Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman would be considered a historical allegory that could be understood as this poetic and dramatic expression of the relationship between whites and blacks throughout the existence of the United States. These patterns of history are symbolically acted out by the two characters Lula and Clay; Lula represents white America and Clay seems to stand for the modern day Uncle Tom, who has over time been shaped by white America and this slave mentality. The beginning Stage directions seem to form this poem in it of itself. The first line establishes the mythic qualities of the play. “In the flying underbelly of the city. Steaming hot and summer on top, outside. Underground. The subway heaped in modern myth.” …show more content…
Though the most significant stage property that Baraka uses is the symbol of apples. “Eating apples is always the first step” (1087) the apple symbol represents the temptations of promises that white society offered to blacks, while these promises actually demeaned the dignity of blacks. Baraka uses the character Lula as a devise to mock Clay as being a supposed Uncle Tom. You look like you have been trying to grow a bear. That’s exactly what you look like. You look like you live in New Jersey with your parents and are trying to grow a beard. That’s what. You look like you’ve been reading Chinese poetry and drinking lukewarm sugarless tea. You look like death eating a soda cracker. (1087) Lula seems to be stating here that Clay is the new integrated and socially acceptable black man, unlike the character of an Uncle Tom from Harriet Breecher Stowe, who is trying to ignore his identity that he was born with and manhood. Baraka seems to be mocking Clay for his attempt to become one with the system of whites, because he was very much against, “being white”. Soda cracker seems to suggest a white person in this context, so the “death eating a soda cracker” is implying what Baraka would consider as the black man’s continuing metaphorical and psychological prostitution to the exploitive white society by conforming to the society’s definition of identity. How the
As horrifying as it is to think about, comparisons can be made between the situations of current workers in third-world countries and the plight of the African slaves in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In many of the current poverty-stricken places seen around the globe, sweatshops are developed in order to employ laborers. Sweatshops are described as places of abysmal working conditions with low pay and tedious hours. In the article, "Black People in a White People's Country," Gary Nash notes that the African slave trade was originally developed to "fill labor shortages in the economies of its European initiators and their commercial partners." This description is similar to the motive behind the employment of third-world sweatshop workers. Both systems, ancient and modern, include the need for more laborers and disregard the vital needs of their employees/slaves as long as the work is getting done. Workers are harmfully exploited in both
The author uses raw descriptive words such as “iron,” “tarry,” and “tin,” to display this city as superficial. The city is just made out of these substances that the people have made these buildings out of. These substances all conduct heat and present this madness and anger of the man in the poem. These materials present a manmade structure that displays the city as shallow.
One of the things that is so fascinating about poetry is that it allows readers to discover and sometimes challenge and channel their emotions as well as their understanding. A poem’s words as well as its structure can reveal many things to its intended audience. In “Myth” by Natasha Trethewey, the poems form is just as important as the words she writes, becoming a map for the journey Trethewey takes, using transitions to take us from one place to another. The nature of the poem therefor becomes multifaceted, as it encourages the reader to think about the speaker’s words and use of form and structure she uses to craft this epic story. Using form as a tool, Trethewey is able to use structure as a way to guide us as readers and the speaker across the conscious and unconscious thoughts and dreams the speaker faces in this story.
The author begins the poem by illustrating Icarus’s supposed death. Field claims that only the floating feathers showed than anything more “Than the usual drowning” occurred (Line 3). The connotation of “usual” makes it seem as if these types of events are common in the city, which paints a negative picture of their society as one where death runs rampant. In addition, “The police preferred to ignore / the confusing aspects of the case” (Lines 3-4). The alliteration in this quote draws attention to the behavior of the police; their refusal and reluctance to do their job portrays them as lazy, indifferent, and incompetent. The city does not seem to be concerned with the safety and wellbeing of their citizens. Their apathy is further emphasized with alliteration when “the report [is] filed and forgotten” by all authorities (Line 6). They filed it with the title “Drowned”, not caring enough to look further into the case for accuracy (Line 7). The article uses one word to dismiss Icarus’s existence. Eventually, he came to a city “Where he rented a house and tended the garden” (Line 9).
