Eudora Welty Plays Jazz with Words
Powerhouse is a riff on racism, power and signifyin(g).
This shortstory told by an unreliable/white narrator delineates cultral strata:
- Reactionary Culture
- Conservative Culture
- Emergent Culture
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DANIEL WISE SAID POST ON
EUDORA WELTY'S, "POWERHOUSE"
Intro PASSAGE: Eudora Welty was born in Jackson Mississippi on April 13, 1909. She would spend most of her life and time travceling Europer and the United States. She settled in San Francisco in the 1940's She would also spend most of her life writing short stories of prose, fiction, and non-fiction. She explored the relationship between husbands and wives, children and parents, and mothers and daugters.
Basic Passage: "PowerHouse is not a show-off like the Hrlem Boys, not drunk, not crazy-- he's in a trance; he's a person of Joy, A Fanatic. He listens as much as he performs, a look of hideous powerful rapture on his face. When he plays he beats down Piano and Seat and wears them away. He is in a motion every moment -what could be more obscene?"
Correlate to Pasasge: In this passage from " PowerHouse", the author Eudora Welty uses the short story to explore the topics of racism,the Jazz Music Era, and the culture of that time. In this passage Welty states that the jazz Pianist, PowerHouse, is constantly in motion, he is not crazy or drunk like th Harlem Boys. He always attracts everything he has to the performance. The audience feels a little ashamed for him because he puts so much efforts into his music and the crowds approval. To the music which they do not approve.
How can this passage be a comedy or tradgedy?: This passge can be acomedy because he is not drunk and not crazy yet he still somehow is in a trance because of his music. But this passage can not be turned into a tradgedy because there is just too much humor involved in the way that PowerHouse plays his music.
Title: "Powerhouse"
Eduora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. Her college experience consisted of her attening Mississippi State College, the University of Wisconsin, and Columbia University. She likes to describe human sufferings within the family, and her best work is short stories.
Passage: "This is a white dance."
Correlation: Welty uses this story to branch out as a white woman writer to show sides of racism. This first sentence of the paragraph stands out and makes a huge difference. Welty is practically saying that this is a white dance and its not like the usual dance Powerhouse normally does. To me its like this is out of line for Powerhouse to be doing. This shows racism because its like Powerhouse isn't supposed to be doing this white dance because he already stands out enough or it is some kind of degrading towards whites.
Difficulties: I didn't have any problems.
Comedy: I think it is funny how Welty chooses to describe Powerhouse.
Tragedy: I don't really think there is any tragedy in this story.
'Another Kurt Cobain'. Eudora Welty is a native Jackson, Mississippian. She has written several novels, plus short stories and poetry. BASIC PASSAGE: "Powerhouse is so monstrous he sends everybody into oblivion. When any group, any performers, come to town, don't people always come out and hover near, leaning inward about them, to learn what it is? What it is?" CORRELATION: Powerhouse is so into his music it is "monstrous" and "sends everybody into oblivion". Is it dangerous to be that in to your performance/music. No focus on much of anything else, so no reality or reality check. Then your life is ruled by the music and you live or die, rise or fall by the music. It then begins to take on too much importance in your life, fame becomes too much, despite that being an unintended goal of singing and songwriting, and the next thing you know you are blowing your head off because you feel the music has gotten beyond you.(Disregard drug and alcohol usage.) DIFFICULTIES: This passage was very difficult to read; I felt it had a lot of double talk, back and forth or quick talk. Most of the passages in this short story were, it seemed, deliberately, hard to interrupt/read. TRAGEDY: The inevitable end to Powerhouse. COMEDY: The intenseness with which others outside of the Powerhouse group are about Powerhouse and his songs. Tragedy can be turned into comedy by the singers, and their fans, becoming less oblivious to what is going on around them and enjoying it more.
"Powerhouse"
Eudora Welty
About the Author:
Eudora Welty was born in Jackson Mississippi in 1909. She went to Mississippi State College for Women for only two years before transfering to the University of Wisconsin and graduating in 1929. She returned to Jackson to work at a local radio station. Her first short story "Death of a Traveling Salesemen" was first produced in 1936. She has been compared to William Faulkner although her writings contain more metaphors and symbols.
Basic Passage:
"This is a white dance. Powerhouse is not a show-off like the Harlem boys not drunk, not crazy-he's in a trance; he's a person of joy, a fanatic."
