Popescu Georgiana Adela

Master , anul al II-lea

Afro-American Literature

African-American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States

by writers of African descent. The themes and issues explored in this literature are the
role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American
culture, racism, slavery, and social equality. African-American writing has tended to
incorporate oral forms, such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues, or rap. As
African Americans' place in American society has changed over the centuries, so, has the
focus of African-American literature. Before the American Civil War, the literature
primarily consisted of memoirs by people who had escaped from slavery; the genre
of slave narratives included accounts of life under slavery and the path of justice and
redemption to freedom.
One of the novels that belong to this kind of literature is The Native Son of
Richard Wright. This story tries to express the relation between the two races: the black
and the white. Wrights exploration of Biggers psychological corruption gives us a new
perspective on the oppressive effect racism had on the black population in
America. Biggers psychological damage results from the constant barrage of racist
propaganda and racial oppression he faces while growing up.
The main character and his family live in cramped and squalid conditions,
enduring socially enforced poverty and having little opportunity for education. Biggers
resulting attitude toward whites is a volatile combination of powerful anger and powerful
fear. He conceives of whiteness as an overpowering and hostile force that is set against
him in life. Just as whites fail to conceive of Bigger as an individual, he does not really
distinguish between individual whitesto him, they are all the same, frightening and
untrustworthy. As a result of his hatred and fear, Biggers accidental killing of Mary
Dalton does not fill him with guilt. Instead, he feels an odd jubilation because, for the

first time, he has asserted his own individuality against the white forces that have
conspired to destroy it.
Wright illustrates the ways in which white racism forces blacks into a pressured
and therefore dangerousstate of mind. Blacks are beset with the hardship of economic
oppression and forced to act subserviently before their oppressors, while the media
consistently portrays them as animalistic brutes. Given such conditions, as Max argues, it
becomes inevitable that blacks such as Bigger will react with violence and hatred.
However, Wright emphasizes the vicious double-edged effect of racism: though Biggers
violence stems from racial hatred, it only increases the racism in American society, as it
confirms racist whites basic fears about blacks. In Wrights portrayal, whites effectively
transform blacks into their own negative stereotypes of blackness. Only when Bigger
meets Max and begins to perceive whites as individuals does Wright offer any hope for a
means of breaking this circle of racism. Only when sympathetic understanding exists
between blacks and whites will they be able to perceive each other as individuals, not
merely as stereotypes.
Wrights story is a very violent story which presents the relation between black
people and white people.
Another Afro-American novel is The color of purple by Alice Walker. This
story presents the abuses committed to the women and, of course, the racism and the
violence.
Throughout The Color Purple, Walker portrays female friendships as a means for
women to summon the courage to tell stories. In turn, these stories allow women to resist
oppression and dominance. Relationships among women form a refuge, providing
reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence.
Female ties take many forms: some are motherly or sisterly, some are in the form
of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are simply friendships. Sofia claims that
her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters. Netties
relationship with Celie anchors her through years of living in the unfamiliar culture of
Africa. Samuel notes that the strong relationships among Olinka women are the only
thing that makes polygamy bearable for them. Most important, Celies ties to Shug bring
about Celies gradual redemption and her attainment of a sense of self.

Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express ones thoughts
and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self. Initially, Celie is completely unable
to resist those who abuse her. Remembering Alphonsos warning that she better never
tell nobody but God about his abuse of her, Celie feels that the only way to persevere is
to remain silent and invisible. Celie is essentially an object, an entirely passive party who
has no power to assert herself through action or words. Her letters to God, in which she
begins to pour out her story, become her only outlet. However, because she is so
unaccustomed to articulating her experience, her narrative is initially muddled despite her
best efforts at transparency.
In Walkers novel, those who perpetuate violence are themselves victims, often of
sexism, racism, or paternalism. Harpo, for example, beats Sofia only after his father
implies that Sofias resistance makes Harpo less of a man. Mr. ______ is violent and
mistreats his family much like his own tyrant like father treated him. Celie advises Harpo
to beat Sofia because she is jealous of Sofias strength and assertiveness.
The characters are largely aware of the cyclical nature of harmful behavior. For
instance, Sofia tells Eleanor Jane that societal influence makes it almost inevitable that
her baby boy will grow up to be a racist. Only by forcefully talking back to the men who
abuse them and showing them a new way of doing things do the women of the novel
break these cycles of sexism and violence, causing the men who abused them to stop and
reexamine their ways.
The novel shows that if we could change the way how the society perceive things
and life, we could change peoples behaviorism.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is an afro-American story.
The story presents Janie, the main character, struggles to assert a place for herself by
undertaking a spiritual journey toward love and self-awareness, Jody attempts to achieve
fulfillment through the exertion of power. He tries to purchase and control everyone and
everything around him; he exercises his authority hoping to subordinate his environment
to his will. He labors under the illusion that he can control the world around him and that,
by doing so, he will achieve some sense of profound fulfillment. Others exhibit a similar
attitude toward power and control; even Tea Cake, for example, is filled with hubris as
the hurricane whips up, certain that he can survive the storm through his mastery of the

