The Pinch: A Tale of Jewish Self-Determination Steve Stern weaves a mystical-historical tale of “The Pinch”, a small area in the north of downtown Memphis populated by Jews. The main character, Lenny Sklarew, opens a book in the bookstore where he works in the Pinch to find himself included in the story. Subsequently, as a reader of Steve Stern’s book, one is taken back and forth in time and given detailed background stories on several characters in the Pinch. Stern’s book and Lenny’s book in the story are both called “The Pinch: a History a Novel”. On the surface the tale seems like a very colorful story interwoven with historical facts and Jewish mysticism, plus a contemporary story line about Lenny during the civil rights movement. However, story within story, a theme begins to arise: although things may appear “as it is written” or on a certain trajectory, one can chart another course. It is the theme of Jewish self-determination. …show more content…
The book’s mystical qualities are attributed to the area’s mystical qualities, caused by a Rabbi and his followers. Memphis is said to be primed for such activity, being at the center of Armageddon, which initially attracted the Rabbi and his followers. The followers of the Rabbi Eliakum ben Yahya, the Talmud, and the metaphysical, somehow set off an earthquake and flood during a late night ritual, the night that the Mississippi historically flowed backwards. The small Jewish community awakes to their town and reality being turned upside down. The earthquake has caused the town’s park to have an uprooted; upside down tree in a gaping crevice. This is where the characters of the Pinch find themselves as they gather for safety, away from the waters and buildings. Our main characters from the early part of the century, Muni and Jennie, have just consummated their love in the tree and Muni surmises that their unholy union may have played a part in the
The historical context of the book is the story took place in the late 80’s-early 90’s in the streets of Chicago. At this era of time, it had been about 20-30 years after segregation was outlawed, but the effects of years of racism and segregation could be shown in the “hoods” of cities. The author utilizes the two boys’ stories to show what the
After the establishment of the Jim Crow law, America faces the problem of African-American segregation. An excerpt from Ramona Lowe’s short story, “The Woman in the Window”, demonstrates a racial discrimination against Blacks during the 1940s by incorporating representation, stereotyping and ideology. First of all, the representation of the owners as high-class and Mrs. Jackson as low-class shows that representation can be use to demonstrate racial discrimination. Secondly, the owners’ assumption that Mrs. Jackson is from Georgia and that she needs money proves that stereotyping can be use to demonstrate racial discrimination. Lastly, the white children laughing and calling Mrs. Jackson “Aunt Jimima and nigger” is evidence that ideology can be use to demonstrate racial discrimination.
The “other America” Kotlowitz describes in his book is the public housing complex at Henry Horner Homes in Chicago. By following the lives of two boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, we are exposed to the misfortunes, turmoil and death that their lives are filled with.
Ever since her rise to fame, Lorraine Hansberry has opened the eyes of many and showed that there is a problem among the American people. Through her own life experiences in the twentieth-century, she has written what she knows and brought forth the issue that there is racial segregation, and it will not be ignored. Her most popular work, A Raisin in the Sun, not only brought African Americans to the theater, but has given many of them hope (Mays 1461). Within this work, we find a “truthful depiction of the sorts of lives lived by many ordinary African Americans in the late 1950s” (Mays 1462). Though there is realism within her work, the idealism is never far away at all. Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun allows one to see that progress is made through an idealistic view of the world and that hope is the root of many changes people search for in life.
Dugard, Jaycee. A Stolen Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. ix - 268. Print.
Toni Cade Bambara addresses how knowledge is the means by which one can escape out of poverty in her story The Lesson. In her story she identifies with race, economic inequality, and literary epiphany during the early 1970’s. In this story children of African American progeny come face to face with their own poverty and reality. This realism of society’s social standard was made known to them on a sunny afternoon field trip to a toy store on Fifth Avenue. Through the use of an African American protagonist Miss Moore and antagonist Sylvia who later becomes the sub protagonist and White society the antagonist “the lesson” was ironically taught. Sylvia belong to a lower economic class, which affects her views of herself within highlights the economic difference created by classism.
