Twilight: Los Angeles ends with the words of Twilight Bey, a young activist:
So a lot of times when I've brought up ideas to my homeboys
they say Twilight
that's before your time
that's something that you can't do now
when I talked about the truce back in 1988
that was something they considered before its time
yet in 1992
we made it
realistic
so to me it's like I'm stuck in limbo
like the sun is stuck between night and day
in the twilight hours
you know
I'm in an area not many people exist
Night time to me
is like a lack of sun
and I don't affiliate darkness with anything negative
I affiliate
darkness of what was first
because it was first
and then relative to my complexion
I am a dark individual
and with me stuck in limbo
I see darkness as myself
I see the light as knowledge and the wisdom of the world and
understanding others
and in order for me to be a true human being
I can't forever dwell in the darkness
I can't forever dwell in the idea
just identifying with people like me and understanding me and mine
So twilight
is
that time
between day and night
limbo
I call it limbo
How would you describe Twilight's limbo? do you think others experience this limbo? How is this limbo manifested in people's actions?
What is your own personal limbo?
I think that Twilight's limbo is this feeling she has that she is in limbo, in between two opposites, but not fully either one of them. Like twilight is the stretch between darkness and light. Twilight is saying that the society is like twilight, in limbo between two things. They are no longer a fully white supremacist society, however there are still many troubles concerning racial relations. Twilight is saying that like we should not judge light and dark against each other, but rather see them separately for what they are, we should also treat people of different races equally. But we have to strive for a greater understanding of our situation.
ReplyDeleteAs teenagers, I feel that we are all in this sort of limbo between childhood and adulthood. We are neither one nor the other, yet we are expected to be either one or the other a certain times. We must accept that we are teenagers and understand what goes along with that title rather than try to be either a child or an adult.
Twilight's limbo is stuck in a standstill. He describes limbo as a place between night and daylight, in which the sun is stuck. To me this is kind of like Twilight is stuck between too extremes. The dark of night is what was, so perhaps what was going on before, differences between races dividing everyone in the world into subcategories. Night is where everyone can only identify with people who share the same race as them, who are like them in that aspect. Night is where neighborhoods exist where Koreans only trust each other as do African-Americans, Mexicans, Caucasians. The daylight is the future. It's where knowledge exists and ignorance, hate and a lack of understanding for differences have been overcome. It's where different races live side by side each other and only see the other as human beings. Twilight is stuck between these two because while he sees the daylight and strives towards it, he seems to be held back by the fact that it is an idea before his time. I think other people probably experience limbo. I don't think everyone does but it is probably manifested by those who write and take action about how we can not settle in this semi-confortable ignorance we have towards each other. While I feel I don't exactly have the same limbo as he does, I can see it and almost completely comprehend it. My limbo, if it were to be something other than race related would be about growing up. Although I feel I have strived to grow up and be an adult for my whole life, it is easy to stay an immature child and have that security. I'm stuck in between right now
ReplyDeletethis is Jackie now i didnt feel like logging out/singing in. Twilight's poem was really dense so i had a hard time figuring out what it meant. but i think there were some really important points in it. To my best intepretation i think when Twilight uses the word Limbo he means problem. Like he is caught between two things. Moving forward or staying in the past. I think Twilight's Limbo is he is stuck between two things; he has to sacrifice some things in order to make change (anyone does). For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. devoted his life to making a change and did get very far in his actions yet he sacrificed a normal peaceful life so that he could better the lives of others. Twilight says hes stuck between only associating with what he knows and reaching out to others. I think everyone shares this limbo. We all like to stay within our own little comfort zones and rarely branch out in an effort to change the things we do. We find security in our own rituals. The first thing that comes to my mind when i hear the word Limbo is limbo stick. The only way to move on, or move through it, is to go under it. You have to swallow your pride and get down from your high horse in order to take that next step. So in relation to the riots in LA, in order for there to be a lasting peace (before the riots people were peaceful separately) there needed to be unity; People swallowing their pride and differences and coming together so they would no longer have this problem of being in between the lines, rather, they could all be on the same page.
