Essay D
«Dry September» by W. Faulkner
The theme of racial hatred is prevailing in W. Faulkner’s works, who wrote that every white man in America was born crucified on the black cross, meaning the burden of guilt of the white towards the black. The story «Dry September» is a vivid picture of the racial tragedy in America.
The events of the story take place in a fictional town Jefferson. The author does not introduce the real scene of action implying the idea that the racial discrimination is not a tragedy of a certain town or state but is the one of America as a whole. To impart this idea the author employs a wide variety of expressive means and stylistic devices. Each of them forms a microtheme of the racial prejudice. In general, the language means, used by the author, aim at conveying the text hypertheme of hatred and hostility between human beings. It is reflected in the title of the story which indicates not only the drought in nature but also the callousness of people, whose perception of universal values is distorted. Besides, a coarse phonetic ring of the adjective «dry» evokes the associations of tension in the reader’s mind.
The author narrates about lynching a young Negro, Will Mayes, who is accused of insulting Minnie Cooper, a white woman. But all the accusations are based on rumors, and there is no evidence to prove the Negro’s gilt.
From the very beginning of the story the author reveals strained racial relations in Jefferson using the lexeme «fire» in the simile: «Through the bloody September twilight, aftermath of sixty-two rainless day, it had gone like a fire in dry grass: the rumor, the story, whatever it was. Something about Miss Minnie Cooper and a Negro». It has not rained for sixty two days, and the rumors, that something has happened between a white woman and a black man, spread with lightening speed. Throughout the whole story the author accentuates the idea that the air in Jefferson is terrible. The heat, the dust and the smell of lime are everywhere. People are dripping with sweat and suffocating with the heat. The adjectives «lifeless» («the lifeless air»), «vitiated» («The vitiated air») and «dead» («the dead air», «The air was flat and dead. It had a metallic taste») form a semantic field of «death». The spiritual death impends over the town and it is difficult to hide even for those few, who try to do it. People suffocate with their own hatred and spite. The phrase «Something about Miss Minnie Cooper and a Negro», in which the writer does not call the Negro by name, underlines a low status of the Negroes in Jefferson.
The Essay on Analyzing Short Story: "Hills Like White Elephants" And "Story Of An Hour"
Women are treated as though they are very weak. Women were not allowed to live their lives for themselves. A woman has to perform duties and routines in a relationship as the men choose and tells her to do. But there is always a time when people realize that the ways of living should not be the way they are and that they have to change in order to live with their true selves instead of someone ...
The plot of the story begins in the barber’s, where people speak about the rumors. The only one who tries to protect W. Mayes is barber Hawkshaw. But even he is influenced by racial prejudices: it is implied in his speech. «I know Will Mayes. He’s a good nigger». The lexeme «nigger» has a vivid evaluative negative connotation. Hawkshaw tries to persuade people that W. Mayes is not guilty, but his defense provokes nothing but hatred. A young man Butch is portrayed by the author as the embodiment of racial hatred of the white Americans, who even do not understand the reasons of this hostility. Listening to Hawkshaw, Butch says: «Won’t you take a white woman’s word before a nigger’s? », showing a presumption that the white are always right. But those who do not agree with him are «you damn nigger-lover». This phrase lets the author express the whole aversion and animosity of the white towards the black. The pronoun «you» intensifies the exclamation and the degraded adjective «damn» expresses anger and annoyance. This epithet is pronounced three times by the two protagonists. The writer shows that it is pronounced not in a burst of hot temper or irritation, – it reveals a certain frame of mind of people in the town.
The Essay on Graduation: Black People and Negro National Anthem
Graduation is one of the most memorable moments in a lifetime. Maya Angelou’s graduation was an exciting moment, yet it was a very hurtful experience because of racism/segregation. This badly affects Angelou at her graduation. The overall point in Graduation is racism and segregation. Her choice of words is very powerful and emotional: It was awful to be a Negro. It was brutal to be young ad ...
