Christ In Concrete by DiDonato - Literature review Example

I. The novels Christ in Concrete by DiDonato, Giants in the Earth, by Rolvaag, and Native Son by Richard Wright share common underlying themes of disillusionment and disappointment with the American Dream. The hardships of life in America for the uprooted immigrants or minorities confront the characters of these novels at periods of their life when youth must give way to adulthood and responsibility. Each novel's protagonist(s) represents a kind of everyman of his/her specific situation, and each struggles against the injustices of a hostile society. The struggles they undergo and their mental and physical activities while dealing with their hardships reflect the issues of the Americans of their time that fell into their racial and/or ethnic groups. II. The disillusionment and disappointment depicted in Christ in Concrete represents the overwhelming disenchantment of the Italians with their American environment. The American dream that brought these immigrants to the land has proven itself to be without substance, a mere illusion as the hardships and injustices of life take their toll on the family headed by Geremio. They find that their options for earning are limited to the Job, and almighty establishment that manifests as a construction company. This symbolizes a gargantuan tower of that exacts toil and sweat and stands between the family and its hopes of advancing itself-or even of earning a minimal amount to keep itself alive. The dual meaning of the word "Job" gives the idea of work and suffering (as the biblical character Job suffered). This becomes the true symbol of the American dream; it is how the dream manifests itself in reality. Nazone, the godfather of the protagonist expresses succinctly what the American experience has meant for his people: "This land has become a soil that has contradicted itself, a country of Babel where Christians are beginning to wander about in hungry distress cursing each other in strange tongues, ripping their hearts, and possessing no longer even fingernails with which to scratch their desperation" (Di Donato, 211). Paul has no reason to doubt the accuracy of this statement, as he has seen his father and family's breadwinner sacrificed on Job's altar-and he himself has foundered under its pressures. This theme of disillusionment is continued in the disappointment that the Italian immigrants face with an Irish-controlled Catholic Church. Nazone, Paul's godfather, expresses the nave beliefs of these Christians: "Christian man was never meant to blind the light of his short days with bestial toil" (Di Donato, 213). Yet, this life was never granted these immigrants by the God of the Catholic Church to whom they prayed. This God, whose purpose for existence (it seemed) was to be of service to his people as they struggled for advancement in their new American home, offers no real help to Geremio and his family. The crucifixion of Christ, which is supposed to take away the suffering of his people, proves fraudulent, as it appears merely to have been a prefiguring of what would happen to these believers. This sacrificial death of Christ is revisited upon several of the members of the protagonist Paul's family, beginning with his father Geremio. This character dies painfully under the rubble of a falling building on Good Friday, and calls to mind the earthquake that shook the earth at the moment of Christ's death on that historical day. This final betrayal by their religion concretizes the utter disillusionment of this group. III. The novel Giants in the Earth also depicts disillusionment with the American dream, as Per and Beren Hansa travel from Norway to manifest their destiny on the American prairies. Yet this novel depicts a more balanced and view of the situation, as Per Hansa has come seemingly prepared for the hardships that the new land would entail. In fact, he seems to choose it as he declines the offer of Beren's parents that he accept all their riches in exchange for remaining in Norway. The transplant of his family was as the fulfilment of a romance. Rolvaag writes, "Per Hansa was transported, was carried farther and ever farther away on the wings of a wondrous fairy tale-a romance in which he was both prince and king" (Rolvaag, 125). He proves more able to deal with the struggles, and rises even to the level of ruthlessness in his efforts to keep and develop his land. The disillusionment is starkly represented in the character of Beren, Per's wife and queen, who is unable to cope with the treacherous nature of the untamed land. The dream that America has represented for her husband changes its color as the unprotected nature of the prairie presents itself to her as the faithless fulfilment of a dream that has been an illusion and a lie. The struggle of the immigrants on the land represents the transplanting of the Norwegian culture and the difficulties of setting up new roots in a hostile environment when ones former roots have been severed. The Hansa family face hardship not just in trying to eke out an existence, but also in trying to fit into an American society that differs from their own and leaves them (because of their name and heritage) exposed to affront. They struggle is even greater as the try to maintain their identity as Norwegians by keeping their family name while the pressures of society try to induce them to change it. As Per represented the everyman who toiled and lay hold of the American dream, he identifies his wife as being a misfit. He says of her, "For [] me, life out here is nothing; but there may be others so constructed that they don't fit into this life at