Positive Influences On Antwone's Abnormal Life

In the short story, “After You, My Dear Alphonse,” the theme of ‘Prejudice in Authority’ is displayed. Mrs Wilson, the eldest and most dominant character, makes stereotypical and discriminating assumptions about Boyd, an African American child who her son brings home for lunch. Mrs Wilson automatically thinks he is from a typical, deprived black family. An example of her prejudice occurs when she offers Boyd clothes, assuming that Boyd and his family cannot afford it as

Many of the characters who associate with middle-class white culture feel the need to separate themselves from lower-class blacks whom they identify as lazy and criminals “I destroyed white baby dolls….The truly horrifying thing was the transference of the same impulses to little white girls." (pg. 22). "White[ness]" is associated with value, virtue, and cleanliness while being black is associated with immorality, dirtiness, and the sense of being disposable. The novel involves mostly black characters and due to this the idea of being white exists on a spectrum. Race is not only decided by the genetic make-up of one's appearance and skin, the shape of one's features, or the texture of one's hair, but also by one's place of origin, socioeconomic class, and educational background “... his mother did not like him to play with niggers. She had explained to him the difference between colored people and niggers. They were easily identifiable. Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud” (pg. 53). These ideas of race being valuable became a main point in the story. And by internalizing these ideas about race the main characters ultimately obtained a racial self-hatred, which created various forms of dysfunction in the characters'

Anne was immediately confused by their presence because they seemed to be just like her except for skin color. On one occasion all the children were playing together in the lobby of a movie theater. Anne was with some local white children playing, but when it was time to enter the movie lobby the white children went in one direction and Anne went in after her friends. Her disapproving mother quickly stopped Anne and they left the theater. Before this instance Anne had never considered the coincidence that all the white children watched the movie from the bottom terrace and all the African America children from the top terrace. While thinking about the difference Anne realized that the bottom terrace and side entrance was much more luxurious than the raggedy top terrace, where she and her mother usually sat (38-2). After this the difference in skin color became much more apparent to her in everyday life. Anne was motivated to find the answers as to why she was treated differently because of the color of her skin.

In the novel The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison confirms the existence of racism within the African American community. Unbelievably, many African Americans suffer from what is termed internalized racism. Internalized racism produces the same effect as racial racism: feelings of worthlessness, inferiority, and unattractiveness. In addition, the effect can produce the opposite feelings: superiority, hatred, and feelings of self-worth. Pecola, an 11-year-old black girl, desires to have the physical characteristics of a white person, namely blue eyes. Polly, Pecola’s mother, prefers the white culture living rather than her own. The feelings that the black race experience stem from the programming of a racist society to think that the white race is better. As a result, African Americans long to be white or look white. This consumption of whiteness represents internalized racism.

Aibileen works for Miss Leefolt and babysits her child Mae Mobbly. Taking care of children is Aibileen’s speciality but it's the moment when the children's’ mothers implant the idea that African Americans aren’t as good as them is when Aibileen realizes that this vicious cycle will never change. “I want to yell so loud that Baby Girl can hear me that dirty ain't a color, disease ain't the negro side of town. I want to stop that moment from coming – and it come in every white child's life – when they start to think that colored folks are not as good as whites” (stockett 113).

The way that we are raised has a huge impact on the people we become. Most of the morals and mannerisms that people display in their adult life are the things that they are taught as children. Hence, matters like racism and prejudices are taught. Children do not come out of the womb being inherently racist, yet, their guardians, friends, and environment instill such hatreds into them. In Countee Cullen’s “Incident” the poet recounts a time where another child’s upbringing scarred him for the rest of his life. The poet blatantly identifies post-slavery racism and its effect on his personal life through the time period the poem had been written. He also achieves this goal by changing the tone of the poem, using dubious details, and demonstrating the power of language.

In addition to the societal favoritism of white beauty, there was a subsequent prejudice against features that were associated with the African American physical appearance. The internalized racism present in the novel has an incredibly damaging effect on its characters. The Bluest Eye presents two significant effects of internalized racism—low self-esteem and jealousy.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee illustrates the experiences of a lawyer's young daughter named Scout who discovers the racist society that exists within her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. An excerpt from Chapter 15 describes how Scout’s naiveté stops a mob of white men from lynching Tom Robinson, a black man who had been wrongfully accused of rape. Lee utilizes perspective and conflict to express how children’s innocence can shine a light on a dark situation.

