the man with the saxophone essay

The Man with the Saxophone

New York. Five A.M. The sidewalks empty. Only the steam Line pouring from the manhole covers seems alive, as as I amble from shop window to shop window, sometimes stopping to stare, sometimes not. Last week’s snow is brittle now and unrecognizable as the soft, white hair that bearded the face of the city I head farther down Fifth Avenue toward the thirties, my mind empty like the Buddhists tell you is possible if only you don’t try. If only I could turn myself into a bird like the shaman’ I was meant to be, but I can’t I’m earthbound and solitude is my companion, the only one you can count on. Don’t, don’t try to tell me otherwise. I’ve had it all and lost it and I never want it back, only give me this morning to keep, the city asleep and there on the corner of Thirty-fourth and Fifth, the man with the saxophone, his fingerless gloves caked with grime, his face also, the layers of clothes welded to his skin. I set down my case, he steps backward to let me know I’m welcome, and we stand a few minutes in the silence so complete I think I must be somewhere else, not here, not in this city, this heartland of pure noise. Then he puts the sax to his lips again 40 and I raise mine. I suck the air up from my diaphragm and bend over into the cold, golden reed, waiting for the notes to come, and when they do for that one moment, I’m the unencumbered bird of my imagination, rising only to fall back toward concrete, each note a black flower, 50 opening, mercifully opening into the unforgiving new day.

Summary of The Man with the Saxophone

Analysis of literary devices used in the man with the saxophone, analysis of poetic devices used in the man with the saxophone, quotes to be used.

The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the lifeless scene of city life.

Only the steam Line pouring from the manhole covers seems alive, as I amble from shop window to shop window, sometimes stopping to stare, sometimes not. Last week’s snow is brittle now and unrecognizable as the soft, white hair that bearded the face of the city

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The Man with the Saxophone Poem Summary and Line by Line Explanation by Ai Ogawa

Introduction.

To discuss subjects like solitude and the power of music, “The Man with the Saxophone” employs numerous strong and compelling imagery. The latter is explained by the enhanced feelings of joy and calm the speaker encounters when listening to a saxophonist playing on a deserted New York Street. 

About the poet

This poem’s primary themes are solitude and the influence of music. The latter is the sole thing that gives the speaker the impression that they are escaping their physical limitations and flying above New York City like the bird of their dreams. The rest of the days are spent struggling with their recurring companion, isolation.

They are giving readers a view of New York that they have probably never had before�one in which the city is deserted, silent, and sleepy. Readers are presented with vacant streets, snow from last week, and the speaker ambling down the road instead of the fast-paced, chaotic, and intense scene one might anticipate.

Readers are given precise location information by the speaker. As they approach the 1930s, they are strolling down Fifth Avenue (or towards a specific collection of addresses). Once more, readers are shown a reflective and peaceful vision of New York that is supposed to catch their attention. Readers may picture how quiet the setting might be with the sidewalks vacant and everyone else still in bed thanks to the poet’s use of images. The speaker is on their own, thinking only of themselves while they stroll.

The speaker makes an interesting allusion by saying that by clearing their mind, they have achieved what Buddhists “inform you is achievable,” but only if you “don’t try.” In this passage, the poet alludes to Buddhist meditation techniques and the idea that one should be able to empty their mind of all thoughts and simply exist in the present moment without even trying. The speaker feels as though they are doing this.

Beginning at line fifteen, the speaker states that their ideal ability would be the ability to transform into a bird, much like a shaman. In this instance, the poet is implying that they would like to possess abilities like that of a “shaman” or someone with access to both good and bad spirits, as well as those of someone who can go into trance (as the speaker implied they were doing), perform magic, and engage in healing. This is how things “had to be” in life. The speaker conveys the impression that they were in some manner intended for something greater. They ought to be allowed to go outside the ordinary confines of their lives, as depicted in the earlier pictures of the deserted New York street. However, regrettably, they are �earthbound�

The poet employs a very straightforward case of personification in line twenty. The speaker in this passage claims, “Solitude is my companion.” This emotion is common in both classical and modern poetry. Speakers and poets often reflect on their loneliness, alienation, and isolation. The speaker in this passage seems to be saying that the only thing they have to walk the earth with is their isolation.

