Shining Light on the Darkness

As I reflect on this week’s readings, I can’t seem to get the word “darkness” out of mind. The comparison of darkness to light was heavily engrained in my mind while I read. I thought about how darkness is portrayed nationally. Darkness is seen as evil, bad-luck, inferior, scary, and ignorant. Light is seen as pure, awakening, intellect, and saving. The saying “shining light onto the darkness.” “What’s done in the dark comes to the light.” Both sayings indicate that darkness is bad and light would provide glory to the dark. This concept implies across many nations and cultures. Dark is bad! Light is good.

The concept of darkness comes up a lot in Farming of the Bones. The baby girl was born with a dark complexion and her mother said that it was negative. She states that her daughter will never be accepted during her lifetime. It is interesting that Amabelle always talk about her and her lover being in the dark.

I also thought how America viewed other nations as dark because they were “lost” and need saving. America wanted to be the light to many nations. America want to teach other nations the “right” way of doing things.