ipl-logo

Manchild In The Promised Land Analysis

974 Words4 Pages

Claude Brown begins Manchild in the Promised Land with himself (Sonny) at the age of thirteen, shot on the streets of Harlem for stealing sheets from a clothesline. The autobiography then retraces Brown’s life from the age of eight up to the shooting and goes on to chronicle his stays in the Warwick Reform School and his eventual escape from the street life of Harlem. A gang member at the age of nine, Brown was sent at eleven to the Wiltwyck School for Boys, returned to the streets, was shot, was sent to the reformatory and then gradually moved from Harlem as he earned his high-school diploma, became a jazz pianist in Greenwich Village and ultimately began college. Manchild, which was written while Brown was still in his twenties, was for …show more content…

Ernest Papanek, a psychologist and the director of the Wiltwyck School for deprived and emotionally disturbed boys, as the author playfully expresses “probably the smartest and the deepest cat I had ever met” (Brown 1965). A child that has seen the struggles of his parents and grandparents, having traveled from the newly freed south to this so called promised land of New Your City. Was this bad kid just trying to reinvigorate the masculinity stolen from the ancestors on the journey here. A subject not ignored by the modern day African American entertainment community. In a dissertation aimed to highlight how rappers or entertainers posture themselves to project a strong, assertive, masculine image. The author of the dissertation notes” how hip hop performers such as Ice Cube, Nas, 50-Cent, amongst others, are recovering and recuperating the figure of the black hustler… it assists in developing an understanding of how young black men learn to perform masculinity “(Garnes 2015). This basic need to feel like a man and not conform to the limitation that unbalanced socio-economic inequality forces migrants to deal with. Is exactly what Brown is portraying in this book. Is the protagonist a bad person or a person taking the cue of those not wanting to settle for what has been left and take what is

Show More
Related

  • Bad Boy By William Zinsser Analysis

    931 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the memoir’’ How to write a memoir’’, written by William Zinsser, Zinsser goes into specific detail for beginner memoir writers on how do you write a memoir. He encourages each of them to ‘’ Be themselves’’,’’ Tell their own story and they should write about what they want’’, and ‘’ Think small, don’t over think what you are writing about. ’’(Zinsser’s memoir pages 2,4,6) This advice tells beginner memoir writer to express who you are and say as much as you would like to say. In the memoir ‘’ Bad Boy’’, Walter Dean Myers gives a lot of insight on what his childhood was like.

    Read More

  • Dick Gregory's Nigger: An Autobiography

    1173 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is a systematic erosion of black families. All too often, black male fathers are absent from the home, leaving black mothers to raise young black children in single parent households. This absence of black male fathers in America originated during the days of slavery. Dick Gregory penned the autobiography depicting his struggles for acceptance and equality in a country that resented him based on the color of his skin. Unfortunately, like many African American children, Dick grew up without a father in his household.

    Read More

  • In Search Of The Promised Land Analysis

    1549 Words  | 7 Pages

    In Search of the Promised Land: Book Review Franklin, John Hope, and Loren Schweninger. In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. The narrative In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South, by John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger, was a real page-turner and a pleasure to read. The narrative chronicles the fascinating life of Sally Thomas and her three sons John Rapier, Sr., Henry Thomas, and James Thomas who were fathered by white men.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Tally's Corner

    1311 Words  | 6 Pages

    Tally’s Corner is the sociological interpretation of the culture of Negro streetcorner men. Elliot Liebow sets out to expose the hypocrisies that lead black men in this circumstance. The study is carried out in Washington D.C. The key argument posed by Liebow is that black males are incapable of attaining jobs because they lack education. He also argues that this is a cycle that inevitably results in a trans-generational marginalization of the black race.

    Read More

  • Too Short's Song Gettin It

    934 Words  | 4 Pages

    Often when an average parent or upstanding individual turns on the television and sees a young black man rapping about the hood they are murdered. On impulse the channel is changed without considering what message that individual is endeavouring to deliver. Right when listening to rapper Too Short and his song "Gettin it", you hear a lot about how hard it is to be a black individual. The tune is about getting away from the hood and making a fair life for yourself. The lion's share of society simply expect that these energetic but black rappers have no brains and no sense of purpose for life.

