A Mason-Dixon Memory, by Clifton Davis is about himself going to a fund-raiser campaign where he hears about the story of Dondre Green, a golf player who gets excluded during a golf tournament because he was African American. If the team wanted to play, Dondre couldn’t play. But, if the team leaves, they forfeit the tournament. But, everyone supported Dondre and agreed that they would leave. From that, Davis, who was the narrator, remembers his own story of when he was going on a school trip in eighth grade. He had spent all his money for the trip to Washington D.C and an amusement park, only to find that he couldn’t go to the park because there was an imaginary line called the Mason-Dixon line that separates the south from the north. Because the amusement park was south of the line, he couldn’t go because he was African American. But, eleven other people supported Davis, even though they might not be friends with him and didn’t go either, just like Dondre and his teammates.
Racism is usually known and acknowledged, and the difference makes things a lot harder for some. While a lot of people already know that racism is there, there are still some cases where one doesn’t realize that racism can impact them more. In Dondre’s experience, he already knows there is racism and that it can impact him because he is African American. But, what he doesn’t know is that even the golf club doesn’t allow African Americans, which caused the team to choose between a tough decision. One might not know that they are being impacted before they actually learn about it or experience it themselves. In Davis’s story, he doesn’t know about the Mason-Dixon Line and how it affects things. He couldn’t go to the amusement park only because it was south of the Mason-Dixon Line. He couldn’t go to the amusement park with his friends just because of the Mason-Dixon Line that he couldn’t do anything about. Sometimes, there are things that one can’t change, all because of racism and biased perspectives. One might already know the condition of something, but sometimes they might never know the things that happen because of it.
Racism isn’t the only thing that can make a big difference, friendship also can. Friendship can make impacts just like racism, but only in a positive way rather than a negative way and causing harm to others. In Dondre’s story, his team had to come down to the decision of either going and not having him play or leaving and forfeiting the tournament. Although many of them wanted to play, they showed friendship and supported Dondre. So, all of them decided to leave and rather forfeit than watch a teammate being excluded. Friendship is the benefit one gives another although they have to sacrifice a lot of themselves to do so. In Davis’s story, although everyone wanted to go to the amusement park and play, Davis couldn't. After telling his friend Frank, he also decided not to go. So, in the end, eleven white boys, some of them not even friends with Davis, stood up for him and decided that they wouldn't go. One doesn’t necessarily have to be friends with another to be friends; friendship can start from anywhere with anyone. The impacts of friendship, although sometimes not very obvious, can be very touching and brighten one no matter how bad they felt before.
A flashback in a story creates a sense of reminiscence when going back in time to another past moment. A flashback is when the story diverts from the present or what’s happening at the moment, and instead goes back in time to something that already passed. When Dondre was telling his golf story, the narrator, Davis, flashbacks to his own time when he had the same experience. Since Dondre’s story is about himself being excluded by having his teammates stand up for him and Davis’s about him not being able to go to the amusement park and his friends supporting him, and closely related, the effect is clearer, just like compare and contrast. A flashback usually makes the story more interesting, especially when the narrator is listening to someone else's story and gets an idea on their own, as if the reader is learning about the experiences another had and sharing their own similar experience. A flashback is a powerful literary device that helps make a story more interesting by letting the reader learn about past events that can sometimes even give them information about something.
Racism and friendship are both powerful things that can create a huge impact on things. Although flashbacks are just a literary device, it can also be very powerful, just like racism and friendship. In Dondre’s story, racism is something that impacts greatly when he didn’t expect it to, during the tournament where he didn’t know African-Americans could go in. In Davis’s story, although he knew that African-Americans were not being treated fairly, he didn’t realize the impact of the Mason-Dixon Line, something to enforce segregation. Friendship, just like racism, can create a great impact, only in a positive way. In Dondre’s story, although the golf club doesn’t allow him in, his team stood up for him and agreed to forfeit. The same thing happened to Davis. He wasn’t allowed in the amusement park but his friends stood up for him and they stayed in the hotel. Flashback makes stories interesting, especially when they have something that provokes the idea of something else.
Commentaires