BLOOD-BURNING MOONHello students,
Please post your 1-2 paragraph response to ONE of these questions BEFORE Wednesday, April 7.
1. Describe Louisa's character; whom do you think she loved and what in the text leads you to think that?
2. Describe Bob Stone -- how does he fall into a stereotype -- what is the stereotype? (We discussed this in class -- continue the discussion)
3. Whom do you most feel sorry for in the story? Who is the victim here and why?
Also, please have your revised papers complete and stapled -- I will collect them in Monday's lecture. If you run into a problem -- please contact me in writing before Monday or else it will result in a zero for the paper.
Enjoy the long weekend!
RD
In “Blood Burning Moon” Louisa’s character is a tricky one to figure out. In the very beginning of the story it is stated that there are two men who love her, Bob Stone, and Tom Burwell. There is a predicament though. Tom Burwell is a black man who works in the fields, as Bob Stone is the son of her slave owners. It is hard to tell whom she really loves from the beginning text that is given to you. She has interest in both men, but thinks that a relationship with Bob Stone will eventually lead to more freedom, and a chance to get away from her current poor way of living. But does she love Bob? Or does she just love the idea of having more freedom.
ReplyDeleteToward the end of the story, it comes to Bob’s attention that Tom Burwell has been seen with Louisa after she arrived home. If Louisa really loved Bob, would she have gone off with Tom, a man she previously had feelings for? This obviously makes Bob angry, as he states, “No nigger had ever been with his girl.” That is why I think that Louisa does not love either of the men. She may have feelings for each of them, but what she really loves is the idea of escaping poverty, and that is why she really chose to be with Bob.
In "Blood-Burning Moon" there are a lot of events that are sad and heartbreaking which occur over the love for one woman. With this love triangle comes anger which can cause many problems such as, jealousy and rage towards one another. The person in this story the whom i feel the most sympathy for is Tom Burwell. I feel the most sorry for Tom because all of his actions were him trying to protect himself from Bob Stone. For instance, in the story it discusses how Bob got angry and tasted Tom's blood on his lips, because Louisa was with Burwell. This lead to Bob going down to the fields and lashing his emotions out on Tom, and the only thing Tom did to protect himself was to slit Bob's throat. However, once the rumor was out that he cut Bob, Stone's friends came and retaliated by burning Tom in the fire. Therefore, i feel that Tom is the victim in this story because even though he "threw the first punch" there was no need for him to be killed because he was defending himself and the woman he loved, Louisa.
ReplyDeleteI read the story a second time and can now realize Bob Stone's character. I was fooled at first by the way he described Louisa, “She was lovely — in her way. Nigger way. What way was that? Damned if he knew," I thought that his feelings toward her were not that of lust but of love. I can now see that Bob's feelings towards her were strictly for dominance prepossess. He knew that what he had was a strange relationship, black man and a white woman, and loved that peculiar feeling, the lust was what kept his feelings level. Bob Stone is the white man stereotype for having a master’s outlook toward Louisa. He views her through lust, not only because it is different to 'love' a black woman, but he also sees competition in the form of Tom. When the two get into a fight I noticed that the rage and the blood shed from Tom, was the honor of fighting for the girl he loved. On the other hand, the blood shed from Bob was the blood of a possession (Louisa) slipping from his fingertips.
ReplyDeleteIn "Blood Burning Moon," the person who seems most likely to be the best candidate for victim would be the character of Tom Burwell. Tom was a hard worker out in the fields all day and had little time for his own interests and pleasures. He loved Louisa dearly but because of his work ethic he rarely if ever had time to show his love for her. He was self-conscious of his own being as seen by the quote on page 1274 that states, "Strong as he was with hands upon the ax or plow, he found it difficult to hold her. Or so he thought." Tom does not have too much confidence in his own being and in turn can not express truly his feelings of love for Louisa. When Tom is attacked by Bob Stone, Tom is held at fault for merely protecting himself because of his race. In all aspects of the story, Tom Burwell is obviously the victim of racial behavior as well as his hopeless love for Louisa who he clearly has genuine feelings for.
ReplyDelete"Blood Burning Moon" is a story about a girl who is poor and poverished and is oppotunistic. She has two men that seem to be in love with her and she played them like a fiddle. Bob Stone, a stero-typical slave owners son chasing after a girl because she is differnt and he can get away with it. I think that he is doing this to say to black men," well take your woman and anything else we would like." Tom our hard working farm hand seems genuinly in love with Louisa but is not as wealth as Bob.Tom is our victim because of how Louisa is using him but, Louisa and Bob both deserve each other since they are using each other to achieve something.They both are selfish because no price is too high to get what they want even at the cost of a life.
ReplyDeleteTom is the victim in the story, "Blood Burning Moon". Bob Stone's infatuation with Louisa is strictly a dominance thing, lust. Tom seems to genuinely have feelings for Louisa. He noticed Louisa years ago, before she developed into a women. While I do find that to be odd, that a grown man would develop feelings for a very young girls, it's not unheard of. But in any case, Bod Stone even remarks that Louisa was "lovely-in her way" What exactly does that mean? This remark shows that his feelings are merely physical. Louisa is aware of her charms and toys with Tom. I think she sort of likes the attentions she's getting.
