Formulate a written reaction to "Blood-Burning Moon." You may do any or all of the following: consider characterization, consider what the central conflict of the story is, consider who the protagonist and antagonist are, relate the text to the themes of the course, use elements of close reading, quote reputable outside sources, draw connections between the text and your first-person experiences, and/or react to a post that someone else made.
Your post should bring up something unique about the text that adds to what has already been posted. Please post at least 150-200 words.
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I thought Blood-Burning Moon was the typical slavery story. It was kind of obvious that Tom and Bob were going to get in a fight over Louisa. Bob Stone's name fits his character well because he was the son of the slave owner, and Stone is somthing thats hard or tough, so it makes him the one in charge. This is a clear case of enslavement because Tom and Louisa are slaves, and clearly slaves are enslaved by thier master. I thought it was a little confusing on what happend up to when Tom and Bob were fighting and Tom cut Bob's throat. Its kind of ironic because we are used to hearing that the slave owner killed the slave not the slave killed owners son, over love? Bob was embarresed by the thought of loving a negro women, he questioned himself alot but still went to her, and lost his life because of her. If a white man killed a black man what would happen back then? maybe go to jail, most likely nothing at all. Because blacks were not considered 'people'. But when Tom killed Bob he got burned probably within an hour of killing Tom. Is that right?
ReplyDeleteIn "Blood-Burning Moon" when first reading the story, it seems as though the antagonist is Tom Burwell and the protagonist is Bob Stone, or vise versa. But after thinking about it, I think that Louisa is the protagonist and both of the men were antagonists. The central conflict of the story is that two men love the same woman and they, whether for pride, lust, or for true love, end up fighting each other to win her love. Each character, however, I think has there own conflict as well; for example Louisa’s would be her incapability of coping with problems and Bob Stone’s would be his self-questionable love for Louisa. This relates to the course theme of enslavement very well. Not only can it be interpreted as the physical means of one’s enslavement as in the slavery in the story, but it can also be interpreted as the enslavement of one’s self by love, by lust, or by pride. By this I mean how in Tom Burwell’s case he seemed to be truly in love with Louisa and how in Bob Stone’s case, his showing of “love” to Louisa by going against Tom Burwell can be taken as merely his self pride getting in the way or his lust for Louisa ( pg 1274 and 1277). An example of his lust can be found right before he tries to explain to himself his feelings towards Louisa; “He saw Louisa bent over the hearth. He went in as a master should and took her” (1277). No man, whom is in love, would say that they took her; if in love one might say they wisped her away or made love to her or something of that nature. Like Kim said, Bob was embarrassed about his supposed “love” for Louisa; if he was not ashamed he wouldn’t have kept it from his parents.
ReplyDeleteBlood Burning moon is a story of two men fighting for one womens love. The conflict in the story is that two men want one girl. Another conflict within the conflict is that one is White and one is Black. While today that would not matter in the time this stroy takes place it does. Bob Stone an "anger management" white boy from a well known family is an antagonist since he struggles with another character being Tom Burwell a black boy who works in the factory with the cane. Tom another antagonist proclaims that Louisais is and when Bob hears this his blood "boils". Bob feels Louisa is his no matter how ashamed his family would be of it. Louisa seems to be the protagonist because she is the central chracter that both men are fixated on. Enslavement comes into play not only in the fact that slavery is prominent in the story being Louisa is a slave like Jill stated but in the fact that the men are enslaved in their lust for Louisa. Generally the stroy is a fight for a "forbidden" women between two men and shows the bitter outcome of it.
ReplyDeleteToomer makes his characters in "Blood-Burning Moon" pretty stereotypical. The white slave owner, and the black slave dating the pretty black girl that is in love with two men. To me this is a typical love story. It is the story of two men in love with the same woman and "dying" for her love. This could also be defined as the central conflict although as Shannon stated the conflict could also be the Black and White struggle. Whichever one you choose the conflict would still be person vs. person. The protagonist in the short story in my opinion was Louisa while the antagonist would be Tom because he was the one gunning for Bob Stone and threatening his life even when just talking to Louisa. The story is a direct reflection of the theme of the course, slavery. Tom is a legit slave and Bob Stone is the slave owner. Bob is also enslaved in his relationship with Louisa because he can tell no one and if they find out he could face death because he is a white man with a black woman during the reconstruction period. In the end both men end up dying for the woman they both love, a typical love story.
ReplyDeleteBlood Burning Moon is a story of two men fighting for a women’s affection. It was kind of obvious from the beginning that a fight would break out between the two men. Louisa doesn’t know which one to pick, therefore conflict arises! These men are at two different sides of the spectrum. Bob is white and the son of the people Louisa works for, while Tom is black and works in the fields. Throughout the story, it comes across that she is most likely going to chose Bob. He can give her the lifestyle she wants. For me, I think Louisa is the protagonist, she remains neutral and loyal to both through everything. Whereas, Tom is more so the antagonist. Tom was the one who was going around gloating to the men about how Louisa is his “gal.” Also, Tom fought Will Manning when he laughed about Louisa being his. This whole story ties in with the theme on enslavement. Obviously, the story touches upon slavery, but more so that Bob and Tom are enslaved by Louisa and their feelings towards her. Bob can’t go around and freely talk about Louisa because of the consequences. Imagine being in love with someone and have to keep it a secret.
