The Native Daughters

In Wright’s Native Son the two main female characters, Mary Dalton and Bessie Mears, are killed Bigger Thomas. Their lives, deaths, and the way that both are seen are used by Wright to help show the divide in the opportunity how these women are valued by the public. In life, Mary was seen as rebel and judged by society for associating with Jan Erlone and the communists, but after her death she is made to be an angelic character to the public. To Bigger, and the audience, she seems unaware that simply because she is a communist racial boundaries still exist, which is evident by her actions in the car when she and Jan request to see where Bigger lives. For instance Mary seems unaware that her enthusiasm causes such distress to Bigger, even to the point where he felt “His entire mind and body were painfully concentrated into a single sharp point of attention,” furthering the idea that she is selfish in her ignorance. However, Bessie lives a life of suffering, though society sees her actions as expected, where she must work long hours and only finds relief from alcohol, which Bigger sees as the main reason for their relationship. Bessie and Bigger’s mutual use of each other, her for alcohol and him for sex and the relationship, shows the distorted limited opportunity that Bessie had to endure. The use of Bessie does not stop after she is raped and killed but is further violated by the court system by being used to make the case against Bigger stronger to gain justice for Mary’s death and the false assumption that she was raped. While in life Mary is seen as a rebel and Bessie as following the social guidelines, once Bigger murders them the preconceived ideas about innocence and the value put on the sexual violation of these two women is clearly different. Overall Wright uses the differences between these two characters to show inequality, not simply cause another problem for the main character.

Racism always following

The Americana bank episode in chapter 15 of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man shows that as the narrator is moving away from his past and going to join the Brotherhood he will still be followed by racist ideas and stereotypes. The scene takes place after the narrator is hired by the Brotherhood as a speaker for Harlem and has to leave his previous name, his family, and Mary behind. After the narrator breaks the bank, representative of the racist stereotype, he wonders why “would Mary have something that he broke it. Her having the bank and his shame at having broken it shows that even if you don’t agree with the stereotype it is still something that these characters have to acknowledged. Once the narrator leaves Mary’s, he tries to discard the bank but when other people see him they immediately impose their own view of who he is and why he is doing this. The reactions he receives are not consistent but simply what people want to see when they look at him, for example one woman sees him as “a southern Negro” (Ellison 328), and man sees him as a “young New York Negro,” (Ellison 330), both scold him for his actions and classify the term has highly negative. This, in addition to the fact that the narrator doesn’t feel like he is either of these stereotypes, provides sharp contrast to the narrator’s forming sense of identity and that even if he can define himself others will still see him as a stereotype. In the end the narrator is unable to get rid or people’s stereotypical view of him and the bank that represents the stereotypes he so hates and must simply put the broken pieces in his briefcase, the one given to him for following the wishes of southern white men.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. EBook ed. N.o.: Vintage INternational, n.d .EBook

Poetry that paints

"She," by Christopher Gilbert and dedicated to his sister, truly paints a picture of the respect he has for her and her character. The poet talks in such enduring and respectful ways that you can easily see the love that he has for her.

I enjoy poems that are on the longer side and have a narrative style, opposed to the shorter to the point type like "I, too, sing America" by Langston Hughes. Those type of poems don't seem to carry as much emotion to me and therefore can be less effective in communicating the overall message. If Gilbert had made "She" shorter I think it would have taken away from the feeling of love.

For me, reading "She" was like watching this woman in her one moment of peace during her day. Short and quiet, with the "sssh" sound in multiple parts, including "she sits" and  "strikes her skin, shows" helps show the nurturing nature of this woman and his wish not to desturb her, and by his description he is listing reasons why she should be left alone, and given this moment. 

This is not a poem necessarily about race, age, relationship to the person who he is writing about, or even gender or economic condition. It is a poem about love and respect and with that it shows so much.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/239040