Journey into Literature
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What captured my attention and made me want to read this story was the short poem at the beginning. There is a saying, when your troubles are many, and too heavy for you to deal, give it Jesus. The Welcome Table captures the sentiment of many stories told by the older black generations that have experienced discrimination, segregation, and the one thing they held dear to them, their spirituality, especially in the south.
You experience curiosity when first reading the story, the descriptive images given of her in her Sunday best, “Long rusty dress adorned with an old corsage, long withered, and the remnants of an elegant silk scarf as head rag stained with grease from the many oily pigtails underneath” (Clugston, 2010), and the simile used to describe her facial features were compared to old Georgia dirt, weather beaten and trampled, it makes you wonder what she went through or has experienced in her life that has her looking so worn. The writer was also clear to describe the looks she was receiving from those passing her by as looking of uncaring and somewhat disgust the looks most give today of a bum sleeping on the street.
It was not revealed immediately the she had went to a church that would not accept her, and continued curiosity made you wonder why the men would not help this older, grandmother type women into the church, but instead tried to turn her away, and in speaking to her used familiar terms such as Auntie and grandma. It has been my experience that in most black churches all of the younger men are summoned to help the older women into the church, these women are given the utmost respect.
Once it was revealed that she had entered a white church, I was a little confused as to whether she knew she had entered a white church or if she went there to escape the cold. “It was cold, even inside the church, and she was shivering. Everybody could see” (Clugston, 2010).
I believe the women were a little more bother by her presence then the men, the women felt she was being too uppity even though she simply wanted to give praises to God. The writer tells how she simply ignored the stares and comments by looking at the stained glass windows, in her own world with God, and this act alone irritated the women parishioners.
The mood of the story at this point is one of sadness and outrage. Not only did they put her out of the church, by their wives insistence, but they actually threw an old woman out of the church, without care, in to the freezing cold.
The symbols given for the rest of the story indicate the strength of the soul, and the deep religious beliefs held by the old black women. Even though she lay dying in the street with no one to care or comfort her, in her mind the one person she needed and held dear to her heart came for her, where he would lead her she did not care, but she would follow without question.
I have read other black literature and this