ReplyDeleteI think Twilight's limbo is being in a situation that is not progressing. As the acivist says twilight is the time between day and night but it never goes back to dark, it always ends up being light. So I think the activist thinks that the tension between blacks and whites will get better but not right now. And as the situation gets closer to the light then people become wiser about the situation and it makes it easier to understand the other point of view. The problem is that the people are no longer extremely racist but still judge people by their race. I think limbo's are caused by people fearing change, which makes people stay in their comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteMy personal limbo that is extremely present in my life is college. I really excited to get out of lexington to meet new people and be in a different enviorment, but at the same time I am fear the change. I like the idea but then realize i will be away from home and not with people who know me really well. But as I figure out housing, classes, financial aid ect (getting closer to the light) I am more open minded to the change.
I think limbo represents the time of twilight because when one is limbo-ing is crossing from one side to another, and having to bend over backwards to get there. On one side of his limbo is day, and the side he is trying to get to is nighttime. But in order to get there, he has to go under the limbo stick which is not an easy thing for many people to do. I think it also represents change, that even though where you are might not be a bad place, change could bring a whole new light to your life if you are willing to limbo to get there. I agree with people who have commented before me, that the biggest limbo in my life that I can think of is just being a teenager; making that change from being called a kid to an adult.
ReplyDeleteTwilight's limbo appears to be progress--or lack thereof. He has a vision of the future, the daytime he describes in which there is light, "knowledge and the wisdom of the world". But the world is still being held back by the darkness; racial tensions still keep people apart. Twilight looks ahead to a better world, but his peers tell him, "that's before your time", and it frustrates him, because the rest of the world has not yet caught up with his vision of progress.
ReplyDeleteOn a slightly unrelated note, I find it interesting that "twilight" was chosen as the metaphorical representation of this issue. The idea is that we must move on from the darkness of ignorance, prejudice and fear, to a more enlightened time. But twilight, by definition, is the time just after sunset: it will only get darker, not lighter. Perhaps there is a broader message here, that things have to get worse before they can get better (pardon the cliche). Or perhaps it's some comment on the inevitability of progress, inevitable like the progression of day and night: eventually, a better world will dawn.
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this. Anyway. My personal limbo right now, I guess, is my changing attitude toward school and learning. (No, this isn't just about senior slump.) Growing up, I always studied hard and earned good grades in order to gain approval from parents/teachers/other people. But in the past few years, I've become a lot more relaxed about grades, and more concerned with learning for the sake of learning. I'm tired of worrying over test scores and other superficial indicators, I'm sick of the futility and the stress, but I still can't completely disregard them--not yet--because it's the way I was raised, and I'm still afraid of not meeting others' expectations.
I think that Twilight's limbo is a period of transition. Twilight talks about how in 1988, they made a truce, but the truce was slowly broken when, in 1992, the riots broke out. The time between 1988 and 1992 was a transition just as the time after the riots was a transition. The transition is society's change from white people to black people to Asian people within the same neighborhood. Other people definitely experience this limbo of transition. All racial groups feel this limbo because it affects people's perspectives and views of other groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else that by being a teenager, we are in limbo from childhood to adulthood. Also, we are limbo as seniors in high school as we make the transition to college.
I think the word "limbo" in this case means that you are in between the past and present, and you can't dwell on either one. It won't be dark all the time, the sun will come and go, like the past and present. I think Twilight's limbo is dealing with what happened at the LA riots and what to do with the future.
ReplyDeleteMy own limbo, is the balance between youth and adulthood. I am young at heart when it comes to almost everything in life. There are nuances because you can't be a kid all the time, or an adult all the time. However, some of the things that I enjoy, might show the same or different opinions/thoughts based on who I talk to. For example, during April Vacation, I am going to Perkins School for the Blind and I am doing a musical called The Ever After. It involves characters from Disney and the Frog Prince. I have not told too many people what the play is about, fearing that the topic might not be well-looked upon.