The speaker repeats the word “Don’t” in line 23 to emphasize its significance in the line and to convey to readers their determination about reality. The repetition creates a conversational-sounding line. They are aware of their lives and how they interact with their loneliness. Nobody should make an effort to reassure them that they “aren’t alone” or that “others care about them.” These well-known expressions are unlikely to cause the speaker to change their opinion of their reality.

This is the first indication that someone other than the speaker is awake in the entire city. A man with a saxophone stands on the corner of two streets, his fingerless gloves caked with dirt. The man is homeless or living in terrible poverty based solely on the first line of the description. Most likely, he is playing the saxophone on the corner to support himself.

It seems that the speaker in “The Man with the Saxophonelast “‘s lyrics speaks of “bend[ing] over into the cold, golden reed.” The poem appears to change direction at this point, implying that the speaker is also playing an instrument in addition to the “guy with the saxophone.” The speaker is given the impression of being the “unencumbered bird of my imagination” because of their combined “notes.” The speaker is offered the tranquility and beauty of symbolic flight in the closing lines. Although they ascend away from the metropolis, they will eventually revert “toward the concrete.”

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Story Arcadia

The Man With The Saxophone Poem

In a man with the saxophone poem, the poet may explore the relationship between music and the city, using the saxophone as a symbol of both artistic expression and urban culture. The sound of the saxophone becomes a central motif in these poems, representing both the beauty and chaos of city life.

One example of a man with the saxophone poem might read:

The man with the saxophone Sways to his own rhythm Amidst the bustling city streets His notes weaving through concrete canyons

Each breath into his instrument Echoes tales untold Of love lost and found Of dreams chased and abandoned

His melody becomes our soundtrack As we navigate this urban jungle A reminder that amidst all chaos There is still beauty to be found

In this example, we can see how the poet uses imagery related to music and city life to create a sense of atmosphere and emotion. The saxophone becomes a powerful symbol in this poem, representing both individual expression and collective experience.

Overall, the man with the saxophone poem is a unique style of poetry that offers readers an opportunity to explore themes of music, urban living, and human connection in a richly evocative way. Whether you are an avid poetry reader or simply curious about different poetic styles, exploring this genre can offer new insights into artistry and creativity.

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Claire Patton's AP Literature and Composition Blog

Saturday, september 11, 2021, post 4: reflection for "saxophone" essay.

   Here are my answers to the reflection worksheet I completed on 9/11/2021 after writing my first Q1 style essay about Ai's Poem "The Man with the Saxophone."   

No comments:

Post a comment, post 4.5: raw essay for q1 reflection for "saxophone" essay.

  Here is the raw text of the first Q 1 Essay I wrote. There may be minor typos or impurities as this is just a first draft! 

• Post 3.5: Raw Essay for Q2 Reflection for "Breath" Essay    Here is the raw text of the first Q 2 essay I wrote. There may be minor typos or impurities as this is just the first draft! 
• Post 3: Q2 Reflection for "Breath" Essay   Here are my answers to the reflection worksheet I completed on 9/06/2021 after writing my first Q2 style essay about Tim Winton's nove...
• Post 4.5: Raw Essay for Q1 Reflection for "Saxophone" Essay   Here is the raw text of the first Q 1 Essay I wrote. There may be minor typos or impurities as this is just a first draft! 

3+ Ai Poems

Ai was born Florence Anthony in 1947. She legally changed her name to Ai, meaning “love” in Japanese. Her poetry is often concerned with her identity and feminist politics. She includes first-person accounts in her work, many of which have earned praise. Her first collection was  Cruelty,  published in 1973.

Ai’s poem ‘Cuba, 1962’ appears in her poetry collection Vice: New and Selected Poems (1999), winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. This piece is written in the context of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

When the rooster jumps up on the windowsill    and spreads his red-gold wings, I wake, thinking it is the sun

Ai’s poem ‘The Kid’ presents a haunting tale of a fourteen-year-old boy who kills his mother, sister, and grandfather, and then runs away. It appears in her award-winning poetry collection Vice: New and Selected Poems (1999).

My sister rubs the doll’s face in mud,    then climbs through the truck window.    She ignores me as I walk around it,    hitting the flat tires with an iron rod.

The Man with the Saxophone

‘The Man with the Saxophone’ by Ai contains a description of a lonely, quiet New York street and the moments of happiness the narrator experiences while listening to music.

