Officer of the Honeydew Melons

This week in class was probably one of the hardest that I've had so far in English. It might have been the topics we discussed in class or maybe it was something outside of the class that was affecting my learning abilities, but all I know is that I had trouble this week. That lack of focus is now showing its effects on my blog writing as I had more trouble writing this week's blog than any other previous post. However, I still hope that you, my reader, may still enjoy.

That foreword, just like Toni Morrison's, is a description of how my analysis on Kehinde Wiley's painting, Officer of the Hussars, is going to be.

This painting above shocks almost every single person who lays their eyes on it. Seeing an African American man on a white horse and also wearing a purple cap, contrasts the typical image of an African American male; wife beater, blue jeans, and brown timbs. I think that the reason Wiley created this masterpiece, was to show the world that people shouldn't be surprised to see someone other than a white male on top of a majestic horse. In addition, he also might be using an African American male to show the contrast with the white horse itself. To elaborate, the white horse could maybe represent the white population while the man represents the African American population, and the man is taking control over the horse and showing that African Americans can also be strong and independent like others (the strong white stallion). Finally, I think that the reason he put the man in those cloths is to show that anyone can have power, pride, and perfection(represented by the horse), not just that typical white man usually sitting on top of the horse.