I would also like to add that this play in my opinion is a form of art and it is also fun! I don't think Disney characters or characters enjoyed as a young child are immature, even at the age of 18.
ReplyDeleteTwilight says that he doesn’t associate darkness with anything negative. But he does say that he associates light with wisdom of the world and knowledge. He associates darkness with the color of his skin, but he doesn’t connect the lightness to anyone’s color of skin. I wonder if this metaphor was fully thought out or if it was something he came up with on the spot. But either way I think Twilight’s limbo is a place that is not white or black, that is neither wise nor ignorant. But I think the most frustrating thing for him about being in limbo is the inability to move from this in between stage. In limbo there is no surrounding yourself solely with black culture or with white culture. He is uncomfortably able to see things that people who aren’t in limbo cannot. The readings said that many people in Los Angeles tried very hard to keep themselves surrounded in just one culture, keeping the other cultures invisible. So many of the people that Twilight knows probably aren’t in limbo with him, but he certainly isn’t alone in limbo.
ReplyDeleteTwilight is stuck waiting for something that is taking so long to occur that he feels it will never happen. My personal limbo is being stuck in the middle between childhood and being an adult. It feels like I haven’t been a child for a long time, but I feel that adulthood is far off. But the difference between my limbo and Twilight’s is that I don’t mind.
I agree with June – it struck me when I read it how odd it was the twilight is actually the transition from day to night, not night to day. But I wanted to add that maybe the darkness necessarily isn’t bad and the light isn’t necessarily good. He says that he sees light as knowledge and wisdom, but maybe that’s just because that’s what we’re taught to think. We always associate white and light with purity and knowledge, and black and dark with evil and ignorance. But why? There isn’t really any reason for it. So twilight is the place where there is no light or dark, white or black, good or bad, and it is a place where all of those exist. It is a place where those labels fall apart, and all that’s left is the true self.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else has said, my limbo is between childhood and adulthood. And also maybe between being British and American.
I believe that the limbo in this case is meant to represent the problems that arise from the two opposing forces in the film/play: the cultures that individuals are brought up in and know best (represented by day) and those that you are not a part of, thus the unknown, making it scary and difficult to accept (represented by night). The concept of being "stuck in limbo" related to the blog question from last night, relating to viewing a situation from someone else's perspective. If you are able to put yourself in another's shoes, then you are more likely to be able to bypass the concept of "limbo" and move on with your life, because you won't be dwelling on what you are not familiar with. By accepting differences, and people who are not the same as you are, you are permitting yourself to be more openminded and to live your life to its fullest, because you are then not letting stereotypes and preconceived notions limit your actions.
ReplyDeleteI interpreted limbo to be this kind of grey area between the present and the future, as opposed to the past and the present. I think that when Twilight Bey talks about nighttime - he's referring to a time when people can only identify and/or associate with people of their own race, whatever it may be. Then, when he talks about the light, or daytime, I think that he is trying to say that that is the goal - to reach the light of understanding and being more accepting by embracing differences. To me, limbo is the place right between the two. It's attempting to make progress, but at the same time it is being set back. I'm sure that others experience a certain kind of similar limbo too.
ReplyDeleteTwilight's limbo if that he's always thinking of things before their time, and has to wait, with virtually no action before those things can become a reality. This is like so many people, that think they have to wait before they can do certain things. Something that comes to mind at the thought of "limbo" are those teens that keep saying "after I graduate... after I move out... after I go to college... After I get a job, my /real/ life will begin," and end up never realizing that they missed out on what was probably the best part of their lives by spending all that time in the "twilight" stage.
ReplyDeleteI experianced my own personal twilight stage recently (and am still wroking through it) when I got my name change. There have been so many times where I think I'm going to get something done, but then think "oh, but before I do this, I have to wait for this and this to happen and get confirmed." Throughout all that waiting, I feel like I'm just drifting along, but someday I'll arrive at the end point, of the "light", of having gotten all the changed done that need to happen.
