Theme of Racism in Literature Essay

Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, and Zora Neale Hurston are prominent black women authors in contemporary American literature. These three women share their experiences living in the South during a time of racism. Each of them has a distinct writing style. All include an insight into experiences similar to ones they have gone through and the impact it makes on black women in society. “Feminism’s second wave in the United States—initially a reflection of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and…

socioeconomic status, age and physical/mental ability. Each has a form of oppression associated with it: racism, sexism, religious oppression/ anti-Semitism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and ableism” (Tatum). In other words, everyone is identified by their ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. and each one of those also has a form of subjection associated with it. This idea is a common theme throughout literature.…

grandson of slaves and a son of a sharecropper, he was fascinated with American literature and yearn to escape the Jim Crow South. After struggling with poverty during the Great Depression Wright started his writing career in New York City. In Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son and Black Boy, Wright depicts the theme of alienation through his protagonists, Bigger and Wright who lives a tough life growing up and experiencing racism, yet realizing their situations they intend to fix it. One…

To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and won Pulitzer Prize 1961. To Kill a Mockingbird a semi-autobiographical work of fiction by Harper Lee. A classic in American literature, and most-likely is the most widely read novel about racism. Representing the battle between justice and racial prejudice, good and evil from a young girl’s perspective. The narrator and main protagonist Scout Finch, grew up in a small close-nit town in Alabama called Maycomb. People were separated by social…

Cullen, who is considered one of the Greatest American authors, wrote during the Harlem Renaissance period. Particularly, in his works titled “To A Brown Boy” (1923) and “Incident” (1925) written in poetry, we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with “The New Negro” which was extant in American letters between the 1920’s and 1930’s. As a representative of such movement, Countee Cullen remains one of the most exemplary and important writers of his time. Countee…

The Color Purple by Alice Walker touches on gender roles, sexism, racism, domestic violence, and sexuality. Although the book was published more than thirty years ago, all of it’s themes are still relevant today. The most pertinent theme of The Color Purple is sexuality and how it relates to Celie and Shug Avery. Without Shug, Celie would never truly learn about herself and would never know her sexuality. Until more recently, a woman’s worth was often decided by their husband. In other words,…

CRITIQUE ANALYSIS OF “SO WHAT ARE YOU, ANYWAY?” By Lawrence Hill Racism and ethnic discrimination in the North America has been a biggest issue since the colonial times. The segregation continues to take place in many social areas such as housing, education, employment, especially for Afro-American people. 1970’s was the crucial time of the racism, many students killed by the national guards in U.S. during their protests against racial injustice. The violence followed by the Civil Rights…

which are liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness. These qualities are identified in both Hughes and Tan 's works of literature, in both pieces of literature "Theme for English B" and "Two Kinds" portray the America dream from the eyes of an outsider. No one in this world was created equal; every human being has different qualities and features, alongside all that racisms occurred in this world, and still does till this day. People differentiate…

Incites on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird In “ To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee emphasizes the metaphor of a Mockingbird as in the title. She creates themes of innocents being destroyed, social inequality, and importance of a moral figure in a child’s life while using the southern gothic genre. It’s set in a tired old town in Maycomb, Alabama in 1933 during the great depression.Throughout the novel, it addresses the growth of maturity in Atticus's children intelligent, tomboyish girl…

censored novel; furthermore, the exploration of the effects of racism on the victims and the victimizers provide a historical background for how black people used to be treated like second class citizens. Also, the stark base of reality deters some readers. Although, the novel is on the “Modern Library’s list of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century”, it is unjustly challenged (Zucchino). That novel is not the only work of literature that is wrongfully challenged and banned. Illegitimate…