Discrimination because is observed currently, but to blacks in the 1900s the Jim Crow laws, the system of racial apartheid, was prevalent in America. Although in the twenty first century racism is less ubiquitous in America, it is far from disappearing. Racism against both blacks and whites has always had an effect on society, in history and current times, authors of literary and non literary pieces use diction, tone, and structure to give their viewpoint and ideas on discrimination.
In the 1900s, the whites ruled America. Blacks were only what the whites wanted them to be, they had no identity, which caused anger and hatred. There have been several black authors detailing how they feel about discrimination in America. “...this American world,
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-- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, --an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body. whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder”(Du Bois). Du Bois uses interesting diction to portray the mindset of blacks in the twentieth century. He uses the phrase double-consciousness, meaning that they have two souls, are black and American but they cannot be both. In the novel Native Son, Richard Wright continues to assert like Du Bois that whites strip blacks of their identity. “‘Well, they own everything. They choke you off the face of the earth. They like God…’ He swallowed, closed his eyes and sighed. ‘They don’t even let you feel what you want to feel. They after you so hot and hard you can only feel what they doing to you. They kill you before you die’”(Wright 353). Although there is a no justification for murder, when Bigger killed a white woman it was the first time he felt that his life was in his hands and not the whites. Wright writes ‘they kill you before you die,’ blacks cannot do anything they want or feel anything so they are not truly living. Wright’s diction shows that whites are the only one with power in America, power over the blacks. Transition Mr.
Max defended Bigger in the courtroom and brought up several points about why white people, who believe they are helping, really are not. In Native Son, Mr. Max is in the courtroom interrogating Mr. Dalton, a rich white man that spends money for the welfare of blacks. Mr. Max addresses Mr. Dalton in almost a patronizing way, although Mr. Dalton claims that he wants to help blacks he is not fixing the real problem. “Now, Mr. Dalton, it has been said that you donate millions of dollars to educate Negroes. Why is it that you exact an exorbitant rent of eight dollars per week from the Thomas family for one unventilated, rat-infested room in which four people eat and sleep” (Wright 326)? The tone of Mr. Max is indignant, he knows that Mr. Dalton is an instigator for racism and he feels guilty about it so he spends money and buys games for the blacks. He does not understand the true problem of the blacks is, in fact, white people. Now in the twenty first century there is less dispute between blacks and whites, but there are still rallies against those few individuals that discriminate against others. In Chicago there is a protest against police brutality. “Demonstrators are angry about the killing of a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white police officer last year marched through the streets and disrupted Black Friday shopping in Chicago’s ritziest retail district. Despite a cold, drizzling rain, hundreds of demonstrators turned out to protest during the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season along Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile” (Chicago Tribune). The structure of this quote makes the protest sound meaningful and necessary. There are still a handful of people that believe that racism is still in America, not as prevalent as the twentieth century, but say that blacks are still treated differently than whites. Blacks and whites alike can have peaceful protests against unnecessary brutality and make a difference. Time has caused
circumstances to shift, now blacks have more power. There is still racism in America, but not in the way that most people believe. If people are prejudiced against whites, it is considered acceptable because whites are and always were in power. That is farther from the truth, even in the twentieth century whites were criticized. In Native Son the powerful whites were just as judgemental of other whites as they were of the blacks. “And what were Communists like, anyway? Was she one? What made people Communists? He remembered seeing many cartoons of Communists in newspapers and always they had flaming torches in their hands and wore beards and were trying to commit murder or set things on fire. People who acted that way were crazy. All he could recall having heard about Communists was associated in his mind with darkness, old houses, people speaking in whispers, and trade unions on strike” (Wright 66). Bigger’s diction shows that he knows nothing about Communism but he is expected to think that it is dark and deadly. If blacks judged Communists this way, then the whites had a harder time in the 1900s than blacks. The controversy of Communism caused many disagreements, although Communism would not work in America, white Communists were castigated as badly as blacks just because they had a different opinions and ideas. Currently, white beliefs are under question and blacks are one of the reasons that racism still exists today. “#BlackLivesMatter racist activists are not victims of racism, they are the perpetrators of racism. That is why they reject ‘All Lives Matter’ and insist that only ‘Black Lives Matter’. Every victimhood excuse made to defend this racist disdain for other races is a lie. The truth is that to black nationalists, only black lives matter. #BlackLivesMatter means that non-black lives don’t and that is the root of its racist violence” (Frontpage Magazine). The author’s tone is admonishing towards the black nationalists. The assumption now is that anything a white does to a black is bad and must be protested, but a black person can do no wrong against a white. The protests about all the blacks that have been shot are all over the news, but if a white person was harmed by a black it would not go as far as the local newspaper. The word racism only extends to blacks, many can not fathom the idea that whites can be discriminated against, as well. Discrimination against blacks and whites has been an obstacle of progress and acceptance throughout history in the United States, and authors of literary and non-literary pieces give their perspective of racism through diction, tone, and structure. In the twentieth century there was intolerance of both white Communists and blacks. Blacks had no sense of identity because of the superior whites. However, whites were also under attack in present day and in the twentieth century because they did not have the same ideals as the rest of them. The only way that America will ever be a united and equal nation is if people, blacks and whites alike, stop looking at each other and seeing color but human beings who are all the same who can have their own opinions.
