Racism is a problem that people of every race around the world still faces today. In the film adaptation of The Help and the text version of Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in The Sun”, racial discrimination is a major theme explored. Racial discrimination is a major theme that both sources portray. There are laws that make discrimination illegal in The United States but it people still suffer from it, however, The Help and “A Raisin if The Sun” portray more ways in which this problem can be eliminated through resistance, getting support from the oppressors, and showing the intimidators their behaviors and attitudes. The Help focuses on the story of a upper class writer that tries to find her social identity as well as others.
To advance in society, the characters must stick together and not attempt to tear each other apart. It is hypocritical for someone to condemn another person for something that they also practice; “colorism and traditional U.S. racism are inextricably intertwined, yet distinct” (Harris 54). However, this demonstrates how racism has influenced the thoughts of those oppressed by it. It is ironic that although Janie is the person with the lightest skin and has grown up in a white household, she does not have these views. The people with darker skin have these colorist views toward her.
As Brent Staples explains in his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” black people deal with many problems, from discrimination, and he explains these points in an orderly manner and each very thoroughly. Over the existence of the United States, blacks have had to face oppression due to the prejudices views held against this. America views every black person as the same and judges them based on the actions of others. It is for this reason that all blacks are judged based on the book of a cover without being able to show the world who they really are. As Norman Podhoretz stated in his Essay “My Negro Problem - and Ours,” “growing up in terror of black males; they were tougher than we were, more ruthless...”
Discrimination is a widely known problem faced in society today, affecting thousands of people mentally and emotionally. In the 2013 published novel, Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, Saul Indian Horse encounters several day to day racist comments and discrimination as he first steps into the hockey rink. Throughout the novel, Wagamese teaches the readers, that racial discrimination can abuse and affect one into either gaining a ruthless and tempered behaviour, or pushing them to a psychological state of mental torture and isolation. In the duration of all this, Saul must prove himself to be mentally and emotionally strong, as he is first exposed to the substantial amount of racial discrimination made by the domination of white people in his
In this case, it teaches students about racism, how it’s still a part of society today, and how it’s so deeply rooted in our country’s history. It’s necessary to talk to our students about slavery’s roots in the United States and how recent African-Americans only got their equal rights and treatment with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965. John Schwetman, an assistant professor teaching American literature at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explained about a “conversation about literature… acknowledging changing reading tastes, changing values, changing concerns of readers.” (Louwagie) Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote of her experience with racism in mind. It teaches the importance of morality and resonates with the white students. Scout herself learns from Atticus, her father, that “[y]ou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39) Throughout the novel, Scouts truly learns about racism, how it affects everyone, and how unfair it was toward the African community.
Correspondingly, the novel reminds the causes of the war and the circumstance in the Southern part at that time when the racial discrimination was actively happened. Especially the idea of social injustice is distinctly reflected in the behaviours of biased people living in Maycomb society where black people are considered as an inferior presence. In ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, Harper Lee illustrates the theme of justice through various literary techniques by narrating the events of adult’s world in child’s fair perspective, symbolizing each character to demonstrate the consequences which the society influences a child, and reinforcing the theme of social hierarchy due to racism. Firstly,
Inequality is not felt by just those who are subjugated. The inequality that “affects one directly” will eventually “[affect] all indirectly” (King). King’s second antithesis proves that the oppressed black race is experiencing inequality right now, but in the future that inequality will impact others if it is not handled. The antithesis compares the oppressed to the oppressors by hinting at the fact that inequality affects everyone. With that in mind, King is calling for all people to stand
Kathryn Stockett wrote this novel with influence from both the time period and her upbringing all for the purpose of allowing her readers to view both a white and colored perspective on segregation. She portrays her purpose through the themes of race and violence. While writing, Stockett uses the theme of race to bring attention to the differences between the white and colored lives. In the novel, she explains how the coloreds do not have as nice of neighborhoods, stores, and public buildings, such as libraries (Stockett). She also ties in the theme of violence in order to give the audience a perspective of segregation.
The Color Line In the words of famous philosopher, Aristotle, “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays the significance of social inequality. The distinguished narrator, Scout, is introduced to racial inequality. These characters are affected by the central message of how terrible racism is, yet still exists. Throughout the story, Harper Lee is able to convey a prejudicial situation to express to readers the harms of racism. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson to symbolize the ignorance and denial towards the subject of racism in the town of Maycomb.
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s helped change the way colored people were treated in America and positively shaped America in the way civil rights and race issues were dealt with. In The Help, Kathryn Stockett focuses on civil rights as the main social and political issue by using different literary elements such as parallelism and different points of view to show contradicting sides of one story as well as properly explain from different narratives. Moreover, she also uses various events and conflicts among characters to show segregation, which was a pivotal cause of the movement and acts that took place. Stockett uses distinct parallelism between the white and black communities in Jackson, Mississippi when Medgar Evers was shot,