Critical Analysis of Walter Mosley

Critical Analysis of Walter Mosley

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say may be used against you in a court of law.” Although no one wants to hear these words, they are words that are known across the country and are uttered every day. Walter Mosley takes this concept of “by the book” law enforcement and jazzes it up in The Devil in a Blue Dress, a novel based on Ezekiel Rawlins, a character stuck between the struggle of enforcing the law or engaging into criminal activity. Rawlins is content with life itself, as long as the whit majority does not surround him. Even though Mosley’s writing breaks color barriers, it also takes on racial motifs that emerged during post World War II Los Angles.

In Walter Mosley novels, the author tackles racism head on. As Mosley’s main character Ezekiel Rawlins, or better known by his nickname of Easy, takes his journeys through Los Angles, he notices people only by color and not by character or other traits. Easy says, “It’s not just that he was white but he wore an off-white linen suit and shirt with a Panama straw hat and bone shoes over flashing white silk socks” (Mosley 34), giving the impression that the man was not just white but he was real white. As Greg Tate states, “Mosley doesn’t just raise the race card to thicken the plot; he beats you down with spades, then rubs your nose in ethnic stool” (Tate 1). Mosley’s theme of racism relates to the times of post World War II, which is also the historical setting of Mosley’s novel. During post World War II times, people segregated themselves from each other. Mosley realizes the segregation and decides to bring in a white male, named Witt Albright, to add color to a black bar. Even if Albright had good intentions with everyone, Easy sees this as, “space suppose to be insulated for the most part from the intrusions of the white world” (Mosley 47), such as Dewitt Albright, even if “the odor of rotted meat filled every corner of the building” (Mosley 3). Mosley shows that Easy believes the “rotted meat filled” (Mosley 4) bar should not even be filled with the presence of Albright, who turns out to be the boss of Easy throughout the novel. This introduces a new theme that Mosley sought to establish in the novel, the cliché of the black man working for the white man

Albright is a white man, who through Mosley’s writing, gives the read...

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... are not up to par and are leaving the readers disappointed with the new books.

9. Lomax, Sara M. “Double Agent Easy Rawlins.” American Visions. Vol. 7, No. 2,

April-May 1992, p. 32-4 Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 1997

Good review about character development. Shows that Easy Rawlins is the new detective of the upcoming years.

10. Williamson, Hilary. Walter Mosley. January 2, 2005. Time Warner Book Group.

March 31, 2005 .

Websites shows many books written by Mosley. Also shows the history of the books, when they were published, and a little background information on

the books. Like where they were and when they were thought about by

Mosley

11. Corrigan, Maureen. “Easy Rawlins Rides Again.” Book World- The Washington

Post. August 16, 1992, p.6 Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 1997

Critic states issues about if the other books by Mosley will be up to par as the first book that he wrote about East Rawlins. States good facts and I can see the evidence because I have read other books by Mosley and he loses his edge but keeps up the authenticity.