New York. Five A.M. The sidewalks empty. Only the steam Line pouring from the manhole covers seems alive, as as I amble from shop window to shop window,

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AP English Literature and Composition: 2021 Results

Trevor Packer

• July 13, 2021

The following data reflect the 297,009 students worldwide who took either the paper or the digital AP English Literature Exam in May. Data from students who tested in June are not yet available.

The following table enables comparisons of student performance in 2021 to student performance on the comparable full-length exam prior to the covid-19 pandemic:

Big Ideas and Skills:

• Students scored exceptionally well on questions asking them to analyze character or setting (Big Ideas 1 and 2), or to recognize the function of a particular character (Skill category 1). Students’ abilities on such questions are sky high, a real testament to the ways teachers have helped students practice and become proficient at analyzing details about characters in texts
• Students also scored very well on questions asking them about figurative language (Big Idea 5), or about the function of word choice, imagery, and symbols (Skill Category 5).
• On questions about the function of comparison (Skill Category 6), it’s clear that many students have mastered this skill; a whopping 16% answered all of these questions correctly.
• The one Big Idea and Skill Category that lags significantly behind the others, and that would boost scores quite a bit if students could get this skill to the same level as their others, is the ability to recognize how a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls a text’s details and emphases (Big Idea 4); students scored significantly lower on questions about Skill Category 4, the function of the narrator or speaker, than on other skill categories.
• As is usual, students scored lower on multiple-choice questions about poetry than prose.

This is the first year I’ve ever seen the poetry analysis essay receive the highest scores of any of the 3 essays, outpacing the prose analysis essay and, even more surprisingly, the “reader’s choice” literary argument essay. That said, the performance differences are very narrow, indicating that students had developed very similar levels of proficiency this year across these various modes of analysis and explication. So despite all the other challenges of 2020-21, poetry did not take its usual backseat to prose in student essay performance this year. Nice work.

• Essay #1: Analysis of Ai’s poem “The Man with the Saxophone”
• 85% of students earned the thesis point
• 98% of students earned one or more of the evidence/commentary points
• 7% of students earned the sophistication point
• Essay #2: Analysis of an excerpt from Winton’s Breath
• 90% of students earned the thesis point
• 93% of students earned one or more of the evidence/commentary points
• 6% of students earned the sophistication point
• Essay #3: House as symbol
• 79% of students earned the thesis point
• 95% of students were able to earn one or more of the evidence/commentary points
• 5% of students earned the sophistication point
• Differences in the testing mode (paper or digital). For sections of the exam that proved easier to take digitally, the digital versions require more points for each AP score. For sections of the exam that proved easier to take on paper, the paper exam requires more points for each AP score.
• Differences in the difficulty of specific questions. When exam questions prove easier, more points are required for each AP score, and when exam questions prove more difficult, fewer points are required on one version than another.
• The net result for this year’s AP English Literature Exams is that out of 120 points possible, the digital exams proved slightly easier than the paper, so to adjust for that variation in difficulty:
• To receive a 5 on the digital versions, students needed to earn 1–5 more points (depending on the difficulty of the version) than students who took the paper exam.
• To receive a 4 on the digital versions, students needed to earn 2–6 more points (depending on the difficulty of the version) than students who took the paper exam.
• To receive a 3 on the digital versions, students needed to earn 0–6 more points (depending on the difficulty of the version) than students who took the paper exam.

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English Notes

English notes latest questions, what are the poetic devices used in the poem a man with the saxophone.

• Personification : It is the process through which a poet gives an inanimate object a human trait. When the poet speaks to “solitude” as their companion in line twenty, we can see this literary trick in action.
• Allusion : It can be recognized when the poet refers to a topic unrelated to the text’s material. The poet refers to Buddhist meditation techniques and how, if one just doesn’t “try,” they can empty their mind of thoughts in the first few lines. But as the speaker strolls down Fifth Avenue, this happens to them.
• Repetition : “Can you see them in the pot” is repeated throughout the piece. This could be a complete line or stanza, a single word, a phrase, a formal feature, etc. For instance, the poet twice uses the term “don’t” in line 23.
• Enjambment : When the poet ends a line before it should end, this is known as enjambment. Take, for instance, the change between lines 35 and 36. Between lines 41 and 42, there is another illustration.

A man with the saxophone Summary

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Appreciating Timeless Works of Art: An AP Literature and Composition Blog

Tuesday, september 14, 2021, blog post #4 poetry benchmark essay reflection.

