Introduction
Throughout his public writing, Ernest Gaines has been consistently asked about the themes of his novels and short stories. Because of his desire to express Black manhood, interviewers and critics have recognized Gaines as a current fiction voice for
African American men. In a 1990 interview with Marcia Gaudet, Gaines addressed this trend, saying, .I think I know more about the black male because I am male myself. I know something about his dreams. I listened to them when I was a kid growing up, I.ve drunk with him, I.ve been in the army and athletics-I know what men dream about. All men dream about certain things. All men have hopes.. (43). Gaines’s decision to address the struggle of Black males begins in his own experience as a man and expands to include the dreams
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However, Gaines is quick to admit that the novel had been ..kicking my ass for ten years.. (Tooker 100).
As a child on the plantation and ancestor of slaves, Gaines experienced firsthand the struggles of fathers and sons because of slavery. This conflict, seen in In My Father’s
House, was a subject Gaines knew he had to approach. Eventually, Gaines decided to model his book after a Greek tragedy. Like the characters of Greek tragedies, Phillip
Martin is a great man who falls and must get himself back up. Although Gaines devoted much time to the novel, and approached a subject that has disturbed him, he still does not like to talk about or read from the novel. In an interview with Mary Doyle, Gaines says,
..That book is a hard one for me to talk about. I don’t ever read from it when I go to colleges and universities. It is a book that I had to write because I was haunted by the idea. It cost me more time and pain than any book I’ve written. (162). Gaines’s
audience’s reaction to the novel is similar to the pain Gaines experienced while creating the characters. The story reminds his audience that a man is more than a father. He is
Along with this viewpoint, he stessed black distinctiveness within notions of spirituality and creativity. In much of his works, this idea of black distinctiveness was paralled with the legitimacy of black literary independence, another concept of which he was a proponent.
When families were traded in the slave industry, many parents and siblings were sundered and bought by different slave owners. Many slaves’ experiences varied, depending on their role in society and their slave owner, however a common thread was the deprivation of all freedoms and liberties a person should have. The work the slaves
The relationship between the two fathers and the two sons is a very important theme in this book. Because of their different backgrounds, Reb Saunders and David Malters approached raising a child from two totally different perspectives.
Furthermore, this essay gives a perspective on what a Black man goes through. Brent wanted to enlighten his readers about daily life as an African American man. This meant explaining his view of the public from his perspective. By bringing these issues to light, he
The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.
The essay goes into great detail of his relationship with his father. He describes his father as cruel (65), bitter (65), and beautiful (64). He does mention the bad in length. On the flip side, he tells us some of the good as well. Throughout his storytelling, the reader gets a glimpse into his life and the way he feels. His feelings evolve during the extent of the essay.
Several things that happen in this book are a result of what the father and son do in their relationships for
Manhood is when a boy takes the leap from being a child to a true man. People say that leap happens at different times for every boy. People can tell it happens because they stop acting foolishly and deal with matters by themselves. The four stories The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”, “The Man Who Killed a Shadow”, and “Almos’ a Man” all deal with African American boys and them becoming true men. The literature of Richard Wright and Malcolm X illustrate how African American males encountered much difficulty in asserting their manhood while living within the racist society of the 1930’s and 1940’s.
In Kiese Laymon “How to Slowly Kill yourselves and others in America” and Brent Staples “Black Men and Public Spaces” both essays deal with being an African American man but the authors respond in a different ways. At one point in history being an African American wasn’t always the easiest but two Authors shared their stories about the experiences they had which were very different. Although the color of their skin is the same and how they treated was as well both authors take different precaution’s to handle the situations they were in to persuade the audience on how to deal with the effects of racism. Both authors show their hidden message through the actions presented throughout the essays. Laymon`s casual tone and will to fight make
This shows that when Father was honest with him, he would then try to acknowledge the truth to be able to understand why he did what he did, he would then be able to look back at all the times that Father has been good to him and weigh the bad and good of him as a father and may give him a second chance. Lastly, the conflict between Christopher and Father helps develop the theme when one realizes what to fix in order to show the value for the person. Father knows the tension he had caused by being dishonest, and by being honest, he was able to gain back trust from Christopher to show him that he valued their relationship. With that Father will learn how to value honesty in a relationship and show Christopher that he valued him as a person and their relationship as a whole. Therefore, the elements of the character of the father, the A-ha Moment of Christopher and the conflict develop the theme when in making an effort to heal a relationship, one must be truthful in order to show a sense of trust and value to the
devices throughout his narrative to show the reader why slavery was such a horrific time. He was very
Africans have long faced racism in their long history in America. They have had their identities and rights lost under centuries of slavery. Even after the Civil War, the inequalities between African Americans and Caucasians did not cease to exist. From these troubles, many strong people have risen and been able to tell their stories. Among these include a former slave who traveled north and gained freedom, Frederick Douglass and civil rights activist, Malcolm X who both wrote their own autobiographies about their journeys against racism. While Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass lived about a century apart, they share similarities in how they faced and combated racism through education, inspiration by other people, and their eventually finding of freedom.
Through his diction, specifically the use of “wicked desires,” “own lusts,” and “cunning arrangement,” Douglass clearly identifies the evil within the master’s acts. Douglass logically explains why “my master was my father,” by presenting the details of what happens to the children of slave women. Within this logos-driven passage, however, is a strong emotional appeal. The factual representation of what happened in these cases is corrupt within itself, and through his wording, Douglass attacks slavery and the acts of his master. Laws themselves made slaveholders the slave’s fathers, and Douglass exposes the inhumane concept of being born into slavery.
the most important literary elements in the story. He takes a young black boy and puts
because through his first person narrative, the reader is drawn to his sensitive nature, his