Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Question #21

Loomis says "I just wanna see her face so I can get me a starting place in the world" (2496). What does he mean? How is this tied into Wilson's theme of identity?

20 comments:

Ashley H said...

Loomis means that his wife made his life make sense. Without his wife he doesn't really know who he is in the world. He's like a man without an identity. This ties into Wilson's theme because Wilson feels that his wife made him who he was and without her he was just another person with no purpose. She gave Loomis his identity.
Wilson's whole purpose was for people to be able to know who they are and know their purpose in life.

Ariel said...

I agree with Ashley H. Wilson's theme of identity is seen through Loomis's quest to find Martha. Martha gives Loomis his identity. Without her being by his side for so long, he has forgotten who he was or what he believed in.

Kelley Brown said...

I also agree with Ashley H. when she said that Loomis' wife made his life make sense. Loomis depended on Martha to make him whole and to give him a purpose for life. When he was taken away from her and she moved on with his life, Loomis couldn't find his purpose. In the words of Bynum,"Loomis lost his song."

J Gordon said...

I would agree what Kelly Brown said because Loomis couldn't live without his wife. Loomis's wife completes Loomis. When his wife moved away from him, Loomis didn't feel like his old self. A part of him was missing when she left.

J Gordon said...

I would agree with Kelly Brown because Loomis cannot live without his wife. His wife completes him. When she moved away from him, a part of him was taken away. Since then he didn't feel like his old self.

Anonymous said...

L'amar Greer

This quote means that finding Martha is the key to Loomis finding his own identity. Even when Seth, Bynum, and Bertha were doing there Juba dance and when Loomis was catching the Holy Ghost, Loomis says to Bynum "I'm gonna stand up. I got to stand up...My legs won't stand up". The fact that Loomis can't stand up connects to Wilson's theme of identity and Loomis's need for Martha (to help him stand up).

Oliva Whitehead said...

I agree with Ashley, Loomis was acting and feeling the way he was because his life was taken when his wife left. All he needed was to see her face and her face was the key to him being the way he was and making him whole again. Martha was half of who Loomis was and he wasn't Loomis again until she appeared.

Buschbacher said...

I understand that Loomis needed to see Martha again to complete his life, but what I dont understand is if he was going to move on in the world and not stay with Martha. From what I read, the book did not really touch on that.

Austen Wade said...

I disagree with L'amar because Loomis didn't stay with Martha after he met her again. I beleive that he wanted to meet Martha again because he wanted to let her know that he was still alive and then say goodbye. Just as Martha had given up on ever seeing Loomis again, I think Loomis also gave up on the idea of them being able to live wth each other when he found her again. I think that Lommis didn't need Martha to survive, I think that Lommis just needed to tell Martha what happend so he could move on without remorse.

Nakia Harvey said...

This means that Loomis wants to begin where he left off. The last thing Loomis could remember is his wife's face. He feels that if he starts from where he remembers he will be able to figure out where he needs to go.

Adija Brown said...

I agree with Ashley H, she made a valid point because as you can see throughout the play Loomis acts as if he cannot live without Martha. What Ashley said was also true because he doesnt want to raise his daughter by himself because she needs a woman figure in her life. Without Martha Loomis has no idenity and he needs Martha to not only complete thier family but his life.

Bithiah B. said...

When Loomis says that he just wants to see Martha's face he means that when he was with her she helped make sense of his life. When he was pulled from her he lost sense of himself. He needed closure to this chapter of his life. He wanted answers to questions that he held onto for years of his life. The theme of identity is shown by the fact that Loomis didn't find himself until he saw Martha and she told him told move on.He saw that he couldn't keep holding on to her when she wasn't holding to him. Then he found hiis true self again.

Thomas Morris said...

I agree with Ashley H. Loomis needs his wife in order to know himself. Without his wife, he lost half of himself.

Pier J. Rogers said...

From my interpretation of the play, Loomis was very dependent on Martha. She was his beginning and his end. Everytime he talked about her his world seemed to get a bit brighter. Because he was taken by Joe Turner, Martha had to move in without him because he was gone for seven years. When Loomis says this he means that she made him whole and felt incomplete as long as she was not around. Wilson's theme of identity is found here because the characters in the play indentify themselves through other people instead of by their own standards, or God's.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Bithiah. Martha was everything to Loomis and without her he felt like he couldn’t go on. Without Martha, Loomis feels like he doesn’t exist. It was like Martha was his purpose to live and without her he has no reason to live.

Takiyahallen said...

This statement means that she made him who he is, without her he doesn't feel that his life is complte because she was all that he really had. He feels that finding her will make him feel whole again as he did when he was with her. This connects ti Wilson because he felt
that without his wife he wouldn't be who he is.

Zuri Maya said...

When Loomis says that he means is that Martha holds the key to finding his idenity. Once he sees her, he feels like he will be able to get himself back ans be able to move on with his life like before they lost touch.

Zuri Maya said...

In some way I agree with Austen as well. Loomis felt that he needed to get closure by seeing Martha again. However when he saw her, I think he realized that all he needed to go on was to see her face. Loomis didn seem to want to stay with Martha. He just wanted to say goodbye to her and drop Zonia off with her mother.

Kris said...

This quote means that Loomis is loking for martha to make his life like it was before. Martha made Loomis who he was. This ties to Wilson's theme of identity because Loomis recieved his identity from Martha.

S. Tukes said...

When he says he just wanna see her face. i get that he wants to end something so that he is able to have a fresh start in his life. Seeing her face will act like the unbinding of him and his wife.