        Benchmark Essay 

In the Man with The Saxophone the narrator takes the reader on a brisk journey through the city of New York but does not showcase New York’s characteristic loud side, instead showcases the calming encounter he has with a man playing a saxophone, and how everything he had hoped for on that day coincidentally fall in place once he meets the man with the saxophone . The narrator eloquently transports the reader to New York, and contrasts the scene with what the narrator wishes for and how his desires are met when he meets the ‘Man with the Saxophone’. 

Initially, the narrator introduces New York city at 5 am as ‘empty’, covered with ‘brittle snow’, which coherently resonate with his mental statu, ‘empty’ and wishes to be a ‘bird’, which add to a bugger theme of how the narrator seeks to be peaceful, without being ‘earthbound’. He desires silence  and for it to stay for the rest of the day, without worrying about the characteristic bustling New York.

However, since the narrator is well aware of how that is not a possibility he proceeds, only to realize that what he longer for was given to him once he met the Man with the Saxophone.

As stated” I think  I must be somewhere else, not here, not in this city, this heartland of pure noise.” When the narrator and the Man with the Saxophone melodiously played their instruments together, ‘it struck a chord in the narrator’s heart and he felt connected, at a deeper level, a level so deep that it left the narrator content and steady.

Additionally , the narrator is not only left content and astonished  after harmoniously playing with the man , but also refers to his other desire of being a bird, and states “I'm the unencumbered bird of my imagination.” He expresses his deep connections with the man and their instruments, embodying his gratitude for having met the man and finding peace through the connection they made upon playing their instruments together. 

                                                            Reflection  

I was tasked to write an essay upon reading the poem A man with a saxophone by Ai and analyze his use of literary elements and techniques that convey the complexity of the speaker’s encounter with the saxophone player at that particular time and place. 

I expect to earn a 1-2-1 on the essay I wrote. As, my essay presented a defensible thesis statement, provided some relevant evidence, and consistently employed a style that was vivid and persuasive. 

I hoped to earn a 1 for the thesis statement because the thesis presented, offered a defensible interpretation of the encounter the speaker had with the saxophone player. For instance, I offered an interpretation that explored the speaker’s desires and how his encounter with the man with the saxophone coincidentally fulfilled his desires.

I hoped to earn a 2 for the evidence I provided because most of the evidence was specific and relevant but there was no progression as can be seen when I introduce the idea that the speaker hopes for something before meeting the man with the saxophone, but I fail to elaborate on what he hopes for. However, most of the evidence presented is specific and consistently draws connections between the speaker’s word choice in relation to the bigger thematic statement of his longing for peace. 

I expect to earn a 1 for sophistication as I consistently employ a style that is vivid and persuasive, as can be seen when I directly quote from the poem to elaborate on the atmosphere the speaker is in and connect that to his desires and encounter. 

I noticed similarities between the reflection of this essay and the embrace your complexity powerpoint in that we were required to create a piece that encapsulated a variety of information but at the same time had a logical flow that harmoniously blended the different aspects of the work. For example: In the embrace your complexity power point presentation, we were tasked to use two adjectives to describe ourselves, all while considering the pictures, choice of colors, font size, font design, and other digital elements which all coherently showcased a more intense meaning to the slides used to describe ourselves, likewise, in the reflection of this essay, we were required to develop a line of reasoning that gradually accumulated information to ultimately exhibit a more profound meaning of the thesis statement, backed up by the evidence provided throughout the essay.

From this reflection, I have a clearer understanding of what is expected of me from a Poetry Essay and how I must make notes of the minute details present in the poems that add to a bigger thematic statement, as well as make sure that I clearly understand the meaning of these minute aspects before jumping into writing of the essay because this is vital to being able to articulate clearly and at a steadier and smoother pace with a logical and well written flow of words. 

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Blog post #3 prose short fiction benchmark essay reflection.

    Benchmark Essay

The playful excerpt from Tim Winton’s novel Breathe, captures the notorious childhood memory of a young boy recollecting the joyful encounter he had with a friend, Ivan Loonie. Tim Winton captures the significance of the riverbank incident and his coincidental meeting with Ivan Loonie, who seemed to never have even “the remotest thing in common” with the narrator’s caricature of each character’s emotions, settings, and suspenseful start coherently add to the warm and spontaneous scene along with providing a reflection of the situation that unfolded.

