Theme Of Inequality In African American Literature

The authors’ Ernest Gaines, Walter Mosley, and August Wilson all play a role in defining the African American literature within the larger part of American culture. Each explores themes of inequality within similar time periods. These books travel from the nineteen forties to the nineteen fifties and entail the shared pain of the African American people and their individual struggles in a variety of conditions. Each piece of literature highlights the torment of the white people and oftentimes portrays them as the villains’. In addition, these authors teach identical moral lessons in an attempt to glorify what is humane. These moral lessons’ reach beyond racial inequality to incorporate the common struggles of men. The main characters in each

The source of Grants opportunity is his education, in obtaining a college education, he achieves a higher social standing . Grant is recognized as dignified among the African American community because in the time period it is uncommon for a man of his color to have such a role of leadership and esteem. The book takes place in the deep south during the nineteen-forties a time period in which the Jim Crow laws and white society limit African Americans from achieving the american dream. As a result of Grants dignity, Miss Emma asks that he teach her grandson,Jackson, to be a man and leave this world with human dignity after being called a “hog” in his murder trial. Initially, Grant feels that his education did not prepare him to face this trial in his life similar to how he feels in his classroom. As a teacher, he has a chance to influence the children 's futures. However, despite the lessons he teaches them their destinies are ill-fated by the despair that follows the African American people. On page sixty-two it says,”Gone to the fields, to the small towns, to the cities-where they died...and others who did not go anywhere simply died slower.” Grant is frustrated because despite his best efforts, he cannot prevent unfortunate circumstances such as Jefferson’s and those of his students’. However, near the end of the book Grant when begins to make progress with Jackson he realizes that Jackson is not a burden to him but rather an opportunity. On page one hundred ninety-one Grant says to Jefferson, “A hero does for others. He would do anything for the people he loves, because he knows it would make their lives better...You could give something to her, to me , to those children in the quarter. You could give something I never could...The white people out there are saying you don 't have it-that you’re a hog, not a man. But I know they’re