...because of the color of their skin. Black people were looked at harshly in society because of their race. W.E.B. DuBois was considered one of the most famous and influential civil rights activists during the twentieth century. DuBois was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He contributed to African American literature with his literary works. Through his literature, he coined the term “double consciousness.” Double consciousness was first explored in DuBois’ book, The Souls of the Black Folks. “Double...
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...Harper Lee demonstrates the racism of South in the 30's. Tom Robinson's trial represents the racist atmosphere of Maycomb's society. The racial bias of the people of Maycomb makes them blind to see the fact of Tom's innocence and this brings about his murder. Tom's murder echoes Aimé Césaire sarcastic statement in his Et les chiens se taisent, that "in the whole world no poor devil is lynched, no wretch is tortured, in whom I too am not degraded and murdered" (qtd in Black Skin, White Masks 61). Darren Felty in "An Overview of To Kill a Mockingbird", states: "Lee wants to make explicit the consequences of racism. She accomplishes this goal by employing Tom Robinson's trial to allude to different historical events such as the famous 'Scottsboro Boys' trials of the 1930s". According to Felty, in these trials nine black men were accused of raping two white women. Despite a lack of evidence, the men were sentenced to death by the white jury. Unlike Tom, they finally escaped death after a long time (2). Tom Robinson's trial mirrors these historical events to illustrate the racial binarity and segregation that the black people suffered throughout the colonial history. Racial binarity is prevalent in the novel. The narrow-minded people of Maycomb are in favor of segregation in their society and they consider sexual relationship as a threat to their segregation. According to Adam Smykowski in "Symbolism and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird", For example, "the red geraniums that...
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...DuBois’ first response upon realizing that their race was a problem is comparable to blacks in America today. Their feeling of disdain for the white people on the opposite side of the veil reveals another point about the concept of the veil. DuBois’ veil concept not only refers to the whites’ view of African-Americans as obstructed by the veil. The opacity works two ways. Just like the little white could not clearly see DuBois for who he was beyond the color of his skin due to her veil, Dubois could not properly see the entire white race because of this one encounter with this little white girl that he then projected onto all white people. The same is true in the case of Cain who sued the Pullman Company for his...
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...“If a man gives you freedom, it is not freedom. Freedom is something you, you alone, must take.” – This is probably the message of the movie Burn! Burn! – Movie Review By Chithra “If a man gives you freedom, it is not freedom. Freedom is something you, you alone, must take.” José Dolores a black slave, says this quietly, but shakes the ideals of so called civilized Europe. In this movie Burn (or Queimada), the director Gillo Pontecorvo presents a vivid picture of colonization, slavery, resistance and martyrdom for sovereignty; set in a fictional Portuguese colony. Movie, throughout its narration spreads out a strong anti-colonial message rooted on true meaning of the word “Freedom”. Marlon Brando did a brilliant work in the role of Sir William Walker, which he later mentioned in his biography as “I did some of my best acting in “Burn!”. Sir William Walker arrives at Queimada as a traveler but is a British Government agent with a task in hand to organize a slave uprising. British wanted this uprising to end Portuguese dominance and to have a say in the precious sugar cane trade. Walker chooses José Dolores, a black Bolivar, trains him to organize a revolt and succeeds to overthrow the Portuguese establishment from Queimada. British establish a corrupt puppet government, while Dolores is marginalized. While slavery had been formally ended and the former slaves in theory had rights; a legal and property system was established...
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...The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird concerns the conflict between the individual and society. The novel, which was written by Harper Lee in 1960, deals with some of the characters' confrontations with the world around them. The main characters of the story; 6 year old Scout Finch, her father Atticus and older brother Jam, face the complexity of human society, each in his own way. They experience the bad and good sides of life and learn how to look at things from other people's perspective. Throughout the book's 31 chapters, the reader is introduced with the people of Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. Many of them are somehow different from what is considered normal in their white dominated southern society. The majority of Maycomb...