“Notes of a Native Son” is an essay that takes you deep into the history of James Baldwin. In the essay there is much to be said about than merely scratching the surface. Baldwin starts the essay by immediately throwing life and death into a strange coincidental twist. On the 29th of July, 1943 Baldwin’s youngest sibling was born and on the same day just hours earlier his father took his last breath of air from behind the white sheets of a hospital bed. It seems all too ironic and honestly overwhelming for Baldwin. From these events Baldwin creates a woven interplay of events that smother a conscience the and provide insight to a black struggle against life.
Blacks were treated unjustly due to the Jim Crow laws and the racial stigmas embedded into American society. Under these laws, whites and colored people were “separate but equal,” however this could not be further from the truth. Due to the extreme racism in the United States during this time period, especially in the South, many blacks were dehumanized by whites to ensure that they remained inferior to them. As a result of their suffering from the prejudice society of America, there was a national outcry to better the lives of colored people.
In the 1930’s, the black population in Chicago was a minority. Blacks, even though they were “free men”, were actually trapped within the grasps of white society. Richard Wrights character Bigger is very much influenced by this way of life. In the early stages of Native Son, Bigger is angry at white society because he feels that he is powerless. However, as the novel progresses, the tables turn and Bigger, essentially, holds all the power.
Racism has been an issue in society since the beginning of the idea of race itself. Though African-American slaves were emancipated after the Civil War in 1865, they are still continuously discriminated against for their skin color. For years, black Americans were not allowed to vote, sit in the front of public transportation vehicles, or eat and receive an education at the same establishments as white Americans. Eventually
Even though Blacks were granted independence, laws were set up to limit this accomplishment. Jim Crow Laws, enforced in 1877 in the south, were still being imposed during the 1930s and throughout. These laws created segregation between the two races and created a barrier for the Blacks. For example, even though African Americans were allowed to vote, southern states created a literary test exclusively for them that was quite difficult to pass, since most Blacks were uneducated. However, if they passed the reading test, they were threatened death. Also, they had to pay a special tax to vote, which many African Americans could not afford. This obstacle caused Blacks to not have a voice in the USA’s political decisions. Furthermore, they were left with the worst jobs in town and had the poorest schools because of segregation (The Change in Attitudes…). In the southern states, compared to White schooling education, the Blacks received one-third of school funding. The White people dominated the states and local government with their decisions and made sure that the Blacks were weak. They weren’t being treated in hospitals because the doctors refused to do treatment on them. Also, because of the laws and segregation, people claim that there was a ‘visible colored line’ in publi...
Book Two marks the transition between Bigger's flight and fate. There is a feeling of suspense that is sustained throughout Book Two. Bigger becomes more and more entangled in the webs of fate. Ma's warning of the "gallows" recurs as Bigger exhibits the pride that precedes his downfall. Bigger's rush towards his fate is not dampened when Bessie warns him that he will never be able to escape the mob or the 5,000 white police officers that are after him. Bessie also prophesies her own murder at Bigger's hands when she added that even if his confession of "accidental" homicide was valid, he would still be executed as a murderer/rapist. Bigger will be charged with the murder/rape of both Mary Dalton and his girlfriend Bessie Mears, but his rape of Bessie, supposedly, proves that he raped Mary. His brutal response to Bessie's foreshadowing brings an ironic sealing of his fate. When Bigger tells himself that he is entering a new world, this foreshadowing is also ironic. Bigger is transforming into a new person living in a new world, but the new worlds he will encounter are prison and the electric chair (Wright chapter 8).
Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
Notes of a Native Son, a widely acclaimed and celebrated book by James Baldwin was subjected to many reviews upon its first publication. There were many opposing views between reviewers but almost all came to the conclusion that Baldwin’s use of words was extremely eloquent and intelligent. Specifically an article titled “Rage unto Order” by Dachine Rainer was very adamant about Baldwin’s genius as a writer but hardly did anything to explain or exemplify that fact. Another review written by Langston Hughes reflects upon how Baldwin clings to the issue of racial discrimination on Negroes and that if he let go of that fact it would prove him to be a greater writer. In the third article the author tries to explain the meaning of Baldwin’s essay with specific quotes from within Baldwin’s work. However blatantly different there are several similarities between the articles. Some of which are Baldwin’s writing style and the articles share similar analyses of his viewpoints.
People being prejudice and racist have been a major issue in society. This causes people to commit crimes in order to receive justice. In Native Son by Richard Wright there is a lot of prejudice against the black community. In Book Two: Flight; we get a closer look at Bigger Thomas’s actions and thoughts after murdering Mary. With the amount of racism and stereotypes made against the black community it has forced Bigger to feel that the people around him are blind, making him feel powerful and him murdering Mary is justified.
Native Son is broken down into three separate books, or acts. Each book describes a stage of Bigger's life, all revolving around the mysterious death of a white girl. Having the novel broken down into sections is helpful to the reader because it signifies a clear shift in the direction the story is heading. It also highlights the main tone of the section. Also, as shown on the web page titled, "On Writing Three Act Novels", the first act of a three-act novel ends with the main character facing a major conflict for the first time. This is when Bigger kills Mary, and goes home wondering what to do next. The second act ends with the character seemingly furthest away from his goal, when Bigger is finally caught by police and taken to jail. The
middle of paper ... ... During the late 1940s and early 1950s, many African Americans were subjected to racism in America. Blacks during this time had few opportunities and were constantly ridiculed by whites based on the color of their skin. Numerous blacks ridiculed themselves and their own race based on the color of their skin.
In Native Son, Richard Wright uses characterization and symbolism to underscore his theme of how American institutionalized oppression of blacks creates human tragedy for those oppressed. Yet, the novel is not an attempt to merit our sympathy or empathy for the condition of repressed blacks, it is to illustrate how the nihilistic attitude of blacks like Bigger Thomas is the direct result of white repression of differences in non-white cultures. In other words, Bigger's only option is death because the society which has created him has given him nothing else to care about, nothing he can call his own, no chance to explore any of his potential. Thus, he turns to violence as an expression of identity which is what his reaction to reading the newspaper expresses. When he reads the article in the paper, he exclaims to his mother, "No! Jan didn't help me! He didn't have a damned thing to do with it! I - I did it!" (Wright 283). His act of violence is his only affirmation of self in a society that represses any other form of self-affirmation and he desperately clings to it.
Throughout history, we have witnessed extreme racial discrimination in many ways and it has been around for many years. There are many definitions for racism; however, I think the best definition that suits the term is the belief that someone is better than another due to racial reasons. Racial discrimination has been around not only in America, but all over the world. In fact, slavery of black men and women started in America in the 1600s. There are many racist beliefs like Xenophobia, Supremacism, and Pseudo-scientific racism. Racism is a serious problem that existed long ago, which still exists now and will not subside. Black people have been suppressed in the past and they fought for equal rights to get to where they are now. They had a black American man that represented them named, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama, for a peaceful protest against segregation. King wrote a powerful letter that peacefully addressed the concerns of many whites. Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham jail was a powerful letter that influenced many people in the past and now.
In his novel, Native Son, Richard Wright favors short, simple, blunt sentences that help maintain the quick narrative pace of the novel, at least in the first two books. For example, in the following passage: "He licked his lips; he was thirsty. He looked at his watch; it was ten past eight. He would go to the kitchen and get a drink of water and then drive the car out of the garage. " Wright's imagery is often brutal and elemental, as seen in his frequently repeated references to fire, snow, and Mary's bloody head.
Frustration and hopelessness develop as major themes of the story. When Bigger and his friend Gus watch a sky writing plane, Bigger expresses frustration in his statement "I could fly one of them things if I had a chance." Discussing the impossibility of accomplishment in the white-controlled world, Bigger expresses hopelessness, saying, "They don't let us do nothing." When Gus reminds Bigger that they have always known this, Bigger agrees, but insists that he cannot accustom himself to it. "Every time I think about it," he says, "I feel like somebody's poking a red-hot iron down my throat." Today a good example of the same type of frustration can be seen on the various music videos done by black artists. These video portray, poor education and a lack of opportunities afforded to blacks.