Civil Rights Movement

The story “Marie” is a tale of a woman Marie Delaveaux Wilson. In the story Marie describes her countless journeys to the Social Security Office. She would receive letters from Mr. Smith telling her that she needed to come in. Marie was always afraid not to do so because she knew that she would be cut off if she didn’t. On several occasions Marie arrives to the Social Security office to be sent back home with no one to talk to. She would sit hours on end waiting for the individual who supposedly was to help her. Throughout her battle of trying to see someone at the SSI she encounters other challenges that affect her life.

The first challenge that Marie is faced with is a young man “twenty, no more than twenty-five, dressed the way they were all dressed nowadays, as if a blind man had matched up all their colors.” The man then pursues to burglarize the woman by tearing one of her pockets to retrieve money. As the attempt is occurring the woman pulls out a knife and cuts the man’s arm. A bit of irony occurs within this sequence as Marie is walking up 13th street and explains how she feels safe. After stabbing the man she doesn’t clean off the knife and the blood dries up and begins to flake off. This action could be interpreted as a way for Marie to take a part of someone else’s life as the SSI is trying to take hers. At the beginning of the story she talks about how she doesn’t want to be cut off by the SSI, yet here she is trying to cut off this man’s arm. The man exclaims, “You done crippled me,” as to say that she is performing the same actions she is seeking help for.

The second challenge comes from a man named Calhoun Lambeth a boy friend of Marie’s friend Wilamena. However, it seems at this time it’s possible that Wilamena, though be it a possible friend, is actually some sort of caretaker of Marie’s. Marie gives her a key so that she can come in at anytime. One day Marie and Wilamena go to see Calhoun at his apartment, but as I gather some retirement home. Marie sits and talks to the man before he dies later that day.

The third challenge is encountered when Marie is conversing with a man that comes to her door from a university. He explains that he wants to know of any complaints that she has in life. From what I gathered from this information is that he is a psychiatrist and evaluating Marie. She talks about her father and how he viewed the president. He said that “this poor man sittin in that chair for four long years while the rest of the world went on about its business… Maybe I thought that by his sittin in that chair and doin nothing else for four years he made the country what it was and that without him sittin there the country wouldn’t be what it was.” Marie decides to share this specific story because it relates directly to her own life. She sits at her apartment until she receives letters from the SSI. When she does leave it seems as though nothing but trouble occurs. She hits the receptionists at the SSI, she almost gets mugged, and a man dies in her arms.

As I read this story I realized that it was about the trials and tribulations of African Americans in the United States. As Marie travels to D.C. and finally settles there she feels as though she is in heaven. This is a fallacy of many sorts as many African Americans may have viewed D.C. during the civil rights era. Finally, Marie concludes by hiding the cassette tapes she had recorded in the back of her dresser, almost to say that the problems of the Civil Rights movement were not going to be taken care of today, but possible someday.