Hi, its Stef. In the chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky", both James and Ruth go back to their past. James goes back to visit his mother's father and hometown. Ruth leaves New York and returns to her hometown because her mother is sick, and her father needs help running the shop. In both chapters they pause their life, and travel to the same place in the same past in order to either check up on their old life or find their mothers hometown. The reason that James chose these chapters to pair together is because they both have the same theme, which is going back to your past. James goes back to his mothers past and his mother goes to her past as well.
What connects the chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" is that both are about returning to the past. Rachel must leave New York and return to Suffolk to help take care of her mother. Once there, all of hr old worries and troubles came back to her. Her abusive Father was trying to force her sick mother into a divorce that would leave no one to take care of her. The mother herself was very sick. Dee-Dee was Angry at Rachel for going to New York. Everything was falling apart.
James also travels back in time, but to his mother's past instead of his own. Once he is in Suffolk, James is eager to find traces of his mothers life there. Where her house used to be was turned into a McDonald's, but behind the building lived an old man named Eddie Thompson. He was Rachel's Neighbor and James key to learning about his mothers life. Thompson remembered the whole family and their history. James is very happy to see what his mothers life was like before New York City.
In conclusion, both James and Ruth went back top teh past but for different reasons. However, both were taught a lesson in how past and present relate.
In the two chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky", james and his mother must both go back into their past. Ruth goes back to her family because her mother is sick, not because her father needs help with the store. James goes to Eddie Thompson's house and ask him about his Grandfather. So in these two chapters both james and ruth go back into their past. James chose these two chapters because both of these chapters have the same theme.
"Old Man Shilsky" and "The Promise" both show discoveries within James and Ruth's lives relating to their past. Ruth goes back home, to discover that her mother is extremely sick, and her father is more abusive than ever. She helps take care of the house and store, as she learns that her father is leaving, and divorcing her mother. The chapter ends as her father asks her to stay, and Ruth declines, as she admits to him that she is dating a Black man. The next chapter reveals James' family history to him. James then see's his mother's jewish past, and what his grandfather was like. These two chapters connect not only because they are about discovery, but because the opposite of each other. By the end of "The Promise," she is running away from her past. At the end of "Old Man Shilsky" he is running towards his past. McBride may have chosen to pair these two chapters to represent the different values of mother and son. James is deeply invested in his past. His mother is the opposite, and runs away from what has happened.
The two chapters featured both characters traveling back in time, into a place that have been put behind them. Ruth went back from her rhapsodic adventure in New York to Suffolk because of her very sick mother, and James went to Suffolk to uncover the mysterious past of his mother. Ruth finds out that her family had been suffering ever increasingly from the clutches of her father, and that her father did not mind a single bit about her absence of safety, and only the fact the he lost one laborer. James finds more about the nature of his mom's actions-which originated from her tumultuous childhood and teens.
It seems like everyone is agreeing that James McBride chose "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" because Ruth and James both went back to Ruth's hometown. However I'll try to make my reason anyway.
In "The Promise" Ruth goes back to her family because her mother is sick. By then, she had already met Dennis McBride (James'father.) She went back to help aid her mother. In this chapter Ruth steps back into Rachel. She goes back to the life she hated, only for her mother's sake. The feeling of her dieing while she was in New York, well she couldn't bare it.
In "Old Man Shilsky" James goes to Sulfolk, where his mother Ruth lived. He talked to a man named Eddie Thompson. He had lived in Sulfolk his whole life so James was told all about his mother's family. He was told information about his mother that his mother never told him.
In both chapters, Ruth goes back for the sake of her mother. James goes back for the sake of his mother aswell. He goes back to learn about her and her family. Ruth went back to old Sulfolk and was told what was new. James went back to the new Sulfolk and was told what was old.
In the two chapters, they both take place in Ruth's hometown but at different times. In "The Promise" chapter, Ruth goes back because her mother was sick and Ruth helped take care of her. In the "Old Man Shilsky" chapter, James was sent there by Ruth. It was as if she wanted him to finally learn about her past. I think that James paired them together is because they both are about the same thing but from different perspectives.
I think what makes chapters Old Man Shilsky and The Promise alike is that both chapters focus on both characters taking the journey back into their past and either helping out with family drama, or gathering more information about their family's past. I also think that James decided to put these two chapters together because they both focus on very similar things, and they both tell a very similar story. The Promise focuses on how Ruth gave up her fast life in new York to go back home and help take care of her ailing mother, and Old Man Shilsky focuses on how James, as a result of his mother telling him nothing of her childhood, finds his way to Suffolk, where she grew up, and tracks down an old friend of hers to tell him what his mother never did.
However, I also think that the end of chapter 19 (The Promise) leads right into the next. It talks about how Ruth promised her sister that she would remain in Suffolk to help with her ailing mother and to keep her younger sister company. It also says that Ruth later broke this promise and that she would be reminded of it many years later, and the next chapter goes right into how James is traveling back in time to figure out more of his mother’s past. This chapter also talks about how James is trying to locate her old family, such as her sister. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for Dee Dee to tell him what happened in their family that made his mother who she is today, and to spill some details on the promise that was made, and broken between Dee Dee and her sister.
Both of these chapters have incorporated the history of Ruth. “The Promise” narrates Ruth as a young woman, when she had to experience her parents’ divorce. Though her mother was handicapped and wouldn’t be able to survive without her father, Tateh still demanded a divorce. This was a very hard time for Ruth, because she had just returned home. The only reason Ruth returned home was because Mameh was becoming ill. Yet when Ruth returned, Tateh tried to marry her to a stranger. Tateh also used Ruth to persuade Mameh to divorce Tateh. In the chapter of “Old Man Shilsky” James visits his mother’s hometown. In this chapter James meets Ruth’s old neighbor, Eddie Thompson. James learns about Ruth’s family, and learns about Tateh (more commonly known as Old Man Shilsky). James learns about how Shilsky was viewed by his neighbors. He learns how Shilsky hated black folks. He learns how Shilsky ran off with his mistress leaving Mameh. In the end of the chapter James calls Ruth, and gives the phone to Eddie. Ruth starts to cry when she talks to Eddie showing her emotional take on her history. These two chapters were put together because both of these chapters deal with Ruth’s past. One chapter deals with a very difficult part of her history. The other chapter deals with a more positive view of her history. Both of these chapters have incorporated the symbol: community. In “ the promise” Ruth’s family community is falling apart, and Ruth has to leave her past behind. In “Old Man Shilsky” Ruth’s town community expresses their feelings towards Ruth’s family. In “Old Man Shilsky” Ruth is also confronted with her old community (Eddie), meeting her new community (James). These are the two reasons on why these two chapters were put together.
In “Old Man Shilsky” and “The Promise” we see the two main characters go back to Rachel’s old hometown. They go for different reasons but they both learn things about their family there.
Rachel must leave New York and do what she hates most, return to Suffolk. She visits her mother because she is sick and learns that her father is shamelessly cheating on her mother, even though her mother is sick. He pressures Rachel to get crippled Mrs. Shilsky to sign a divorce. Rachel is disgusted by her father and prepares to leave. However, her sister Dee-Dee, in desperation, makes her promise not to leave her alone with her breaking family; Rachel breaks that promise.
