Friday, August 10, 2012

BLOG #3: Authorship & Authority


What does it mean to be an author, to tell a story? Is the author the authority, or should the subjects have a say in their own lives? In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks writing about experiences in detail that she could neither have known about nor experienced. In the past, particularly in writings from the Anti-Slavery movement, this was a common practice, and was seen as a necessary tactic to combat the evil of slavery. However, we live in a very different world today, so, is this still fair? Or does this kind of book allow privileged outsiders to reap the benefits (this is a highly successful work) of another’s suffering?  Explain whether or not you think this kind authorship is appropriate. If yes, why? What “gives them the right”? If no, why not? Aren’t these stories important? If we didn’t hear them from these White women, would we hear them at all? 

1 comment:

  1. There is an often repeated phrase that by now must be considered a cliche, "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." Indeed one of the most apparent and fundamental problems with human psychology is the ability to forget important things. Forgetting is common, particularly when the idea or memory that is forgotten did not happen or occurred to you in the first place.

    I have never been whipped, nor have i had a family member taken away to be sold in a distant land. I have never been roused from a straw bunk and made to pick fields of cotton from before sunrise 'till midnight. Yet, I am aware that not too long ago that was the only life that some people knew. It was because of a few writers and freethinkers that I know of these things. My consciousness has been conditioned to remain vigilant for any signs of oppressive behavior. I admit however that if I am not reminded of the extends to which human greed can reach; it could be possible for me to miss or ignore circumstances which could escalate into serious threats to freedom.

    Works that reiterate the importance of remembering the injustices perpetrated in the past are necessary to every generation. It might infuriate people knowing that those who might have no real experience with the reality of their works, (other than that which is acquired by research) acquire wealth through it. This is understandable, but if such is the price to pay for the information that inspires us to vouch for civil rights and relative freedoms rather than blood. Then I will gladly accept it. If someone believes that the civil rights movement and the other countless battles for basic rights to live are over, then he or she must visit the fields of the inland empire or the mega facilities of certain corporations. Justice will die when we become ignorant of the suffering with which the countless souls that came before paid for us to know, that tyranny is blind, and always on our heels.

    ReplyDelete