Correlation:
I would have to say that this is a great correlation to my life. I'm in a band and i dont see myself as a showoff in any terms, but i enjoy myself. I feed off the energy thats in the crowd. I don't go competely crazy but I enjoy myself and have a good time.
Difficulties: I had no difficulties at all with this.
Comedy: I love how no matter how the crowd is when he plays that he's just enjoying what he's doing
Tragedy:Just how powerhouse ends.
"Powerhouse"
Intro to Author: Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was born & raised in Jackson , Mississippi. In addition to being a talented writer, she was also an accomplished photographer. In her writings, Welty paints very descriptive pictures through use of metaphor, symbolism, & ideas from her Southern heritage.
Basic Passage: "Powerhouse is not a show-off like Harlem boys not drunk, not crazy - he's in a trance; he's aperson of joy, a fanatic."
Correlation: In this passage the author is showing that Powerhouse isn't trying to offend anyone with his actions on stage. He is just following his connection to the music. He gets lost in his music.
Many performers feel this way.
Difficulties: I had no problems.
Comment on vcguitarist's post:
I totally agree with this response. Welty's description fully conveys the idea that Powerhouse has no control over how he acts while performing.
"Powerhouse"
Eudora Welty
A. Welty was a Mississippi native who attended multiple colleges and traveled all over the U.S. She's written many types of literature including short stories, poetry and even novels.
Basic Passage: "This is a white dance."
Correlation: It seems to me that maybe this story is an attempt to show people a different side of the race fence so to speak. This line and the one right after it shows a little racism. It compares his show to the Harlem Boys. By "white dance" she means that the people are not really getting into the music very much. This I have experienced first hand. Many times when my band is playing people will just kind of chill in the crowd while others are really getting into it. Then there are times where everyone is really just feeding off your energy and then you in turn give it back and then the concert is amazing.
Comedy: The excitement of the crowd listening to the music.
Tragedy: Might be for the band because no one is getting into their music.
"Powerhouse"
Eudora Welty was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She attended Mississippi State COllege for Women and transferred to the University of Wisconsin. She has written numerous short stories that have been widely anthologized, translated into various foreign languages, and dramatized on Broadway and on television.
Passage: "This not marks the end of any known discipline. Powerhouse seems to abandon them all-he himself seems lost-down in the song, yelling up like somebody in a whirlpool-not guiding them-hailing them only."
Correlation: In this passage the writer describes the entrancement of music. Powerhouse is enjoying the music, feeling each note as it is played and getting caught up in the rhythmic pattern of each song. Powerhouse shows his soul through his music and he his entrancing the people that are watching because he is so emotionally tied to these songs.
As a performer, one of my biggest goals when learning a piece is to find an emotional connection to the song. When you have this connection to the song you can then connect with the audience and tell your 'story'.
Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
"Powerhouse"
BACKGROUND: Eudora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. She attended Mississippi State College for Women for two years later transferring to the University of Wisconsin, and Columbia University. Welty is often compared to Faulker for her metaphoric language and lyrical short stories.
BASIC PASSAGE: "This is a white dance."
CORRELATION: As we discussed in class, the "white dance" refers to how the people in the crowd are behaving. Welty is making a reference to "white" people as being solemn and not reacting to the music that POwerhouse is providing. Most performers feed of the audiences' attitudes. Using "white dance" as an example, the audience is just staring aimlessly and not giving Powerhouse anything to work with.
DIFFICULTIES: I had no difficulties with the story.
TRAGEDY: The tragedy is how Powerhouse ends.
COMEDY: The comedy is how Powerhouse always enjoys what he's doing no matter how the audience is acting.
u"Whoa."
Author
Eudora, Welty is a Mississippian born in Jackson. She is a very southern writer. She attended Mississippi College for Women and later transfered to the University of Wisconsin where she graduated in 1929. Most famous work was "Death of a traveling salesman." Not only was she a writer but she was also a very good photographer.
Basic Passage
"He listens as much as he performs, a look of hideous powerful rapture on his face. When he plays he beats down Piano and Seat and wears them away. He is in a motion every moment -what could be more obscene?"