James also travels for the first time to Suffolk. It has changed a lot since Rachel’s time, James finds an old man named Eddie Thompson. Mr. Thompson is delighted to meet James and learn of his mother. He reluctantly explains about “old man Shilsky.” And about the way he left his wife and abused his children and mistreated the black people who came across him.
Both James and Rachel travel to Suffolk in these chapters and they both learn about Rachel’s family. Both are disgusted by Mr. Shilsky and become aware of his cheating habits.
In the chapters, "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky," Both Ruth and James deal with the past. It seems as if James is trying to solve the complex puzzle of his mother's previous life in Suffolk. All of his life, his mother wouldn't tell him about her life in Virginia, which made him even more curious. He had a very open curiosity due to the fact that his mother's past was basically his past. He did not know much about his family tree because of his mother's inability to speak up. He feels that going to Suffolk and finding the answers, will also lead to his mother's happiness.
Ruth has to take care of her mother because she is sick, and help her father take care of the shop. There, she finds that Tateh is cheating on Mameh. I think this shows the complexity of this family's life. Both James and Ruth want to solve the abstract answers.
In both chapters the children seem to have migrated away from their families and started to live on their own. Though they both, Ruth and James, have distanced themselves from their families they still wonder about them and seem to become a bit home sick. They eventually come back for to see or find out more about their families. In the chapter "The Promise" Ruth comes back to her family because her mother is sick. She starts to assume her old roles again. She must take care of the shop with her sister and look after her family. Ruth also makes the discovery that her father has been cheating on her mother and has been trying to get a divorce. In "Old Man Shilsky" after James finishes school and is living on his own he takes interest in finding his mother family. James goes back to his mother old town and finds a man named Eddie who knew his mother's family and is able to tell James more about his relatives.
In both chapters, James and Ruth reflect on there past and memories that were big moments in their live’s that were unforgettable. Ruth leaves the place she feels most comfortable at to go back to a place of sadness and depression. Ruth’s childhood was filled with mixed emotions. Being scared and sad constantly was two of them. She went back to her hometown to visit the person who loved her most in the world, the person who kept her going throughout her youth. She went home to see her ill mother. Ruth's mother was one of the most important people in Ruth’s life so she had to see if she was all right and she discovered that she was not. Ruth ended up staying longer then expected and her father, the person who scarred her and abused her both mentally and physically was trying to convince Ruth to stay and care for her mother while Ruth’s father was divorcing her. He was a sick man and Ruth would never go back to the past permanently. James also reflects to the past but not his own. In the chapter “Old Man Shilsky" James visits his mothers hometown. Ruth was always a private person and growing up James was never told anything about his mothers past. He was a curious person so he sent himself on a little adventure to find out what his mother has been hiding. James meets one of Ruth's neighbors as a child. He tells James all about his mothers family. James discovers what his mother had been hiding for so long. I think the reason that James McBride paired these two chapters together is because they were both hard things for Ruth and James to do. Ruth had to visit her past again and then break both her mother and her sister’s heart again. Ruth loved these people so much and she did not want to leave them but she knew she would not last if she moved back. James discovers his mothers past and is speechless. He discovers Rachel, his mother’s old identity. In these two chapters both Ruth and James create unforgettable moments that will stick with them throughout their lives.
"The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" are both chapters involving the past getting revisited. After Rachel has met Dennis, they fall in love, and are going to "live together as husband and wife," she calls her father and realizes she needs to go down to Virginia and help the store and her sick mother.
In "Old Man Shilsky" James decides to go visit Suffolk to learn about his family history. Though he does not find Frances, his grandpa, or anyone else Rachel told him about, he talked to Eddie Thompson, Rachel's old neighbor. He learns a little about how his mother grew up as a child and how difficult her life was with her abusive and cold father and her ill and crippled mother.
In these chapters James and Ruth revisit their past, whether it is by choice or because it is necessary. James wants to learn about his mother's life and Ruth has to go back to help her own mother.
Pretty much what everyone else said, the two chapters involve Ruth/Rachel's past. "The Promise" chapter focuses on Rachel's preparation on leaving the town and is a glimpse into what she leaves behind. "Old Man Shilsky" is James' entrance into his mother's past. Somewhat like Altana said, Rachel is eager to leave her past behind and James is eager to find a way in. He finds an old black man, Eddie Thompson, who knew his mother. James calls his mother and she talks to Thompson, the chapter ends with him comforting her in her tears. Ruth, who is probably crying out of disbelief that she would reconnect with a piece of her past.
I think that the two chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they both are focused on Suffolk, where Rachel/Ruth was born. In "The Promise" Rachel goes back to Suffold to aid her sick mother, but never intends to stay. In "Old Man Shilksy" James goes to find his mother's hometown, and finds out what happened to her family in effect of never intending to stay. Rachel's family had fallen apart because of her not staying, and one by one her family had died off.
McBride had chosen to put these two chapters together, because "The Promise" was about Rachel's past and how she left her family, and "Old Man Shilsky" was about the effect on her family after she had gone. James had gotten to find out about her family after she had hidden her past from him. When James had found Suffolk, and had learned about his mother's past it seemed to trigger something in his mother. When Rachel was talking on the phone with Eddie Thompson she started to cry. She started to cry because she had realized the effect of her not helping her family had caused. Talking to someone from the past was like reliving it, and some regrets in life that she had forgotten could have been forced back into her memory. McBride had chosen these two chapters that connect to be next to each other, because they were both about revisiting the past.
The chapters "the promise" and "old man Shilsky" are both about Ruth’s past. Ruth has been trying to escape here past her entire life, and never talked about it. Not knowing anything about the origins of his mother bothered James and so he decided to find things out for himself. He got his mother to reluctantly tell him something about her past, and set out from there. Thought his family was large, he knew he must have more family, given the fact that his mother mentioned having a mother and a father once or twice. McBride chose to put these two chapters together because though this part of her life was the part she wanted to forget, this was a part of James’s background. He found himself getting butterflies while learning about his grandfather because he knew there was a reason why his mother had never talked about him. These chapters explained how Ruth ran from her first life, and how James learned why his mother ran. though her past was sorrowful, not everything about it was bad and like Brittney said, Ruth felt a sort of reconnection with her past that she thought she would never have when she spoke on the phone with Eddie Thompson, a black neighbor of hers growing up.
The chapter "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they're both about re-visiting something that used to be a big part of Ruth's life. They also connect because they are opposite experiences. Ruth is visiting her home for one of the last times while James Mcbride is seeing the place for the first time. McBride chose to put these chapters together because he wanted to show us the significance of the place and the history. McBride wanted to show how significant it was in Ruth's life and how she felt about the place. Being able to read about her feelings on going back to her dreaded home and experiencing her hateful father, and seeing her sister and mother again versus James looking back at the past of Ruth's life is something McBride thought was important for the readers to see. He wanted us to understand more on really how much time has passed in this story and how Ruth felt about having to stay there but then again leaving it behind. For example, she says in "The Promise" that she breaks her promise to DeeDee and leaves later on but then in "Old Man Shilsky" She cries after hearing Eddie Thompson's voice and hearing about her home.