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...Racism In Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn In recent years, there has been increasing discussion ofthe seemingly racist ideas expressed by Mark Twain inHuckleberry Finn. The basis for these has been the depiction of one of the main characters in Huckleberry Finn, Jim, a black slave. Jim, is a "typical" black slave who runs away from his "owner" Miss Watson. At several points in the novel, Jim's character is described to the reader, and some people have looked upon the characterization as racist. However, before one begins to censor a novel it is important to separate the ideas of the author from the ideas' of his characters. It is also important not to take a novel at face value and to "read between the lines" in order to capture the underlying themes of a novel. If one were to do this in relation to Huckleberry Finn, one would, without doubt, realize that it is not racist and is even anti-slavery. On a superficial level Huckleberry Finn might appear to be racist. The first time the reader meets Jim he is given a very negative description of Jim. The reader is told that Jim is illiterate, childlike, not very bright and extremely superstitious. However, it is important...
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...On double consciousness Double consciousness,according to dubois, “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others,of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity “.Double consciousness not only in the history of African-American,it still relevant to contemporary society . In The Soul of Black Folk Dubois announced his preoccupation with the “strange meaning of being black”and defined the “double consciousness”..Dubois’s preoccupation with the “strange meaning of being black”was no doubt affected by the facts that his father was a Haitian of French and American descent and his mother was an American of Dutch and African descent.As a black, as a educator and writer,i think Dubois exactly how double consciousness tastes like.So he spent his life to study the society of America and Africa1 intended to solve the racial problems. Paris Is Burning chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it.At the film ,the people think the transgender are crazy and sick ,but they think they are the most gorgeous things in the world .As a gay transgender man,they sometimes feel like they have to “choose” between the two, and they often live their life not through their perspective. Recently i watched a TV drama named The Knick.It looks at The Knickerbocker Hospital in New York during the early part of the twentieth century.There is a African-American doctor...
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...double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,--this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.” This theory states that as a black man, one has no choice but to look at oneself through the eyes of others, “others” being the rich and powerful, the superior – white people. The way the rich and powerful sees you, as a black man, is the way society views you. A black man must always take into consideration the views and perception of the superior, rich and powerful in the American world. This is not to say that he should disregard his own views, but the double conscious is this – he must think of himself through the eyes of the white man – as inferior, as below them, as uneducated, weak, unequal, and less than a man. Then he must also think of himself as a black man for himself, how he views himself – as a man, a strong black man, an intelligent black man, as an equal...
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...years upon end, dating back centuries. Originating from the Atlantic slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, whites have discriminated against blacks. The majority of whites mistreated their slaves unmercifully, and unfortunately, the Caucasians remained biased long after the end of slavery – some forms still present in today’s society. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee focuses a substantial portion of the book on the issue of racism. Through the perspective of Jean Louise, the young daughter of a conscientious lawyer, one witnesses the injustice of racial prejudice. Most evident through the way people refer to blacks, the mob that tried to kill Tom Robison, and the jury’s verdict after the trial, racism dictated the little town of Maycomb. For years people have called each other rude names. However, adults generally expect this behavior from juveniles, and yet these adults still referred to African Americans with disrespectful words. “Your father’s no better than the nig**** and trash he works for!” (135). Mrs. Dubose, one of many people who referred to Negroes in this way, clearly has no respect for any African American or any associated with them. The former...
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...to bring to the fore the brutal acts of racial segregation and the horrors of a people struggle for self-recognition and identity. The agonizing plight of the young black man, point to the psychological torment that the black race had to endure as he tries to impress the white folks, despite his grandfather’s counsel that their lives was a perpetual war that he has to fight. The story depicts a nameless protagonist trying to define his place among his people and acceptance from the white people. The story if full of symbolism through use of imagery and satire allowing the reader appreciate the magnitude of a class-based society. The cultural differences are played out in the story depicting the superiority of the white people as opposed to the black race. For instance, the young man is invited to give a speech to an all-white audience, but first he is forced into a ‘battle royal’ with his classmates who all happen to be black. The fight is not for accolades for the winner but purely for the amusement and entertainment for the white folks in the audience. Though he is intellectually capable and he is invited to give a well received valedictory speech for his graduation, he is first humiliated in a bloody fight and then electrified to the amusement of the white people. The inferiority complex afflicting the black people is also played out when the protagonist opponent,...
