Manchild in the Promised Land is generally acknowledged to be among the first personal accounts of life in the African-American urban ghetto. Narrated using the language of the streets, the autobiography compellingly documents the horrors of drugs and violence without becoming preachy or ideological. Brown’s own life as a survivor and victor lends authority to his voice as he recounts the wasted lives of friends, some already dead, who were unable to overcome the Harlem street life. Young readers can relate to the story of this streetwise youth, who could operate successfully within the urban underworld but who was wise enough to see that it was a dead end. Although Brown never glamorizes the life of drugs, violence, and prostitution, his use of humor and understatement allows him to avoid didacticism. He relates the story of his “religious conversion” as he rolled on the floor of a storefront church and shouted words of salvation, all in an attempt to get a date with the …show more content…
minister’s daughter. He can even recall his shooting at thirteen with a certain amount of humor. He tells of lying bleeding on the floor of a fish-and-chips shop while his mother hysterically jumped up and down, each jump vibrating the floor and causing the bullet lodged in his stomach to burn more painfully. He also tells of teenage girls visiting the hospital where he was recuperating from the wound and pulling down the bed sheets to verify the location of his injury. Brown generalizes the significance of his autobiography beyond his own life by following the lives of friends and relatives.
Turk, a boyhood friend who in the open-ing pages of the book is shown pleading with Claude not to tell the police that he was with him during the shooting, became a professional boxer and a model for those who want to escape the street life. Danny Rogers, the son of the minister for whom Sonny feigns conversion, managed to defeat his long drug addiction and is last viewed as a loving father to his children. On the other hand, Claude’s younger brother, Pimp, was one of Harlem’s victims. Abused by his father, he became a junkie and finally was jailed for armed robbery. A ray of hope exists, however, as Pimp is reported to be putting his life together and to have obtained his high-school diploma in prison. There was no hope for friends such as Butch and Tony, who died from overdoses, or for Sugar, Brown’s former girlfriend, whom he found prostituting herself to pay for
drugs. Brown does not pretend to be able to answer why some were able to escape the ravages of drugs and violence while others succumbed, although he recognizes luck as a factor and speaks with Turk about being alive because of luck. He tells of becoming violently ill during his first use of drugs, a circumstance that he realizes may have saved him from addiction. He also acknowledges figures who befriended him at critical periods in his life—particularly describing the integrity and honesty of Ernst Papanek, a director of the Wiltwyck School for Boys, and the intellect and sensitivity of Reverend William James, a Harlem minister. He dedicates the book to Eleanor Roosevelt, who founded the Wiltwyck School, and to the Wiltwyck School itself.
The older brother, the narrator, finds himself struggling at the beginning of the story. While riding the subway, he reads in the paper that Sonny has been arrested for possession of drugs. During his day of teaching, he reflects on prior years with Sonny and their past adventures as young boys. He remembers Sonny's "wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy." The narrator sees his brother as a good boy, not "hard or evil or disrespectful." He wonders how many of his algebra students are similar to Sonny in appearance and personality along with his drug habits. This comparison allows the older brother to conclude that Sonny was probably not arrested on his initial use of drugs. It also allows the narrator is see that Sonny may be like most of the other young boys in Harlem.
Sonny was brought up in this very Harlem and learned how to steal and fight his way through life. However, life fought him back at every opportunity. “By the time I was nine years old, I had been hit by a bus, thrown into the Harlem River (intentionally), hit by a car, severely beaten by a chain. And I had set the house afire” (Brown 12). Sonny’s childhood was filled with so much mayhem that it would be ridiculous for anyone to expect his turnaround into a functional adult. Nevertheless, he accomplished just that . He did it by learning from not only his mistakes, but from others as well. Seeing how everyone he knew was going to prison, dying, or becoming a junkie, Sonny decided that he wanted a better life than what the streets of Harlem could offer. Sonny grew beyond his environment until he finally stopped doing drugs, he got a job, and went to college. He overcame the low expectations of him and ended up being better than what anyone had expected. Although, his personal growth was not a quick one, it was slow, painful and has relevance throughout the entire
Upon close examination of the story “Young Goodman Brown” one might notice that Goodman Brown had stored his faith in three places; in his neighbors, in his wife, and in his personal experiences. The placement of Goodman Brown’s faith with his neighbors is the first...