Twilight is in a rare place. I think that many people live in limbo day to day between light and dark, new and old, and receptive and hostile- but very few individuals are enlightened and take the opportunity to realize the magnitude of their situation. For Twilight, he lives in a limbo of human nature between the reality of separative, socioethnic factions and the dream of a just, mutual society. He reaches for the happier, peaceful future, but for support he finds himself reaching back to his "homeboys" for support and ideas. Judging by the tone to his thoughts, Twilight isn't fully understood on either tract, so he's a paradox caught in limbo on the middle ground between day and night. Day to Twilight means wisdom and understanding. But as he feels, in the beginning their was no light, no wisdom or understanding, only night, so any light shining upon society today is worthwhile progress made.
ReplyDeleteMy own limbo doesn't feel to me as momentous as Twilight's does. But still it is a situation that resonates with me, so it is worth mentioning, even if I've cited this case dozens of times before. Actively living in two very different towns has put me in limbo between two very different and partially conflicting perspectives upon life. For me the perspective that I grew up with in my hometown acts as my night; it's what came first. It's an overall narrow minded view upon life and the world, but it is by no means "bad", only what came first and a template for future development. Lexington, MA has offered me the light of day: a new, broadened look at the world like I'd never imagined. It's like a sense of tangibility and understanding for what's out there. Now I look back and marvel at what life seemed like to me before, but also how that's the same way that my friends at home think like and are restricted by today. And on the other hand, despite all of the ways that Lexington can open us up to the world, it has no idea what it is like to live the simple life. This is where I find my personal limbo. I find myself in the twilight between the plain, confined views of rural life, and the global, fast-paced attitudes predominant in Lexington culture. I'm happy to be endowed by both points of view, but it has a certain drawback. When you live two points of view in a place of one-view people, you can't be fully understood or identified with. There's always half of you that individuals have trouble connecting with, because it is loaded with thoughts, experiences, memories, and dreams that just seem too unfamiliar and foreign. This is what keeps me in limbo. Like Twilight I'm placed in the middle ground, difficult to be able to be fully grasped by either side, and somewhere between day and night.
Twilights limbo is his stunted growth. He seems to be stuck between his origins as a youth and the knowledge of the entire world. He is growing towards the light of knowledge but still recognizes he is not fully grown. In terms of race it seems that his is saying that people originally are close minded. They are comftorble in their little box. They don’t want to open up and be part of the world as a whole. He enjoys the comfort to his box but knows it would be better if he joined the world. This is what he is caught in the mix of.
ReplyDeleteI agree with every one else that childhood to adulthood is a very big limbo that everyone must cross into. It is an undefined state of being. Stuck between two drastically different states. One wants to stay in the bliss and innocence of childhood. On the other hand they are being puled into a whole new world of responsibility. As one gets closer to adulthood they see the excitement and privileges, but you cant look back or else you will yearn for the ignorance.
Twilight feels like he's in limbo in that he's very up front and adamant about activism, yet he's also one of the few of his time/location. He sees injustices, and swears to help bring those to an end, yet he lives in a world where injustice is not fully recognized, and where he has to compromise somewhat to further his goals.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, my limbo has to do with my art. I feel both a core of confidence in my work, and a deep fear simultaneously. Sometimes it is hard for me to continue on, for fear that I have no future in art at all, but the other side of me just knows that i do. But then the other other side of me is scared that I don't, and so on. I guess ultimately I've decided to trust myself and my work and to keep going with it despite certain fears, but I still struggle with it from time to time, and I probably will as long as I do it.