ReplyDeleteIn "Blood Burning Moon" the characters Tom Burwell, Bob Stone, and Louisa fall into a love triangle that results into a tragic loss. Despite the deaths of both men for the desire of having one woman, the character I feel worse for is Louisa because in the end she was left with either one to love and probably stood traumatized when mentioned on page 1279,"Louisa,dazed,hysterical..slipped,crumbled her body...against the woodwork...", as she witnessed both men murdered and lynched. She was a victim in this story because she had little to no control of the situation. Both men had a kind of obsession over her and all Louisa could do is accept it; simply enjoy the attention. In the end Louisa felt like she was to blame and demonstrated denial when said on page 1280, "Perhaps Tom Burwell would come", as if he were not dead.
ReplyDeletein the story, i feel the most sorry for Louisa. First of all, she has two men fighting over her..and thats annoying...who does she pick? She's a very light skineed black woman, so does she pick the black man or the white man? And what will her family think? What will the mans family think? Louisa must already have a hard time as it is in her town with all the talk of racism and hatred. And now she has to pick between the two colors of really herself. Although Louisa IS an African American woman, i feel like that is what Tom and Bob represent, the white and the black within Lousia, and it's like she has to pick which one she wants to be.
ReplyDeleteIt must be terribly difficult to fall for someone that you work for. Louisa COULD be in a relationship with Bob, but it would be very difficult. He has to treat her like a wife, but around his family, he has to treat her like a servant, and that must make Louisa feel terrible. But now, she has to pick between Tom and Bob. It seems like a sticky situation to be in.
Generally, everyone are responsible for their own actions because they have a choice. Conflicts (self gratification/desires, race, social status) have a source and fuel (ego) to keep it going (burning). Who is to be blamed for what happens? Inevitably, there needs to be someone to place fault on to have a source. Each character have a choice on how to conduct themselves, but they choose to react on impulse rather than rational because they have a personal gain.
ReplyDeleteLouisa's character is self absorbed. She loved herself more than anyone else. Her main concerns are how to make her life better (social status) by any means necessary. By leading Tom and Bob on; she knows they will do anything (risk) for her, using her body as incentive for men are weak to physical fixations. "Her mind was vaguely upon them as she came over the crest of the hill, coming from the white folk's kitchen...Separately, there was no unusual significance to either one...But for some reason, they jumbled when her eyes gazed vacantly at the rising moon."
(Louisa is trapped in both worlds; white and black; flip a coin to decide where to go.)
(The gazing at the moon represents something terrible is going to happen. Like a witch that can predict the fate of the two men.
....they jumbled when her eyes gazed vacantly at the rising moon could mean she has a spell on them to behave like animals; fighting over her, known to the entire town.) Her motives could be, if the town knows a white man is fighting a black man for her; it means a great deal therefore many things changes rapidly for her.
The person I feel bad for is Louisa because it feels as though she is the ultimate victim. She can in her own sense feel responsible for Tom's death due to being thetrigger for Bob to have him killed. She also does not have true love returned to her because Bob sees her more as properiety or her love is his birthright and not genuine kindness and affection. On top of that she was given a glimpse of what was going to happen through the omnious of the moon and even though she sang her best to try to prevent it she was in the end powerless to stop the terrible events that were to occur. So in the end Tom is dead so he can not feel any mor pain and Bob has what he wants and is not held responsible for instigating the Death. However, Louisa stills suffers without true love and at the samr time dealing with the guilt of the murder of another person.
ReplyDeletecontinued...(The whole blood scene is about victory. You can taste it. Winning the battle but not the war, was the moral of the story for the men.)
ReplyDelete3.The Person that I feel most bad for is Tom Burwell. I feel like he truly had feelings for Louisa but he had such a slim chance with her since he was basically competing with Bob Stone, who was white and could give Lousia what ever she wanted. I feel like Tom's only way to fight for her was violently because he clearly had no education and never anytime to really go over to her and try to win her over. I also feel like Tom has a huge disadvatadge not only for his chances of being with Lousia, but also because he is black -- in a racist, slave owning time period. The fact that all of the town immediately went to kill Tom after he had killed Bob shows that he never had any chance to even say that he was defending himself because Bob came to him saying that Lousia was his girl.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Louisa is the victim in the story "Blood Burning Moon". She becomes an object in the story, something that Tom and Bob fight over. She feels for both men and yet her affections are never truly returned by either men. She also has to face a cruel reality of racial inequality. The relationship with Bob Stone that she desired, even if he returned her feelings, would be nearly impossible given the attitudes towards interracial relationships. On top of all of this, she now has the guilt of Bob Stone's death on her conscience, as well as the inevitable death that faces Tom for killing a white man. In the end, she will suffer the most.
ReplyDeleteIN the story "Blood Burning Moon," I personally was not a fan of the character Louisa. She was too indecisive of a person. IN the story, it states that two men are currently in love with her. One, a blackman working in the fields named Tom BUrwell. And the other, the son of her slave owners, Bob Stone. THroughout the story, she leads these two gentlemen on. She states that she has more of a future with Bob Stone.... but you then find out she has been seen with Tom Burwell several times. If Bob is the one she has the future with, what is she doing with this other guy? Her indecisiveness leads me to believe that she is somewhat of a s elf absorbed human being. Ultimately I believe she made the choice to stay with Bob due to her social standing in society. Her main focus was to make it out of poverty and to please her piers. SHe is a person who cares too much about what other people think. I believe that she was thinking with her head and not her heart throught the story.
ReplyDelete