The introduction to Ivan Loonie is presented in a somewhat mysterious way, with eerie commentary of how “there was a crisis”, and how a woman was screaming that there was a boy in the water.” Here, the narrator builds suspense and takes the reader route of believing that the boy might have drowned and died. Conversely, the next few lines indicate that this was a “prank” . 

When the boy bolted towards rescuing Ivan Loonie the anxiety building up in him, skeptical thoughts and complete fear of the unknown subconsciously lurk in the author, which all add to the suspenseful scene. 

However, once the boy realizes that Ivan Loonie was ultimately trying to prank the women at the pool, the words used resonate with the feeling expressed and experienced by each of the characters. 

Ultimately, the author, astonished by the situation realizes that “it was more fun to pull this prank than '' stand by while some else did it. The author experiences a character shift from a playful young lad to a more self conscious boy that felt “guilt” over “glee”.

While this encounter marked the characters’ commencement of a  new friendship, “also conveys realization the author made after finding himself in the sticky “riverside panic” situation. 

Reflection  

I was tasked to read an excerpt from Tim Winton’s novel, Breathe and analyze Winton’s use of literary elements and techniques that represent the complex response of the narrator to the incident at the riverbank. 

I hoped to receive a 0-1-0  on the essay I wrote. As my essay as a whole lacked the logical comprehension of the excerpt and as a result, I misinterpreted what the prompt was asking for and could not cohesively link the thesis statement to the rest of the essay.

I expected to earn a 0 for the thesis statement because the thesis presented is weak and provides a summary of the issue without any apparent claim. As is evident when I describe how the scene was ‘joyful’, which is the polar opposite of what is present there. I made a very vague analysis of the excerpt and thereby framed a broken thesis statement.

I expected to earn a 1 for the evidence and commentary because most of the evidence I presented was irrelevant to the prompt and was branched off of a feeble thesis statement.

The evidence lacked reference to the prompt and was a melting pot of unrelated material and commentary. However, the 1 point was for the specific evidence I offered on the character shift the narrator experienced, and that coherently linked that to the evidence from the text. 

I also loosely made references to literary elements, devices and techniques used but offer little evidence on the reasoning behind their usage.

I expected to earn a 0 for the sophistication because instead of exploring the tensions and complexities of the piece, and relating them to the broader context, I have made sweeping generalizations and the piece lacked complexity or deeper analysis of any sort. 

I noticed similarities between the reflection of this essay to the song analysis in that in both of the cases we were tasked to analyze a piece of work, make inferences about the deeper meaning behind the works and articulate that clearly in a well written manner. For example: In the individual song analysis, we were required to make  border observations on the song, investigate the deeper meaning the song encapsulated and articulate that clearly, likewise, the reflection of this essay, was similar in that we were tasked to analyze our mistakes and figure out the deeper meaning behind the requirements of the prompt and the mistakes that we made due to the our faulty understanding of the prompt. 

From this reflection, I recognized the gravity of my current situation, in terms of writing an essay after analyzing a piece of work and was able to gain a clearer understanding of the weak articulation I made, how I can work towards improving my writing skills, and frame a more concise, eloquent thesis. Right off the bat, I observed my improper understanding of the prompt, a faulty thesis statement, loose evidence, shallow reasoning, and lack of sophistication. When I loosely analyzed the excerpt, and consequently framed a thesis statement that lacked any understanding of the prompt, where I instead vaguely discussed the devices used without logically connecting their usage to the essay, which followed a weak essay. The reflection allowed me to gain a more critical understanding of my essay and has liberated me towards picking up the minute details in the text, making broader connections, and understanding the conflicts by articulating them clearly onto paper.

BLOG POST #2 Literary Argument Benchmark Essay Reflection

      Benchmark Essay

Familiarity, a feeling of unity, of oneness with the world, the people, the environment around is what every living soul seeks, be it at their workplaces, schools. Colleges, etc, what every living being innately desires is being a part of a connected atmosphere, a community. So is the case in The Alchemist , where the shepherd boy is trapped in his utopic life of stargazing every night while his flock of sheep grazed over the expansive, lush grass that grew atop a hill, but also craved for s for something he subconsciously lacked, and seeked to escape his seemingly perfect life for a higher meaning.

Even Though, the boy lived a life of ease and comfort, in the beautiful pastures of Spain, and felt oneness with his flock of sheep, the mountains, and starry-summer nights, he desired to break free from the shackles of this utopic lifestyle he led. 

