Is There Racism Within a Race? (Reaction to "Wife of His Youth")

“Race as Civic Felony” by Loic Wacquant: In this reading, the US conception of “race” is a direct outcome of the unique status of the United States as a slave holding republic (page 127). While slavery itself has long been abolished, its dynamics were replicated in Jim Crow segregation and later in the urban ghetto. In page 127, The Jim Crow regime reworked the racial boundary between slaves and free into some segregated societies. Despite the he abolition of “statues segregation”, it seems that new ways have been thought to hold minorities from the mainstream society. Another ‘peculiar institution’, born of the adjoining of the hyperghetto with the cerebral system, is reorganizing the social meaning and significance of ‘race’ in agreement with the dictates of the deregulated economy and the post-Keynesian state. In page 128, white people fear and mistrust people of color. They think of black people’s

The Wife Of His Youth is a short story written by Charles Chesnutt in the late 1800’s. The story starts with the introduction to the Blue Veins society; A society where a small group of colored people formed up in the Northern City after the Civil War. Blue Veins society distinguished a person’s social standing but basically geared only toward those of light complexion where you could visibly see one’s Blue Veins. Mr. Ryder a handsome bachelor, and dean of the Blue Veins society is soon to end his bachelor status and marry Miss. Molly Dixon. That was soon to change when he is approached by a face of his past, the wife of his youth. Mr. Ryder a past apprentice during the Civil War was previously married to Liza Jane. Liza Jane spent 25 years in search of her love Sam Taylor or known now as Mr. Ryder. Late into the story Mr. Ryder throws a ball for the Blue Veins society in honor of Molly Dixon his “soon to be” wife. During the Blue Veins ball, Mr. Ryder reaches out to the crowd with hypothetical question about the wife of his youth; in regards to advice on what he should do. Mr.Ryder brings Liza Jane to the ball and introduces everyone in the crowd as the wife of his youth. This short story really makes one question the certain aspects of race.

Racism between the cotton pickers and Armand was clearly present. The slave of darker pigmentation was outside working in the field. Zandrine and La Blanche’s son had a light complexion and were allowed to do work in the home. Armand treatment of the slaves indicated that he look at them more as a possession than black human beings (Cummings). Armand conviction of Desiree race was racist. Armand went to the extremes of abandoning his wife and child conveys acts of racial discrimination towards the blacks.

Staples successfully begins by not only admitting the possible faults in his practiced race but also by understanding the perspective of the one who fear them. Black males being opened to more violence because of the environment they're raised in are labeled to be more likely to cause harm or committing crime towards women but Staples asks why that issue changes the outlook of

Race relations have always been a very controversial topic in this country and still are. In the mid-1900s there were many writers who felt very strongly about how African Americans and white people interacted together. In this paper three individual excerpts by three different authors will be discussed. All three of these authors have different viewpoints because of how they see the world based on their individual life experiences.

The use of black dialect in literature is a technique that has been debated for hundreds of years. It was used in trickster folktales such as, "Deer Hunting Story" and "The Wonderful Tar Baby Story." The debate on whether this dialect elevates everyday black speech or causes a negative stereotype to emerge is pretty even. With no doubt, dialect can help show the character's personality, intentions, and emotions. It also further insinuates the role they play within stories. Paul Laurence Dunbar's "A Negro Love Song" is almost entirely in black dialect. On the other hand, Charles Chesnutt's "The Wife of His Youth" tells a story with some dialect being used. By examining these differences, the lack of dialect and dialect actually being used in "The Wife of His Youth" best exemplifies the negative stereotypes that are being avoided when discussing the protagonist, Mr. Ryder who is seen as a blue vein and Liza Jane.

Throughout the novel many problems occur. Some of the main problems are racial and equality issues. Events in this book show how prejudice and intolerance can ruin numerous friendships and change lives.

