On Tuesday’s class, we talked about the dichotomy of American culture. How everything has to put into a lens of good or evil, religious or secular, north or south. The idea that to be an American citizen you have to fully commit yourself to freedom or you’ll risk falling back into slavery. What strikes me the most about this conversation is not only that this dichotomy is integrated into society, but has become this foundation of the culture. It shapes every citizen, forces them to think through this limiting perspective. You can see it in Zeitoun’s actions during Katrina. He chooses to stay in New Orleans despite the devastation that he could encounter. But, I think in his mind he didn’t have a choice. Zeitoun built himself up for nothing, married a white southern girl, has a large house, he is an exemplar of the American dream and wants to inhibit all the values and ideals of an American citizen. That comes with this mindset of good vs. evil. A mindset that thinks it is cowardly to leave, the evil thing, and that it is heroic to stay, the good thing. Wright says and demonstrates the same thing in his autobiography. He is in Chicago where the racism and discrimination against black people is directed in a way that Wright isn’t attuned to yet. Right now, it feels something like inclusion. But, Wright has grown up in a culture that does not see the inclusion of black people as right, so he feels as if he is in the wrong place, around the wrong people. He wants to return the certainty of knowing that the perspective that has been instilled in him will continue to keep him out of trouble. Both men show the long-lasting effects of the dichotomous world view characteristic of American culture that has, and probably will continue to, define generations.