Essay on If He Hollers Let Him Go

Based on theme two, they reconstructed the myths about whites and blacks. They began to explain the concept of “If they gain, we lose”. There was a concern of the participants having and not having and about sharing privilege but not wanting to give it up (McIntyre, 57). McIntyre explains that there are always exceptions to the rule and it reconstructs the myth of “equal opportunity for all”.

In contrast, the grandmother states that the blacks did not have things like the whites do (p.2118), putting the blacks down infront of her grandchildren, associating the blacks with poverty. We see how the grandmother fails to treat the blacks equally as human, solely because of their social status, as she perceives them merely as an inanimate object - a picture.

Every black male's plight in America can be regarded as a provider for his family. However, society does not afford black males the benefit of feeling secure about providing for their families. It can be easy for anyone to criticize society and place the blame on America for not affording Walter the opportunities of his white counterparts. Walter does not have control over his own responsibilities. Therefore, if he was given all the resources needed to provide his family his poor judgement and lack of business sense would create further stress on the family. Ruth, Mama, and his sister Beanetha attack him from every angle about his doubtful ideals. Ironically, those ideals are what Walter needs to shape and justify his manhood. Without ideals and proper resources to obtain them, a man's existence can be regarded as insignificannot

Practically everyone in the story has a hidden agenda for his or her actions. The protagonist, a 22-year-old named Helga, was a teacher at an institute of higher learning called Naxos where the true agenda was not education but instead was teaching Blacks their accepted status in life—lower than that of Whites. She became convinced that she needed to leave Naxos after hearing a speech from a visiting white preacher whose remarks she found offensive. The preacher stated that if everyone acted like those from Naxos “there would be no race problem, because Naxos Negros knew what was expected of them” because they “knew enough to stay in their places” (Larsen 1724). At the beginning of the story, the reader would feel sympathy towards the workers at Naxos, who truly believed they were preparing the students for better lives and sympathy for Helga who tried to convince the new principle, Dr. Anderson, as to the true state of affairs. Helga failed to realize, however, that Dr. Anderson was aware of the situation at Naxos but felt that for change to occur there needed to be “more people like you, people with a sense of values, and proportion, an appreciation of the rarer things of life” (Larsen 1735). Helga mistakenly became offended at Dr. Anderson’s compliment by calling her “a lady” with “dignity and breeding” because of her belief that being able to trace one’s ancestry was more important that one’s actions (Larsen 1735).

A headstrong young woman, she defies her parents by dating a Communist, cares about social issues, and is personally interested in improving the lives of black Americans. Wright gives little information about whether or not her political convictions are solidly grounded or just enjoys following the excitement of her radical boyfriend. However, Wright's portrayal of communism in relation to a young white female allows for a slight spread of Communist propaganda. She is likeable and her desire to help blacks like Bigger is certainly sincere. Nevertheless, she is unaware of Bigger's feelings, and, despite her good intentions, she acts in a racist manner, which speaks of white women as a whole and their blindness to understand exactly what it means to struggle as a black American. Though Mary's intentions are essentially good, she gives no thought to the fact that Bigger might be surprised and confused by such unprecedented treatment from the wealthy white daughter of his employer. She treats Bigger not as an individual whose friendship must be earned, but as a representative of the black race. Mary simply assumes that Bigger will embrace her friendship, as she seems to think her political views guarantee her right to his companionship.

In the article, "Stupid Rich Bastards", the author, Laurel Johnson Black, gives an insight on her life and upbringing in a "poor" family, the effects it had on her, her life goals, and dreams. Black’s article was published in the book This Fine Place So Far from Home: Voices of Academics from the Working Class in 1995. Throughout the article, Black gives an explanation of the conditions in which she and her family lived in, which include her parents having to take on various jobs such as her father being a plumber, junk man, car salesman and her mother—a cook, school crossing-guard and a McDonald 's counter worker as well. With all these jobs, Black also mentioned that the income was still inadequate. Being that her family 's way of living was not the best, her parents decided that one of their children has to make it or go to college, and Black was the one who was going to be the one to do that. She did this with hopes that she would earn more money, be able to make a better life for her and her family, maneuver along with the "stupid rich bastards", talk like them, learn their ways but not be like them, and explain to her family about the lives of the same "stupid rich bastards", people who had or made more money and had better lives or felt better than others. Along with her telling her story, the main purpose of Black’s story is to bring to our attention that she is trying to “keep the language of the working class in academia” (Black 25).

Many tragic events happen in this short story that allows the reader to create an assumption for an underlying theme of racism. John Baldwin has a way of telling the story of Sonny’s drug problem as a tragic reality of the African American experience. The reader has to depict textual evidence to prove how the lifestyle and Harlem has affected almost everything. The narrator describes Harlem as “... some place I didn’t want to go. I certainly didn’t want to know how it felt. It filled everything, the people, the houses, the music, the dark, quicksilver barmaid, with menace; and this menace was their reality” (Baldwin 60). Another key part in this story is when the narrator and Sonny’s mother is telling the story of a deceased uncle. The mother explains how dad’s brother was drunk crossing the road and got hit by a car full of drunk white men. Baldwin specifically puts emphasis on the word “white” to describe the men for a comparison to the culture of dad and his brother.