America’s views on biracial individuals can be dated back to slavery when slaves were forced to bear the children of their masters. These children were referred to as mulatto, meaning “the offspring of a "pure African Negro" and a "pure white”(Davis), and their treatment was often based on the complexion of their skin; if they had fairer skin, they were sent to work in the master’s house and were often times treated

The statement relates to how the adults in The Bluest Eye communicate with the children, especially among the black adults and children, because they are taught to loathe their blackness and envy and adore the whiteness of their white neighbors. The adults, instead of “expressing love” for their skins and appearance, shame their color which they pass on to their children who, inheriting this self-hatred, continue to use language to destroy themselves. For example, in the scene when Claudia, Frieda, and Maureen are walking home, they come across Pecola who is bullied by a group of boys. She is called “black e mo” repeatedly and other offensive language not because she specifically committed a crime against them but because of their “contempt for their own blackness (Morrison 65).” Their detestation against their own skins was bred and cultivated; it was “learned self-hatred (Morrison 65).”

The dominance of the white race is evident through the power that it holds in a traditional society. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Claudia and Frieda, two young black girls, gradually begin to hate Maureen Peal, a lighter-skinned “friend” with whom they attend school. Claudia and Frieda despise the beauty that other members of society see in Maureen and attempt to figure out the reason for Maureen’s power over themselves. Claudia argues that “Maureen Peal was not the Enemy and not worthy of such intense hatred,” and that the only thing they had to fear was “the Thing that made her beautiful and not [them]” (Morrison 74). When Claudia references the “Thing to fear,” she is addressing Maureen’s lighter skin tone and acceptance into society, and not her own blackness, despite the fact that Maureen is not a part of the white community. Claudia’s hatred toward Maureen illustrates the power that light-skinned, and primarily white, individuals have over blacks to deceive people as well as place themselves above everyone else. The ability for the white community to assume its position at the top of the social hierarchy

During the ball that Ryder throws, the speaker states the importance this occasion held for colored people: “The occasion was long memorable among the colored people of the city; not alone for the dresses and display, but for the high average of intelligence and culture that distinguished the gathering as a whole” (Chesnutt 1655). Having the guests consist of those who were colored meant his confession of being married to Liza was showing other African-Americans to accept their identity and not try to be a member of white culture. This give more importance to the scene, because Ryder is directing his confession towards the black audience like Chesnutt was directing the story to the black community of his time. In his speech, Ryder tells the story of him and Liza, keeping their identity a mystery; he goes on to ask if the man of the story should acknowledge the woman after what she’s done, which the audience agrees he should. This public acceptance from the audience gives Ryder the confidence to acknowledge his past and make it public for everyone to

Ryder, the protagonist, reconnected with his wife, a much older dark skinned woman, after they had been separated for over twenty years. He felt that he had to ask the people of the Blue Vein Society if he should acknowledge this woman as his official spouse instead of doing what he wanted without asking for approval. The people in this story gave the realities of what mixed raced individuals had to go through in an effort to have a place in society.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

Shielded from the atrocities of slavery during her childhood, Jacobs depicts family life among slaves as one that remains intact in a “comfortable home” (29) through the example of her own family. Each member held limited rights along with the ability to work and the privilege to use their earnings as they pleased. It is not until the death of her mistress where she finally begins to feel the effects of slavery in the sudden separation of her family who are “all distributed among her [mistress’s] relatives” (Jacobs 33). The separation of family is one of the most integral subjects of her narrative since “motherhood [plays a great role] in her life” (Wolfe 518). Jacobs appeals to the emotions of her female audiences by contrasting a slave mother’s agonies in her separation from her children with the “happy free women” (40) whose children remain with her since “no hand” (40) has the right to take them away. The separation of families in Douglass’s narrative does call for some pity but the event is not as tragic in comparison to

The Bluest Eye concentrates on the key contemporary American issues: racial and sexual politics. More distinctly, the novel centres on the impact that socially constructed views of race have on gender relations within the black community. As Butler-Evans highlights, “race rather than gender had become the overriding sign for the oppression of black people” and Morrison’s novel responds to this political issue by focusing on this in correlation with the Eurocentric society setting of the novel. The racial oppression suffered by the black community shape ideas of black masculinity based on male feelings of inferiority and consequent sexual oppression of black females. Morrison systematically explores the relationship between the racial oppression of black males and sexual oppression of black females. The main focus of this essay will be an exploration of how racial oppression experienced by black males, specifically Cholly and Junior, relate to the sexual oppression they enforce on black females.