Twilight's limbo is him caught between the thoughts of his progression and him being able to voice his opinions. He has the ideas for change but it seems as if his society may not be ready to handle them His homeboys tell him that what he has to say is before his time. Everyones not ready to feel what he feels or hear what he has to say. His ideas are restricted by his surroundings and the peoples views. He wants to be able to reach the light and become a true human being. To reach that point he must come into the light and not dwell in the dark. Twilight also associates his dark complexion with his dark thoughts. His complexion could also be a reason for the non progression his thoughts. During his time people may not want to hear the ideas of a dark individual
ReplyDeleteI agree there is a limbo with adulthood and childhood. We have to go through experiences as a child so we can learn and approve as an adult. With adulthood comes new opportunities and responsibilities.
As everyone has said, Twilight's limbo is a transition from darkness - ignorance and lack of acceptance - to light - knowledge and progression. But transitions, thresholds, can either be a doorway into a new way of thinking or a barrier, where progression comes to a standstill. A few people have mentioned the strange use of twilight, going from day to night, rather than maybe using dawn. I agree that this is a interesting disconnect, but I think that by using the imagery of twilight, he still has a hopeful view of the future: there is no fear of a day being stuck perpetually at twilight. Time may slow down or feel suspended then, and maybe night comes next, but the day is certain to come. I think that Twilight is certain of progress, and that is why he used this imagery where he could have used some other sort of threshold: a doorway, or an ocean, or a bridge, for example. These are all things that have the possibility of never being crossed, but the day is never suspended forever in twilight.
ReplyDeleteI agree that, as teenagers, the main "limbo" in our lives right now is that between adulthood and childhood. Especially with applying to colleges, we are being asked to make decisions about our future, or at least present some plan for our futures, while at the same time being told time and time again that we are still young, and we have time to figure out what we want to do. We're not adults, and we're not children either, but the strange "twilight" in between.
Well, I had to go online and search for the definition of "limbo" and it said (aside from the religious meaning) an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place AND/OR a place or state of imprisonment or confinement. I find it interesting how these two might go in hand with Twilight's limbo. Twilight's limbo is that he is stuck, it is in the middle of day and night. As he is stuck within this world of racism and opening up and that there are so many in the world that are still racist while others are opening up and even the conflict resides in himself. And that the limbo (according to the first definition) is that he is in this transition period. However, he can also apply to the 2nd definition where he is trapped/caged between the two conflicts within himself and society. And yea, I do personally believe that others experiences it as well. And that is does affect their action as acts of openess or acts of racism/discrmination. It is within those people.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely a lot of personal limbos. Aside from the teenager/school one (as many have said above), I have a limbo for skating as well. There are times where I want to quit so much because of the frustration of not performing to my maximum capacity after breaking a leg (this is the second time, i've broken a bone before, and went through the process, so going through the process again was especially painful), however there are parts of me that doesn't want to quit because I've been in the sport for so many years. And I am in this period where I do not know what to do-trapped. To quit or not to quit-a "twilight"-a limbo.
I would describe Twilight's limbo as one that we all have to face one day. Twilight seems to be expressing how he is stuck between his feelings of white and black culture. I really like how Rosalie put Twilight's limbo as also partially being how Twilight is "trapped/caged between the two conflicts within himself and society." I feel like everyone has this sense of limbo when they are growing up, like others of said, everyone must face the hard questions of Who am I really? and even What am I? We must choose if we want to follow stereotypes or become individuals.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal limbo is one most people have been talking about. I feel stuck between being my parents daughter and the person I want to become. Being the dutiful daughter is getting harder and harder to play because that role is changing and I'm wishing that life could go back to the days where naps where a daily thing.
Twilight's limbo is this position where he is surrounded with those who are like him in terms of race and culture. The limbo piece is that he sees the neccessity for reaching out and attempting to connect the races more thoroughly. The country needs to be unified for progress, and that is the oppisite of the de facto segregation that is the reality. Many people experience this limbo to a lesser degree. They see the need for reaching out between races and establishing firmer connections, but only act on it minimally. The support and recitation of stereotypes are an example of a failure to breach limbo.
ReplyDeleteMy personal limbo is largely concerning how my future will take shape. My life and my pursuits are conflicting. I am not sure what I want to do professionally and so I am caught in that respect.