The Devil stealing Goodman Brown’s innocence eventually leads him to a life of despair. All throughout his life, Brown had let the Church dictate his life, and when he finds that it is all a ruse, the foundation that his...
One’s self image of morals allows a person to accurately determine what they believe is wrong and vice-versa as is the case with Young Goodman Brown; the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown” who sees a disturbing vision in which all of the supposedly good townsfolk enter into a pact with the devil. In Goodman Brown’s vision, while following the unholy worshippers to their meeting place, he proclaims “With heaven above and fa...
If Brown truly conceives of himself as fallen, why would he snatch the child from one fiend to yield yet another, namely himself? Brown must believe himself untainted, or at least less tainted than various members of his community. (115)
In The Promised Land, Nicholas Lehmann follows the stories of black migrants, politicians, and bureaucrats through the Great Migration, and attempts to explain the decline of northern cities, the constant liberty struggle of blacks across America, and government response to the issues surrounding the Great Migration. This work signalled a drastic change from the structured approach of Thomas Sugrue’s, The Origins Of The Urban Crisis, which observes the effects of institutions and human agency on postwar Detroit and its marginalized peoples. Both Sugrue and Lemann had (albeit slightly different) holistic views of the political climate of postwar cities, which helped provide context for prejudices towards blacks and the poor, and subsequently
Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Trilling, Lionel. "Review of Black Boy." Richard Wright: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Eds. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. A. Appiah. New York : Amistad, 1993.
In conclusion, the narrator shows how the realities of suffering and the presence of drugs were inevitable in Harlem, New York in the 1950’s. Throughout the story the literary use of setting, characters, and theme shows this in many ways and how the struggle was inevitable for both Sonny and the narrator in many ways. Even though Sonny fell into the darkness, he was able himself out showing that no matter how far you fall, there is always a way out. It took some time, but Sonny was able to overcome his suffering and struggles, overcome his drug addictions, and finds himself through music.
Harlem is the setting of this story and has been a center for drugs and alcohol abuse. The initial event in this story shows that Sonny is still caught in this world. Sonny says that he is only selling drugs to make money and claims that he is no longer using. In the story the brother begins to see that Sonny has his own problems, but tries to help the people around him by using music to comfort
A teacher, who had “an indescribable air of one who knew the world”, leads Goodman Brown from the cave. His teacher continually leads him along the path to enlightenment despite Goodman Brown’s attempts “to return whence I came.” Goodman Brown learns that people are not perfect and that “good” people sometimes do “bad” things. People who Goodman Brown views as perfect, like the governor and his Sunday school teacher are exposed as imperfect people who lie and cheat and steal by using the images of a stolen broom and a promise to be queen of Hell.
Sonny’s brother and him finally decided to reconcile when Gracie, Sonny’s niece, passed away at a young age. The brothers wrote back and forth and one thing became clear to Sonny’s brother, music affected him. Sonny’s brother always saw the music/jazz scene as an unhealthy lifestyle full of drugs and scandal. The only thing Sonny would really reinforce was that it was not because of the music. Sonny came back to New York after rehab from heroin and came to see the old neighborhood in Harlem. The brothers see that they have so much to be thankful for and that they will always have each other.
...dman Brown cries out “My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth and sin is but a name. Come devil! For to thee is this world given”(cite). This where he begins to believe there is only sin in the world and his faith in humanity is completely destroyed. He still vows to stand firm against the devil, however he has doubts that heaven exists at all. With his loss of humanity he can no longer look at his fellow neighbors, which he had once held with high esteem, he now views as sinful and hypocritical. The faith that did shine in his heart the darkness of the world has tainted the idea that life is good and pure. Goodman Brown is completely consumed by his doubts and he is a distrustful and unable to have any sympathy or love to others. He never recovers his faith and even after death his family had nothing to say good about him, “for his dying hour was gloom”(cite).
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown struggles with staying pure and not giving in to the devil. Hawthorne utilizes allegory and ambiguity to leave unanswered questions for the reader.