Morgan Watkins
Mrs. Parkinson
English III
7 March 2016
“Tableau” by Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen titled a scene between two kids—one black and one white—“Tableau”, which is a picture or scene that is striking. Striking can either mean impressive, noticeable, or both. The boys are both noticeable and impressive when they are getting judged and stared at behind “lowered blinds”(5) by the “dark folk”(5), as the author compares them to “That lightning as brilliant as a sword”(11). And yet, they do not think of themselves as noticeable or impressive. “Oblivious to look and word / They pass, and see no wonder”(9-10). The boys are in pleasant oblivion. Just as they ignore, we should ignore. Do not listen to the whispers and the gossip and be in that pleasant oblivion.
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