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Lovecraft W. E. B Dubois Analysis

Decent Essays

H.P. Lovecraft and W.E.B. DuBois portray their views of racism in significantly different ways based on discerned racial polarities. In the Early 20th Century, racism centered around white supremacy and social identity. Power was given to people based on their worth.
Racial ranking originated in the European culture. White people were the top of the food chain and colored people were at the bottom. Lovecraft categorizes the people with darker skin as inbreds. All men in the family are white and they dominate their families. The females are darker skinned and are seen seldom in society, almost as if they are a disgrace to the family. It is important to note, that each person had their place in the hierarchy of the family unit, but the white male always had the upper hand. The inbred people served their purpose as wife, mother and basic slave. They did the “dirty” work throughout the day. The white man was able to control and take …show more content…

These groups were seen as unequal in power, wealth, honor, presumed worth and value. The story begins in Europe where each member of the Jermyn family is an astute, white, powerful man. Each one move to the dark continent of the Congo where their social status falls due to the interracial inbreeding, resulting in heirs who are unfit and crazy. It is funny that Lovecraft creates an atmosphere of hatred. He alludes to the fact that his ancestors were apes. Overtime, the inbreeding caused his family to progressively morph into an ape like society. This can be seen as racist, as the more inbreeding that occurred, the more the white man morphed into an dark ape like creature. The white ape is symbolic as it represents white supremacy at the top of the hierarchy. The ape also is symbolic is saying that the white man had no choice but to breed with the black women. This inbreeding is blamed for the Jermyns’ ugly features. They were no longer seen as

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