Correlate
Eudora, being a white woman has never seen anything like Powerhouse. Usually rapture would be a good thing- a look of overwhelming joy on his face...not exactly hideous. It appears so hideous to the woman because it is just totally foreign to her. She has never seen a black man act this way... "He is in a motion every moment -what could be more obscene?"" Like we discussed in class she is used to quiet, humble black men but not Powerhouse. Powerhouse is a performer. "He listens as much as he performs" jsut as any great performer does, feeding off the energy of his audience, making sure he isn't leaving them behind. The way Powerhouse is acting seems rediculous to her but she just does not understand apparently. Its like signifyin.. like a secret code that only Powerhouse and his followers can understand. To be honest I feel the same way about rap music as the woman in this story feels about Powerhouse. I know there is language in rap that I as an outsider do not understand and the constatnt rapping about cars and clothes and jewels and stuff... maybe I'm missing out on something... Like the songs slaves used to sing on plantations about going to heaven but they were really talking about just getting up North. Or maybe rap artists (if you can call them artists) rally are just incredibly shallow.
Difficulties
I'm good
Comedy
Powerhouse is enjoying and expressing himself in a non harmful way and bringing joy to those he entertains
Tragedy
The tragedy is that Powerhouse's actions are taken by the woman as being hideous and obscene when Pwerhouse just wants to get down
Title: Powerhouse
Author: Eudora Wetly was an American writer and photographer from Mississippi. Her photography career consisted of working for the WPA in the 30s, taking pictures of various economic and social classes. Her literary work followed the same themes.
Basic Passage: "When he plays he beats down piano and seat and wears them away. He is in motion every moment-what could be more obscene?"
Correlation: From my music class this semester, I think that Wetly writes about a typical response to new music. It seems as if the first time some creative mind comes up with a new musical style or philosophy it is "obscene." We can see this at the earliest as the Church of the Middle Ages takes years to begin to adopt instruments into songs because that is for "commoners". Fast forwarding to the 20th century, Elvis Presley couldn't be shown on TV from the waist down because his dancing was 'obscene'. Introduction of rap music had people saying it was too violent and that it wasn't musical at all. Powerhouse was criticized because he beat on the piano in a way that was unheard of. Also, the fact that the piano is a classical instrument probably added to people's offense. But the observation that Powerhouse is fully of joy while playing should speak equally as loud as the notes he's playing. I think that a proper response to any new artistic form should first be examined and appreciated before denouncing it.
Difficulties: none
Comedy: Powerhouse enjoys his music and maybe one day the narrator will as well.
Turn to a tragedy: If powerhouse was made to play some classical piece he didn't like so the crowd would like the performance.
“Human”
Author: Eudora Welty was born and spent most of her life in Mississippi (Jackson). She worked as a photographer during the Great Depression, for which she is still remembered, but soon left it and took up writing. Although she is most recognized and praised for her work in short stories, she wrote several books. She received the O. Henry Memorial Prize for short stories in 1942 and 1943, having won second prize in 1941.
Basic Passage: “marvelous, frightening” / “a look of hideous, powerful rapture” / “starting up and pouring it out in the greatest delight and brutality” / “When somebody, no matter who, gives everything, it makes people feel ashamed for him”
Correlation: I think everyone has a bit of a musician in them, including our narrator. This is why a white narrator can be so two sided about Powerhouse. Is he brutal, or is he delightful? Well, both. People can appreciate the passion he has for his art, but not everyone can understand it the way he can. But another question could be raised: Is he brutal because he’s black, or because he is “new age”? Again, both. This story is full of contradictions, but depending on how you look at them, all equally applicable, from the race standpoint and the cultural one. The fourth quote I chose could be an explanation of why he draws such a crowd when no one likes his music: the by-stander. It’s what makes people slow down to look at a car accident, or see video of a plane crash. It is also the attraction we commoners have to people of fame. The need for every detail of their lives: what they’re wearing, who they’re sleeping with, why they died? It happens occasionally with stories, and sometimes with movies I think, but people love to build up a character and then watch him fall from grace in the most “crash and burn” way possible. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s just human nature, and I think that’s what this story is about: raw, basic human behavior, whether it be in race, culture, music, or anything else.
Tragedy: I think the tragedy is that most people think of human nature as a horrible thing to be changed, or a scapegoat for the bad things that happen. But if human nature was bad, why hasn’t it changed?
Comedy: The comedy is that this story is written in a way that any person of nearly any belief or background can find something in it.
"Powerhouse"
Eudora Welty
Title: “Match book with one match left.”
Author: Eudora Welty was an award-winning author who wrote about the American South. She was a native of Jackson, Mississippi and her first short story, Death of a Traveling Salesman, was published in 1936. She had written many different forms of literature including short stories.
Basic passage: “This is a white dance.” “Powerhouse is so monstrous he sends everybody into oblivion. When any group, any performers come to town, don't people always come out and hover near, leaning inward about them, to learn what it is? What it is?”
