Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Analysis

So how does this go against Jesse’s nature? As an eight year old, like Joanna he didn’t seem to see a difference between the races. When the lynching starts, Jesse silently questions what the man did to deserve this, part of him doesn’t understand what crime could warrant this kind of response and whether the man actually did anything wrong. As a young boy he had a friend named Otis, who he played with all the time. During a car ride home he ask his father about why he didn’t see Otis that day. It was the day of the lynching and Jesse was clearly nervous about the well being of his friend, he asked his parents if Otis did anything wrong. He’s concern that the animosity towards the black man that his community is hunting would somehow include repercussions …show more content…
He is young and just seeking their approval, whereas when the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner takes place, Joanna is twenty-three years old and fully capable of speaking her mind. As an adult, Jesse’s hatred of black seems to have grown as he describes them with disgust and the ways he is capable of hurting them physically. He went from a job in mail-order homes, collecting money to a police officer where he can be more hands on in asserting his dominance. Jesse’s insecurity is displayed on page 233 as he’s beating the young black man in the jail cell, as Jesse walks away the young man says, “White man.” This causes Jesse to and grabbed his privates. It is clear that Jesse feels some kind of insecurity as men having the instinct of covering their groin and women cover their womb when they feel threatened. The boy goes on to talk about Old Julia furthering Jesse’s discomfort “...and the eyes of the pickaninny, all, all, were charged with malevolence. White man.” In some way the boy asserted his dominance over Jesse, something that he as a white man is supposed to have over this boy and it reminds him of the power