Racial Discrimination In Like A Winding Sheet By Ann Petry

Racial discrimination, oppression, injustice and white supremacy are all interlinked in one way or another. It appears that racial discrimination presents itself as a universal issue, and is experienced within many communities, like the black and white communities. In Like a Winding Sheet by Ann Petry, the protagonist Johnson has a hard time preparing himself in the morning for work, which he does not enjoy because of long hours. He experiences instances of racial injustices causing his anger to arise. Coincidentally, on Friday the thirteenth, Johnson encounters his boss Mrs. Scott, the coffee lady, and his wife Mae who all sparks his anger. Johnson’s anger later outbreaks as he hits his wife whom he truly loved. Moreover, his thoughts on hitting a women are no longer his thoughts. Through the theme of racial discrimination, Petry depicts how an accumulation of anger leads into domestic violence and a change in one’s morals on the inside by using parallels between characters that Johnson counters.

Johnson is having a difficult time coping with the racial discrimination of the white society. After arriving late to work Mrs.Scott complains about his lateness and purposely uses the word “nigger”, which greatly offends Johnson. Then, after work Johnson faces the coffee lady who denies him coffee when it is his turn in line. In both instances he gets so angry that, “He stood motionless for a moment and then turned away from the red lipstick on her mouth that made him remember