In the chapter “The Promise” Ruth takes a journey back to her past. The whole chapter reminds us of her family’s life style and it shows how Tateh treats everyone. In “Old Man Shilskey” James visits Suffolk, his mother’s hometown, he talks to an old black man named Eddie Thompson who lived in a place next to where Ruth’s family had lived. Eddie knew the Shilskey family and he told James a lot about their history. James took a journey to his mother’s past and sees everything that his mother had hidden from him. He learned how racist his grandfather Tateh was and big of a jerk he was to his wife. I think he put these two chapters together to show the broken connection between him and his mother being put together and how they both looked back on Ruth’s past.
The chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect in that they both_as everbody before me has blogged_are about returning to the past or returning to Ruth's or Rachel's past, but it is also about the beggining of a new family (Ruth and Dennis) and the end of an old family (the Shilsky's). In "The Promise", Ruth returned home, to Suffolk because she missed Dee-Dee and Mameh and also to help Mameh cope with her illness. While at home, Ruth discovered her father's "fat" girlfirend and his plan to divorce Mameh and run away. In "Old Man Shilsky", James_in effort to find out more about his mother's family history_traveled to Suffolk and inquired about his grandfather and mothers family. The two chapters are similar, but they also contrast. In "The Promise" Ruth tried to get away from her horrible familial issues and Suffolk; her past. In "Old Man Shilsky" James tried to get closer to his mother's past. So it was as if James and Ruth were going in opposite directions at different times. McBride groups these two chapters because of their strong similarites and themes_going into the past and creating and destroying families_ and because of their strong differences.
The chapters are juxtaposed to contrast the former lives of James and Ruth. The previous chapters of the book that concerned Ruth mostly focused on her troubled childhood. Though Ruth detested her father and shunned Jewish tradition, she never openly defied his will and was dependent on him for her survival. In the chapter “The Promise,” Ruth has finally grown detached from her father and upholds her own beliefs. Now that Ruth has undergone such a drastic change of character, her hometown seems almost foreign to James as he had little knowledge of his mother’s past. Also, James has undergone changes in his character as well. Through the majority of his childhood, James abided by a strict set of rules issued by his mother and older siblings. It is this power dynamic that prevented James exploring the world around him. Now that he is older, James is less influenced by his mother and is able to go out into the larger world.
The reason that The Promise and Old Man Shilsky are put together is because they are the only two chapters in the book so far in which the story of James and the story of Rachel overlap. It is also the first time that the same story of Rachel is told by a third person that isn’t Rachel herself. A new perspective of Suffolk’s story is told, just like how at the end of To Kill a Mockingbird Scout looks at Maycomb through Boo Radley’s front porch, and the whole story is seen through Boo’s eyes. The story of Rachel has been told already alongside the story of James. When he asks Ruth about her past, he has never gotten answers from her. Now James finally has the story retold from the window view of Eddie Thompson.
“Old Man Shilsky” and “The Promise” are paired together because in both chapters Rachel’s childhood is revisited. In “The Promise,” Rachel is forced to return to Virginia because of her mom’s condition, while in “Old Man Shilsky” James visits Virginia for the first time to discover what he can about his mother’s hometown. The two visits occur in two very different circumstances and show how Rachel’s hometown can appear to be a very different place depending upon your point of view and your situation.
In “The Promise” her town is portrayed as a place that represents pain, because of Rachel’s experience their. When she comes back, it is not because of nostalgia and it is not even because she misses her family. It is because of a combination of pity and duty. It is her duty to look out for her mom, because of her abusive father. She is not only forced to take time off from her life in Harlem (which she can ill afford to do) but she is also forced to step in between her two parents. Her childhood was so harsh that she does not even care that her parents are getting divorced. She hates her father. Her town was holding her back and her promise represents that—her promise to her sister to stay in a town that represents everything that she disdains is a promise that she had to break to escape from her old life and return to the life she made for herself in NYC.
By contrast, when James goes to see Rachel’s old hometown, he looks upon it with totally different eyes. He does come into the town already hating it. He comes into town with curiosity and he is ready to except both the good and the bad. And in the town he meets many kind Jews who not only do not have a problem with Blacks or his mother, but also are fine with the fact that he is Christian. He takes the good, but at the same time he takes the bad, and the bad, of course, is Old Man Shilsky. When James looks at Rachel’s town with the objective eyes of a journalist, he sees what Rachel never could: a town that has a few problems but is mainly filled with good people. James comes to the conclusion that the reason for Rachel’s hate is her father not her town. Of course, James goes to the town in 1982, whereas Rachel had grown up there in the 1930s and had last visited in 1940. Small towns in Virginia, like the one that James sees, has changed a lot in 40 years just like everywhere else in the U.S.
The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" are connected because in both chapters James and Ruth return to Suffolk.
Ruth returns because her mother is very sick. She gets there and is disgusted because her father is openly having an affair right in her mother’s face. Dee-Dee is miserable and makes Ruth promise to say, Ruth breaks her promise and escapes back to NYC.
James finally convinces his mother to tell him a little about her past. She draws him a map of Suffolk and James drives there. When he gets there he learns that all of Ruth’s family is gone. He talks to an old man there and learns about how evil his grandfather, Old Man Shilsky was.
I think McBride paired these two together because they compare James and Ruths’ experiences with Suffolk.
"The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they are both going back to Ruth's childhood and learning new things about her Jewish family. They go back to a really big part of Ruth's childhood. For James McBride, he is seeing her hometown for the first time and learning about what Ruth's family was like then. For Ruth, she is visiting her mother and helping her out. But then she decides that it's time to leave but Dee-Dee asked her to promise her to stay. Ruth promised but later broke that promise and Dee-Dee's heart.
McBride put these two chapters together because he wanted to show the readers how important Ruth's family is to the situation. It shows Ruth's take on her hometown, where she hated it because of her father, and it shows James' encounter with Suffox, where he learns about who her family members were and what they were like. Another reason why he might have put these two chapters together because they both were hard times for Ruth to experience. Ruth had to go back to Suffox, visit her mother and sister and leave and break all of their hearts, including Ruth because she didn't want to leave her family. James had to discover his mother's past and find out her secrets of her childhood because she never had told him before. Like Rebecca said, these chapters show unforgettable times of their lives.
In The Promise, Ruth has moved to new york city and is living half with bubbeh, half on her own. She seems to be trying to find her self. First she finds herself in with a the crowd thats not that good (Dennis the pimp) and then she and Andrew get together and are planning to move in together. When Ruth is beginning to get settled, she gets a call from her father, Tateh saying that she should come home because her mother is ill, and he needs help with the store. When she does her sister, dee-dee begs her to stay with her, and Ruth promises, although we find out she later breaks that promise.
In Old Man Shilsky, James as moved away from his family and living on his own some what, dealing with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. He goes to visit his mom to find about where she has come from, and he ends up traveling to the town that she grew up in. He meets Eddie Thompson, and he tells James all about the Shilskys. Afterward, he calls Ruth.
The two chapters connect in many ways. Both of them have a theme of visiting there pasts, James is visiting his family history, while Ruth is visiting her history. Old Man Shilsky is like a look back on The Promise. Also, in both chapters, Ruth and James have become settled somewhat with their lives, and but still decided to go back to the past. Both storys have a common theme of looking back to the past, as Stef said.
