Critical Analysis of Walter Mosley
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say may be used against you in a court of law.” Although no one wants to hear these words, they are words that are known across the country and are uttered every day. Walter Mosley takes this concept of “by the book” law enforcement and jazzes it up in The Devil in a Blue Dress, a novel based on Ezekiel Rawlins, a character stuck between the struggle of enforcing the law or engaging into criminal activity. Rawlins is content with life itself, as long as the whit majority does not surround him. Even though Mosley’s writing breaks color barriers, it also takes on racial motifs that emerged during post World War II Los Angles.
In Walter Mosley novels, the author tackles racism head on. As Mosley’s main character Ezekiel Rawlins, or better known by his nickname of Easy, takes his journeys through Los Angles, he notices people only by color and not by character or other traits. Easy says, “It’s not just that he was white but he wore an off-white linen suit and shirt with a Panama straw hat and bone shoes over flashing white silk socks” (Mosley 34), giving the impression that the man was not just white but he was real white. As Greg Tate states, “Mosley doesn’t just raise the race card to thicken the plot; he beats you down with spades, then rubs your nose in ethnic stool” (Tate 1). Mosley’s theme of racism relates to the times of post World War II, which is also the historical setting of Mosley’s novel. During post World War II times, people segregated themselves from each other. Mosley realizes the segregation and decides to bring in a white male, named Witt Albright, to add color to a black bar. Even if Albright had good intentions with everyone, Easy sees this as, “space suppose to be insulated for the most part from the intrusions of the white world” (Mosley 47), such as Dewitt Albright, even if “the odor of rotted meat filled every corner of the building” (Mosley 3). Mosley shows that Easy believes the “rotted meat filled” (Mosley 4) bar should not even be filled with the presence of Albright, who turns out to be the boss of Easy throughout the novel. This introduces a new theme that Mosley sought to establish in the novel, the cliché of the black man working for the white man
Albright is a white man, who through Mosley’s writing, gives the read...
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... are not up to par and are leaving the readers disappointed with the new books.
9. Lomax, Sara M. “Double Agent Easy Rawlins.” American Visions. Vol. 7, No. 2,
April-May 1992, p. 32-4 Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 1997
Good review about character development. Shows that Easy Rawlins is the new detective of the upcoming years.
10. Williamson, Hilary. Walter Mosley. January 2, 2005. Time Warner Book Group.
March 31, 2005 .
Websites shows many books written by Mosley. Also shows the history of the books, when they were published, and a little background information on
the books. Like where they were and when they were thought about by
Mosley
11. Corrigan, Maureen. “Easy Rawlins Rides Again.” Book World- The Washington
Post. August 16, 1992, p.6 Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 1997
Critic states issues about if the other books by Mosley will be up to par as the first book that he wrote about East Rawlins. States good facts and I can see the evidence because I have read other books by Mosley and he loses his edge but keeps up the authenticity.
Detrimental stereotypes of minorities affect everyone today as they did during the antebellum period. Walker’s subject matter reminds people of this, as does her symbolic use of stark black and white. Her work shocks. It disgusts. The important part is: her work elicits a reaction from the viewer; it reminds them of a dark time in history and represents that time in the most fantastically nightmarish way possible. In her own words, Walker has said, “I didn’t want a completely passive viewer, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”. Certainly, her usage of controversial cultural signifiers serve not only to remind the viewer of the way blacks were viewed, but that they were cast in that image by people like the viewer. Thus, the viewer is implicated in the injustices within her work. In a way, the scenes she creates are a subversive display of the slim power of slave over owner, of woman over man, of viewed over
Racism and Segregation is a strong recurring theme in the novel Jasper Jones. Silvey has used Jasper, Charlie, and Jeffrey to convey the themes of racism through the book and to send an important message to the audience. He has shown us that making assumptions about someone based on rumours and appearances is wrong and that racism can rise out of ignorance. Silvey’s main message was that anyone can overcome racism and that it is just
Considering the circumstance of racial inequality during the time of this novel many blacks were the target of crime and hatred. Aside from an incident in his youth, The Ex-Colored Man avoids coming in contact with “brutality and savagery” inflicted on the black race (Johnson 101). Perhaps this is a result of his superficial white appearance as a mulatto. During one of his travels, the narrator observes a Southern lynching in which he describes the sight of “slowly burning t...
Heberle, Mark. "Contemporary Literary Criticism." O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Vol. 74. New York, 2001. 312.
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Heller, Joseph. The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. Twentieth-Century American Literature Vol. 3. New York. Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
When we read Palmer’s response, it really does make us feel that Deborah King did exaggerate in the article. Palmer states, “We teenagers are passionate—maybe even obsessed—about our favorite stars, but that doesn’t make it a big problem, and it doesn’t mean we want to copy their bad behaviors” (14). One magnificent thing about this quote is it’s true. And yes, we may be obsessed with celebrities. It doesn’t really mean that young people want to copy celebrities. In my opinion since I’m a teen. I have paid attention to the way that certain celebrities act. I don’t want to be like them and that I really see how the new generation is and that I really need to learn how to be a responsible individual. Palmer goes on to say, “ People have been fascinated with the rich and
Forum 19.4 (Winter 1985): 160-162. Rpt. inTwentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 192. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Through the film “In the Heat of the Night” racial tensions are high, but one character, the Chief of Police, Gillespie overcomes racial discrimination to solve a murder. The attitudes that he portrays in the film help us understand the challenges in changing attitudes of Southern white town towards the African Americans living there.
Compare and contrast the relationship of the detective to his or her community in Devil in a Blue Dress and Corollary In Walter Mosley’s “devil in a blue dress”, there is a clear cut distinction between the white and black man, this distinction is portrayed as something that is somewhat negative and looks at the situation from the eyes of a black man named Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins and how he is changed from a simple day to day laborer into an effective detective.
...nd enjoyable. The one thing that did bug me was that Youngs does not directly tie his thesis directly to the end of the book. It would have been helpful for the reader to be able to confirm Youngs’s intention for writing the book, but since he fails to re-introduce his argument in the end, it left me questioning that intention.
Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.
By coming into the country, other races are denied of superiority and are exposed to an already “racialized society”. (pp.78) Oppression also comes into place with hierarchy, such as the “Bonds of Sisterhood” by Romero that portrays a difference between African American servants and housewives. It sets up an inequality between both women, showing inferiority over African American woman. One last reading that has emerged and captivated attention is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson expresses oppression in one of his own narratives when he was discriminated by two S.W.A.T officers. He describes his experience terrifying yet shocking since he had done nothing wrong. He was accused of a burglary based on the color of his skin because he lived in a white neighborhood. Not only that, but he was also investigated and searched which violated his rights. This unlawful act portrayed the ignorances for complex, multiple, and cross cutting relationships because Stevenson was an educated lawyer; yet, was seen different by the two officers in his own residence. Overall, Stevenson’s book has captured attention since it has given an experience of what he went
Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Essay date 1935." Twentieth-Century Litirary Criticism 9. Ed. Dennis Poupond. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. 316-317