Traditionally, Limbo is a Hell where sinners are kept until Judgment Day. In more modern times, limbo is the state of being unable to progress until some other action occurs. To Twilight, I think this describes how he is stuck with all of these reformation ideas and ideas about what could be done with equality, but they are only ideas until these riots, the whole movement, is completed. His limbo is also his realization that in order for the community to move on, both sides must be recognized. The riots were never about the “us” as a nation, they were about the “us” as the oppressed community, and twilight is saying that real changes will not occur until the mindset of being part of the bigger “us” is adopted. Plenty of other people experience this limbo, most did, I believe, during the civil rights movement. My personal limbo is, like some others have said, deciding what to do with my career and life in general. It’s hard to gauge what I’ll be doing in X amount of years, but at the same time I think I might have an idea. Everything can change between now and then though, so I’m stuck between knowing and not knowing.
ReplyDeleteTwilight's limbo is a catch between day and night, like he says himself. He says he affiliates with darkness, because he is a dark individual himself, and he also thinks of darkness being "what was first." He is stuck there, and between the understanding of the light. Light means acceptance, of human beings realizing about others' races, and not creating issues because of it. I think he is stuck in this limbo because he identifies himself, and has for so long, with people of his own race and color, but at the same time he knows he has to move forward and try to identify with others based on things other than race. I bet others do experience the same limbo, i think they did especially so after the riots. Any race riots actually, anywhere. In L.A. though, there is extreme diversity, yet only in clusters. I think many people felt the same limbo after the riots because they knew they shouldn't hang out with just their "people" anymore, they could see what it was causing.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal limbo right now is figuring out who I am on my own, and not just by how other people define me, or my parents describe me, and figuring out what I want. In one way, I want to be young and not worry about anything, but in the same way I want to identify myself with who I really am, and start figuring out what I want to do, where I want to go, etc.
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ReplyDeleteTwilight’s limbo is the transition between light and dark. Light and dark also represents day and night and as he said wisdom verse unknown. Twilight does not which side to take a point of view from. He does not where to get his perspective from. I think Twilight’s limbo also relates to the past and present. He mentions how people say that was before its time when talking about things from a few years passed. And then the same things arise again and are made into a huge deal.
ReplyDeleteMy limbo would be the period between adulthood and childhood as many others have also mentioned. This is the period where I want to be given respect and my own responsibilities but at the same time I don’t want to grow up completely and miss out on my childhood. When I go into small stores, for example, I can tell that I am watched extra carefully to make sure I won’t steal anything or create a scene because that is what is expected from kids my age. I don’t think it is fair that all kids are given that label just because I few people do actually follow through with it. Similarly, I want to be able to go out and enjoy myself as kids do without having too many restrictions to limit my enjoyment. It is hard to decide whether or not to act as an adult or child would.
Twilight's limbo is having the desire and the drive to want to change things in society and in his life for the better, yet not being able to act on it because he feels like he does not have the power or that society won't listen. In that aspect, he is also trying to figure out who will listen to him and who won't - whether people who have identity's similar to his own are more likely to relate to him, and also the self struggle of having to try to see a situation from another person's point of view.
ReplyDeleteI think my own personal limbo is the struggle of figuring out who I am and what my priorities in life are. I am at a point in my life where I'm thinking a lot about my future. In this process I am caught between how much time and effort I put into my schoolwork versus the time I spend doing things that I want to do and that I enjoy. I am in limbo between how much time i spend with my family versus my friends, etc. I think this is the sort of limbo that will never go away, it will only change as I get older and as situations I am put in change as well.