Butch is blindly convinced that «damn nigger-lovers» come from the North: «You better go back North where you came from. The South don’t want your kind here». The words make the reader think of the well-known historic events connected with the Civil War in America during which the Northern states supported the abolition of slavery in the Southern states. But when Hawkshaw asks Butch what he means by «the North», the latter does not know what to say. «He looked about with a strained, baffled gaze, as if he was trying to remember what it was he wanted to say or to do». The writer stresses Butch’s entire ignorance and, consequently, his blind hatred of the black. First, the use of the auxiliary verb «don’t» with the noun in the third person singular reveals Butch’s illiteracy. Second, his lack of historical knowledge (the word «North» is not associated with history for him) betrays his narrow outlook. Hawkshaw fails to persuade people in the barber’s not to blame W. Mayes. And after that four people with a certain McLendon as a leader want to kill the Negro.
But Hawkshaw does not give up and tries to save W. Mayes up to the last moment. He goes with them to a plant where W. Mayes works as a night watchman.
Our special attention should be paid to the scene, when the four people try to push W. Mayes in the car. When he sees them he calls them «captains». «White folks, captains, I ain’t done nothing: I swear ‘fore God». The Negro’s exclamation implies an abyss between the black and the white. In his mind (W. Mayes is a symbol of all Negroes in America) a white man is superior to a black one, no matter whether a white man is an adult of a high social status or a rude and illiterate youngster, like Butch. The use of colloquial form of negation (I ain’t done nothing) lets the author stress W. Mayes’ illiteracy and, consequently, the absence of certain civil rights. It can be proved by his social status. A night watchman is unqualified and low-paid in people’s eyes. Besides, the writer draws a more vivid distinction line between the black and the white, using the adjective «white» («White folks»).
In this context, the adjective «white» should be considered an epithet, charged with an occasional positive evaluative connotation, since to be a white man in America means to have much more rights, privileges and a high social status if compared to a black one.
The Essay on White People Black Maya First
Maya Angelou, the famous author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, has written through this book her autobiography and a look at the segregation in the early years of 1930's. On page 187 of that book she has written that: " It seemed terribly unfair to have a toothache and a headache and have to bear at the same time the heavy burden of blackness." Earlier in her childhood she suffered and ...
W. Mayes tries to make himself free, but blows fall on him from all sides. Hawkshaw stands aside, but when the Negro accidentally punches him, Hawkshaw strikes him in return. It is a very profound psychological detail. Again does the author imply Hawkshaw’s prejudice against the Negro. W. Mayes is in a desperate condition, he struggles for his life, but despite it, Hawkshaw strikes him: «He (W. Mayes) whirled and cursed them (McLendon and his friend), and swept his manacled hands across their faces and slashed the barber upon the mouth, and the barber struck him also». The prejudice does not let Hawkshaw imagine himself in the desperate victim’s situation. The usage of polysyndeton makes the verbs «whirled», «cursed» and «swept» more conspicuous to reveal the Negro’s despair.
Being aware of W. Mayes’s fate Hawkshaw jumps out of the car in motion. This episode refers the reader to the Bible, namely to the famous story of Pontius Pilate. When he understands, that cannot persuade the high priests and the populace not to crucify Jesus Christ, he washes his hands. The author does not describe the way W. Mayes is murdered. But the reader can easily guess that the Negro is lynched. It is proved by rudeness and mercilessness with which he is captured. The last sentence of the story metaphorically reveals a tragic destiny of the black in America: «The dark world seemed to lie stricken beneath the cold moon and the lidless stars». The black world shocked by the cruelty of the white one hopelessly appeals to the silent heavens. The epithet «cold» and the author’s neologism «lidless» underline the whole defenselessness of the black people in America. The author’s avoiding expressing his view explicitly helps the reader to go through the catharsis and make his own opinion.
