The Ethics Of Living Jim Crow Analysis

Wright creates a story about a young man afraid to fly into his destiny as a black African American male. Bigger is afraid to live life because he knows deep inside he will never amount up to the “white man”. Because of this great deal of fear Bigger ends up killing two women one being white and he ends up going to prison for life and getting the death sentence. In every reason possible was Bigger most definitely wrong for his actions; but there is a story very similar to his. Leopold and Loeb were two students who kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Robert Franks. Both men were sentenced to life plus 99 years. Loeb was murdered by a prisoner in 1963, but Leopold was released on parole in 1958. It's quite funny that Leopold was released with parole but Bigger stayed in prison and had to die because of his wrongful doings. There is honestly no difference between Bigger and Leopold, they both committed a unacceptable crime. So why is it that Leopold gets to have some freedom and Bigger did not? I know the difference, it is the color of their skin. These policeman and judges seem to have pity on the white americans who commit a crime big or small. But when the tables are turned the African American male or female seems to have no pity, no help or parole. These black men and women are being thrown into jails or prisons for a great lump sum of years. Some make it out to see daylight

As Wright continued working, his “Jim Crow education” resumed (253), he learned that not listening to or obeying what a white person told you would lead to serious consequences. A lady was beat up by two white men simply because she didn’t pay her bills, “I heard shrill screams coming from the rear of the store. Later the woman stumbled out, bleeding, crying, and holding her stomach” (253). And if the beating wasn’t enough, a white cop was there waiting for her when she came out and she was thrown into his car after being accused of being drunk. After telling his friends about the horrendous incident, they weren’t shocked. In fact, they were surprised that that’s all they did to her and actually

An initial reading of A Jury of Her Peers suggests that the author focuses on the common stereotypes of women in the 1800s; however, a close reading reveals that the text also examines the idea that they are more capable than men may think. The fact that Mrs. Wright was able to pull off killing her husband by herself and without the men finding out proves that she is very capable and did not need the help of men to pull it off. The men at the time believed that women were incapable of doing things by themselves and thought that they should just stay in the kitchen, cook, and clean. They thought that they could not manage to do things that men could and did not trust them with a man's job.

Throughout the drama, Mrs. Wright and the canary share many similarities. For example, Mrs. Hale, the wife of Mr. Hale, describes that Mrs. Wright “was kind of like a bird herself—sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery” (185). Overall, the quotation describes Mrs. Wright as a gentle and submissive woman, the type of woman society expected her to be. In addition, although Mrs. Hale compares her to a bird in a favorable manner, she also defines Mrs. Wright as a woman that is fragile and uncappable of providing for herself, another social stereotype that women were subject to. Ultimately, however, the rigid social expectations for women served to reiterate their role in the home and to further confine them to the homestead itself, especially as society typically objectified and trivialized women, celebrating the conforming wife while condemning women to have their wings clipped by society’s standards. In this way, beyond her personality, Mrs. Wright becomes even more synonymous with the canary, an estranged creature confined behind bars as an aesthetic spectacle that is unable to sing an independent song.

Mr. Wright is not frightened by the consequences of his actions towards Mrs. Wright and her belongings. The County Attorney thoroughly examines the relationship between Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Hale explains how she has “ . . . not seen much of [Mrs. Wright] of late years” (Glaspell 4) which reveals how isolated Mrs. Wright is. Mr. Wright does not think twice about keeping his wife secluded from everyone because he thinks Mrs. Wright is incompetent in expressing her feelings towards him. The dead canary is found by the women and they debate whether Mr. Wright was a factor in the death of the bird. Mrs. Hale replies to Mrs. Peters that “ . . . Wright wouldn’t like the bird--a thing that sang. [Mrs. Wright] used to sing. He killed that too” (Glaspell 9). Despite his wife’s feelings, Mr. Wright believes that he can get rid of anything to satisfy his happiness.

In Black Boy, Wright expressed his childhood memories even though they were not very good. The critic, Adams, argues that Richard Wright shared his misrepresentation of his personality, rae, and family in his childhood by explaining that they did not help him. He believed that everyone prevented him from hearing or speaking the truth. The only time someone listened to him was when he lied (Adams). Wright was independent from his family early on in his childhood because he knew that they would not support his views and dreams in life. In addition, Robert J. Butler exclaims, “ … ‘red circle’ of flame which consume the curtains can be seen as a revealing symbol of Wright’s early life- a trap of spreading violence which can easily destroy him…” (Butler 62). If Richard Wright grew up to be who his parents taught him to be, he would never understand the danger of his childhood years. However, he did which let him leave it behind as soon as he could.