The boy awaits for his moment, and receives his answer when he is approached by a king who tells him that there is deeper meaning to his life, and me must seek it to attain self fulfillment, The boy who was eagerly waiting for a sign of some sort believes that this is his calling, his calling for a higher purpose in life and leaves almost instantaneously. 

Once he leaves to the neighboring country, he, just as any human would, misses home. A place where he led a life of simplicity at its best. Months pass by and he is on his mission to fulfill his potential, to discover his higher meaning in life. Afterwhich, he ends up becoming enlightened of his past, present and how he will lead his future.

He realized the deeper reaching for his departure from the perfect life. That home was not the destination, but a layover that he had to face and ‘fuel up’ on for the journey that lay ahead of him. It was like an oasis, that supplemented his growth and led him to meet the King, without whom he wouldn’t be where he was  months later, an enlightened person, with a purpose in life. The Thrill he experienced while stargazing was the Universe he subconsciously desired to know more of, was his sign, the sign that the Universe was listening to him and that he must look beyond the horizon, he called a place of comfort, and discover his purpose in the all-land covering sky that stretched way beyond his humble quarters.

REFLECTION & ONE-ON-ONE HANDOUT

DIRECTIONS: Using your understanding of the scoring guide, score your essay and write a reflection using the following template.

PART 1: SCORE YOUR ESSAY 

Use the language of the scoring guide to help you determine this score.

Use evidence from your essay to reinforce this score. 

1-point for thesis because a defensible claim is made and branches into the “higher meaning” of life expressed through his “trapping”  home. 

2-points because the analysis of the meaning of home in the book and the overarching concept of the home is discussed, but does not provide an in-depth analysis of the same, instead it merely touches on the surface of the topic and has not “stretched” beyond the boundaries of simple writing; the essay is a “comfort zone” essay that has kept writing safe and risk-free.

0-point for sophistication because even though there is a certain degree of sophistication in the essay, it fails to go“beyond the horizon” and makes use of “restrained” writing, within the “humble quarters” of simple diction and seemingly absent rhetoric. 

PART 2: WRITE A REFLECTION & POST TO YOUR BLOG. USE THIS TEMPLATE. 

Adapted from Hampton, M. (2014). Reflective writing: a basic introduction. University of Portsmouth.

Blog Post #1 Embrace Your Complexity PPT

        Benchmark Essay  In the Man with The Saxophone the narrator takes the reader on a...

• BLOG POST #4 Poetry Benchmark Essay Reflection         Benchmark Essay  In the Man with The Saxophone the narrator takes the reader on a...
• BLOG POST #3 Prose Short Fiction Benchmark Essay Reflection     Benchmark Essay The playful excerpt from Tim Winton’s novel Breathe, captures the notorious childhood memory of a young boy recollecting...
• Blog Post #1 Embrace Your Complexity PPT  

Trump’s Christian Nationalist Vision for America

D onald Trump’s ambivalence on abortion is back in the news because of his recent flip-flopping on a November referendum in his home state of Florida. On August 29, Trump said he suggested he would vote for the referendum , which would expand abortion rights and overturn the state’s current six-week abortion ban. After intense blowback from anti-abortion activists, Trump walked back his support the next day.

While Trump’s about face on this referendum shows that the activist class still has some pull, it remains true that Trump has done something unimaginable in modern Republican politics. He has bullied the GOP into abandoning four decades of support for a national ban on abortion. Even more surprising, there’s no evidence that Trump’s renegotiation of the allegedly nonnegotiable has hurt him among the rank and file of the party.

This perplexing outcome is revelatory. Trump’s cavalier treatment of this supposedly sacred issue has exposed the Republican Party’s best kept secret: The connection between Republican voters and their leaders was never primarily about abortion. Rather, as Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) transformation of the party reveals, Trump’s bond with his supporters is forged from different material: namely, his militant mission to return power to white Christian America.

Trump instinctively understands this reality. In contrast to his vacillation on abortion, Trump’s rallies are filled with evocations of an idealized ethno-religious state that are articulate, energetic, and consistent. His nostalgic diatribes about reclaiming a lost white Christian past fueled his rise to presidential power, and he has continued this strategy in 2024.

