The racism and discrimination against blacks in both Black Like Me and Black Boy show the hardships and racial injustice that blacks faced in the south with their share of differences and similarities. After reading Black Like Me and Black Boy, I have gained a better perspective, about how in Black Like Me when John Howard Griffin was a “black” man he was treated unequally as all blacks are and once he went back to being a white man those people who had treated him bad were now treating him with respect. However, in the end no matter the skin color some things are the same for both colors. In Black Boy, I have learned that the life of a young child, a black boy, is hard during the segregated south and can harshly affect the child while growing up. As I read, I came across some similarities between both works as well as some differences. Even though both works had their moments in which the characters faced struggles, I was still able to see optimism as well as hope for a better life and future. As I read Black Boy, Griffin provided me with a small insight on the way whites and blacks were differently treated. Black Like Me was based on a white man who wanted to get a better understanding of the life of negroes and how it feels to be treated unequally. He wanted to know what stood between the white man and black man, why they could not communicate. Griffin writes in his book that, “the only way I could see to bridge the gap between us was to become a Negro” (Griffin 1). His journey then began and he lived the life of a black man. It is with such bravery that he went and risked becoming a Negro. He knew that adverse consequences would occur once people knew the truth. He did not care; I was fascinated with his desire to see what... ... middle of paper ... ... let the events that were occurring to demolish his dream. He moved to Chicago because in the North the conditions were said to be much better than they were in the South for blacks. When times were tough he never gave up. The book is proof that all his hard work paid off. In the end, both books explored the racism there was towards blacks and showed me no matter the race both share commonalities and I was also able to get some insight of a boy’s life growing up in the South. I was also able to identify some similarities and differences in Black Like Me and Black Boy. Besides showing the struggles faced both works showed some hope for a better future. Works Cited Griffin, J. H. (2010). Black Like Me. New York: Signet. (Original work published 1961). Print Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1944. Print.
The use and repetition of the word “nigger” suggest both physical and psychological boundaries for Griffin, which, of course, also extend to the black population of the mid-twentieth century. In identifying himself with the term, Griffin becomes overwhelmed by its dehumanizing and de-individualizing effect: “I knew I was in hell. Hell could be no more lonely or hopeless, no more agonizingly estranged from the world of order and harmony” (66). Griffin’s internalization of discrimination and his repression as “Other” allows Griffin to convey the “wrong-doing” by the white middle class, forcing a truthful realization of the detrimental effect of racism on the
In the novel “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the story is a direct letter to his son. This letter contains the tools and instructions that his son will need in order to be a successful “black body” in the modern society. Coates explains his life experiences and hardships he had to overcome because of the color of his skin. Coates pushes an urgent message to the world; discrimination is still prevalent and real in today 's society, and the world is still struggling to accept an equal life for blacks. Coates writings alter the minds of his readers and allow them to experience life through a black man 's eyes. Ta-Nehisi Coates does this by the use of rhetorical strategies like, repetition and tone, metaphors and similes, and
One examples is, even before his surgery was complete and he had not made the full transition from white to black yet, he was startled at what he heard from his doctor. At the time of his surgery, he spoke with the dermatologist who was changing his skin color, and found out that even this man had prejudices over black people. The doctor was insistent that the “lighter-skinned Negroes” were more ethical and more sensible than the darker-skinned ones. This man, with a high intellectual IQ and much schooling, also claimed that, as a whole group and race, blacks are always violent. Griffin, horrified that he let this man be in charge of his operation, was utterly and completely appalled that a liberal man could indulge in such hateful fallacies. Not only before and during his surgery does Griffin find himself being appalled by white people, but also during his time as a black man in the south he experienced many harsh and unfriendly situations, he never would have experienced if he was a white man. For example, on his first day as a black man he goes into a drugstore forgetting his skin color and that he now, since he is black, he forbidden from ordering a fountain drink, but after a few mean and disgusted looks from the white workers he realizes, he wasn’t even allowed in the store. His first day hit him hard when he figured out that everywhere he went whites seemed to look at him with suspicion and hostility. Also, after having the word nigger seem to never escape his ears its implications almost became unbearable. Hearing this really made me think about all of the black people in the south that have had to put up this and even worse things every day of their lives and how strong they all were; a white man has been through this one day and can barely take it; how have these people put up with this for so
The two books involve trial of a black man who serves a jail term for murder. However, in the two novels, racism played a crucial role in determining their fate. They society had convicted them guilty even before trial because of their race. Many people in the world have experienced unfair treatment because of their race. Discriminating people against their skin color is an ordinary thing in communities. The writers reveal to an audience how the black men could not access justice because of their race (Wright, 2010, p. 3). In the book written by Wright, the man was not guilty, but he had to serve imprisonment because of race. They show how people suffer in for no good reason because of their background.
Griffin feels it is necessary to understand the hardship of blacks in the United States of America. Through medications, bleaching and ultraviolet light, Griffin is able to temporarily change his skin color so that he can walk through the streets and understand the injustices faced by African Americans. Later on, the author moves farther south where he is faced with even more racism and begins to switch between white and black skin, understanding the different expressions given by society of both races. While white, Griffin finds that white people treat him with respect and black people fear him. But while black, Griffin is despised and neglected by whites and is welcomed warmly by blacks (Griffin, 1962).
