Racial Tension in American Literature - 1169 Words

Racial tension in American literature 1930’s-1960’s†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœYou know if I was a negro i’d probably think the same way they do’†¨Anderson†¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœIf you were a negro nobody would give a dam what you thought’†¨Ward- Mississippi Burning (1988)†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨During the 1930s-1960s America was a place of racial tension. The blacks and white were not equal. It was a time of black oppression an injustice. These themes are shown †¨ through the texts, ‘The Help‘ by Kathryn Stockett, ‘Mississippi Burning‘ directed by Allan †¨ Parker, ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird‘ by Harper Lee and ‘Caged Bird‘ by Maya Angelon. These †¨ texts depict a society of white supremacy, injustice, opression and fear of the other. White supremacy is depicted throughout the texts with whites having†¦show more content†¦We cannot quite comprehend the situation.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Racism is birthed out of fear of the other. The authors/directors convey that blacks fear whites because they want to stay alive and keep their families. They are afraid of their houses being burnt down (Mississippi Burning), getting hung (To Kill A Mocking Bird), and being acused of crimes that were not committed (The Help). There is a powerful scene in Mississippi Burning when a black man is questioned by an FBI agent about the murder of some young boys committed by the Ku Klux Klan. Fear is shown through his body language as he does not make direct eye contact and appears to sound quite nervous. In the dialogue he repeats ‘please sir i have nothing to say.‘ This captures that he is afraid of speaking against the white men incase his house is burnt and his children witness his murder. Within the texts, the white man fea rs the black because he is scared of losing control and superiority. They justify they are right by saying the blacks have diseases and are a sub specie. In The Help Miss Hilly truly buys into the lie. ‘Its plain dangerous they carry different diseases, i’ll do whatever it takes to protect our children.‘ Similarly in Mississippi Burning a married couple when interviewed state thats ‘niggars‘ do not have the same genetic makeup as a white man. They imply that black people are not human and are to be feared. Racist comments and judgements are still made today because weShow MoreRelatedThe Religious And Theological Dimensions Of Ralph Ellison s The Invisible Theology909 Words   |  4 Pagestheological dimensions of Ralph Ellison’s authorship. Against reductive tendencies of materialist and secular accounts of racial identity, Harriss argues that Ellison’s understanding of race, characterized as an invisible theology in a secular age, makes possible a reconsideration of the relation between race, religion, and secularism. 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