John Steinbeck 's ' Innocence And Care, And The Bodwin 's Abolitionist Attitude

Since the beginning of civilization, humanity has experienced the same kinds of hardships and sorrows. From rape to loss of basic rights, people have continually been plagued by the same trials and tribulations that stem from oppression. In the novel Beloved, Toni Morrison details the life of Sethe, a social pariah, living with her family in Cincinnati. Literally haunted by the atrocities from her past, she symbolizes many in America who have suffered the brutalities of an era of extreme repression and abuse. Although the story of Sethe may take place during the time of the emancipation of slaves, the ubiquitous struggles and concerns still translate into the issues surrounding today’s society.

In Search of the Promised Land Coauthors John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger attempt to depict what slave life was like in their book In Search of the Promised Land. In this book, Franklin and Schweninger recall a slave family’s life based on research done to uncover the life of the Thomas-Rapier family. Sally Thomas, the mother, recalls her family’s adventures of traveling around the United States in search of a promised land that African Americans could be free from poverty and injustice. This book casts a quite different light on the view of slavery. While there is still the fear of being sold and separated from each other.

Himes brought light to the abuse African Americans went through during World War II when their race limited their chance of equality. Himes illustrated African American’s desire to protest racism. This is seen when Bob realizes he will never reach true equality. Himes also warned the black culture when Bob takes his girlfriend, Alice’s advice to “adjust themselves to the limit of their race” (p

In the 1979 novel, Kindred, Octavia E. Butler writes of an African American woman who is "called" by her ancestor Rufus Weylin, who is the son of a plantation owner, to not only keep him alive, but also to ensure that her (what would be several times) grandmother is born. Though the novel is told from Dana 's (the main character) point of view, there are several instances where the reader is given a glimpse into the background of other characters ' lives, which helps the reader to gain a new perspective. In Kindred, perspective is key to understanding how the dark years of slavery shaped the views of both the slaves and Whites. This essay will analyze as well as compare five different dichotomies of characters ' views and experiences of

They often tried to convince themselves that slaves weren’t people, that they didn’t have feelings, and that they’re not as human as they were. They treated them as so, not as people but as objects, objects that didn’t have a say on what goes in their life. Slaves weren’t given the same injustices as the slave owners; they didn’t have protection in the sense of the law. They weren’t given any protection at all; they were seen as an animal just because they were physically

Since Mrs. Garner is viewed as a sympathetic slave owner, Sethe admits that she “told Mrs. Garner on em’. She had that lump and couldn't speak but her eyes rolled out tears” (10). Mrs. Garner lacks a voice in the Antebellum South. Her identity as a woman fails to hold weight in the presence of white men, specifically with Schoolteacher and his nephews. Noticeably, there is a difference between Sethe and her slave master Mrs. Garner. Mulligan indicates that “owning slaves was a way for Southern women to both excel in their domestic role and exert high levels of dominance over the slaves” (Mulligan 8). As a slaveholding white woman, her prejudice and economic sentiments will not permit this stable protection that Sethe wants for her children.

“It is educative not only for African Americans, but for anyone sitting in an American literature survey course. Does it stand in lieu of a good, substantive American history class….. of course not, but it certainly rounds out that experience,” said Chadwick. By reading this novel we are able to educate ourselves about both racial discrimination and slavery from the past. The novel brings the reader an insight to what life was like in the past.

Walker introduces the audience to new white characters at the turn of the Civil War. The general human fear and resentment that these white antagonists have towards the newly freed slaves is demonstrated through the different way that Walker portrays the characters. The readers are introduced to a plethora of cruel white characters who were

The sign of a great book is that it consumes you and can generate a wealth of emotions, from despair to hope, to joy. In it, we find a tale that mirrors real life in such a way that we are shockingly alerted by the normalcy reflected in the words. The contrast of the lives of “upper” and “lower” class white southerners exposes the realism of the views of society. The similarities and the contrasts in the different races and genders in the book make you feel their pain, sorrow, joy and struggles regardless of their race but you also get an ending that is true to life and gives a shot at redemption and forgiveness without unnecessary farce. A perfect example of a story about many angles of suffering, whether one is white or black, tugs at

Sethe, the protagonistof the novel, was born in the South to an mother she doesn’t remember. At age thirteen, she is sold to the Sweet Home plantation, whose reputation is much kinder and brighter than many other owners. There,the other slaves named Sixo, Paul A, Paul D, Paul F, and Halle compete for Sethe’s love, who eventually chooses to marry Halle. They have two sons, Howard and Buglar, as well as a baby daughter, but her name is not given. When she leaves Sweet Home, Sethe is also pregnant with a fourth child. After Mr. Garner, the head of Sweet Home, dies, the widowed Mrs. Garner asks her sinister, racist brother-in-law known to the slaves as “schoolteacher” to help run the farm. The Schoolteacher makes life on the farm even worse for

Harriet Beecher Stowe uses her poignant novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to propagate the abhorrent treatment of slaves by white slave owners in the time period prior to the Civil War. Stowe addresses the subhuman treatment of slaves by confronting the white prejudice prevalent in her society. Stowe points to the dependent relationship of slaves on owners, the animal-like treatment of slaves, and the value of the slave’s soul to sway the reader into acknowledging the pervasiveness of white America’s prejudice and complacency in eliminating slavery.

Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, aims to portray the inequality and discrimination that ran rampant during the Jim Crow/Civil Rights era. It does so by showing the results of such discrimination through the eyes of a 6 year old child, Scout Finch. At the time, many expressed their displeasure of this viewpoint, but this was not the only reason the book was banned in many states. First of all, the heavily featured rape trial of Tom Robinson touched on a very tender subject in the United States at the time. In the 30’s and 40’s the role of women in society was generally accepted to be that of a homemaker, resulting in minimal discussion and thought on the subjects of rape and female sexuality.

Inequality is exemplified throughout society in the novel and outside world. Inequality is shown by elaborating on how each race is separate and not every man is equal. Chura writes, “Prior to the 1954 decision, what Benjamin Muse has called an ‘unwholesome stability’ has prevailed in the South, depriving nearly all black of the right to vote and adhering to strict and inviolable de facto and de jure segregation of the races in all areas of social life in which mixing of any kind could result in the suggestion of social equality” (Chura 1.) Demonstrating that not every person is equal, and seen through the children's eyes, this type of discrimination can influence judgment. People are born with the idea that everyone is equal no matter the

A novelist is someone who writes novels, or writes a fancy work of fiction which often has a complicated plot, many major and minor characters, a significant theme, and several varied settings. A novelist will use literary devices such as characterization, tone, symbolism, imagery, and figurative language. John Steinbeck, an American novelist, uses many literary devices such as metaphors, similes, imagery, and figurative language along with excellent descriptive words to develop his characters and vividly describe their surroundings. His masterly of these and other techniques, in my opinion, is why John Steinbeck’s novels, like The Grape’s of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, have survived the test of time.

If the Western literary tradition has been defined as a “more-or-less set of closed works that somehow speak to, or respond to, the “human condition’ (1891), excluding works from that literary tradition excludes people of color as experiencing the “human condition”. In making these tropes seem an innate part of cultural existence, no one questions racial practices because these tropes “naturally” exist. There is no reason to question or challenge these tropes because they are not created, the simply exist. They are natural characteristics that can only be observed, which is another subversion of the racial other.