John Howard Griffin’s “Blake like Me” is a historical novel which illustrates the author’s experience of discrimination between the whites and African American in the American south states. The author darkens his skin to in order to live as a black man in the south states. Although he encounters numerous challenges, he is still move from state to another which are experiencing racism from whites. Also he interacts with blacks who want justice to live peacefully. Indeed, Griffin accomplishes the major theme of “Black Like Me” reduction of the ethnicity discrimination, through his use of three basic literary themes: religion, race, and identity. A brief investigation of these three basic themes will reveal how “Black Like Me” achieves its
In the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin he wants to experience what African America people have to encounter on a daily basis. Griffin explains, “If a white man became a Negro in the Deep South, what adjustments would he have to make?” (Griffin 1960, 1). Here Griffin explains that if a white man were to become a color person many whites wouldn’t believe in his beliefs of his experiment because he wouldn’t go through the same thing that the colored people go through. With the experiment that Griffin goes through he not only convinces people that the Southern legislators don’t have that “wonderfully harmonious relationship” (Griffin 1960, 1).
With the aid of analogy, the black audience can foresee bright prospects where plenty of commercial opportunities, as a result of racial harmony, are available. Proximity to real-life experience allows African Americans to understand their predicament more thoroughly. As soon as black people are informed of what should be done, they are more motivated to take actions, resorting
Griffin’s journal successfully paints a picture of the racial injustice, segregation and how empathy survives even in the midst of most stirred up situations. In this Research paper, I will try to analyze the book from the point of view of social
Dean Cabrera Mrs. Thunell English II Honors 3 October 2014 Expository Essay: Black Like Me John Howard Griffin wants to know what it is like being an African American. John Howard Griffin is a white man dedicated to racial justice and will do anything to understand the life of a black man.
The main idea of Black Like Me is the evilness of racism. Griffin writes, “All the courtesies in the world do not cover up the one vital and massive discourtesy—that the Negro is treated not even as a second-class citizen, but as a tenth-class one. His day-to-day living is a reminder of his inferior status. He does not become calloused to these things—the polite rebuffs when he seeks better employment; hearing himself referred to as nigger, coon, jigaboo; having to bypass available rest-room facilities or eating facilities to find one specified for him. Each new reminder strikes at the raw spot, deepens the wound.
The major thesis in this book, are broken down into two components. The first is how we define racism, and the impact that definition has on how we see and understand racism. Dr. Beverly Tatum chooses to use the definition given by “David Wellman that defines racism as a system of advantages based on race” (1470). This definition of racism helps to establish Dr. Tatum’s theories of racial injustice and the advantages either willingly or unwillingly that white privilege plays in our society today. The second major thesis in this book is the significant role that a racial identity has in our society.
The John Griffin Experience In the 1950’s, racism was at its peak in the US. In the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, he puts himself into a black man’s shoes to experience an everyday life of what it is like being of darker color. He takes it upon himself to seek medical treatment to change the pigmentation of his skin from white to black. After undergoing this treatment, he sets out to New Orleans to begin his life in darker skin.
By writing Black Like Me, John Griffin was trying to write down everything he felt was important on his journey as a black man. One of the major things wrote down was the idea of white racism. Which is the belief that white people are superior to other races and because of that should run society. So, the main topic of the novel was social divide of whites and African Americans. As a black man John saw the contempt white people had towards African Americans, and just the overall condescending attitude emanated from these people.
Though many changes have transpired in America since the days of slavery, adversity, absence of chances and issues such unfairness and prejudice, which proceeds to gradually develop and encounter by a few, regularly thwarts one from prevailing. The topics of injustice and racism were greatly discussed in all the three letters from James Baldwin, Dr. Martin Luther King and Ta-Nehisi Coates. I thought all three letters were very powerful pieces, as they were beautifully written, reflective and moving. “My Dungeon Shook” by James Baldwin is a captivating read, it entails the social struggles faced in the US by African Americans and white stereotypes of black identity.
The use of personal anecdotes, historical references, and pop culture references create a layered and nuanced exploration of the black experience in
The Personal and Embedded Societal Racism and Patriarchy of Rufus Weylin The science fiction novel Kindred, written by Octavia Butler highlights the lasting effects of the hierarchical system of slavery in the United States. The main character, Dana Franklin, a black woman living in 1976 Los Angeles who suddenly travels back in time to her ancestors’ years of the early eighteenth century, experiences the embedded institutional racial controversies practiced daily. She watches one of her ancestors, a white man named Rufus Weylin living in Maryland, grow to be a product of institutional patriarchy and racism - a slave owner. His father set a violent example for him, causing him to grow to be an unprincipled man.
Throughout his essay, Staples is able to make the audience understand what he has to deal with as a black man. Staples does this by using words and phrases such as, “...her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny” and “... I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area…” (542). By writing and describing how he (Staples) feels, the audience is able to get an inside look into how black men are treated and better understand why society’s teachings, play a vital role in how we see each other. Staples’ powerful writing also allows the reader to take a step back and see how as a society, people make judgements on others based on appearance alone.
Racism and racial inequality was extremely prevalent in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s. James Baldwin shows how racism can poison and make a person bitter in his essay “Notes of a Native Son”. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” also exposes the negative effects of racism, but he also writes about how to combat racism. Both texts show that the violence and hatred caused from racism form a cycle that never ends because hatred and violence keeps being fed into it. The actions of the characters in “Notes of a Native Son” can be explain by “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, and when the two texts are paired together the racism that is shown in James Baldwin’s essay can be solved by the plan Dr. King proposes in his
Blake’s subtle social commentary allowed readers to truly understand the very distinct class difference during this time. The two different points of view and tones in the poem permitted readers to experience two different perspectives on the very same
The novel Black Boy by Richard Wright exhibits the theme of race and violence. Wright goes beyond his life and digs deep in the existence of his very human being. Over the course of the vast drama of hatred, fear, and oppression, he experiences great fear of hunger and poverty. He reveals how he felt and acted in his eyes of a Negro in a white society. Throughout the work, Richard observes the deleterious effects of racism not only as it affects relations between whites and blacks, but also relations among blacks themselves.