Anti-Racism in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the refusal to ignore and tolerate racism in these three pieces of 20th Century writing. The author states that each writer looks at racism differently but illustrates through their fiction that racism existed during the early 20th century and that African-Americans had to deal with it in their own unique ways. This paper stresses that writers refused to tolerate racism; and ,through their works, they urged others to do the same.

From the Paper:

"In "Sonny's Blues", James Baldwin takes a different approach to racism. Sonny is a young man growing up in an urban ghetto, rather than a small Southern town, yet he and those around him face the same prejudice and racism, as he sees while he watches a young group of women sing on a street corner. ". . . it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through - to sing like that. It's repulsive to think you have to suffer that much" (Baldwin 132). Sonny sees the suffering, but even though he reaches the depths of despair in heroin addiction, his life, and the story which portrays it, is more hopeful and uplifting, because Baldwin can see better days in the future, and he believes men like Sonny, who finally find their passion, and in it themselves, will help lead blacks to better days."

More papers on Anti-Racism in Literature:

• Research Paper # 109418 : "Anti-Racism in America"
• Essay # 51846 : "Anti-Racism in Literature"
• Book Review # 41636 : "Anti-Racism in Children's Literature"

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