Questions in American Literature - Essay Example

American Literature

Throughout the history of America, most issues in literature have dealt with discrimination, violence, and prejudice. While examining texts about prejudice and race in American history, one can see what has changed and what has not changed. The discrimination based on color, gender, and religion has continued to plague the United States even to date. The theme of race by black authors in their books can be compared to an alphabet as they begin their artwork. The authors may vary in the perception of writing, but get united as they project the issue of racial discrimination and offer several similarities. To understand race in the American literature, the paper will explore "Battle Royal" by Ellison, "The Wife of His Youth" by Chesnutt, and "The Passing of Grandison," also written by Chesnutt.

The three literature works elaborate on the issue of race in the ancient American societies. Ellison's short story uses fighters' experiences to explain how African Americans face racism in the post-slavery period. According to the book, the battle royal battalions were enforced to fight due to financial necessities and social constraints. Throughout the story, the narrator is a good example of an ideal black individual in the eyes of the white people." I was praised by the most lily-white men in town" (Ellison). Additionally, the narrator is highly applauded and even invited to deliver a graduation speech. However, after arrival, racism is portrayed when the narrator is told about the conditions of his talk. In order to deliver the speech, the narrator was required to partake in the battle royal organized by the white audiences.

As a result of economic problems experienced by the blacks during this period, the fighters had no option other than to participate in the battles to win monetary prizes. According to Ellison, in this period of Battle Royal, blacks were segregated in workplaces. "The Wife of His Youth" by Chesnutt, written in 1899, also reveals the challenging issues of segregation during the Jim Crow era. Throughout the story, Chesnutt uses a satiric tone that enables the reader to see how segregation divided communities and nations, which resulted in physical and emotional harm. In the story, Mr. Ryder, one of the primary characters, desires to marry Mrs. Dixon, a young and widowed lady. Chesnutt defines Mrs. Dixon as "Whiter than and better educated" (Chesnutt 5). "The Wife of His Youth" reveals the challenges associated with social and legal of the mixed-race identity. In the story, Liza's appearances did not disrupt the desires of Ryder to marry Mrs. Dixon. Instead, Liza's arrival revealed that the racially mixed community should admit the vision of races, which expresses them as black under color lines.

"The Wife of His Youth" is one of the reimagining stories in American history that was used to generate community. The mixed racial characters in the book retain their identity as they open the potential to include the character in which the community views them as black." Battle Royal also explains how the race issue was used to divide society. Developing the battle royal was an approach to make blacks people turn against one another in a period when the unity of the blacks was fundamental. The fighters' white cloth symbolizes how the white people tried to distract African American individuals from great evils taking place.

Similar to Battle Royal, "The Passing of Grandison" accentuates the issue of race by revealing the overestimation of white supremacy and black inferiority. In the story, Grandison is considered as the master of operating with irony to the slave owners by indicating that they are smart than the blacks. Additionally, the author uses the concept of passing to elaborate more on race issues during the slavery period. Passing is a concept that relates to skin pigmentation and the capabilities of passing to the white individuals to enable them to enjoy all sorts of benefits as they deny them to blacks. In his book, "The wife of His Youth" describes

Tom, as being a black person by racial epithets. Notably, such definitions resisted the narrator's unswerving race identification of Tom as being "Mulatto". This repeated difference in how to define characters racially demonstrated on the schism developed during the Jim Crow era. Additionally, the book explains the problems of social mobility created by Jim Crow. Moreover, the story reveals the problems associated with Jim Crow laws that create binary racial distinction (Hiser 21). The narrator makes use of "darker moments," which operates in two different ways. First, it indicates moments of despair and anguish for "sufferings and wrongs" to the liberated generation. Second, the phases depict Fleishmann's observations on the termination of stratified racial categories.

Racial themes in the three books indicated how the authors tried to portray to the world on the challenges experienced by African Americans in the United States. In " The Wife of His Youth " the narrator, a light-skinned

African American, explains the challenges and struggles of individuals who were light-skinned

like Mr. Ryder faced. On the other hand, "The passing of Grandison" explains that the whites, particularly the colonel, seem oblivious because the blacks were individuals just like them. The majority of the colonel never considered in various ways the African Americans may be smart, just like on what the whites were portrayed. In his book, Ellison illustrated how race-driven torment towards the fighters showed racism in American societies during the slavery periods. For example, the white men could shout phrases like "Pick it up, and Get the money, that's good hard American cash," which is a form of racial discrimination. Additionally, some white people could even resort to pushing the fighters to view their bodies sneer in pain

Ellison exemplified the measures the majority of blacks were forced to resort to as a result of financial needs. Notably, due to racism, those individuals who left the slavery period could not accomplish their goal since white people were on top of social hierarchy, and the blacks were placed at the bottom.

Chesnutt, in the book on "The Wife of His Youth," talks of white hierarchy and color consciousness as a challenge that creates a veil of forgetfulness. The white supremacy also obscures all forms of brutality faced by the African Americans in the plantations and creates an artificial and new black social pyramid. Notably, in his writing, Chesnutt addresses the tension that was developing by stigmatization and passing of blackness within the African American system, which emerged during the 19th century. Additionally, Chesnutt demonstrates on the "A Matter of Principle" to people living on the color line doomed both socially and morally as they try to marginalize other African Americans by stimulating the values of white people. "The Passing of Grandison" points outs all the mistakes associated with the Jim Crow era, such as denials of complete human effect and experiences to one another. The story exposes the anguish of mixed-race women and men and their consequences of mob violence, moral compromise, and racial hatred. Battle Royal also talks about internalized racism, and this explained by how the narrator had a complex relationship with his identity of being a black person. Additionally, the narrator struggles while overcoming his sense of superiority over other black individuals. Moreover, the narrator ironically wishes to win is inspired by the desire to deliver a speech and gain the white audience's approval. The story concentrated on the issues of two races the whites and the African –American.

Summing up, the issue of race is very common in American literature. The majority of African American authors have written in-depth about racial discrimination from the period of slavery. All three stories have detailed information on how racial segregation occurred in American societies. Battle Royal by Ellison reveals how the blacks participated in the battles due to financial problems. Additionally, the white people discriminated against them on the plantations. Throughout the book, the theme of race is widespread, and the narrator was a good example of the ideal person to white supremacy. "The Passion of Grandison" concentrates on the Jim Crow regime, where racial discrimination in America was the order of the day. Lastly, "The Wife of his Youth" uses a satiric tone that enables the reader to see how segregation divided communities and nations, which resulted in physical and emotional harm.