African American literature - Essay Example

? African American Literature An Assignment Submitted by of Establishment XXXX, Section XXXX, Fall African American Literature It should be noted that African American writers occupy an important part in world literature. They depicted simple life of slaves and Negroes. They also frequently touched upon the difficulties in family life and human fate. The stories and poems written by African Americans are different and similar at the same time. They are different in content, but the message is the same – to oppose racial prejudices and show that black people also can suffer and take joy; they also can be happy or sad. Everything is the same as in lives of white people. However, the attitude towards them is different and they live a different life, full of sorrow and injustice. This statement can be easily proved by the following three stories written by African Americans: Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston, Girl by Jamaica Kincaid and Recitatif by Toni Morrison. All these stories seem to have different messages addressed to the readers, but there are still a lot of similar features. For instance, all of them are focused on female life. It should be noted that Zora Neale Hurston, Jamaica Kincaid and Toni Morrison depict different time periods of females they introduce to the readers. Thus, Toni Morrison tells about two little girls – white and black. They meet in St. Bonaventure’s shelter and a bit later they are shown being adults. Jamaica Kincaid chooses a young girl to be her protagonist. She is just beginning to form her character and personality. The protagonist is depicted in her conversation with mother trying to influence daughter. In Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston the readers familiarize themselves with a woman who already reached maturity. She is married and has difficulties with her husband. In all three stories the theme of family is touched. The writers demonstrate the characters’ attitude towards their family and how the latter influences their lives. In fact, all of three stories under consideration show that the characters are not satisfied with their families. For example, in Girl the readers may see how a young woman opposes her mother. She does not want to listen to her pieces of advice because she has already decided to follow a certain lifestyle. The girl made up her mind to become a slut. She is not going to change her point of view or intention and does not take her mother’s opinion into consideration. It irritates her and she does not like to be taught by her mother. The girl is not satisfied with this situation in her family. The readers come across another complicated situation in Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston. Here the protagonist is not satisfied with her husband. Constant conflicts with beating in her own house influence woman’s appearance. Delia washes cloths to earn for living; it is a hard work to do, but she is also abused at home. This makes her to be not as beautiful as she could be. This is noted by a group of men sitting at a shore when the protagonist passes them by. These men state that “there oughter be law about him... He ain’s fit tuh carry guts tuh a bear” (Hurston 1997). Delia’s husband even makes several attempts in order to get rid of his own wife. This makes her life miserable and awful. She never knows what to except from her own husband. As for Recitatif written by Toni Morrison, here the readers may learn about the fates of two different girls trying to make friends. They are different both in characters and race. Thus, Twyla is black and Roberta is white. They have different fates because of their national origin. When Twyla is able to live only a standard middle-class life, her white friend Roberta has a limousine with a driver and wears the things the first character could never dream about. Twyla’s husband is an ordinary person and works as a fireman. Of course, Roberta will never marry such a person. From early childhood families and lives of these two girls differed a lot. They even happened to stay at St. Bonaventure because of different reasons. Twyla had to stay there because her mother earned money through dancing. She had to work the whole night and there was nobody to take care of the girl. Roberta’s mother was just sick. The girls have different families both in childhood and adult life. A black one leads much more miserable and poor life as the white one. It is necessary to stress that racial prejudices are shown more brightly in Recitatif by Toni Morison than in the other two stories. Here the author compares the lives of females belonging to different nationalities. Moreover, there is one key scene in Recitatif that demonstrates white people’s attitude towards back ones. It is Roberta and Twyla’s mothers’ arrival into the shelter. Roberta is embarrassed to see that her mother refuses to talk or share hands with her daughter’s friends. Roberta is offended by this behaviour. The author of the story demonstrates also inner difference between two mothers. If Twyla’s mother tries to be friendly with others, Roberta’s chooses only those who are worth her attention. Black people do not match this rule. However, this fastidiousness does not prevent her to wear a huge cross on her chest. There is one more event demonstrating complicated relations between black and white people. It is closely connected with Maggie. She is a black kitchen worker in the shelter. Once Maggie was pushed down in the orchard. Nobody helped her and, moreover, the women herself did not oppose or ask for help. It seemed that this situation meant nothing new to her. She just used to be nothing for whit people. In fact, Recitatif by Toni Morrison is a perfect story for those readers who are eager to get to know more about racial prejudices and their impact upon society. The fact that Recitatif gives an opportunity to have a deeper look at the problems concerning racial prejudices does not minimize the significance of Sweat and Girl. The protagonist of Sweat has difficult relations with her husband Sykes. She works very hard. Moreover, her week starts with Sunday evening after she returns from church. From the first passages of the story the readers get to know that Sykes makes various attempts to get rid of his own wife. Once she feels something strange around her shoulders and understands that it is her husband is standing near her with the bullwhip applied for horses. This situation makes the readers sympathize the protagonist and search for the bets way out of this situation together with her. Delia suffers both verbal and physical abuse from her husband. It is difficult to state what is more difficult and offensive for this woman. However, she is not going to let the y\things stay the same. For instance, during the scene of verbal abuse she picks up an iron skillet from the stove as if to use against Sykes. This action “cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did” (Hurston 1997). The story under consideration emphasizes the fact that Sykes did not like to have white people’s cloths at home. This proves that black people also disliked whites. In the majority of cases negative attitude was mature between black and white people. Zora Neale Hurston states that “Delia and Sykes fought all the time now with no peaceful interludes. They slept and ate in silence. Two or three times Delia had attempted a timid friendliness, but she was repulsed each time” (Hurston 1997). Soon Delia’s life becomes unbearable when another attempt to kill her is done. It is more serious than all the previous ones Sykes brings a giant rattlesnake at home. Sykes asks his wife to look open the box with that snake hoping that it will kill her. However, this does not happen. Nevertheless, a dangerous creature stays in the house and constantly wants to eat. At last, the story ends with the scene when a snake kills Sykes. This event makes the story interesting a unique. It is the ground for numerous debates, because there is no exact point of view upon Sykes’s death. Some critics are sure that Delia intentionally let her husband die and did not make an attempt to help him with a snake. Others are sure that the protagonist was too afraid of snake and shocked with the fact that it had attacked Sykes in the kitchen. It should be noted that Girl by Jamaica Kincaid and Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston are very symbolic. For instance, in Girl the author resorts to the use of benna, as the major symbol in the story. This is a folksong that is treated as a symbol of sexuality. This symbol is very important as it proves that the protagonist follows the lifestyle peculiar to sluts. Benna song is heard in Sunday school. This is a symbol of disobedience demonstrated by the girl towards her mother and norms of the society she lives in. Sweat is another story that is full of symbols that help the author to reveal the protagonist’s personality to the audience. The major symbols are: snake and Delia’s sweat. The first one stands for several notions. It can be Sykes, the protagonist’s strength to oppose it, evil or even karma. Each reader may choose himself what meaning of the symbol is the best one for the story. As for sweat, it stands for hard work. It concerns both washing done by the protagonist and her conflicts with husband. Sweat reminds the protagonist and the readers of a very complicated life led by Delia. It is necessary to stress that at first sight, there seem to be no common features in Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston, Girl by Jamaica Kincaid and Recitatif by Toni Morrison. However, it is not so. All of them are closely connected with racial prejudices. References Fultz, Lucille. (2003). Toni Morrison: playing with difference. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP Hurston, Zora Neale. (1997). Sweat. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Kincaid, Jamaica. (1991). Girl. US: Oceanos Press. Read More