One of Trump’s early re-election campaign stops was the annual meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville on February 22, attended by leaders of the largest white evangelical communications outlets. In his rambling 75-minute speech to these Christian Right leaders, Trump spent a scant two minutes talking about abortion. He began strongly, stating, “From my first day in office, I took historic action to protect the unborn. Like nobody has ever done.” He also touted his attendance at the March pro-life rally in Washington, DC. But then he hailed his achievement of sending “this issue” (he notably did not utter the word “abortion” in the speech) back to the states since “everybody agrees that's where it should be”—a position that is a clear abandonment of a nationwide ban on abortion. While there was no applause for that line, the crowd remained with him.

The beating heart of the speech was the projection of a white Christian nationalist vision. Trump told the enthusiastic crowd—many of whom sported red hats emblazoned with the words “Make America Pray Again”—that he knew they were “under siege.” He declared that one of his first acts of his second term would be to set up a task force to root out “anti-Christian bias” and pledged to protect “pro-God context and content.” He received spontaneous applause for vows to promote school vouchers for private Christian schools and seal the United States’ southern border against “an illegal alien invasion by the world's most sadistic criminals and savage gangs.”

He openly mentioned his four criminal indictments but transformed them into a messianic narrative. Echoing the evangelical theology of substitutionary atonement, he claimed , “I’ve been very busy fighting and, you know, taking the, the bullets, taking the arrows. I'm taking 'em for you. And I'm so honored to take 'em. You have no idea. I'm being indicted for you.”  After he narrowly survived an assassination attempt in August, Trump mused that he was only alive because of divine intervention, making this messianic comparison quite literal.

Notably, his promises to the evangelical broadcasters extended beyond the realm of policy: “If I get in, you’re going to be using that power at a level that you’ve never used before.” He continued: “I really believe it’s the biggest thing missing from this country, the biggest thing missing. We have to bring back our religion. We have to bring back Christianity in this country.”

Trump’s deployment of the term “our religion”—one he regularly rolls out when addressing predominantly white evangelical audiences—is transparently an affirmation of an America of, by, and for white conservative Christians. This worldview, most frequently referred to as white Christian nationalism today, is an old one, predating the founding of our nation. It flows directly from the 500-year-old Christian Doctrine of Discovery—the idea that America was designated by God to be a promised land for European Christians—which justified the settler colonial project and lies at the ancient headwaters of our nation’s history.

Read More: The Roots of Christian Nationalism Go Back Further Than You Think

A 2024 study conducted by PRRI , where I serve as president and founder, explored just how strongly white Christian nationalism is connected to Trump’s contemporary allure. Building on research by political scientists Paul Djupe , Phil Gorski, Sam Perry , and Andrew Whitehead , PRRI developed five distinct agree/disagree questions to measure support for Christian nationalism:

• God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.
• The US government should declare America a Christian nation.
• Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
• If the US moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
• US laws should be based on Christian values.

The PRRI survey, the largest ever conducted on this topic, finds that 3 in 10 Americans can be classified as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers (those who either fully or mostly agree with these five statements), while two thirds of Americans can be classified as Skeptics or Rejecters (those who either mostly or fully disagree with these five sentiments). So, by a margin of two to one, most Americans oppose this anti-democratic worldview.

But the minority of Americans who affirm these sentiments wield disproportionate power because their voices are amplified through Donald Trump's MAGA movement and its takeover of the Republican Party. Today, a majority of Republicans (55%)—and fully two thirds (66%) of white evangelicals, the religious base of the GOP—qualify as Christian nationalist Adherents or Sympathizers.

The survey also reveals how tightly Christian nationalism is correlated with support for Donald Trump, not just at the national level but at the state level. The proportion of Americans who qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers differs considerably across states, but there is a distinct pattern. Residents of red states are nearly twice as likely as residents of blue states to be Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers. And among white Americans, the positive correlation between a state’s average score on the Christian nationalism scale and the proportion of residents who cast votes for Trump in 2020 is a textbook example of a strong linear relationship. The more strongly white residents of a state support Christian nationalism, the more likely they were to have cast their votes for Trump in 2020.

Why should we be worried about this? There is, of course, the obvious answer that the overall vision of America as a promised land for European Christians is fundamentally anti-democratic. Beyond that, Christian nationalist beliefs are strongly linked to a range of other attitudes that are corrosive to democracy : white racial resentment and denials of the existence of systemic racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, homophobia, and support for patriarchal gender roles. In other words, white Christian nationalism evokes a set of hierarchies that positions white, Christian, heterosexual men as the divinely ordained ruling class. This assertion of white Christian entitlement and chosen-ness is toxic to the values of pluralism and equality on which democracy depends.