muck. For both Jody and Tea Cake, the natural world reveals the limits of human power.
In Jodys case, as disease sets in, he begins to lose the illusion that he can control his
world; the loss of authority over Janie as she talks back to him furthers this
disillusionment. In Tea Cakes case, he is forced to flee the hurricane and struggles to
survive the ensuing floods. This limit to the scope of ones power proves the central
problem with Jodys power-oriented approach toward achieving fulfillment: ultimately,
Jody can neither stop his deterioration nor silence Janies strong will.
Even if, race is a significant motif in this book, it is not, by any means, a central
theme. Zora Neale Hurston presents Janies story as a profoundly human quest than as a
distinctly black one.
Toni Marisons Song of Solomon is an afro-American novel. Racism, one of the
main themes of this literarure, is the central cause of suffering in the novel. Racism has
long-lasting damaging effects on the community. Slavery causes Solomon to flee toward
freedom and end his marriage to Ryna. This flight begins many generations of trauma.
The knowledge that his father died because of his white employers negligence makes
Guitar especially sensitive to the injustices perpetrated against African-Americans.
Emmett Tills murder and the Birmingham Church bombing remind Guitar of his own
tragedy, transforming him into a ruthless, vengeful murderer. Guitars story shows that
racism alienates its victims from their native communities and causes them to lose touch
with their own humanity.
The epigraph to Song of SolomonThe fathers may soar / And the children may
know their namesis the first reference to one of the novels most important themes.
While flight can be an escape from constricting circumstances, it also scars those who are
left behind. Solomons flight allowed him to leave slavery in the Virginia cotton fields,
but it also meant abandoning his wife, Ryna, with twenty-one children. While Milkmans
flight from Michigan frees him from the dead environment of Not Doctor Street, his
flight is also selfish because it causes Hagar to die of heartbreak. The novels epigraph
attempts to break the connection between flight and abandonment. Because Pilate, as
Milkman notes, is able to fly without ever lifting her feet off the ground, she has mastered
flight, managing to be free of subjugation without leaving anyone behind.

Men have repeated abandonment of women in Song of Solomon shows that the
novels female characters suffer a double burden. Not only are women oppressed by
racism, but they must also pay the price for mens freedom. Guitar tells Milkman that
black men are the unacknowledged workhorses of humanity, but the novels events imply
that black women more correctly fit this description. The scenes that describe womens
abandonment show that in the novel, men bear responsibility only for themselves, but
women are responsible for themselves, their families, and their communities. For
instance, after suffering through slavery, Solomon flew home to Africa without warning
anyone of his departure. But his wife, Ryna, who was also a slave, was forced to remain
in Virginia to raise her twenty-one children alone. Also, after Guitars father is killed in a
factory accident, Guitars grandmother has to raise him and his siblings. Although she is
elderly and ill, she supports her children financially, intellectually, and emotionally.
Relying on this skewed idea of gender roles, the society in the novel judges men
and women differently. While men who fly away from their communities and families are
venerated as heroes, women who do the same are judged to be irresponsible. Although
Solomon abandoned his family with his flight to Africa, generations later he is
remembered as the brave patriarch of the whole community. At the same time, Ryna, who
was left to care for a brood of children, is remembered as a woman who went mad
because she was too weak to uphold her end of the bargain.
Almost all of the characters in Song of Solomon are black. The few white
characters represent violence and wrongdoing. After Guitars father is cut in half during a
sawmill accident, for example, the mills white foreman offers the family almost no
sympathy or financial support. Likewise, Circes wealthy white employers, the Butlers,
are murderers. When they take Macon Dead Is land, they end his childrens innocence.
Even white animals carry negative connotations. A white bull causes Freddies mother to
go into labor and die. The bulls interference with Freddies birth represents white
peoples devastating interference with the African-American world. Likewise, the white
peacock that causes Guitar and Milkman to become infatuated with the pursuit of wealth
represents the corrupting influence of greed.
The afro-American literature is a very interesting part of the American literature.
As we can see in these four novels the main theme is slavery, emphasizing the cruelty,

indignity and the ultimate dehumanization of slaves.