Book portfolio - Art of the lathe

The Art of the Lathe by B.H. Fairchild is a book of poems that take place around the great depression era. B.H Fairchild's had a different way of looking at things than most people. He looks past the exterior and sees what is really going on, what people are really like. He talked alot about how things arent always what they seem like. Something may seem bad or gross or tough at first glance without much thought but a closer look it proves to be something different. This theme is in history during the slavery in America.
The theme thoughout the book is realitivly the same. In one poem B.H. Fairchild talks about cigarettes. They are gross and bad for you and everyone knows this, but to the perosn that smokes them its all the memories they've had. Every time they need something to do take their mind off things they smoke because smoking to them is like looking at a scrap book. this is one of the memories in the poem," Or at the beach, minute flares floating in the deep dark, rising, falling in the hands of aunts and uncles telling the old stories, drowsy with beer, waves lapping the sand and dragging their voices down.". In another Poem he paints this picture of a tough looking guy, who gets in fights and drinks beer every night. Then it tells of how this man stays late at work to make sure everything is perfect, how he puts a towel on his head and dances with his lady griend in the kitchen. This guy seems tough and mean, but when you take a closer look you see that he is hardworking, loving and funny. These are qualities that yo would never see in him.
In america slavery was a huge problem. Everything about it was terrible, people were beaten often, had horrid living conditions, the food was scarce and they were forced to work all day. In genral People agree the slavery is bad, But in some cases the slaves referred to this time as " the good ol' days". As slaves, in some cases, had better clothes, better food and were happy. After they were freed they had a worse time than when they were slaves. They didnt have a job, werent eating well, didnt have good clothes. they also had to deal with the extreme racism in the south. Slavery was bad but in these peoples cases they had a better life when they were slaves. this is a side that we rarely hear about when talking about slavery in america.
These poems really show how poeple feel about things. People may show one thing but feel or think another. For example, Slavery was a bad thing and we, as americans, are still dealing with the effects of it, but some people it was the best time of their life. These poems show insight about how these people felt about being a slave and slavery.
Finally, these poems show the reader different ways of looking at things, to never take things a face value and the everything in life is not simple. These are important because it makes you look a little closer at stuff and to make you a little more independent. The themes in this book are important in history because everything in history you can;t take at face value, not everything in histroy is absolute fact, this aplies to life aswell. this was a good book i would reccomend it to anyone looking for a better hold on things going on around them.