Wright so deeply that her whole view of right and wrong is distorted. Her decision to murder her husband in the name of her bird shows how corrupted her mind really is. Years and years of silent torture drove this woman to the brink of insanity. Her insanity symbolizes other women in that time that chose to stay in a loveless marriage rather than make a bold move like Nora did and go out into world on their own. Nora’s courageous choice empowered women to think for themselves, while Mrs. Wright’s choice revealed to them exactly how a loveless marriage can damage one’s mind to the point of no repair.

Likewise, in this novel, both of the blacks and whites went through some type of violence. In the event where Skeeter got slapped by her own mother while being in a heated argument is just one example, but some may justify that was a way of discipline. Violence put in another way is the emotional pain it can cause, like when Skeeter’s mother Mrs. Charlotte had to discharge Constantine and her daughter Lulabelle for making an unprofessional scene in front of the DAR at a gathering. Constantine then became heartbroken and moved to Chicago the next day, suddenly died two weeks later. In this situation Mrs. Charlotte doesn’t only hurt her longtime maid and friend Constantine, but additionally hurt her daughter as well. To sum up the violence presented in this novel, there were other cases where Mae Mobley is getting beaten by her mother Elizabeth and Elizabeth emotionally neglects her at times. Luckily, Mae Mobley had her maid Aibileen to tell her “You is kind, you is smart, you is important.” (Stockett 443). Violence is one of the main ideas shown throughout the novel, but this idea is usually overlooked and only thought as physical pain, but is also emotional

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.

The theme of the story concentrates on women's suffrage. Mrs. Wright apparently has been pushed over the edge with the restrictions set on her life and one day she finally snaps. This implicit theme suggest

Wright is clearly the reason for her husband’s death, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both keep secrets that they find from the house hidden from the attorney and the sheriff. They both believe that Mrs. Wright is not the reason, but it is not the women’s place to be deciding what happens to Mrs. Wright. Amidst observing the Wright house after Mrs. Wright is taken into custody, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find small clues around the house that could send Mrs. Wright straight to prison such as the broken jars of preserves, the fact that Mrs. Wright did not wake while her husband was being murdered, and the dead

Wright not only practiced male dominance on his wife, he additionally abused her, “(his) hands aren’t always as clean as they should be” (Glaspell 1389) Mrs. Hale stated when the men were briefly looking through and became dissatisfied with the appearance of Minnie’s kitchen. Glaspell exposed the maltreatment early on by providing hints of foreshadowing and thus allowed the viewer to notice that Mr. Wrights’ actions were saturated with female oppression. During the reign over his wife, Mr. Wright destroyed her natural identity and denied Minnie of her individuality within the marriage. She was no longer cheerful, Mr. Wright “killed that too”(Glaspell 1393)not to mention the songbird she related to.

At that time, many people still believed in patriarchy or male domination (Eisenstein, 1979). Women are tied of men, everything related to women is based on men’s word. In the drama, Mrs. Wright was imprisoned with her marriage. Through killing her husband, she could make herself free. In contrast with the feminism theory, she could do anything and even killed her own

When Mrs. Hale finds a dead bird in Mrs. Wright's sewing box, she soon recognizes the obvious reason why John Wright was murdered. The audience sees character motivation in Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright was a man who used silence and coldness to control and mold his wife into someone he thought she ought to be. He killed the singing bird, which was a symbol for Mrs. Wright as Minnie Foster. In an indirect way, he killed her joy of singing, her spirit, keeping her in her own "cage" which she can not escape from. Unless she "got rid of" what (or who) was holding her prisoner.

He does explain that oppression and racism affected both whites the oppressors and blacks the oppressed. He also explains how a white like girl, befriended a black man, and that a lot of what happened was because of the lack of understanding of the others culture. Yet, I feel that Mr. Wright’s emphasis was more on the struggles that the African Americans endured during the 1930’s. I feel he felt that this oppression and racism affected them the most so he tends to favor their plight more than that of the whites. Wright uses this quote to express how Bigger felt, “To Bigger and his kind, white people were not really people: they were a sort of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming overhead or like a deep swirling river stretching suddenly at one’s feet in the dark.” (109) Wright does not downplay the suffering that they endured at the hands of the whites. He depicts their poverty, in Bigger’s case the cramped rat infested apartment his family lived in. Wright uses this quote to express the living conditions, "Gimme that skillet, Buddy," he asked quietly, not taking his eyes from the rat. Wright tells of some of their racial struggles and inequalities like not being able to be educated, being forced to live in areas that were not as good as those the whites lived in but still over paying for them. It reads “black people, even though they cannot get good jobs, pay twice as much rent as whites”(248) Wright also declares that Bigger was not even allowed a fair trial to defend himself even though he was guilty of what he had done because of this racism. The headlines “NEGRO RAPIST FAINTS AT INQUEST was featured in the Tribune and in the article, Bigger is described as looking “exactly like an ape with “exceedingly black skin” (279). Wright allows the reader to know that he feels this misguided oppression and racism shows that both races lost the realization that all men are