Hi Its Oni In these two chapters we see James and Rachel/ Ruth go back into their past. James goes back to visit his mother's father and hometown. Ruth leaves New York and returns to her hometown because her mother is sick. I think that these two chapters connect because they both show how James and his mother have pasts that they both don't necessarily want to revisit but Rachel needs to return to her home town because of family problems and James gets to see some of his mothers past and some of her memories.
I think that McBride put these two chapters together because he wanted to show the readers how important Ruth's family is to the situation.I also think that he put these two chapters together because they both so the theme of the past.I think that these two chapters were very interesting because they showed how much James and Rachel are so simmilar
Both "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they both have to do with Rachel. They both are connnected to Rachel because in The Promise she is the girl in the chapter. In Old Man Shilsky Rachel is an adult in her old life in Suffolk.
I think that the two chapters “The Promise” and “Old Man Shilsky” were put together so the reader has a clear memory of the mother’s experience as she left and James’s experience as he arrived. Both of these chapters relate back to the importance of Suffolk. Suffolk contains James and his mother’s identity and history, Ruth’s past and James’ heritage. As Ruth leaves Suffolk for the last time, she wants to forget her past. Ruth’s desire to forget her past is what made her so secretive. The secrets that she hides from James and others make James come back to Suffolk to learn about who he is. Ruth leaves Suffolk and her past behind to create a better future. James however is confused about his intentions in life. James is thinking about becoming a writer or musician. James goes back to Suffolk to find who he is and to discover what he wants to do with his life.
These chapters are similar to each other, because, as said before, in both of these chapters, both of these characters in the book are going back to their past. James, curious about his mother's upbringing, goes to Suffolk, where his mother grew up. Ruth, after staying in Harlem and living in the Bronx with her grandmother, finally returns home after being nostalgic of her family.
Both of these chapters relate to ,as Stef said "Going back to your past. Both characters learn more about themselves in these chapters, no matter their hometown. James learned more about his mother, and Ruth learned more about herself and self-identity.
The promise and old man shilsky were paired together because of the whole, 'blast of the past. aspect of it all. Ruth describes how she has been cut off from her hometown and doesn't even know who is alive and who isn't. I believe this was the moment where James knew he had to go back to Suffolk for his mothers sake. Another point I found interesting was the closure that was needed for both of them. Ruth needed closure knowing who was alive and what parts of her past were still going on and living on without her. James needed the closure to know where he came from. James had always has questions for his mother about her past and where she came from, but she never answered them. She would always brush it off as not important or go on to a different subject. When James realized his mother would not help him, he went and found out himself.
I think the chapters were put together because it both looks into James's past and Ruth's past. Also, it talks about going back to their hometown of Suffolk. Like Kira said, they are opposites because Ruth is running away from her past and James is trying to find Ruth's past.
Additional Post: In the chapters, "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky," Both Ruth and James deal with the past."Old Man Shilsky" is James' entrance into his mother's past. Rachel is eager to leave her past behind and James wants to find a way into her past. All of his life, his mother wouldn't tell him about her life in Virginia. Since James is a very curious person, this made him even more curious. He had a very open curiosity due to the fact that his mother's past was basically his past. He did not know much about his family and heritage because of his mother not being able to speak up. He thinks that going to the place where his mother was raised, he will learn not only about his moms heritage but his too. Since James was a small child, he seemed to have trouble identifying himself as being black or white or even being both but being both seemed impossible to him as a child. James feels that since his mother is so close with him, going to where his mom was raised will help him not only identify himself more, but maybe it could bring his mom and him closer.
Additional Post: In The Promise, Ruth has moved to new york city and is living half with bubbeh, half on her own. She seems to be trying to find her self. First she finds herself in with a the crowd thats not that good (rocky the pimp) and then she and her soon to be first husband get together and are planning to move in together. When Ruth is beginning to get settled, she gets a call from her father, Tateh saying that she should come home because her mother is ill, and he needs help with the store. When she does her sister, dee-dee begs her to stay with her, and Ruth promises, although we find out she later breaks that promise.
In Old Man Shilsky, James as moved away from his family and living on his own some what, dealing with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. He goes to visit his mom to find about where she has come from, and he ends up traveling to the town that she grew up in. He meets Eddie Thompson, and he tells James all about the Shilskys. Afterward, he calls Ruth.
The two chapters connect in many ways. Both of them have a theme of visiting there pasts, James is visiting his family history, while Ruth is visiting her history. Old Man Shilsky is like a look back on The Promise. Also, in both chapters, Ruth and James have become settled somewhat with their lives, and but still decided to go back to the past. Both storys have a common theme of looking back to the past, as Stef said. McBride may have chosen to pair these two chapters together because they relate to the book in the notion of the relationship between mother and son.
Throughout this book there has been this overarching theme of coming home and finding where that place is. Both James and Ruth never felt comfortable, James because of drugs, Ruth because of her father. It is understandable how these two chapters would connect because they both clearly express that. There is also a theme of race. James is shut out of this place where I think he was looking for home because of his race and Ruth was shut out because of her racial decisions. This also has been a reoccurring theme and could be another way the two stories connect. Lastly there is a theme of moving on. As Ruth moves on to a new place, Harlem, James comes back to Suffolk. Both trying to find a fresh start from an old life a restart. Also the title is significant in these chapters as Ruth is running away from old man Shilsky and a promise to her sister, James is running toward old man Shilsky and the promise made to himself. In a way you can say this is the chapter where they’re opposites.
The connection between "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" is that both Ruth and James venture into the nostalgic past. James goes to Suffolk, Virginia to see his grandfather, Old Man Shilsky, and Ruth goes back to her hometown. Ruth's mother at this time was very sick, sicker than when she was young. Coincidentally, her father needs help running the shop and her sister, Gladys "Dee Dee" also is mad at Ruth for leaving. I would like to point out that her anger is most likely part of the fact that she loved her sister and never got to see her until then. The only way she knew how to react to her sudden leave was anger.
Both Ruth and James venture out to Suffolk, Virginia and this nostalgic 'returning to the past' is the recurring theme for both of the chapters. This is the reason for pairing the chapter "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" together.
The promise and Old Man Shilsky, are both about the narrator of the chapter searching for their identity, and they are both about the narrator discovering more of Ruth’s family.
In the Promise, Ruth was finding herself in Dennis, because he was helping her fix herself. When Ruth went home, her father was trying to set her up with some different man, and was trying to get a divorce with her mother, and it was very hard for Ruth and her sister even more than herself. All of the commotion that was happening in her family caused Ruth to learn more about them.
In Old Man Shilsky, James is explaining finding himself by searching what he wants to do with his life, who his family is, and what makes him who he was that day. In the beginning of the chapter James explains how he needed to split from his girlfriend and himself. He also explained how he didn’t know whether he wanted to be a musician, or a writer, and didn’t know he could do both at that time. James also went on a journey to his mother’s home town, which was Suffolk, Virginia to learn about her family, which was hard for him, but he finally found someone who remembered her.
42 comments:
Hi, its Stef.