In the short story, “After You, My Dear Alphonse”, the theme of ‘Prejudice in Authority” is displayed. Mrs Wilson, the eldest and most dominant character, is meant to be a role model-like figure. However, she makes stereotypical and discriminating assumptions about Boyd, an African American child who her son brings home for lunch. Mrs Wilson automatically thinks he is from a typical, deprived black family. An example of her prejudice occurs when she offers Boyd clothes, assuming that Boyd and his family can't afford it as they are poor. When Boyd rejects her offer, Mrs Wilson takes the plate of gingerbread away, just as Boyd was about to eat some - his rejection hurt her white superiority and removed her sense of power. “There are many boys like you, Boyd, who would be grateful for the clothes someone was kind enough to give them.” It was difficult for Mrs Wilson to see that black families can be different from one another. Mrs Wilson sees blacks as if they are in a particular category, where they have specific and predictable qualities, instead of seeing them as distinct individuals. On the other hand, Johnny, Mrs Wilson’s son, doesn’t show signs of racism or prejudice towards Boyd, seeing him as just another one of his friends. I know this

Readers are educated on the double edged sword of being both black and a female. Walker does this by by expressing how gender oppression complicates racial oppression. Black female characters not only had to face slavery and racism but also sexism and abuse, mentally, physically and sexually. This was encountered by both white and black male characters. The black males in the novel are portrayed as cruel, as they live in a world where white men rule and feel like less of a man and because of this they take out their anger and frustration on the black females. Walker starts her novel with Celie’s letter describing the brutal rape by her father. Walker writes “ He just say you gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up against my hip … when that hurt I cry. He start to choke me, saying you better shut up and git used to it.” (1) In comparison to the white male characters, Celie’s father feel as if he has very little worth, therefore taking out his frustration on his daughters. Readers learn that Fonso impregnated Celie twice, disposing of both children, and once he got bored he turned his attention towards Nettie. Celie is also raped daily by Mr.__. He would try to convince her that since they are married she is obligated to have sex with him whenever he wants, but when she wouldn’t oblige he would beat her then forcefully rape her. Walker writes “ Just finish my business, get off and go to sleep.” Mr__ also asserts his male dominance by beating her in front of people. Walker writes, “ He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got something in my eye but I didn't wink. I don't even look at mens, I’m too scared of them.” This quote shows how fearful Celie is of the male character both black and white. She doesn’t say “ i'm scared of white men”, she openly writes of her fear of all men. She’s afraid to look or speak with them as she knows it will result

A tragic time period throughout The United States of America’s history is when slavery was present. Forcing African Americans to leave their homes to be bought and brought to a foreign country. In this country they were forced to work hard labored jobs with little to no rights. Leading to thinking someone is worth more due to their skin color. In Desiree’s Baby the husband Armand Aubigny loves his wife Desiree and baby until the child’s skin tone is starting to represent a different race.

Throughout our society, we can see and experience racism in our everyday life. Racism continues to be a problem that we can't seem to control. As seen on the news and the internet, whites and African Americans are harming each other to prove who's the more dominant race. The thing they don't realize is that they are starting internal war between races. Racism has always been around our world today and it may never end. In the book “A Raisin in the Sun”, a African American character and his family experience similar types of racism that we experience today. When considering the critical race perspective, Walter (a young man) is one of the main characters experiencing racism that is brought into greater relief throughout the book.

Internalized oppression influences the discrimination among the black community in Centreville. In the novel, Toosweet marries into a family of fair-skinned African Americans who are not very accepting of her. Toosweet’s mother in law, Ms. Pearl, believes her family’s lighter skin tone makes them more superior. . This color struck ideology directly contributes to the separation within the black community. “Light-skinned, and sometimes dark-skinned, people attribute higher status and grant more power and wealth to one group, typically those designated as White, and believe that that is the right thing to do; then for the same reasons, people attribute higher status and grant more power and wealth to people of one complexion,

To begin with, the physical appearance of Aibileen Clark, Stockett’s fictional character, is too similar to Ablene Cooper,the actual maid and nanny, to go unaddressed. One critic makes it clear that Aibileen Clark is physically described as a middle-aged African American who has a gold tooth (Henneberger,2). Ironically, the actual Ablene Cooper has the same physical characteristics. Not only is this supported in an article, but it is supported in the novel as well. Stockett describes Aibileen’s skin tone as being dark brown and shiny , and she revealed that Aibileen had a gold tooth when Aibileen smiled at Skeeter(Stockett,92).

Morrison illustrates both the way of thinking behind racism as well as the effects these perceptions and slavery itself had on black americans. For example when she says “...they clipped him, Paul D. First his shotgun then his thoughts, for Schoolteacher didn’t take advice from negroes.” it shows the fact that Schoolteacher does not think of them as people, he thinks of them as livestock. He even goes so far as to compare Sethe to a horse saying that the only reason she had run was because they had beaten her too severely and spooked her stating matter of factly “... now she’d gone wild, due to the mishandling of the nephew who’d overbeat her and made her cut and run.” (Morrison 176) the same way a horse would, he also doesn’t comprehend why she would kill her children simply because they whipped her, this is of course not why she does it, doing it instead to protect them from a fate she saw as worse than death. The attitude of Schoolteacher shows the reader the way of thinking behind racism and slavery. The instances of racism found in this text illuminate not only the mind set of slavery but also the desperation it caused and the fact that someone who hadn’t gone through such a traumatic experience would be unable to understand how far it could push someone and what it could make them