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will,” Martin Luther King Junior. When King refers to shallow understanding from people of good will he is speaking of people that notice a problem or bad situation in society but chose to do nothing about it. Absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will is referring to people who see no issue is society. He believes the shallow people are more frustrating because although they do see that there is an immoral law in place they chose to not take action against it. . This is a paradox because Luther is explaining that the most frustrating people are not the ones who don’t think the same way as him but the ones who do.
Wise, T. (2011). White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son. (2nd ed.). Berkley, CA: Soft Skull Press.
Mr. Griffin was a “white American author who temporarily altered the pigment of his skin in order to experience firsthand the life of a black man in the South” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Black Like Me depicts the hardships blacks in the south had to endure. In one incident, Griffin was being stalked by a young, white man as he walked to his next destination: “I’m going to get you, Mr. No-Hair. I’m after you. There ain’t no place you go I won’t get you. If it takes all night, I’ll get you - so count on it” (Griffin 68). In the events of this terrifying encounter, Mr. Griffin tried to get help from a white couple, but the couple would not help him. In the end, he found a safe haven, but this shows what any black human had to deal with during this period of time from random whites in the south. Towards the end of his experiment and after so many encounters such as this, Griffin began to falter and lose his faith in
As a white man, he could now dine wherever he pleased, smile at women and not be threatened, and enjoy all the small privileges that every white man takes for granted. Although Griffin feels a sense of liberation, he feels no joy because all he could think about was the other side of the story. Griffin starts going back and forth between being black and white. As a white man, Griffin receives warm smiles from the whites, but receives hateful stares from the blacks showcasing that racism went both
In the autobiography Black Boy by Richard Wright, Wright’s defining aspect is his hunger for equality between whites and blacks in the Jim Crow South. Wright recounts his life from a young boy in the repugnant south to an adult in the north. In the book, Wright’s interpretation of hunger goes beyond the literal denotation. Thus, Wright possesses an insatiable hunger for knowledge, acceptance, and understanding. Wright’s encounters with racial discrimination exhibit the depths of misunderstanding fostered by an imbalance of power.
They both express the difficulty of living and growing up as an African American child. Lori Hansberry and Martin Luther King Jr both demonstrate the African American dream for America to reach one day. They play with the idea that although it is not reality, it's something their characters still hold onto very closely. Both stories just explain the idea of America to be free country again, and where they are able to do things whites do today. America would not be the same if people like Martin Luther King Jr, and Hansberry spoke out into the world. Today African Americans are treated better and kinder. Even some of the most famous people in the world are African American. Both authors portrayed to us, how important the dream was of one, and how America should respond to their cries for a change. Even today the world is not perfect. Look around in life, most cab drivers in today's American society are African American, and that is something Walter Lee Younger, in A Raisin in the Sun, most of all hated. All he ever wanted was to be able to be driven around, not to drive others for a change. King’s speech also makes a point, in today's world people still second guess whether they should share food with a person of a different race, or sit next to them on the bus or plane. Both of these authors wanted to make a change in this world, and even though there was little progress, America will not ever be
I believe these two stories can be compared because they are both dealing with young black people trying to figure out why they are being discriminated just because of their skin color. They both feel like they should be just as free or equal as white people and not judged so harshly for being born black. They both are attending school during a rough time for colored people. They both just want to make a difference and make people realize that they are not bad people and that they are just as smart as white people. I would say that they both were very unlucky to be born colored during this time period because of the hatred but at the same time they are the ones who could have the biggest impact on changing lives and making it better for colored
Brent Staples focuses on his own experiences, which center around his perspective of racism and inequality. This perspective uniquely encapsulates the life of a black man with an outer image that directly affects how others perceive him as a person. Many readers, including myself, have never experienced the fear that Staples encounters so frequently. The severity of his experiences was highlighted for me when he wrote, “It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (135) Having to accept that fact as a reality is something that many people will never understand. It is monumentally important that Staples was able to share this perspective of the world so others could begin to comprehend society from a viewpoint different from their
“Black Like Me” written by John Howard Griffin is an excellently written novel, based on factual events experienced by the author himself. It is based in the 1950s, a time when racism was widespread throughout America. The basic outline of the story is the following of one man (Griffin) as he embarks on a journey that takes him to the ‘other side’. Griffin is a middle-aged white man, and decides to personally experience the life of a Negro. He achieves this by literally changing the pigmentation in his skin so that he is no longer white. Griffin moves to the deep southern states of America where he is subject to harsh racist treatment by the whites. By doing so, he experiences first hand the reality of racism and prejudice, almost to the point of disbelief. The story focuses on the lives of Negroes: restricted, brutal and harsh. “My skin was dark. That was sufficient reason for them to deny me those rights and freedoms without whi...
Mr. Griffin was a middle age white man who lived with his wife and children. He was not oriented to his family. He decided to pass his own society to the black society. Although this decision might help most of the African Americans, he had to sacrifice his gathering time with his family. “She offered, as her part of the project, her willingness to lead, with our three children, the unsatisfactory family life of a household deprived of husband and father” (Griffin 9). Leaving Mrs. Griffin and his children would deprive them of the care they needed. Even though he was not oriented to his family, he was full of courage. He was willing to discuss topics that people hesitated to talk about, trying new ideas that people were afraid to do. After turning back to his own skin color, he attended most media conferences and also wrote books about what he had gone through. During those interviews, Griffin was very considerate. He requested Wallace, a reporter, to report carefully so that he would not hurt his African American friends. “Please… Don’t mention those names on the air.