Laura’s Comments (group member since Jul 15, 2016)

Laura’s comments from the Challenging Times Need a Book Club Up to the Challenge group.

I think one of the ideas that I picked up on is that everyone's "known" is rarely challenged. Moses's known world is the land, the lane, the Townsend property- but beyond that he is "world lost." White men's doctors were not expected to know about black people's ailments. Henry was supposed to know instinctively (according to his parents) that it was wrong to own a human being. Alice, in an interesting way, capitalizes on the fact that so few people challenge what is "known." Of course, the author is also challenging me in much the same way. I kept finding myself searching for the footnotes as I read, only to discover that the many references Jones includes are fictional. Maybe what we are so sure we "know" can enslave us, hinder us, as demonstrated in the Cosby piece as well as the novel.

I had a flashback to my early youth and watching Archie Bunker, and Archie Bunker reminded me of my grandfather. They taught me (by nonexample) to be aware of some dangerous language: us, them, all, none. The minute I begin to think in terms of a "they" an alarm in my head goes off. The minute I hear someone start talking or posting as if everyone in a group-- any group-- acts, feels, believes the same things, the alarm goes off. I'm trying to remember a time since the early 70's when the alarm was quiet for a while...