Upon reading this the Jim Crow essay by Richard Wright, one of the most prominent things that I took away from it was how well the author managed to capture the life style of an African-American during the 1930's. Wright fully explains just how horrific it was to be in the south during these times through his use of personal experiences as well as stories about other African-Americans.
Although most people know that racist acts were frequent and unpunished for far too long in much of America, Wright connects the reader to the essay by using his own life as an example. One strong instance of this is when he talks about how he was beaten and forced out of his job just for forgetting the Mr. before a white man's name (although it sounds as if he didn't even forget it actually).
Despite having learned much about this already in school, I'm still astounded at how long African-Americans were treated as second rate citizens if even citizens at all. One thing that caught my attention in this essay though was that Wright didn't even realize he was treated any different than white people until in his teen years when he was hit by the broken bottle. I had always been under the impression that African-Americans in that time were brought fearful of white people even when very young.
My personal reaction to this essay was that I though it was very strongly written and demanded a reaction from the reader. After reading, I gained a new appreciation for the hardships that African-Americans faced and felt angry about how severely they were discriminated against during the early to mid 1900's. The amount of punishment they endured without any repercussions for the attacker makes me sick.
After having reflected on all of this, I think that this article does a fantastic job of showing the reader exactly how corrupt and blinded America was at one of its darkest moments in history. The way Wright doesn't sugarcoat the atrocities of that time and incorporates his own life experiences into the essay make it an exceptional read.
I agree with your view on Wright. He wrote about the trials and tribulations of his life with a voice of experience that I find very admirable. As sickening as it sounds, there are people out there who are so willfully blind to the atrocities of mankind that they will deny that they every existed--denouncers of the holocaust, champions of the Confederacy and the white man's right to rule. By writing as himself, recounting his own experiences factually and irrefutably, Wright takes all the thunder out of their boorish bluster.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I notice that you picked up on the author's ignorance of racism while he was a young child. Sadly, not all children's innocence was preserved so long, but the perseverance of young people's naïve mindsets is at least one hopeful thing that abominations like racism highlight.
Hey Will! Hope all is going well with you and your days are filled with excellent summer adventures.
ReplyDeleteA couple of AP Comp reminders:
In addition to writing your own posts, make sure you are doing some reading and replying to your classmates’ blogs. You can find a list of blog addresses at my web page.
Also, you should be well along in your non-fiction book. Hope it’s a good one, and I look forward to reading more about it once school starts.
Finally, we will be doing vocabulary quizzes the first week of class, so make sure you’re finding some good words.
Let me know if you have any questions, and savor the last few weeks of summer!
I also agree on my amazement to how Wright didn't know that racism was wrong until his late teens. This makes me question, what else are we not realizing is wrong right now? In 10, 20 years will there be some movement patronizing the rights of the homeless? Veterans?
ReplyDeleteGripping the reader from the very beginning, Wright gives you his side of the story. But I sometimes wonder what it would be like to read the story from the white man's point of view. What motivated him to have such a deep hatred toward people who looked different? I wonder what I would have done back then, in either of their shoes.