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I think it’s really interesting that the train metaphor exists throughout religious based media of this time. The idea of two trains passing one going to hell and one going to heaven in a powerful one. It seems as […]

Eliza, I really like your point that you made. If Chick was really only joining just because they saw the train and everyone else on it, do you think her relationship with Christianity is authentic? How about for […]

I think that death is an extremely important aspect of life. It also plays a pivotal role in the movie along with religion so using this book to show how that existed outside of the movie is awesome.

Carly and Hannah, I really liked the points you both made. I had never read about the use of acapella in film, or like you mentioned Hannah, in an actual musical. How do you think the film would have differed if […]

Hey Jack, It’s really interesting how you saw that the dichotomy between Chick and Zeke gave the film a better taste. The fact that Zeke had to choose between his spiritual or physical interest is what cause pain […]

Olivia, I really like all of the points you made and how well thought out they were. I especially liked your mention of the “mammy,” character as this was something we learned about in African-American Literature […]

I think you’re right that Death’s Black Train is a song of both hope and fear, although the fear in this Christian message can be seen more as motivation to do good and follow God. I found it interesting that with […]

I like your comment on hoe Zeke changed himself when he became a preacher. I’m not sure if this had to do with their new class status, but I noticed when Ezekiel was preaching on stage the kids started to dance as […]

Howard’s article does a great job of illustrating how the music flows with the characters. I did not think about the Prodigal Son, but the story closely relates to the film. Did you notice Zeke preaching on the […]

First, I really enjoyed your analysis. You took your research a step further contrasting the symbolism of the train during the time of the film until today. It is interesting how the theme of religion drifted away […]

Thanks for trying out my questions, Hannah! I really like your last point about Zeke’s ending compared to other characters like Chick and Hotshot. While they both made individual decisions that led to their fate, […]

Hi Hannah! I read up a little bit about the musical In Transit that you linked on your post, and it sounds really interesting!! According to its website, the story is supposed to follow “the intertwined lives of […]

Olivia, I really enjoyed reading your post and the questions that followed. I was interested in seeing how the general public reacted to Hallelujah when it came out in 1929, and if they shared the same thoughts as […]