The stereotypes in the story, makes it difficult for the readers to conclude the race of each character. People assume that the African American character would be illiterate and uneducated and the white character to be well-educated. During the time period of the story African Americans did not have access to a decent education; making it harder for them to learn just the basics. Whites had access to good education, making it easy to believe the white character is more educated. It is also believed that a person that is well educated will have a better lifestyle when they are older. A well-educated person will have a better job, paying more, and have a better opportunity to afford the means of a luxurious lifestyle. An under educated person will most likely live in poverty, struggle for their basic needs, or live in a declining neighborhood. Behavior is a harder stereo type to use to distinguish a race. Many assume that whites have an entitled attitude toward life. Whites had access to a good education and jobs, they had a “I’m better than you” attitude. On the other hand, many think African Americans were upset because of how easy it was for whites to have better access to the basic necessities such as education and housing.

A lack of self-awareness tended the narrator’s life to seem frustrating and compelling to the reader. This lack often led him to offer generalizations about ““colored” people” without seeing them as human beings. He would often forget his own “colored” roots when doing so. He vacillated between intelligence and naivete, weak and strong will, identification with other African-Americans and a complete disavowal of them. He had a very difficult time making a decision for his life without hesitating and wondering if it would be the right one.

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

She criticizes the way the blacks walk, talk, and live; and she states, "Who wants to be mixed up wid uh rusty black man, and uh black woman goin' down de street in all dem loud colors, and whoopin' and hollerin' and laughin' over nothin'?" (Hurston 135). Hypocritical of her own culture, she works in her successful eating establishment while she pronounces that "[c]olored folks don't know nothin' about no business," a truth which she believes further connects her life to the white community (Hurston 136). Mrs. Turner grasps at minute differences in shading as differences in intelligence because she is substantially more cruel to "those more negroid than herself in direct ratio to their negroness" and because she expects "[a]nyone who look[s] more white folkish than herself [to be] better than she [is]" (Hurston 138). Her prejudice against her own people is alarming; she sees her insults of a lower culture as rungs in the ladder of social prestige, bringing her ever closer to Caucasian characteristics. As she associates her lighter skin with the complexions of white people, Mrs. Turner argues, "Ah got white folks' features in mah face," a visage lacking the "flat nose and liver lips" she stereotypically associates with black facial features (Hurston 136). She constantly judges and condemns while she worships a paradise of "straight-haired, thin-lipped, high-nose boned white seraphs" (Hurston 139). Examining the dark-skinned humans around

The details build an appeal to pathos and impresses upon the reader that this is a problem worth discussing. They are shared in exploited proportions through the excuse called privilege. And knowingly or unknowingly privilege is something that is given to one unknowingly due to the state the modern world is in. Privilege was unfortunately molded over time and to the best of the future the future leaders of the world are working to make things favorable so that the apparent mistakes made in the past won’t follow through into the future. She had also mentioned in her essay that ‘Privilege is relative and contextual. Few people in this world, and particularly in the United States, have no privilege at all. Among those of us who participate in intellectual communities, privilege runs

This novel written by Chester Himes is an interesting story that takes place in Los Angeles during the 1940’s. If he Hollers let Him Go is focused on the main character, Bob Jones. He is a black man that lives in panic and misery every single day of his life because of his race and color. Bob Jones lived in Cleveland, Ohio, most of his life but got tired of it because he realized it wasn’t the land of the free or the home of the brave. He had also gotten refused back into Cleveland many times because of his color. That is why Bob Jones left Cleveland to Los Angeles. He left because he was getting refused work while white boys were getting hired from the line behind him. When Bob Jones first came to California he didn’t realized what racism

Bob loves Louisa, but doesn't understand her. Although, given the way Toomer has structured the story, how can he be blamed? Bob has a mind of stone, and Negro's are described as wooden, and more connected to the earth. In other words, the moon, trees, and wilderness that is familiar and welcome to the Negroes, is interpreted as `gloom' in Bob's mind. This hints to the irreconcilable differences between blacks and whites, each thinks and relates in a completely different way to their environment. While Bob rambles through the trees, his thoughts are on Louisa, a woman he seeks to control, but can not relate to. He has no care to establish his place in nature, and no thought to believe that there is a power above his own.

Throughout the history of humankind, inequality has always played a key role in shaping the world. Prejudice has placed certain people at a higher status than others. Due to discrimination, those who are different will suffer the consequences of social inequality. This scenario can be seen throughout the world, from politics to a nation’s justice system. Those who are at a disadvantage, such as living in poverty, being lonely, and having mentally or physically challenges, will succumb to the harassment of social inequality. This is taught in modern age classics such as John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Zara Neale Hurston’s short story, “Sweat.” Powerful symbols and memorable plots portray