Most ominously, Christian nationalists are more likely than other Americans to think about politics in apocalyptic terms and are about twice as likely as other Americans to believe political violence may be justified in our current circumstances. Nearly 4 in 10 Christian nationalism Adherents (38%) and one-third of Sympathizers (33%) agree that “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country,” compared with only 17% of Christian nationalism Skeptics and 7% of Rejecters. And support for political violence among Christian nationalists is hardening. While there is no significant shift in support for political violence among Christian nationalism Adherents across the last year, among Sympathizers support for political violence is up 11 percentage points.

The worldview of white Christian nationalism raises the stakes of political contests exponentially, transposing political opponents into existential enemies. Politics are no longer understood to be honest disagreements between fellow citizens but rather apocalyptic battles over good and evil, literally fought by agents of God against agents of Satan. From these illiberal assumptions, it easily follows that political rivals should not just be defeated in fair electoral contests; they should be jailed, exiled, or even killed.

This racist ideology thankfully no longer rests comfortably in the psyches of most Americans. But it has, paradoxically, found a final refuge in the shambles of the party of Lincoln. More than any other discreet moment in the last half century, the 2024 election will present us with a choice that is much more than partisan.

We will have an opportunity to choose between a regressive fantasy of America as a white Christian nation and an aspirational vision of America as a pluralistic democracy. Until we find the will to finally reject the dangerous, authoritarian political theology that now controls one of our two political parties, it will continue to undermine the potential for a truly democratic American future.

Excerpt adapted from the paperback edition of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and a Path to a Shared American Future by Robert P. Jones, published by Simon & Schuster on September 10, 2024. Copyright © 2024 by Robert P. Jones.

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Book Review: Brathwaite flexes his writing chops and expands Black literary canon with debut ‘Rage’

This cover image released by Tiny Reparations shows “Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant...and Completely Over It” by Lester Fabian Brathwaite. (Tiny Reparations via AP)

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There was a class at my university called Black Arts, Black Power. Lester Fabian Brathwaite’s “Rage” would fit snugly right into that syllabus.

With an extensive writing portfolio already under his belt working for publications like “Out,” Brathwaite’s debut book is part memoir, part academic review of culture and society, part philosophical musings of a queer Black millennial man who was born in Guyana and grew up in New York. It fits comfortably alongside the works of other greats to whom it pays homage, like Huey P. Newton, James Baldwin and Nina Simone — the latter being apparent by the book’s full title: “Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant ... and Completely Over It.”

No doubt Brathwaite is a great writer, but he’s also a great thinker.

In a chapter largely focused on muscular dysmorphia, he makes a shockingly persuasive — if bracingly cavalier — argument for bodily autonomy that invokes trans rights, women’s rights, drug use and bodybuilding.

“Rage” is conceptually heavy and multilayered, but with casual syntax and regular use of pop icons and common people, places and things as touchstones. At the same time, there’s a touch of high-brow, with several literary references and famous turns of phrases thoughtfully employed to bring new light to old ideas — and sometimes turn an idea on its head.

With a teaspoon of empathy and an open mind, you’ll find that any differences between the author and the reader melt away because the heart of what Brathwaite is saying is universal.

That said, “Rage” is anything but demure. The Table of Contents is peppered with profanities and even a chapter titled “I Hate the Gays.” Readers will either be turned off here before ever buying the book, or tempted to know more about this self-described “hateful child who grew into an even more hateful adult” — said, like most reflections in the book, with a protective layer of comedy around a kernel of truth.

But being off-putting is part of Brathwaite’s shtick, one readers have not only allowed but praised time and again with arguably more upsetting works (looking at you, “Lolita”).

Still, the writing can admittedly be annoyingly abrasive, like with its overuse of the f-slur and other choices that I personally didn’t love. But in the end, Brathwaite really grew on me. He wholeheartedly owns these pieces of himself. He reclaims words and is ready to live wildly, make mistakes and then grow from them.

And the tender moments hit harder for it, whether Brathwaite is describing his mother’s burial on his 14th birthday or the fifth-grade teacher who took him to Boston for being her top student.

Is “Rage” a little thick? Yes, at times, for sure. But it’s more like academic-lite, broken up with comedic relief, romantic exploits and, as Brathwaite loves to say, debauchery. If you find the starting pace a bit slow, rest assured it ramps up — quickly.

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