    Read More

  • Hip Hop Culture In Mcbride's Hip Hop Planet By James Mcbride

    921 Words  | 4 Pages

    McBride begins his essay in high contrast to his intended purpose with an anecdotal discussion of his first encounters with Hip Hop music that inevitably represents black men as arrogant, aggressive, and poor. The introductory paragraph details McBride’s fear of his daughter marrying a black rapper that he describes as having “a mouthful of gold teeth, a do-rag on his head, muscles popping out of his arms, and a thug attitude” (McBride para. 1). This stereotypical description of a rapper, as well as the sense of fear McBride feels, contributes to his initial representation of black males as aggressive thugs that are unsuitable to become husbands.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hip-Hop's Betrayal Of Black Women

    633 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her essay “hip hop’s betrayal of black women,” Jennifer McLune implies that “(h)ip-hop owes its success to the ideology of women-hating” (193). She does not agree with Kevin Powell’s article that hip-hop does not mean to “offend” black women, but instead artists are only letting out their temper throughout their music. McLune feels infuriated that many artists in hip hop (including black men) rap about their community and downgrade their own women. In the hip-hop genre, sexism is mainly used, not only by black men but also by many other race hip-hop artists. Artists assume that women-hating in their rap songs will be accepted by women, but do not realize that it is affecting all women.

    Read More

  • Jonathan Kozol's Essay Still Separate, Still Unequal

    1291 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout Jonathan Kozol’s essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid” (347) and “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” (374) by Beverly Tatum, both Kozol and Tatum discuss racial issues in the educational system. Kozol and Tatum explain racial issues by presenting two different instances that racial issues have played a roles. These two instances being visiting different public schools by Kozol and noticing the cafeteria segregation by Tatum. Using their own personal experiences, their arguments essentially come to similar conclusions, so by comparing their essays, the most significant problems are brought to the table.

    Read More

  • What Is Coates Argument In The Case For Reparations

    615 Words  | 3 Pages

    He speaks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled horrible conditions in Mississippi to find work in Chicago. Like many Americans Ross dreamed of owning a home. However, the only way for a black person to buy a home in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy from predatory “contract” sellers who charged unbillable rates with few legal protections for buyers. Clyde said “To keep up with his payments and keep his heat on, I took a second job at the post office and then a third job delivering pizza.” Like many blacks in Chicago at the time he got two jobs just to keep up with the payments of the house, overall being kept away from his

    Read More

  • Hip Hop Planet Speech

    1186 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hip Hop is seen as something inspiring, but most people see it as a way to speak out the truth about a problem. As in “Hip Hop planet” being able say the truth can sometimes worsen any situation because sometimes what we say can promote violence and whatever happens after is not in our control. The essay is about how hip hop has changed into speaking out the issues that need to be taken care of in order to maintain a proper society. McBride talked about how rappers use violent lyrics to degrade women and gays and because of this it shows how the music has evolved into something entirely different that no one would have ever expected to have changed. In James McBride's essay “Hip Hop Planet,” he argues that hip hop has a negative influence on American Culture despite people thinking of it as inspirational and how people live through different experiences in life despite of your race.

    Read More

  • Mr. T-By Terrance Hayes Analysis

    586 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Terrance Hayes’s poem “Mr. T-,” the speaker presents the actor Laurence Tureaud, also known as Mr. T, as a sellout and an unfavorable role model for the African American youth for constantly playing negative, stereotypical roles for a black man in order to achieve success in Hollywood.   The speaker also characterizes Mr. T as enormous and simple-minded with a demeanor similar to an animal’s to further his mockery of Mr. T’s career. The speaker begins his commentary on the actor’s career by suggesting that The A-Team, the show Mr. T stars in, is racist by mentioning how he is “Sometimes drugged / & duffled (by white men) in a cockpit,” which seems to draw illusions to white men capturing and transporting slaves to new territories during the time of the slave trade (4-5).

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: The Autobiography Of Malcolm X

    1072 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: Does Rap Music Promote Violence?

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Large business” (Spotlight 13), utilize “hip-hop artists as” (Spotlight14) spokesmen to gain attention. Many believe that by doing this companies are “purposefully --promoting negative values” (Spotlight15). Yet to say that all rappers promote negative values is completely bias, because as we have previously established not all rappers rap about negativity. “No connection is found between antisocial behavior in young people and controversial genres of music such as ‘gangster music’”

    Read More

  • The Struggle In Richard Wright's The Black Boy

    214 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the memoir “The Black Boy” by Richard Wright, it tells a story in first person view of a young six-year-old boy who lives his life during the Jim Crow time period. The memoir tells a story of young Richard growing up in the south, living with his family he experienced many struggles growing up, beaten and yelled at by his family; his mom, grandmother, employer/employees and the kids at school. He would try his best to learn what he considered acceptable to the society and what is not. Due to his race, skin color, and the time period, he struggles to fit in with the people around him, and all he wish he could do is for everyone around to accept who he is. Wright tries to convey this theme that Richard tries to join the society on his

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Film 'Beyond Beats And Rhymes'

    392 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” Summary This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this. Some of the most prominent issues discussed in the film were the over-sexualization of women, gun violence, and anti- homophobic attitudes. Hunt would ask those involved in the industry about why they think these themes are so prevalent.

    Read More

More about Manchild In The Promised Land Analysis

Open Document