Assignment #6

In reading lines 2200-2723 of Beowulf and The Negro Digs Up His Past, I am filled with a morunful feeling. In the beginning of these lines in Beowulf, we read of the last member of his group. He explains how he buries the treasure because there is no use for it in this lonely state he finds himself in. The burying of the treasure is a symbol of burying his past for me, and hence moving on with the future. I believe that Schomburg tries to deliver the same message through the story of slavery. The African-Americans must bury their past of the future in order to be willing to move forward with the future. By burying the past, both people from these pieces are leaving the defeat of their people behind and striving ahead in their honor.