The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man depicts the narrator as a liminal character. Beginning with an oblivious knowledge of race as a child, and which racial group he belonged, to his well knowing of “white” and “black” and the ability to pass as both. On the account of liminality, the narrator is presenting himself as an outsider. Because he is both a “white” and “black” male, he does not fit in with either racial group. In the autobiography of an Ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson uses double consciousness to show the narrators stance as a person that gives up his birthright for the “privilege of whiteness”.
McKay emphasizes that his deep hatred for the “White City” is due to the oppression he receives from white-skinned people for being African American; however this hatred is hidden from the world as he is perceived as an isolated minority in this “White City”. The intensity of McKay’s hatred is displayed in the personification of the “dark Passion that fills [his] every mood”(6). The first letter in the diction “Passion” is capitalized, thus personifying it to be representation of the
The novel The Garies and their Friends is a realistic examination of the complex psychology of blacks who try to assimilate through miscegenation and crossing the color barrier by “passing as white.” Frank J. Webb critiques why blacks cannot pass as being white through the characters Mr. Winston and Clarence Jr.
Symbolisation is also used to counteract the miserable life of an Australian housewife. This can be seen in the line “She practises a fugue, though it can matter to no one now if she plays well or not, (stanza one, line one).” This line suggests that the woman portrayed is a musician. The poem latter reads, “Once she played for Rubinstein, who yawned,” (stanza one, line nine). This suggests she was talented enough to present to Rubenstein but didn’t succeed. “The children caper, round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead.” This line symbolizes the housewife. Her dreams of becoming a musician are trapped within her own environment. This same line can also evaluate the difficulties and harshness of the urban Australian life. Seeming sad this is something that is exciting to the children.
On the west side of Manhattan two groups compete for turf, the Jets, a group of white juveniles, and the Sharks, a group of young Puerto Rican men. The conflicts that arise from racial and cultural differences are what lead to West Side Story’s message. The Jets do not like the Sharks because they came from a different part of the world. They don’t want them in their neighborhood because they are worried that they will change things, take their jobs, and make the neighborhood dirty. People have always and still have this fear for immigrants because they can’t accept change. When Tony and Maria fall in love, it makes the two gangs’ rivalry even more complicated.
After the Spanish American War, inequality became the new virtue. Racism developed into such a large problem that people like Hinton Helper wanted every black person dead. "He called for the outright expulsion of blacks from the United States and hoped for their eventual extermination throughout the world" (Boller 204). This shows how much hate Helper had toward blacks. Most whites learned to live with blacks after the Civil War. Although many did not think of them as equal human beings, they still granted them their basic rights. However, Helper did not even feel that black people deserved to live. Still, he was not alone. John Van Evrie wrote a book called White Supremacy and Negro Subordination. Although it said blacks should not be exterminated,
African-Americans have experienced racism since the 1600s and throughout American history. However, not many books have been able to display the ethnic ignorance that white people have towards blacks. One of the more successful stories is A Raisin in the Sun shares a compelling story about an African-American family during the 1900s and offers many themes about social class and race. In A Raisin in the Sun, a negative legacy is left on modern drama due to the many examples of poverty and the message of money in the novel; though some people may believe that the play was an accurate depiction of the African-American lifestyle and their culture, they are wrong to believe this impractical belief because it leads to many white people assuming
Between 1910 and 1920, in a movement known as the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of African Americans uprooted from their homes in the South and moved North to the big cities in search of jobs. They left the South because of racial violence and economic discrimination. Their migration was an expression of their changing attitudes toward themselves, and has been described as "something like a spiritual emancipation." Many migrants moved to Harlem, a neighborhood on the upper west side of Manhattan. In the 1920's, Harlem became the worlds largest black community; also home to a highly diverse mix of cultures. This unprecedented outburst of creative activity exposed their unique culture and encouraged
Racism is a belief where one race thinks their superior than other race or treating people differently because of their race. Race has and still does affected many people in America because of the color of their skin. In the society past had racism but it continues on today. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about a dark skin family who has opportunities but has less chances of achieving them because the racist society. Race has a lot to do in Raising in the Sun.
and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.
Race is a subject that dominates our culture, our history, our elections and our lives. Without it life would never be the same. Although some believe that racism (to an extent) doesn't exist anymore. However, they are wrong. The same racism that is shown through Karl Linder and George Murchison in A Raisin in the Sun- is still shown today- in our world in things such as: the travel ban/Muslim ban, and behind the scenes in soccer.