I feel like Twilight is associating his limbo with not only light and dark, but also the color of races. He feels like he is stuck in the middle between the two and his knowledge comes before they are ready to be accepted. He doesn't know which side to choose, and feels like his is lost in this world of indecision. It seems like he knows what should happen, but feels that the world does not have enough light or knowledge to accept his ideas yet. Also, the colors of different races could be associated with his feelings in his limbo. He associates himself with darkness, being dark-skinned, but I don't think that he considers that his label. He feels stuck between the two cultures, and neither one of them are ready to accept the other and truly look at the problems they are creating. Limbo is a time where nothing is distinct enough the make out; it is a time of discovery.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal limbo is probably the same as every other teenager's: identity. That's what high school is all about, finding out who you are as an individual and what you plan to do with your life. I feel like I have a hard time figuring out what my purpose in life is and how I am supposed to use my time in order to benefit my purpose. Spending time with friends or doing homework seems to be the hardest for me to decide, because both are important in different ways, and both will attribute to different parts of my life.
When we played the game limbo as kids the goal was to get through without touching the limbo stick or the floor. Twilight's limbo is somewhat like this. She doesn't know where she is in between light and dark and in between races. Although it's not that she is afraid of "touching" the dark or the light side, she isn't sure which one she really belongs to or if she has to belong to only one specifically, and she sort of has trouble going back and forth.
ReplyDeleteI agree that for students in high school our limbo is our identity, something we all struggle with to find and sometimes it takes making decisions between two differen't important things or several, to come to a medium of who we are. Do you concentrate on school work? Or family problems? or Do you spend all your time with your friends? And if you only focus on your friends what does that make you?
When poeple think about limbo they think about the place you go when your to bad to go to heaven but not bad enough to go to hell. Beys limbo was much similar but it was more of metaphor then an actual physical space. He is describing how he is right between heaven and hell. His poeple have fought hundreds of years to get equal rights. Now that they have equal rights they are still discriminated against and hated all throughout this country where it is said that all men are created equal under god. They are savagely beaten by the police who are the poeple that we pay millions and millions of dollars to protect the innocent and they are out there baraging a man with night sticks. How can you say blacks are equal when a korean woman can shoot a small black girl in the back of the head for suposedly stealing orange juice and she gets away with a $500 fine. To shoot a defenseless child in the back of the head and kill her and only have to pay a $500 fine is disgusting to me. This is the limbo that Twilight bey is refering too.
ReplyDeletei think u can interpret this limbo in several ways. the more physically seeing one, Twilight is on the edge of stopping to see the world in black and white. He realizes that he has to change in order to be an integrated person in a multicultural society. Towards the end of the poem it says "I can't forever dwell in the idea
ReplyDeletejust identifying with people like me and understanding me and mine" which basically means that he realizes that conflicts will be occurring all the time as long as we just understand our "own people". I think this is a very interesting point because this aspect of identifying with its own kind is probably one, if not even THE, reason why conflicts and wars evolve. Religions, countries, gangs, races, they give all some kind of feeling of belonging to something, often but not necessarily damning another thing of the same kind. Some wars evolve out of religious reasons, some because of "national interests", but in the end the probems are the same. The founder of the wars cannot understand or integrate each others' opinions and sticks with its own believings.
Twilight might have understood that not the first but one of the final steps of creating a race-class-free, safe society for everybody is by stopping to stick with your own group of people and starting to get a more differentiated opinion. The limbo of this theory would represent the time in between this transformation. He knows about the"better way" but he is still stuck in his own "darkness".
Another way of interpreting could be that twilight is not talking about race at all. This might sound a little strange, but look at the poem as a hint on the human's evolution. Darkness stands for the a state of mind were people are stuck in their judging opinions. He says: "I see darkness as myself
I see the light as knowledge and the wisdom of the world and
understanding others"
He believes in the light to be the thing that shines upon the perfect civilization. He knows that if he stops to be in his dark status he would gain the wisdom, knowledge of the world and the understanding of others what all would be necessary for an integrated, perfect, conflict free society. but he is stuck in a limbo, in a twilight, in the thing between day and night because hes not able to do the full transformation yet, maybe he is not ready, maybe it just takes more time. this limbo is a dilemma because on one hand it offers the insight of both ways but at the same time it is impossible for him to live either of them. that goes on his nerves, that makes him write that poem.