In the chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky", both James and Ruth go back to their past. James goes back to visit his mother's father and hometown. Ruth leaves New York and returns to her hometown because her mother is sick, and her father needs help running the shop. In both chapters they pause their life, and travel to the same place in the same past in order to either check up on their old life or find their mothers hometown.
The reason that James chose these chapters to pair together is because they both have the same theme, which is going back to your past. James goes back to his mothers past and his mother goes to her past as well.
What connects the chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" is that both are about returning to the past. Rachel must leave New York and return to Suffolk to help take care of her mother. Once there, all of hr old worries and troubles came back to her. Her abusive Father was trying to force her sick mother into a divorce that would leave no one to take care of her. The mother herself was very sick. Dee-Dee was Angry at Rachel for going to New York. Everything was falling apart.
James also travels back in time, but to his mother's past instead of his own. Once he is in Suffolk, James is eager to find traces of his mothers life there. Where her house used to be was turned into a McDonald's, but behind the building lived an old man named Eddie Thompson. He was Rachel's Neighbor and James key to learning about his mothers life. Thompson remembered the whole family and their history. James is very happy to see what his mothers life was like before New York City.
In conclusion, both James and Ruth went back top teh past but for different reasons. However, both were taught a lesson in how past and present relate.
In the two chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky", james and his mother must both go back into their past. Ruth goes back to her family because her mother is sick, not because her father needs help with the store. James goes to Eddie Thompson's house and ask him about his Grandfather. So in these two chapters both james and ruth go back into their past. James chose these two chapters because both of these chapters have the same theme.
"Old Man Shilsky" and "The Promise" both show discoveries within James and Ruth's lives relating to their past. Ruth goes back home, to discover that her mother is extremely sick, and her father is more abusive than ever. She helps take care of the house and store, as she learns that her father is leaving, and divorcing her mother. The chapter ends as her father asks her to stay, and Ruth declines, as she admits to him that she is dating a Black man. The next chapter reveals James' family history to him. James then see's his mother's jewish past, and what his grandfather was like. These two chapters connect not only because they are about discovery, but because the opposite of each other. By the end of "The Promise," she is running away from her past. At the end of "Old Man Shilsky" he is running towards his past. McBride may have chosen to pair these two chapters to represent the different values of mother and son. James is deeply invested in his past. His mother is the opposite, and runs away from what has happened.
The two chapters featured both characters traveling back in time, into a place that have been put behind them. Ruth went back from her rhapsodic adventure in New York to Suffolk because of her very sick mother, and James went to Suffolk to uncover the mysterious past of his mother. Ruth finds out that her family had been suffering ever increasingly from the clutches of her father, and that her father did not mind a single bit about her absence of safety, and only the fact the he lost one laborer. James finds more about the nature of his mom's actions-which originated from her tumultuous childhood and teens.
It seems like everyone is agreeing that James McBride chose "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" because Ruth and James both went back to Ruth's hometown. However I'll try to make my reason anyway.
In "The Promise" Ruth goes back to her family because her mother is sick. By then, she had already met Dennis McBride (James'father.) She went back to help aid her mother. In this chapter Ruth steps back into Rachel. She goes back to the life she hated, only for her mother's sake. The feeling of her dieing while she was in New York, well she couldn't bare it.
In "Old Man Shilsky" James goes to Sulfolk, where his mother Ruth lived. He talked to a man named Eddie Thompson. He had lived in Sulfolk his whole life so James was told all about his mother's family. He was told information about his mother that his mother never told him.
In both chapters, Ruth goes back for the sake of her mother. James goes back for the sake of his mother aswell. He goes back to learn about her and her family. Ruth went back to old Sulfolk and was told what was new. James went back to the new Sulfolk and was told what was old.
In the two chapters, they both take place in Ruth's hometown but at different times. In "The Promise" chapter, Ruth goes back because her mother was sick and Ruth helped take care of her. In the "Old Man Shilsky" chapter, James was sent there by Ruth. It was as if she wanted him to finally learn about her past. I think that James paired them together is because they both are about the same thing but from different perspectives.
I think what makes chapters Old Man Shilsky and The Promise alike is that both chapters focus on both characters taking the journey back into their past and either helping out with family drama, or gathering more information about their family's past. I also think that James decided to put these two chapters together because they both focus on very similar things, and they both tell a very similar story. The Promise focuses on how Ruth gave up her fast life in new York to go back home and help take care of her ailing mother, and Old Man Shilsky focuses on how James, as a result of his mother telling him nothing of her childhood, finds his way to Suffolk, where she grew up, and tracks down an old friend of hers to tell him what his mother never did.
However, I also think that the end of chapter 19 (The Promise) leads right into the next. It talks about how Ruth promised her sister that she would remain in Suffolk to help with her ailing mother and to keep her younger sister company. It also says that Ruth later broke this promise and that she would be reminded of it many years later, and the next chapter goes right into how James is traveling back in time to figure out more of his mother’s past. This chapter also talks about how James is trying to locate her old family, such as her sister. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for Dee Dee to tell him what happened in their family that made his mother who she is today, and to spill some details on the promise that was made, and broken between Dee Dee and her sister.
Both of these chapters have incorporated the history of Ruth. “The Promise” narrates Ruth as a young woman, when she had to experience her parents’ divorce. Though her mother was handicapped and wouldn’t be able to survive without her father, Tateh still demanded a divorce. This was a very hard time for Ruth, because she had just returned home. The only reason Ruth returned home was because Mameh was becoming ill. Yet when Ruth returned, Tateh tried to marry her to a stranger. Tateh also used Ruth to persuade Mameh to divorce Tateh.
In the chapter of “Old Man Shilsky” James visits his mother’s hometown. In this chapter James meets Ruth’s old neighbor, Eddie Thompson. James learns about Ruth’s family, and learns about Tateh (more commonly known as Old Man Shilsky). James learns about how Shilsky was viewed by his neighbors. He learns how Shilsky hated black folks. He learns how Shilsky ran off with his mistress leaving Mameh. In the end of the chapter James calls Ruth, and gives the phone to Eddie. Ruth starts to cry when she talks to Eddie showing her emotional take on her history.
These two chapters were put together because both of these chapters deal with Ruth’s past. One chapter deals with a very difficult part of her history. The other chapter deals with a more positive view of her history. Both of these chapters have incorporated the symbol: community. In “ the promise” Ruth’s family community is falling apart, and Ruth has to leave her past behind. In “Old Man Shilsky” Ruth’s town community expresses their feelings towards Ruth’s family. In “Old Man Shilsky” Ruth is also confronted with her old community (Eddie), meeting her new community (James). These are the two reasons on why these two chapters were put together.
In “Old Man Shilsky” and “The Promise” we see the two main characters go back to Rachel’s old hometown. They go for different reasons but they both learn things about their family there.
Rachel must leave New York and do what she hates most, return to Suffolk. She visits her mother because she is sick and learns that her father is shamelessly cheating on her mother, even though her mother is sick. He pressures Rachel to get crippled Mrs. Shilsky to sign a divorce. Rachel is disgusted by her father and prepares to leave. However, her sister Dee-Dee, in desperation, makes her promise not to leave her alone with her breaking family; Rachel breaks that promise.