all. [] It's only lately that I have begun to realize all she suffered since we came out here" (Rolvaag, 476). She represents the everyman that found the dreams represented by the American land shattered. IV. Richard Wright's Native Son depicts the effects of the disenchantment of an entire race of persons who had long been exposed to the cruelties of an abased condition in an America that only pretended to uphold liberty. This native son of America had never been allowed to partake of the fruits of this promised land, though he was able to see the delights being enjoyed by the members of a hypocritical and oppressive white race. Bigger is wrenched from youth into adulthood, yet his youth was not one of particular enchantment, as he and his ancestors had been disenchanted years ago-probably before they ever made it to America. His transformation as he is exposed to the terrors of life hardens him, as disillusionment would have done. In his deprived life, meaning has eluded him. As he considers his life, he comes to the conclusion that, "these two murders were the most meaningful things that had ever happened to him" (Wright, 669). He lives in an America that can provide no more worthy cause than murder for a youth of his color to engage in. The truth of this statement is evident in the episode that comes closest to disillusionment for this black boy who lives in an environment where his blackness had been a curse for his entire life. When he goes to work for the Daltons, the prospect of making money and advancing himself as far as he could expect to be allowed gives way to his becoming victim of the "benevolence" of the young and white Jan and Mary. Though Jan purports to be communist and therefore supporter of black enhancement, his actions merely embarrass Bigger and later lead to the event that would spark the tragedy of his life. This propels him to become something he had never intended, yet perhaps this was the way that the American dream forced black men to manifest their destiny. Bigger acknowledges that "He had murdered and created a new life for himself" (Wright, 542). This new life consists of a rejection of the mental chains that his environment and society had placed upon him, though it meant that his body must return to the imprisonment first of the cell and then of the earth. V. The novel Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston compares with the preceding three novels in the aspect of a Negro community trying to build a society within a world that has taught them things about themselves that may or may not have been true. On the surface it compares with Native Son, as both novels depict black persons living in a white world. Yet it also compares with this novel in the way the two protagonists, Janie and Bigger, seeks to remove themselves from the mentality of a society they have always known. They manifest themselves in a manner that has been frowned upon by the members of their community. Janie marries Tea Cake, a man who is twelve years her junior and of much darker complexion than she is. The members of her black community, who revere her light skin and uncharacteristic long hair, are opposed to this marriage, as they feel she should marry someone who more closely resembles the white race. Bigger's world is also bombarded by images of white as superior, and many of the blacks in his community view the white appearance as one that debases their own. Bigger turns to violence as his liberator, but he does free himself (by death) from the defeatist ideas of his community. Their Eyes were Watching God contrasts with the other tales in the way the black community (though plagued with the relics of slaves' low self esteem) seemed almost independent and content in America. Discontent pervades the atmosphere of Christ in Concrete, Giants in the Earth, and even Native Son. The community in which Janie lives seems self contained and independent, while Paul's community suffers from lack and Per's community struggles with the hardships of life and the desire to return to their homes. The characters of Hurston's novel seemed to have settled into a life that now affords everyday camaraderie and even gossip. The feeling of communion and the contrasting ones of envy and jealousy have surfaced as the individuals have settled into their country and have seemingly found a home there. No such settlement has occurred and can be felt in the atmosphere of Christ in Concrete, Giants in the Earth, and Native Son. Conclusion VI. The three novels depict themes that are still present to some degree in American society today. Italian communities in America still seem to display an aspect of not yet having attained the full promise of the American dream. They still remain a subculture within the vast American culture. The Norwegian American society appears to have dissolved more completely into the melting pot, though appearances may be deceiving. The strangeness of their names could still be a barrier to their full assimilation. The black skins of the African Americans still make them stand out as Bigger did against the snow that led him into the hands of the police. Racial tensions still exist, and some African Americans have hinted that they feel themselves still outcasts in a white society. Therefore, the principal themes of the novels remain with us. Works Cited DiDonato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. New York: Signet Classics, 1993. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. Rolvaag, Ole. Giants in the Earth. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999. Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Literary Classics, 1991. Read More