ReplyDeleteBlood Burning Moon seemed to me like your typical slavery story. It portrayed how one race cannot have the same opportunities and rights as the other. They were always being compared to each other which caused turmoil in the end. Bob Stone was a white man who was interested in a black woman. He went far distances to see her, and had to keep her a secret because he would be looked down upon as a white man for chasing after a black woman. On the other hand, Tom Burwell is a black man who believes he is entitled as a black man to have privledges, if you will, on the black woman Bob is after. This whole conflict between Bob and Tom is over the love for a woman and how their ethnicity comes into play. It is the central conflict of the story.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to "Blood Burning Moon" was a typical slavery story. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, the story is more about two men fighting over a woman. The eventual fight between Tom and Bob was predictable from the moment Louisa was unable to choose which man she wants to be with. Bob Stone is the white slave owner who is in love with the pretty black slave Louisa and Tom is the black slave who also has feelings towards Louisa. The “love” both of these characters feel are debatable but it powers the emotions between the two characters. Bob’s love was obviously not much more than lust since he was embarrassed that he was in a relationship with a black girl. Bob and Tom end up fighting and both end up dead by the end of the story. They were both so enslaved by their feelings toward Louisa, their lack of control led to the death of both characters.
ReplyDelete-John Choquette
It is interesting that this story chooses a white man and black man to fall in love with Louisa. More so, I found it interesting yet stereotypical that Bob Stone was fearful of his family's approval of his affection towards Louisa. Like Jill pointed out, this story used the word ''take'' as to show his feelings towards Louisa. Like it was a sin to have feelings for a black woman. This story did not use more appealing words such as ''affection'' or ''make love'' to define his love for her. As a result, I would have to say Louisa is the protagonist and the men are the antagonists. Louisa causes the struggle between the men, ultimately causing them to fight for her love in the end. Because Bob Stone collapsed in the arms of the white men in town, and the viewers of the fight secretly crept back into their houses as though nothing happened, I believe this caused the death of Tom. More so, after the time of slavery, no black man would win a fight over a white male no matter the conflict.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the story it points out that they tied him to a stake and piled wood around him, as if he never existed. Next they burnt him alive and tortured him. I think this is extremely important because this would never happen to a white male during this time, no matter if he is in the wrong. Next, Louisa sat on her porch '' as if she heard no noise''. This shows to me that maybe Tom was invisible to the white people. Like he had no soul, they burnt and killed just another black man...
- Laura Conroy
I have to agree with Jill's statement that Louisa is the protagonist and the two men are the antagonist because the two men seem to be causing her trouble equally. I thought that Tom and Bob were both plan names that at times i confused who was talking or who was actually being killed. The general confit in "Blood-Burning Moon" is that the two men love Louisa. But for reason that seem to be unclear. Do they really love her whole heartedly or are the lusting over her and want to have just have sex with her? They compete for her affection to the point where they feel that it is necessary to physically fight over her to the death. Yet the story seems a bit typical Shakespeare plot that two men love one woman and the will battle each other for her and in the end no one ends up with the girl or everyone dies.
ReplyDeleteThis obviously was a slave story like everyone has already said. The forshadowing of Tom and Bob getting into a fight built a climax for the story and then ultimatley ended in Tom slitting Bob's throat. One can already assume after reading about Tom slitting Bob's throat that something terrible was going to happen to him as a consequence because he was a slave. Bob was so bent on jealousy for Louisa that he antagonized the fight that ultimatley ended with his demise. I think that in the beginning of the story where it states that, "the full moon in the great door was an omen" serves as forshadowing for what was to come as well because they burt Tom as punishment under a full moon. Also, in reference to Louisa singing songs it states that "their songs were cotton-wads to stop their ears" it seems a bit ironic to me. First, because she is a slave who picks cotton, and also because she sings to keep out the things that are said by the white slave owners.
ReplyDelete“Blood Burning Men” is a story of two men fighting for one girls love, Louisa. Louisa couldn’t decide who she wanted to be with, Tom or Bob. Bob Stone is the white slave owner and Tom is the black slave. Bob had to keep Louisa a secret because he was embarrassed since he was a white man going after a black woman but as for Tom, he was a black man who wanted to be with Louisa. This story has a lot to do with the theme slavery, that we have been discussing in class. It talks about the slave owner, the slave, their ethnicity and how they are trying to fight for a women’s love. In the story, I think Louisa is the protagonist as for Tom and Bob are the antagonist. Overall, this whole situation between Bob and Tom is over one women's love. In the end, both of the men end up dying over Louisa.