The world of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is a place racism and inequality are predominant, affecting every character’s life in some significant ways. This world runs parallel to America in the twentieth century between 1930’s to the 60’s. Morrison illustrates this societal divided amongst racism in a mythical interpretation. She gives of a first person account of life for a relatively well off black man in the time and viewing the world through his lens allowing us to observe the effects of racism during this time period where racial tension were at a new turning point. We see how racism is both socially and economically perpetuated and structured into our society. Examining the progression of racism in America seeing where Morrison’s
It can be said that Song of Solomon is bildungsroman which is defined by The Encyclopedia Britannica as “a class of novel that deals with the [coming-of-age or] formative years of an individual”. Furthermore, in a bildungsroman, a main protagonist usually undergoes some transformation after seeking truth or philosophical enlightenment. In Morrison’s novel, the plot follows the main protagonist Milkman as he matures within his community while developing relationships with others and discovering his individual identity. In an essay titled Call and Response, Marilyn Sanders Mobley notes that “What Song of Solomon does ultimately is suggest that a viable sense of African American identity comes from responding to alternative constructions of self and community other that those received from mainstream American culture” (Smith 42). This viewpoint of discovering one’s identity in community is expressed in Song of Solomon and is expressed in other African-American literature including The Autobiography of Malcolm X, A Raisin in the Sun and The Tropics in New York. Milkman’s development of an individual identity which ultimately eschews mainstream American ideals of wealth, prosperity, and Western culture exemplifies a fundamental theme that is analogous to a predicament African-Americans encounter.
Manchild in the Promised Land is generally acknowledged to be among the first personal accounts of life in the African-American urban ghetto. Narrated using the language of the streets, the autobiography compellingly documents the horrors of drugs and violence without becoming preachy or ideological. Brown’s own life as a survivor and victor lends authority to his voice as he recounts the wasted lives of friends, some already dead, who were unable to overcome the Harlem street life. Young readers can relate to the story of this streetwise youth, who could operate successfully within the urban underworld but who was wise enough to see that it was a dead end.
Of the few short stories penned by Hughes, one that stands out the most was his series of weekly writings from the Chicago Defender in the 1940’s about a middle aged black man and a narrator who would speak on a variety of issu...
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon tells the life story of Milkman and his family. The novel is well written and complex, while talking about several complex issues such as race, gender, and class. Although the novel makes reference to the several issues, the novel primarily focuses on what people’s desires are and their identities. Specifically through the difference between Macon Jr. and Pilate, Morrison illustrates that our most authentic desires come not from material items, but from our wish to connect with others.
Richelle Goodrich once said, “To encourage me is to believe in me, which gives me the power to defeat dragons.” In a world submerged in diversity, racism and prejudice it is hard for minorities to get ahead. The novel “The Other Wes Moore” is a depiction of the differences that encouragement and support can make in the life of a child. This novel is about two men, with the same name, from the same neighborhood, that endured very similar adversities in their lives, but their paths were vastly different. In the following paragraphs, their lives will be compared, and analyzed from a sociological perspective.
Oftentimes, life is a treacherous and unforgiving place; coincidentally the underlying message of both “The Glass Castle” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” These texts include a series of challenges to the lives of two very different families in unique time periods. In order to survive, these families must overcome the challenges of addiction, poverty, and disparity in their own ways. Steinbeck’s, “The Grapes of Wrath,” details the lives of the Joads, Oklahoma farmers in the Great Depression of the 1930s; who travel west in search of a better life. A sense of community unifies the families and keeps the Joads together as a whole. Walls’s memoir “The Glass Castle,” tells of the highly unstable and nomadic life of protagonist Jeannette through the early stages of her life. The Walls children manage to prosper in their own individual ways, stemming from decades of suffering and adversity. The Joads and Walls’s alike share characteristics that help them get
Levy, Eugene."Is the Jew a White Man?": Press Reaction to the Leo Frank Case, 1913-1915. Phylon (1960-2002), Vol. 35, No. 2 (2nd Qtr., 1974), pp. 212-222
Many critics notice the connection between recurring themes such as seclusion and sexuality to differentiate each parallel and topic shown in Anderson’s work. Both stories are from Sherwood Anderson’s book Winesburg, Ohio that is set during the latter part of the 19th century. The stories “catalog Anderson’s negative reaction to the transformation of Ohi...