Correlation: By the white dance I think that it is a way of standing by and letting the good times pass you by. The way that stuck up people will stand there and just watch the performers and not give any sort of response that the music is affecting them. The way that the story seems like it’s based on a song is interesting since even during intermission you still feel like it is part of a song. The way that makes it interesting is the way that it draws you in and makes you feel like you are a part of the band and get to experience what their lives are like. Since people don’t usually come out to see the show it makes it the best way that Powerhouse can spend his live…..being a local legend.
Difficulties: No difficulties and the way that it is a comedy is the way that the band sort of acts like student in a class when the teacher leaves and they seem like a family. The tragedy is that some of the people listening to the music will only let life pass them by and never experience the joy the music can bring.
Author: Born 13 APR 1909, Welty is from Mississippi, but made her way to San Fransisco in the 1940's. She was a professional writer of short stories.
Basic Passage: "This note marks the end of any known discipline..."
This sets the mood for the narrators observations. It seems throughout the narration that the narrator is heavily focused on the unconventional, rythmic, disorderly, fantastical conduct of the performance. It is obviously a Jazz performance, which is indicated through the story as a whole. In the time and place it was written, Racial issues meant that Jazz was looked down upon by many white people (as I believe the author is) the wya Hip Hop culture is looked down upon today. Whether the narrator is approving or disapproving is slightly ambiguous.
Comedy: It seems to be that Powerhouse is reaching great success, inspite of people not liking his music...Kind of like modern day Eminem.
Tradgedy: Some people miss out on or fail to appreciate art because they don't like the culture it came from.
Title: PowerHouse
Edudora Welty
Welty was born and raised in Jackson, MS., were she attended MS State college for Women for 2 years and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin. Her writing displays a stong sense of place. Her writings reveal the sharp eye of a painter or photographer, displaying, an acute sense of light, color, and atmospher.
Basic Passage:
"he's in a trance; he's a person of joy, a fanatic."
Correlation:
This to me describes performers. Anyone that is on stage singing, dancing, reading poetry, even on a field playing a sport, you are not always yourself. You get this energy and you can do stuff that your normal self probably wouldn't do.
Difficulties:
None
Tragedy: It ends.
Comedy: He enjoys what he does and it shows.
I agree with what vcguitarist said. There are times when performing that the adrenaline gets to you and you can lose yourself and for a time become someone your not normally.
I agree with sasuke. The way the white people, or the conservative people, are so close-minded to new things means that they are losing experiences that they might enjoy. They are missing out on their lives because they can't handle change.
I agree with Brett. When we as people see new things we don't understand, they tend to intimidate us. Like you said about Elvis, everyone was disgusted with him but now he's known as the king of rock n' roll and has influenced countless musicians.
i'd just like to agree with vcguitarist's post. I think from a listener's perspective, it is so much more entertaining to hear someone play who is obviously enjoying themselves. Otherwise you might as well be listening to a CD. I like how Powerhouse was enjoying himself and I think that was a huge part of his popularity.
I agree with KNW. When you are a perfomer or you play sports you get a sort of rush from it. As a performer you may deliberately exaggerate in order to make yourself more entertaining just as Powerhouse did.
Responding to Sasuki...I agree with the whole thing about "white dance". In modern terms I see it as one "acts white" by not "shakin it" "in da club"...Another person I know described the way a lot of people act in places like Seven and Atlantis as "turning into a n***** every time rap music comes on".
Not being a singer or in any way, ever, connected with a band, I have to look elsewhere for inspiration to feel so passionate about. Could it be the Mother in me, or perhaps the RN in me-I think Mother. I am very passionate about my Son, in fact I think the sun rises and sets on him. He is now 18, as of last Tuesday, the 6th, and I am not really needed by him; actually it has been that way for a while. I have put a lot of time into my Son, and will continue to do so, but the actions will change now because that is what is required of me, as Mother, now. I see that my actions of devotion are no longer needed, or required by him, but the love and the feelings will remain the same. I now have to move on from the tunnel vision of him, but continue with the love and support of him.
I am commenting on KNW's response. I compeltely agree with his response. Me being in a band i see this first hand. I compeltely feed off the audience; just as the audience feed off of me. The more I get into the music the more the audience does. It feels you with this adrenaline rush like none other. It is an amazing experience
I agree with Brett's comment. I can definitely see how this type of music is really new to the audience. They seem in awe and shock how he is performing on stage but at the same time they seem to enjoy his music. It's funny how new things and change always seems to scare people at first.
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