Mid Term Essay topic 7

Essay Topic 7

Everyone is aware of the struggles endured by African-Americans in the south prior to the Civil rights movement, and this topic is explored by Alice Walker in The Color Purple as well as Earnest J. Gaines in his masterpiece A Lesson Before Dying. Both novels speak of the difficulties experienced by blacks during this time period and opens the readers eyes to this lifestyle through the perspective of the novel’s characters and narrators.

The narrator of The Color Purple is a young, black, fourteen year old, girl named Celie who is experiencing the harsh reality of being black and growing up in the rural south of America in Georgia. Throughout the entire novel her father, Alphonso, abuses Celie. The relationship between Celie and her father is so bad that she is repeatedly beaten and even raped and impregnated by Alphonso. Celie is continuously abused throughout the story yet remains passive and does not attempt to fight back, until she befriends Shug, who teaches her to stand up for herself. The novel focuses heavily on the notions of racism that existed in America and certainly also has feminist aspects to it. Celie’s story is told through a series of letters to God, many of which express her frustrations with being a young-black girl growing up in the oppressive south: “I can’t move fast enough. By time I git back from the well, the water be warm. By time I git the tray ready the food be cold. By time I git all the children ready for school it be dinner time” (Walker 2). This passage offers a first-person view into the stress put on this young girl. Due to the death of her mother, she is forced to take over a role of incredible stress, which was not rare for a young girl during these times in the south. Walker’s work was so impactful that it was made into both an award-winning movie as well as a highly acclaimed Broadway play.

Similar to how The Color Purple tells the struggle of a young African-American’s life growing up in the south, A Lesson Before Dying does the same by telling the story of Jefferson, a young black man who is unrightfully accused of murder. This story is very reflective of the Jim-Crow era, in which Blacks had their rights legally restricted. According to an article published by Ferris State University, there were actually laws in place to control the interaction between Whites and Blacks: “A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male because it implied being socially equal… Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended Whites” (Pilgrim, 2000). The laws were incredibly restrictive and allowed Whites to continuously oppress Blacks in a legal manner.

In A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson is on his way to a bar when he comes across two other men, who he decides to accompany to a liquor store. At the store, the two men and the owner get into an argument and gunfire follows, with Jefferson being the only surviving member of the exchange. While Jefferson was not involved in the murders, the white prosecuting attorney saw things differently, putting the blame directly on Jefferson, simply due to the fact that he was black and would not receive fair trial: “The prosecutor argued that Jefferson and the other two had gone there with the full intention of robbing the old man and then killing him so that he could not identify him” (Gaines, pg 6). Later on in the trial the prosecutor goes as far as to refuse to acknowledge Jefferson as a man, saying he was simply a boy: “I would call it a boy and a fool. A fool is not aware of right and wrong” (Gaines, pg 7). This horrendous treatment of Jefferson and lack of fair trial is a prime example of the oppression endured by Blacks in the pre-Civil Rights south.

While the poor treatment of Blacks in the pre-Civil rights south in America is well documented, Ernest J. Gaines A Lesson Before Death and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple offer a firsthand view into the brutality of the racist south. In Gaines’ epic tale, Jefferson is flat out denied a fair trial on the charges of murder and is basically assumed guilty due to his skin color. The difficult lifestyle of a young black during this time period is also seen in Walker’s masterpiece, as Celie struggles to fight for her own rights and well-being while also having to raise a family due to the death of her mother, a common scenario for young black girls in the south prior to the Civil Rights movement.

Works Cited

Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Random House, 1993. Print.

Pilgrim, David. “What Was Jim Crow?” Jim Crow: Museum of Racist Memorabilia . Ferris State University , Sept. 2000. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. . A website detailing the harsh rules placed on Blacks during the Jim Crow era.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1992. Print.