Steinbeck presents key parts of 1930s America through out his novel and revels the different attitudes toward black people shown by different social classes, he achieves this by using one of his characters named “Crooks” in order to present to the reader the way back people are treated every day. The first thing which we are informed about is the fact that the boss decided to take his anger out on the stable buck when he realizes that George and Lennie were late. “Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger” the use of word “nigger” implies that people prefer to identify him by his race instead of his name. The word “nigger” is also makes the reader feel sad and ashamed of the way the character has been treated. However Candy justifies his Bosses actions as he sees nothing wrong or immoral in them.
The other men would not allow him to use his feet due to Crooks’ back but thought it perfectly fine to be fighting him. When Crooks comes into the novel he is described as a “lean negro head, lined with pain,” this is important because it’s the introduction of the many pains which Crooks has. Crooks is both in emotional and physical pain. The emotional pain which Crooks carries with him is due to his loneliness; his isolation from man is causing him to go mad, “guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody”. In isolation from the other men Crooks begins to doubt what he sees.
The authors of these stories are protesting common problems of the era. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, the author, John Steinbeck, is protesting racism, sexism, and other issues of the day. This story is about two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who find work during the Great Depression. One example of protest that the author is expressing is racism. The theme of racism is expressed throughout the book by the black character, Crooks.
They take the reader through pivotal moments in the South and North to enumerate the chain of events that lead to the achievements and failures of the African-Americans in society. My review led me to understand the Black Power movement as an effort to overcome the colonizer. Black people need to define themselves without the influence of white society. The authors were vocal about the downfall of blacks trying to assimilate into white middle class. In a passionate effort to convey their message, they gave an overview of significant political and life altering moments in history.
Native Son Essay The writings of Wright reflected in his novel, "Native Son" are used to explain and describe his existence and purpose. What’s questioned is what exactly Bigger represents and within this novel and in correspondence to this, what do his actions represent and who do they reflect upon. In “Native Son”, Wright uses Bigger to represent the African-American race in society and their falsely stereotyped negative associations with communism as as well as the concept of one’s life being decided by fate or free will. The negative feelings that society had for Bigger made them happy to associate him with communism. This was out of simple stereotype and with no rational thought whatsover.
‘Crooks said sharply, “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.”‘ This passage from the text illustrates what loneliness has done to Crooks. Just like Crooks Curley’s Wife and Lennie are both lonely too. The barn is where they all feel safe.
Racism in “Native Son” “Native Son”, by Richard Wright, is a heart-rending representation of the racial oppression that invaded Chicago as well as the rest of America during the 1930s. Through the experiences of his black character Bigger Thomas, Wright provides helpful understandings about the origins of racial segregation and the tragic ways in which it affected American society. Throughout the story, Wright insists that Bigger was not born a violent criminal. He is a “native son”. A native son is a product of the violence and racism that suffused the devastating social conditions in which he was raised.
Through Arthur Jarvis’ letter, Alan Paton paints the picture of a racist society in which those at the top look down upon the ones at the bottom. In his letter Arthur Jarvis states, “We believe in help for the underdog, but we want him to stay under.” Paton uses parallelism to reflect the people’s hypocritical nature, and establishes it with the use of the word “but”. They claim that they believe in uplifting those in the lower social classes, yet they do nothing in attempt to change their situation. Paton also includes Arthur in the mess by using the word “we” to lower him from an assumed high horse. Rather than being a judge of his people, he was merely a citizen complaining about social injustices in his country.
A piece of literature that relates to this quote is the fiction book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book relates to the quote because the whole story is about racism and a man named Atticus Finch trying to defend a falsely accused black man. The quote is implying that when times are troubled that's when we begin to see things as they really are. Scout particularly goes through this. In the beginning she's just this innocent kid, but by the end she sees the town in another light.
After dealing with the hardships and finally escaping those times, they had to deal with racism still in the early 20th century. Even to this day, although not nearly to the degree but still prevalent enough to notice, racism is everywhere. In the story Native Son by Richard Wright, Bigger Thomas, a 19 year old African-American male, is under the pressure of the racism in the 1930s- where this story takes place. His goal is to go against the mainstream idea of the typical “negro”-a good-for-nothing useless corpse walking the earth. At the time, in the 1930s, there were two distinct groups, as seen by society.