In the past few years, Americans have seen an overwhelming amount of blatant racism revolving around not only African Americas but foreign races. Despite the overlying differences in segregation, many are comparing today’s racism problems with those of the Civil Rights Era.
Richard Wright is an African-American author from the 20th century who is famously known for his book titled Native Son. In the first few paragraphs in his book we see the effects of a society plagued by fear and hatred for those unlike during this era, creating parallels to our society today. This paper analyzes a small portion of Native Son to showcase the 20th century’s treatment of other races while also using juxtaposition to relate them to today’s society. By close …show more content…
The rat and Bigger share similar physical qualities, like color and size, along with actions, like the clenching of the teeth and stiffening (Wright 28). In our scene, we find Bigger and his family killing the rat out of fear. By combining our knowledge of the similarities of Bigger and the rat, while also keeping this time frame in mind, it is easy to realize that Wright is making a social statement. Bigger’s treatment of the rat is parallel to that of his society to African American’s. As a reader, we ask ourselves: If the rat was threatening, and Bigger acted violently, is it permissible for humans to do the same with their own species? Though I cannot speak on behalf of my entire species, my answer would be no, it is not permissible. Unlike a rat, our society has proven through multiple different movements, like the Black Lives Matter Movement and the Civil Rights Movement, that all deaths of unthreatening persons will not go unpunished. Whether that punishment is social or legal, the murderer, so to say, will always be punished.
Richard Wright’s use of unintentional parallelism to our modern day society and Foucault's theory of institutionalized power is an exemplary use of the representation and re-organization functions of literature. By close reading this small excerpt, we can understand the 20th century’s feelings toward African Americans and discover that not much has changed in our
Richard Wright is an African-American author from the 20th century who is famously known for his book titled Native Son. In the first few paragraphs in his book we see the effects of a society plagued by fear and hatred for those unlike during this era, creating parallels to our society today. This paper analyzes a small portion of Native Son to showcase the 20th century’s treatment of other races while also using juxtaposition to relate them to today’s society. By close …show more content…
The rat and Bigger share similar physical qualities, like color and size, along with actions, like the clenching of the teeth and stiffening (Wright 28). In our scene, we find Bigger and his family killing the rat out of fear. By combining our knowledge of the similarities of Bigger and the rat, while also keeping this time frame in mind, it is easy to realize that Wright is making a social statement. Bigger’s treatment of the rat is parallel to that of his society to African American’s. As a reader, we ask ourselves: If the rat was threatening, and Bigger acted violently, is it permissible for humans to do the same with their own species? Though I cannot speak on behalf of my entire species, my answer would be no, it is not permissible. Unlike a rat, our society has proven through multiple different movements, like the Black Lives Matter Movement and the Civil Rights Movement, that all deaths of unthreatening persons will not go unpunished. Whether that punishment is social or legal, the murderer, so to say, will always be punished.
Richard Wright’s use of unintentional parallelism to our modern day society and Foucault's theory of institutionalized power is an exemplary use of the representation and re-organization functions of literature. By close reading this small excerpt, we can understand the 20th century’s feelings toward African Americans and discover that not much has changed in our