Life of an African American During the Harlem Renaissance During the Harlem Renaissance, racial discrimination was prevalent against African Americans. In Ann Petry’s novel, The Street, Lutie Johnson and other minor subjects are greatly affected by their surroundings in Harlem. Lutie Johnson is an important symbol of her novel because she shows the struggle of raising a son in the midst of a poverty-stricken area dealing with an African American life. Petry illustrates this as “the street,” and uses it to portray the different scenarios in which Lutie and the others face racial discrimination. By providing these examples of racial discrimination, Petry exhibits a multiplicity of perspectives through that of those who experience this adversity;
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She displays this dehumanization when Lutie had felt that white people believed “if a girl was colored and fairly young, why, it stood to reason she had to be a prostitute” (Petry 45). Lutie was just an object to be tampered with over and over again by the whites. This creates a more sentimental feel in the streets to show what it felt like to the women in her time. Additionally, Jones had treated Lutie as an object too when he had “side-stepped and blocked her passage to the stairs” and “put his hand on her arm” and had said that she “was sweet” (Petry 235). He is showing that he has no respect for Lutie in that he viewed her like some sort of doll in which he can fool around with in any way. He depicts a deeper insight of how men viewed women during this time. In addition, Lutie had said that, “the instant they saw the color of her skin they knew what she must like; they were so confident about what she must be like they didn’t need to know her personally in order to verify their estimate” (Petry 46). Petry describes that white men are people who had seen all girls the same during the Harlem, that none of them was different from the others. Even though Lutie had faced sexism she still had believed it was “the very fact of being there was still a victory” (Petry 56). Above all, Lutie displays this triumphant image to display the …show more content…
Initially the street presents the wind as something “to discourage the people walking along the street” (Petry 2). She creates this symbolic meaning in the wind to show that the wind prevented African Americans from moving anywhere in that the wind brought back anyone who escaped the clutches of the street. Another example of when Lutie faced racial discrimination was when she worked for Mrs. Chandler and overhears her friends say that they “wouldn’t have any good-looking colored wench in [their] house” (Petry 40). She now encounters the fact that she is living in a world of racist people. Lutie faces the fact that she is working for a woman who has racist friends. This is shown when “she discovered slowly, a very strange world that she had entered” (Petry 41). This “very strange world” is describing that whites had more privilege than African Americans that they thought of themselves as more superior over others. Moreover, the superiority of the whites did not stop Lutie because even though racial discrimination was a big struggle for her, she had felt that the street could bring Bub “up so that he would be a fine, strong man” from the “self-confidence she had felt on the street” (Petry 72). The street plays a vital role in Lutie and her son because she knew that from the street that Bub would be a
She displays this dehumanization when Lutie had felt that white people believed “if a girl was colored and fairly young, why, it stood to reason she had to be a prostitute” (Petry 45). Lutie was just an object to be tampered with over and over again by the whites. This creates a more sentimental feel in the streets to show what it felt like to the women in her time. Additionally, Jones had treated Lutie as an object too when he had “side-stepped and blocked her passage to the stairs” and “put his hand on her arm” and had said that she “was sweet” (Petry 235). He is showing that he has no respect for Lutie in that he viewed her like some sort of doll in which he can fool around with in any way. He depicts a deeper insight of how men viewed women during this time. In addition, Lutie had said that, “the instant they saw the color of her skin they knew what she must like; they were so confident about what she must be like they didn’t need to know her personally in order to verify their estimate” (Petry 46). Petry describes that white men are people who had seen all girls the same during the Harlem, that none of them was different from the others. Even though Lutie had faced sexism she still had believed it was “the very fact of being there was still a victory” (Petry 56). Above all, Lutie displays this triumphant image to display the …show more content…
Initially the street presents the wind as something “to discourage the people walking along the street” (Petry 2). She creates this symbolic meaning in the wind to show that the wind prevented African Americans from moving anywhere in that the wind brought back anyone who escaped the clutches of the street. Another example of when Lutie faced racial discrimination was when she worked for Mrs. Chandler and overhears her friends say that they “wouldn’t have any good-looking colored wench in [their] house” (Petry 40). She now encounters the fact that she is living in a world of racist people. Lutie faces the fact that she is working for a woman who has racist friends. This is shown when “she discovered slowly, a very strange world that she had entered” (Petry 41). This “very strange world” is describing that whites had more privilege than African Americans that they thought of themselves as more superior over others. Moreover, the superiority of the whites did not stop Lutie because even though racial discrimination was a big struggle for her, she had felt that the street could bring Bub “up so that he would be a fine, strong man” from the “self-confidence she had felt on the street” (Petry 72). The street plays a vital role in Lutie and her son because she knew that from the street that Bub would be a