James also travels for the first time to Suffolk. It has changed a lot since Rachel’s time, James finds an old man named Eddie Thompson. Mr. Thompson is delighted to meet James and learn of his mother. He reluctantly explains about “old man Shilsky.” And about the way he left his wife and abused his children and mistreated the black people who came across him.
Both James and Rachel travel to Suffolk in these chapters and they both learn about Rachel’s family. Both are disgusted by Mr. Shilsky and become aware of his cheating habits.
In the chapters, "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky," Both Ruth and James deal with the past. It seems as if James is trying to solve the complex puzzle of his mother's previous life in Suffolk. All of his life, his mother wouldn't tell him about her life in Virginia, which made him even more curious. He had a very open curiosity due to the fact that his mother's past was basically his past. He did not know much about his family tree because of his mother's inability to speak up. He feels that going to Suffolk and finding the answers, will also lead to his mother's happiness.
Ruth has to take care of her mother because she is sick, and help her father take care of the shop. There, she finds that Tateh is cheating on Mameh. I think this shows the complexity of this family's life. Both James and Ruth want to solve the abstract answers.
In both chapters the children seem to have migrated away from their families and started to live on their own. Though they both, Ruth and James, have distanced themselves from their families they still wonder about them and seem to become a bit home sick. They eventually come back for to see or find out more about their families. In the chapter "The Promise" Ruth comes back to her family because her mother is sick. She starts to assume her old roles again. She must take care of the shop with her sister and look after her family. Ruth also makes the discovery that her father has been cheating on her mother and has been trying to get a divorce. In "Old Man Shilsky" after James finishes school and is living on his own he takes interest in finding his mother family. James goes back to his mother old town and finds a man named Eddie who knew his mother's family and is able to tell James more about his relatives.
In both chapters, James and Ruth reflect on there past and memories that were big moments in their live’s that were unforgettable. Ruth leaves the place she feels most comfortable at to go back to a place of sadness and depression. Ruth’s childhood was filled with mixed emotions. Being scared and sad constantly was two of them. She went back to her hometown to visit the person who loved her most in the world, the person who kept her going throughout her youth. She went home to see her ill mother. Ruth's mother was one of the most important people in Ruth’s life so she had to see if she was all right and she discovered that she was not. Ruth ended up staying longer then expected and her father, the person who scarred her and abused her both mentally and physically was trying to convince Ruth to stay and care for her mother while Ruth’s father was divorcing her. He was a sick man and Ruth would never go back to the past permanently.
James also reflects to the past but not his own. In the chapter “Old Man Shilsky" James visits his mothers hometown. Ruth was always a private person and growing up James was never told anything about his mothers past. He was a curious person so he sent himself on a little adventure to find out what his mother has been hiding. James meets one of Ruth's neighbors as a child. He tells James all about his mothers family. James discovers what his mother had been hiding for so long.
I think the reason that James McBride paired these two chapters together is because they were both hard things for Ruth and James to do. Ruth had to visit her past again and then break both her mother and her sister’s heart again. Ruth loved these people so much and she did not want to leave them but she knew she would not last if she moved back. James discovers his mothers past and is speechless. He discovers Rachel, his mother’s old identity. In these two chapters both Ruth and James create unforgettable moments that will stick with them throughout their lives.
"The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" are both chapters involving the past getting revisited. After Rachel has met Dennis, they fall in love, and are going to "live together as husband and wife," she calls her father and realizes she needs to go down to Virginia and help the store and her sick mother.
In "Old Man Shilsky" James decides to go visit Suffolk to learn about his family history. Though he does not find Frances, his grandpa, or anyone else Rachel told him about, he talked to Eddie Thompson, Rachel's old neighbor. He learns a little about how his mother grew up as a child and how difficult her life was with her abusive and cold father and her ill and crippled mother.
In these chapters James and Ruth revisit their past, whether it is by choice or because it is necessary. James wants to learn about his mother's life and Ruth has to go back to help her own mother.
Pretty much what everyone else said, the two chapters involve Ruth/Rachel's past. "The Promise" chapter focuses on Rachel's preparation on leaving the town and is a glimpse into what she leaves behind. "Old Man Shilsky" is James' entrance into his mother's past. Somewhat like Altana said, Rachel is eager to leave her past behind and James is eager to find a way in. He finds an old black man, Eddie Thompson, who knew his mother. James calls his mother and she talks to Thompson, the chapter ends with him comforting her in her tears. Ruth, who is probably crying out of disbelief that she would reconnect with a piece of her past.
I think that the two chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they both are focused on Suffolk, where Rachel/Ruth was born. In "The Promise" Rachel goes back to Suffold to aid her sick mother, but never intends to stay. In "Old Man Shilksy" James goes to find his mother's hometown, and finds out what happened to her family in effect of never intending to stay. Rachel's family had fallen apart because of her not staying, and one by one her family had died off.
McBride had chosen to put these two chapters together, because "The Promise" was about Rachel's past and how she left her family, and "Old Man Shilsky" was about the effect on her family after she had gone. James had gotten to find out about her family after she had hidden her past from him. When James had found Suffolk, and had learned about his mother's past it seemed to trigger something in his mother. When Rachel was talking on the phone with Eddie Thompson she started to cry. She started to cry because she had realized the effect of her not helping her family had caused. Talking to someone from the past was like reliving it, and some regrets in life that she had forgotten could have been forced back into her memory. McBride had chosen these two chapters that connect to be next to each other, because they were both about revisiting the past.
The chapters "the promise" and "old man Shilsky" are both about Ruth’s past. Ruth has been trying to escape here past her entire life, and never talked about it. Not knowing anything about the origins of his mother bothered James and so he decided to find things out for himself. He got his mother to reluctantly tell him something about her past, and set out from there. Thought his family was large, he knew he must have more family, given the fact that his mother mentioned having a mother and a father once or twice. McBride chose to put these two chapters together because though this part of her life was the part she wanted to forget, this was a part of James’s background. He found himself getting butterflies while learning about his grandfather because he knew there was a reason why his mother had never talked about him. These chapters explained how Ruth ran from her first life, and how James learned why his mother ran. though her past was sorrowful, not everything about it was bad and like Brittney said, Ruth felt a sort of reconnection with her past that she thought she would never have when she spoke on the phone with Eddie Thompson, a black neighbor of hers growing up.
The chapter "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they're both about re-visiting something that used to be a big part of Ruth's life. They also connect because they are opposite experiences. Ruth is visiting her home for one of the last times while James Mcbride is seeing the place for the first time. McBride chose to put these chapters together because he wanted to show us the significance of the place and the history. McBride wanted to show how significant it was in Ruth's life and how she felt about the place. Being able to read about her feelings on going back to her dreaded home and experiencing her hateful father, and seeing her sister and mother again versus James looking back at the past of Ruth's life is something McBride thought was important for the readers to see. He wanted us to understand more on really how much time has passed in this story and how Ruth felt about having to stay there but then again leaving it behind. For example, she says in "The Promise" that she breaks her promise to DeeDee and leaves later on but then in "Old Man Shilsky" She cries after hearing Eddie Thompson's voice and hearing about her home.