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...expressed his internal conflict with his identity in Souls of Black Folk. DuBois explained, “It is a peculiar sensation, this double- consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks in amused contempt and pity.”, with double consciousness meaning that he felt his identity was divided into different faces and he could not be just one identity. (DuBois) It is hard for Blacks to unify their black and American identity because blacks have always been looked at as a “problem” in America. DuBois was...
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...Power is explored in the two contexts by its assertion and distribution. The value of power is first introduced in Richard’s first monologue in which Richard describes himself as “Cheated of feature by dissembling nature / deformed, unfinished”(I.i.19-20). Shakespeare’s use of symbolism demonstrates Richard’s self-consciousness, as he is aware of his physical appearance, an appearance that was symbolic of evil, as the Elizabethans believed that deformity was a punishment from God. The quote also demonstrates that Richard is aware of his place in Elizabethan society and despite his perceived lower status he still aims to dismantle its power structure (the divine right of kings). Furthermore, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to further demonise...
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...Booker T. Washington “Up from Slavery” I detected a message in the first chapter of “Up from Slavery” other than the horrors of slavery, even though that message was painfully clear. The other message that I detected is that a shallow and indulgent existence deprives a person of developing rugged individualism, character and common sense. I felt this because of the sentences, “the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did. The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.” “The slave system on our place, in a large measure, took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of the white people. My old master had many boys and girls, but not one, so far as I know, ever mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry.” The slaves seemed to possess a deeper sense of self and spirituality and realized that kindness toward other human beings and honor were more rewarding than material things. I was very surprised and awed by the fact that even though the slaves were provided with abhorrent living conditions and often endured immense cruelty at the hands of their masters, they still felt love and kindness towards them and they showed compassion towards the whites when they themselves fell upon hard times. One passage that confirms the importance of honor and the feeling of compassion is “In fear of “Yankee” invasions, the silverware and other valuables were taken from the “big house,” buried...
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...consciousness in one individual.” This was first seen “in an Atlantic Monthly article titled “Strivings of the Negro People” in 1897. It was later republished with minor edits under the title “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” in 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois describes “double consciousness” as follows: “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” DuBois used the context in relation to Race, Ethnicity, and Society in the United States of America. In which I came to the understanding of this theory, African Americans do not act as how society projected as to act embedded with Darwin's theory survival of the fittest we adapt to the masculine kind in order to survive. This will help us to advance with in our society. For example: African American are known to wear their pants sagging off their rumps, even though this stereotype is true, not all of us dress as such. And this is where the “double consciousness” comes into play. Some of us African American who wants to better ourselves, and to live about the stereotyping of society, we tend to act of those who our society is more in favor of. When we talk we articulate our words, we dress with fitting clothing that is appropriate to the public and to our work environment. We act, talk and dress according to survival At the time when the concept was...
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...Sherburn’s comments directly reflect how Twain feels regarding the subject, satirizing the inherent pusillanimity of humans and how people cannot have the gall to act by themselves, but only through a mob of people. Colonel Sherburn degrades everyone in the audience, insisting that not one of them is a man, but a pitiful human being. He goes further into poking fun at their tactics in bringing justice: wearing masks and waiting till nightfall to make their move. This concealment is the source of their courage, not from within themselves. The situation, though, is confusing to Huck. The initial eloquence of Sherburn on illogical action on behalf of the town is very contradictory, for he’s the one that shoots a drunk, yet harmless man mercilessly. This violence proves that the serious crimes that transpire in the novel go ignored, while light transgressions, such as Boggs insulting Colonel Sherburn, are condemned and result in...
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