what about the other feelings...more more more.
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You're right Darin, it's such an interesting play on negation. It is in fact so purposeful it's hard not to notice that she is bringing such attention to it. It isn't that they were not written, it was that they were written down in this place called nowhere. It's almost as if she is suggesting the harshness of race relations were written down and kept hidden in some secretive governmental way... Freedom of information? Anyway, thanks for pointing out that haunting diction.
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