History marked by oppression

 "Suppose sorrow was a time machine" by Amiri Baraka is a dramatic monologue.  This fictional short story is narrated in second person point of view.  The narrator is Tom's Russ unborn grandchild.  Baraka's experience is incorporated into the story; he lived through times of oppression and discrimination towards African Americans. Baraka is a witness, and in his writing he is looking into the past and the present.   He uses repetition to emphasize the importance of the time frame, it starts in Dothan, Alabama 1898. During this time Jim Crow laws were active to prevent whites and blacks from interacting or having equal rights.  The aggression towards African Americans was severe, they were lynched, castrated and burned by white folks. White folks rejoiced in witnessing this atrocities, it was like going on a picnic.  African Americans sorrow remained Tatted into their existence.  They were forced to migrate due to racism.

Baraka uses a paradox in his story.  He states "let your unborn grandchild know what his death, whistling grandfather thought of the Burning". This seems odd, he  personified a corpse.  The violent death of Tom has an impact in the future, "your grandson'll be back to correct your grammar and throw stones in your wells" . He states that fifty years ain't so long and even after the fifty years they will still face "vibrations".  These repeated vibrations represent the assaults, government laws and everything that opposed their freedom and threatened them.  Baraka uses binary opposition by stating "how obscure is enlightenment" thus creating an imagery of hopelessness.

Both the "Blue's people" and "Suppose Sorrow was a time machine" talks about transition in time. The "Blues" is is a broader topic on history while this story links directly to personal experience.  They both represent the struggles Africans have faced and show the political implementation which have limited their growth and freedom.