Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In The Great Gatsby

It was the start of the 1920s, World War 1 had just ended, and racial tension among societies—especially, in the black and white society—began to increase. The Roaring Twenties began throughout the nation and the New Negro Movement erupted within the black culture. Authors understood the events that were happening in the United States and began to publish novels relating to the events. F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote The Great Gatsby does an outstanding job in helping the reader understand the conditions of the Roaring Twenties, along with a great job in depicting the tension within in the white society. Native Son, written by Richard Wright, is a perfect example that provides the reader with an image of how in both the black and white society

For example, Bigger was motivated to rob the white man’s convenience store, but knew that it was socially wrong to associate himself with a white person in any place or time. Therefore, he abandoned the thought and decided to seek an alternative to get money, which resulted in working for the Daltons. The Jim Crow laws consisted of many crucial notions that targeted the black society in the United States. These types of laws did not only have a tremendous influence in society during this period, but also in American literature. Numerous authors were greatly affected by unfortunate events that they decided to publish novels in regards to what was happening in the country. One author being Richard Wright, who wrote Native Son, a novel about a black teenager named Thomas “Bigger”. Bigger is displayed as a threat to society because of his skin color and his actions later in the novel. Because Bigger is born into a black family, he is limited to what he can do in society and the way in which others will see him. Many times throughout the book, examples of Bigger coming across moments of tension are evident. For example, when Bigger accompanies Mary Dalton and her boyfriend to a restaurant in a black neighborhood, Bigger tries to avoid being recognized because he does want to be seen with white folks. He does not want to be seen with white people because he knows that the people of his culture will begin to criticize him for his action. Let alone, he is eventually criticized. After he began working for the Dalton family, Bigger surely comes across many instances where he has to be careful of what he says or does because it could put him in a difficult situation. Briefly, it is because of the Jim Crow laws that Bigger is not socially accepted by the white