Am I Blue

In "Am I Blue", by Alice Walker, Blue is representing all animals that are treated poorly. Blue lives a life in a beautiful meadow. His owner comes to see him once every few months. He is boarded with a female horse and impregnates her. You can tell by the look in his eyes that Blue is in love with her; "I forgot the depth of feeling one could see in horses' eyes." Blue's partner and unborn child are then taken away as if "they had been born into slavery." Blue galloped furiously around the meadow. "He looked always and always toward the road down which his partner had gone." When Blue came for apples he gave a look "so piercing, so full of grief, a look so humanÐ'...to think there are people who do not know that animals suffer." Blue lost all trust in humans and gave a look of "disgust with human beings, with life; the look of hatredÐ'...it gave him, the look of a beast."

"Am I Blue" would teach a lesson not only on animal rights, but also human rights. There are people who consider that animals do not have rights and that they actually want to be abused by humans. Could Blue be representing these people and animals? Yes, there are words that could be censored due to their prejudice meaning, but these words portray how Blue is feeling and by the end of the story you see just a white horse in the meadow.

"Hands", by Jonathan London is a story about the positive and negative effects of showing affection. Mr. Marlow or Ray is a poet who was imprisoned for putting his hands on a student. "It's how I am. I'm affectionate by nature." Ray gave a student a grade that he deserved rather than a grade he wanted, so the student said he was "fondled" by Ray. The school looked into his private life and found that he was living with his partner who was a man, built a case, and put him in prison. Does this mean that if a "straight" person or person of the opposite sex was to "fondle" a student they would not be punished? The boy, Lon, is taken to the hospital by his current English teacher, Mr. Hiller, (who I believe is Ray's partner) to see Ray, who is dying of AIDS. Ray later dies and Lon does a reading at his funeral service. "Ð'... Ð''Keep well, and keep on writing,' your hands on my shoulders, your fiercely warm eyes on mine, loving."

"Hands" would teach a lesson about love, relationships, and discrimination. Just because a person is homosexual doesn't mean that they want to "fondle" everyone they see. I guess showing any kind of affection towards students is out of the question these days. This story is a perfect example of why touching can be dangerous and it makes me think that it might not be acceptable to show affection towards others anymore.

"Slipping Away", by Jacqueline Woodson, tells a story about Jacina who is a young girl that is struggling with her sexuality. Jacina has a friend Maria, who comes and visits in the summer only. When the two girls are at the beach and Maria says to Jacina. "You ever want to go someplace else? Like somewhere where there are boys and not just lesbos everywhere." Jacina replies with "not really." This shows that Jacina is happy where she is and is happy with herself. She is not happy with the decision that Maria has made. "How we said we'd grow old together? Just you and me and forever and ever, amen?" I feel that she needs to take action and express her feelings or she is going to be miserable.

"Slipping Away" portrays a lesson about being your own person and being happy with yourself. Not everything is going to turn out the way you want it. Jacina does not get to be with Maria in the end because