In the chapter “The Promise” Ruth takes a journey back to her past. The whole chapter reminds us of her family’s life style and it shows how Tateh treats everyone. In “Old Man Shilskey” James visits Suffolk, his mother’s hometown, he talks to an old black man named Eddie Thompson who lived in a place next to where Ruth’s family had lived. Eddie knew the Shilskey family and he told James a lot about their history. James took a journey to his mother’s past and sees everything that his mother had hidden from him. He learned how racist his grandfather Tateh was and big of a jerk he was to his wife. I think he put these two chapters together to show the broken connection between him and his mother being put together and how they both looked back on Ruth’s past.
The chapters "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect in that they both_as everbody before me has blogged_are about returning to the past or returning to Ruth's or Rachel's past, but it is also about the beggining of a new family (Ruth and Dennis) and the end of an old family (the Shilsky's). In "The Promise", Ruth returned home, to Suffolk because she missed Dee-Dee and Mameh and also to help Mameh cope with her illness.
While at home, Ruth discovered her father's "fat" girlfirend and his plan to divorce Mameh and run away. In "Old Man Shilsky", James_in effort to find out more about his mother's family history_traveled to Suffolk and inquired about his grandfather and mothers family. The two chapters are similar, but they also contrast. In "The Promise" Ruth tried to get away from her horrible familial issues and Suffolk; her past. In "Old Man Shilsky" James tried to get closer to his mother's past. So it was as if James and Ruth were going in opposite directions at different times.
McBride groups these two chapters because of their strong similarites and themes_going into the past and creating and destroying families_ and because of their strong differences.
-Kai Marcel
The chapters are juxtaposed to contrast the former lives of James and Ruth. The previous chapters of the book that concerned Ruth mostly focused on her troubled childhood. Though Ruth detested her father and shunned Jewish tradition, she never openly defied his will and was dependent on him for her survival. In the chapter “The Promise,” Ruth has finally grown detached from her father and upholds her own beliefs. Now that Ruth has undergone such a drastic change of character, her hometown seems almost foreign to James as he had little knowledge of his mother’s past. Also, James has undergone changes in his character as well. Through the majority of his childhood, James abided by a strict set of rules issued by his mother and older siblings. It is this power dynamic that prevented James exploring the world around him. Now that he is older, James is less influenced by his mother and is able to go out into the larger world.
The reason that The Promise and Old Man Shilsky are put together is because they are the only two chapters in the book so far in which the story of James and the story of Rachel overlap. It is also the first time that the same story of Rachel is told by a third person that isn’t Rachel herself. A new perspective of Suffolk’s story is told, just like how at the end of To Kill a Mockingbird Scout looks at Maycomb through Boo Radley’s front porch, and the whole story is seen through Boo’s eyes. The story of Rachel has been told already alongside the story of James. When he asks Ruth about her past, he has never gotten answers from her. Now James finally has the story retold from the window view of Eddie Thompson.
“Old Man Shilsky” and “The Promise” are paired together because in both chapters Rachel’s childhood is revisited. In “The Promise,” Rachel is forced to return to Virginia because of her mom’s condition, while in “Old Man Shilsky” James visits Virginia for the first time to discover what he can about his mother’s hometown. The two visits occur in two very different circumstances and show how Rachel’s hometown can appear to be a very different place depending upon your point of view and your situation.
In “The Promise” her town is portrayed as a place that represents pain, because of Rachel’s experience their. When she comes back, it is not because of nostalgia and it is not even because she misses her family. It is because of a combination of pity and duty. It is her duty to look out for her mom, because of her abusive father. She is not only forced to take time off from her life in Harlem (which she can ill afford to do) but she is also forced to step in between her two parents. Her childhood was so harsh that she does not even care that her parents are getting divorced. She hates her father. Her town was holding her back and her promise represents that—her promise to her sister to stay in a town that represents everything that she disdains is a promise that she had to break to escape from her old life and return to the life she made for herself in NYC.
By contrast, when James goes to see Rachel’s old hometown, he looks upon it with totally different eyes. He does come into the town already hating it. He comes into town with curiosity and he is ready to except both the good and the bad. And in the town he meets many kind Jews who not only do not have a problem with Blacks or his mother, but also are fine with the fact that he is Christian. He takes the good, but at the same time he takes the bad, and the bad, of course, is Old Man Shilsky. When James looks at Rachel’s town with the objective eyes of a journalist, he sees what Rachel never could: a town that has a few problems but is mainly filled with good people. James comes to the conclusion that the reason for Rachel’s hate is her father not her town. Of course, James goes to the town in 1982, whereas Rachel had grown up there in the 1930s and had last visited in 1940. Small towns in Virginia, like the one that James sees, has changed a lot in 40 years just like everywhere else in the U.S.
The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" are connected because in both chapters James and Ruth return to Suffolk.
Ruth returns because her mother is very sick. She gets there and is disgusted because her father is openly having an affair right in her mother’s face. Dee-Dee is miserable and makes Ruth promise to say, Ruth breaks her promise and escapes back to NYC.
James finally convinces his mother to tell him a little about her past. She draws him a map of Suffolk and James drives there. When he gets there he learns that all of Ruth’s family is gone. He talks to an old man there and learns about how evil his grandfather, Old Man Shilsky was.
I think McBride paired these two together because they compare James and Ruths’ experiences with Suffolk.
"The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they are both going back to Ruth's childhood and learning new things about her Jewish family. They go back to a really big part of Ruth's childhood. For James McBride, he is seeing her hometown for the first time and learning about what Ruth's family was like then. For Ruth, she is visiting her mother and helping her out. But then she decides that it's time to leave but Dee-Dee asked her to promise her to stay. Ruth promised but later broke that promise and Dee-Dee's heart.
McBride put these two chapters together because he wanted to show the readers how important Ruth's family is to the situation. It shows Ruth's take on her hometown, where she hated it because of her father, and it shows James' encounter with Suffox, where he learns about who her family members were and what they were like. Another reason why he might have put these two chapters together because they both were hard times for Ruth to experience. Ruth had to go back to Suffox, visit her mother and sister and leave and break all of their hearts, including Ruth because she didn't want to leave her family. James had to discover his mother's past and find out her secrets of her childhood because she never had told him before. Like Rebecca said, these chapters show unforgettable times of their lives.
In The Promise, Ruth has moved to new york city and is living half with bubbeh, half on her own. She seems to be trying to find her self. First she finds herself in with a the crowd thats not that good (Dennis the pimp) and then she and Andrew get together and are planning to move in together. When Ruth is beginning to get settled, she gets a call from her father, Tateh saying that she should come home because her mother is ill, and he needs help with the store. When she does her sister, dee-dee begs her to stay with her, and Ruth promises, although we find out she later breaks that promise.
In Old Man Shilsky, James as moved away from his family and living on his own some what, dealing with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. He goes to visit his mom to find about where she has come from, and he ends up traveling to the town that she grew up in. He meets Eddie Thompson, and he tells James all about the Shilskys. Afterward, he calls Ruth.
The two chapters connect in many ways. Both of them have a theme of visiting there pasts, James is visiting his family history, while Ruth is visiting her history. Old Man Shilsky is like a look back on The Promise. Also, in both chapters, Ruth and James have become settled somewhat with their lives, and but still decided to go back to the past. Both storys have a common theme of looking back to the past, as Stef said.