Either way, in both limbos i believe that many people feel the same. The are stuck in evolution, they know a lot but cant go on. i think that the so called midlife crisis might be something like this limbo. people at this time become unsure about themselves, they know that there is something else, they are stuck in this limbo, might experience the same thing. i dont know about taht because i am still 17 and hopefully far away from this crisis, but thats how i imagine it to be.
i think that i, personally have a lot of own, personal limbos. I know that "money doesnt make me happy eventually" but i still want to have a lot of it. i am not "just austrian" anymore, but i am not "just american", i know that i am a global citizen, i know that eventually it might be like that that i will not care about nationalities and borders, but it would be still easier for me to be just one thing. My limbo is the feeling of being torn apart by an integrated "thats how it should be"-feeling and a, evolutionary seen lower, "but i dont want it to be like that because it is way easier to be on the 'lower side'"-feeling.
i mean, i hope ill solve it eventually, but it will take a lot of time probably.
Limbo is twilight, where the night and day coalesce to create a gray in-between. Twilight's limbo is the standstill regarding racial interactions; we neither progress nor regress. There are times where people feel stuck, such as what I constantly feel as a high school student--I feel excitement when I think of going on to college, but at the same time I wish that I could go back to the easier times of elementary school or middle school. I want to become independent, but I also want the security of my parents behind me, supporting me. Sometimes you wish that some things would stay the same way forever, but even so, sometimes it's better to move forward.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of being stuck in "limbo" is a deeper definition of twilight. Twilight is the period between darkness and light. It is the struggle between black and white, and all races. The world has made great progress regarding race issues yet there is still not racial equality. On another note, being stuck in limbo is also being stuck and not knowing where you fit in, darkness or light, black or white. Where do we fit in? I am white, so am I automatically on the light side? Does that mean I am against the dark side? Do I get a choice? Do we all fit in where we think we should, or do we fit in where society thinks we should? I am stuck in limbo. To me, there is no black and white side. We should all blur those lines. Everyone should join together in limbo, instead of being on sparring sides.
ReplyDeleteI think that Twilight is stuck in limbo between the reality of racism in the world, and wanting peace and equality between the races. Twilight wants to move past the hate, but can't get past it because of society's violent and racist attitudes. I think that others experience this same limbo, wanting things and ideas to change, but not having them change. I think this limbo was manifested in the riots, the people were angry about the inequality that they faced, and they acted out in violence.
ReplyDeleteI think in my personal limbo, I am stuck between wanting to do well in school and work hard, but also wanting to just relax and not worry about everything so much. I always have a struggle with wanting to just stop working, and wanting to keep it up and get good grades (and good grades is the side that always wins in the end).
I think Twilight's limbo is being in a sort of double-edged situation. I also think he may be stuck in between his own personal ideas about society and those of the people around him. For instance, he says that his homeboys tell him that something is outdated or just can't be done. However, Twilight may find a way to achieve this desire. His limbo refers to the differences between people and ideas about society and racism. I think other people may experience this limbo too. I think it can be experienced in everyday life, such as identifying with groups of people. I have a friend who has two different groups of friends that don't particularly get along. I've noticed that she's put herself in a kind of limbo, not knowing who to chill with or identify with.
ReplyDeleteTwilight's "limbo", is the struggle for racial acceptance. The point when the recognition of a problem is emminent, but complete acceptance and equality of racial differences has not been reached. That place where some consider it changed or fixed and others are appalled by this assumption. Everything that requires change goes through this "limbo", the extent of it depends on the situation and how large scale it is. Right now, I would say my "limbo" would be a mix of things, consisting of adolescence to adulthood, depending on my family to depending on myself, the identity given to me by society to how I define myself, who I am expected to love to who I really do, and so on. Some "limbos" can be ended, whereas others continue on with society, and are not so much focused on us as individuals, but the growth of humanity.
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