ReplyDeleteThe story Blood-Burning Moon related to the theme of the course because it is clearly a story about slavery seeing as how Louisa and Tom Burwell were slaves to Bob Stone’s parents. I think the central conflict in the story was Tom and Bob fighting over Louisa’s affection. Tom was territorial over Louisa and didn’t like hearing stories about her and Bob and how he had been buying her things, like the silk stockings and purple dress. When Tom confronts Louisa about what he has been hearing she just tells him that she doesn’t know what he means which, I think, makes her the antagonist because she obviously has some sort of relationship with Bob and is avoiding talking about it. As the story progresses Tom gets more angry hearing rumors and whispers about Louisa and Bob’s relationship until Bob and Tom meet face to face and break out into a full blown physical fight over her. I think this story says a lot about human nature because even today, men get into fights over women they like or cheating girlfriends and this story was not only published almost 90 years ago, but takes place in the time of slavery.
ReplyDeleteI think both Bob and Tom didn’t want to cause any harm, but when Tom found out that Louisa was with Bob also, that’s when all of the anger came out of Tom. Tom was angrier that the slave owner’s younger son liked her instead of anybody else in my opinion. He thought of Louisa more as a possession because he kept saying “she’s my gal.” He even knocked one of his friends down because they thought he was joking. All in all, I think they both were wrong because they fought more for pride instead of Louisa. Race could definitely also could have been a factor as to why they fought. At the end, I think what Jean Toomer was trying to get across is that violence does nothing except bring more violence. Tom getting burned was just one of many incidents that occurred in the days of slavery.
ReplyDeleteThe central conflict in "Blood-Burning Moon," is the love two men share for the same woman and the way society was back then. Tom is a black man who works in the fields and Bob is a white man who Louisa works for. At the time it would never have been accepted for a white wealthy man to date his black worker. Bob and Louisa had to keep their feelings secret from all the others. It was at night when Bob and Louisa would sneak out under the moon to see eachother, which would ironically be the place Bob would be killed. Not only do I think the conflict was over Louisa I also think it has something to do with the fact that one man was white and one was black. It was as if they were fighting for their rights.
ReplyDeleteThe story "Blood Burning Moon" involves many themes that were previously discussed in class. Slavery is obviously a huge part of this story. Tom and Louisa's parents were enslaved by Bob's parents and that plays a large role in the fight with Bob and Tom. The animosity Tom feels is undeniable, not to mention Bob is running around with his "gal". The central conflicts in this story are possesion and love. Tom saw Louisa as a piece of property and seemed to take her for granted, but when someone else crept up on his turf, the male ego came out. Whenever this ego breaks out, bad things usually and almost always occur. For instance, death and tragedy. I think that there were two antagonists in this story. The first being society and the second being Louisa. There were times when i felt bad for her, but ultimatley she made me mad. She played with two guys minds and created all the mess. Instead, she should have realized her wrongdoing and made a decision about who she wanted to be with. Jean Toomer's story, although many years ago, is still being played out today. I think the author knew that elements of this story would be relatable in the future. Men will always fight over women and women will always cause men to fight.
ReplyDelete--Scott Van Winter
In the story "Blood Burning Moon" the main theme was that of slavery. The main conflict in the story was between Bob Stone and Tom Burwell. One was a former slave owner with a lot of money and the other was a former slave trying to work for a living. The fight between the two toawrd the end of the story seemed pretty inevitable. Both men clearly felt as if they had some connection with Louisa, also a former slave like Tom. Looking back at the story you have to wonder if Bob would have approached Tom as he did if Tom was also a white man. Did Bob only feel threatened because a black man stole something that he felt he owned? I think because of the time they lived in Bob almost had to confront Tom for the sake of his reputation. Had it been a white man, we would have known if Bob truly had deep feeling for Louisa or if he only viewed her as a piece of property. When Bob came at Tom, Tom was only doing what any human would do, protecting himself; and when he wins the fight he is put to death, showing the true nature of humans at that point in time.
ReplyDeleteIs the essay tomorrow final draft or rough draft?!
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of “Blood-Burning Moon,” it seemed like a typical story about slavery. In the story, the two men fight over one woman. It seems like a typical love story with extreme racial aspects. Bob is a white male from a typical white family whereas Tom is a black slave. Both men fight for the love of Louisa, a black slave who works for Bob’s family. Throughout reading the story, my thoughts of Bob jumped around from thinking he really did like her, and then to thinking it was just an ownership thing. Someone had even said in class how Bob seemed animalistic when he went to fight Tom. In my opinion, Louisa is the protagonist and Bob and Tom are the antagonists. I think that the men are the antagonists because they are pretty much fighting for Louisa’s love and she has to pick one or the other because obviously she can’t have both. I agree with what Ty said about it seeming Shakspear-ish because someone dies.
ReplyDelete