Hi Its Oni
In these two chapters we see James and Rachel/ Ruth go back into their past. James goes back to visit his mother's father and hometown. Ruth leaves New York and returns to her hometown because her mother is sick. I think that these two chapters connect because they both show how James and his mother have pasts that they both don't necessarily want to revisit but Rachel needs to return to her home town because of family problems and James gets to see some of his mothers past and some of her memories.
I think that McBride put these two chapters together because he wanted to show the readers how important Ruth's family is to the situation.I also think that he put these two chapters together because they both so the theme of the past.I think that these two chapters were very interesting because they showed how much James and Rachel are so simmilar
Both "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" connect because they both have to do with Rachel. They both are connnected to Rachel because in The Promise she is the girl in the chapter. In Old Man Shilsky Rachel is an adult in her old life in Suffolk.
I think that the two chapters “The Promise” and “Old Man Shilsky” were put together so the reader has a clear memory of the mother’s experience as she left and James’s experience as he arrived. Both of these chapters relate back to the importance of Suffolk. Suffolk contains James and his mother’s identity and history, Ruth’s past and James’ heritage. As Ruth leaves Suffolk for the last time, she wants to forget her past. Ruth’s desire to forget her past is what made her so secretive. The secrets that she hides from James and others make James come back to Suffolk to learn about who he is. Ruth leaves Suffolk and her past behind to create a better future. James however is confused about his intentions in life. James is thinking about becoming a writer or musician. James goes back to Suffolk to find who he is and to discover what he wants to do with his life.
These chapters are similar to each other, because, as said before, in both of these chapters, both of these characters in the book are going back to their past. James, curious about his mother's upbringing, goes to Suffolk, where his mother grew up. Ruth, after staying in Harlem and living in the Bronx with her grandmother, finally returns home after being nostalgic of her family.
Both of these chapters relate to ,as Stef said "Going back to your past. Both characters learn more about themselves in these chapters, no matter their hometown. James learned more about his mother, and Ruth learned more about herself and self-identity.
The promise and old man shilsky were paired together because of the whole, 'blast of the past. aspect of it all. Ruth describes how she has been cut off from her hometown and doesn't even know who is alive and who isn't. I believe this was the moment where James knew he had to go back to Suffolk for his mothers sake.
Another point I found interesting was the closure that was needed for both of them. Ruth needed closure knowing who was alive and what parts of her past were still going on and living on without her. James needed the closure to know where he came from. James had always has questions for his mother about her past and where she came from, but she never answered them. She would always brush it off as not important or go on to a different subject. When James realized his mother would not help him, he went and found out himself.
I think the chapters were put together because it both looks into James's past and Ruth's past. Also, it talks about going back to their hometown of Suffolk. Like Kira said, they are opposites because Ruth is running away from her past and James is trying to find Ruth's past.
This is Cara
Additional Post: In the chapters, "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky," Both Ruth and James deal with the past."Old Man Shilsky" is James' entrance into his mother's past. Rachel is eager to leave her past behind and James wants to find a way into her past. All of his life, his mother wouldn't tell him about her life in Virginia. Since James is a very curious person, this made him even more curious. He had a very open curiosity due to the fact that his mother's past was basically his past. He did not know much about his family and heritage because of his mother not being able to speak up. He thinks that going to the place where his mother was raised, he will learn not only about his moms heritage but his too.
Since James was a small child, he seemed to have trouble identifying himself as being black or white or even being both but being both seemed impossible to him as a child. James feels that since his mother is so close with him, going to where his mom was raised will help him not only identify himself more, but maybe it could bring his mom and him closer.
Additional Post:
In The Promise, Ruth has moved to new york city and is living half with bubbeh, half on her own. She seems to be trying to find her self. First she finds herself in with a the crowd thats not that good (rocky the pimp) and then she and her soon to be first husband get together and are planning to move in together. When Ruth is beginning to get settled, she gets a call from her father, Tateh saying that she should come home because her mother is ill, and he needs help with the store. When she does her sister, dee-dee begs her to stay with her, and Ruth promises, although we find out she later breaks that promise.
In Old Man Shilsky, James as moved away from his family and living on his own some what, dealing with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. He goes to visit his mom to find about where she has come from, and he ends up traveling to the town that she grew up in. He meets Eddie Thompson, and he tells James all about the Shilskys. Afterward, he calls Ruth.
The two chapters connect in many ways. Both of them have a theme of visiting there pasts, James is visiting his family history, while Ruth is visiting her history. Old Man Shilsky is like a look back on The Promise. Also, in both chapters, Ruth and James have become settled somewhat with their lives, and but still decided to go back to the past. Both storys have a common theme of looking back to the past, as Stef said. McBride may have chosen to pair these two chapters together because they relate to the book in the notion of the relationship between mother and son.
Throughout this book there has been this overarching theme of coming home and finding where that place is. Both James and Ruth never felt comfortable, James because of drugs, Ruth because of her father. It is understandable how these two chapters would connect because they both clearly express that.
There is also a theme of race. James is shut out of this place where I think he was looking for home because of his race and Ruth was shut out because of her racial decisions. This also has been a reoccurring theme and could be another way the two stories connect.
Lastly there is a theme of moving on. As Ruth moves on to a new place, Harlem, James comes back to Suffolk. Both trying to find a fresh start from an old life a restart. Also the title is significant in these chapters as Ruth is running away from old man Shilsky and a promise to her sister, James is running toward old man Shilsky and the promise made to himself. In a way you can say this is the chapter where they’re opposites.
The connection between "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" is that both Ruth and James venture into the nostalgic past. James goes to Suffolk, Virginia to see his grandfather, Old Man Shilsky, and Ruth goes back to her hometown. Ruth's mother at this time was very sick, sicker than when she was young. Coincidentally, her father needs help running the shop and her sister, Gladys "Dee Dee" also is mad at Ruth for leaving. I would like to point out that her anger is most likely part of the fact that she loved her sister and never got to see her until then. The only way she knew how to react to her sudden leave was anger.
Both Ruth and James venture out to Suffolk, Virginia and this nostalgic 'returning to the past' is the recurring theme for both of the chapters. This is the reason for pairing the chapter "The Promise" and "Old Man Shilsky" together.
The promise and Old Man Shilsky, are both about the narrator of the chapter searching for their identity, and they are both about the narrator discovering more of Ruth’s family.
In the Promise, Ruth was finding herself in Dennis, because he was helping her fix herself. When Ruth went home, her father was trying to set her up with some different man, and was trying to get a divorce with her mother, and it was very hard for Ruth and her sister even more than herself. All of the commotion that was happening in her family caused Ruth to learn more about them.
In Old Man Shilsky, James is explaining finding himself by searching what he wants to do with his life, who his family is, and what makes him who he was that day. In the beginning of the chapter James explains how he needed to split from his girlfriend and himself. He also explained how he didn’t know whether he wanted to be a musician, or a writer, and didn’t know he could do both at that time. James also went on a journey to his mother’s home town, which was Suffolk, Virginia to learn about her family, which was hard for him, but he finally found someone who remembered her.
Post a Comment