Olive's African American Literature Blog

  In chapter 3 of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie gets married to Logan Killicks. Janie, 16 at the time, is forced by her grandmother to marry Logan. When Janie shows her displeasure for her relationship with Logan, her grandmother tells her that the stability of marriage is more important than love. This moment shows the contrast between Janie and her grandmother’s ways of thinking. I think Janie’s grandmother is fearful that Janie’s hopefulness and more positive but less realistic view of life will keep her from having a stable, comfortable life. Since Nanny is getting old and feels like she will die soon, she wants Janie to marry as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Janie is not satisfied with her life being married to Logan Killicks, in a lot of ways he represents her losing freedom and her childhood. He often makes fun of the way she grew up and tries to force her to do work she doesn’t want to do.  Janie’s dissatisfaction with her life and Logan Kil

 An ongoing theme throughout Invisible Man by Ralph Edison is the narrators ongoing and changing perception of his grandfathers last words. The topic is mentioned first at the beginning of chapter one and then then again during the epilogue. I think the way the narrator views his grandfathers message can symbolize his mindset at that time.  On his deathbed, the narrators grandfather tells his son (the narrators father) "Son, after I'm gone I want you to keep up the good fight. I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let 'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open." (Ellison 16). Everyone immediately thought he had gone crazy in his last moments, rushing the children from the r

        In the first chapter of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator attends an event where he presents a speech in hopes of receiving a scholarship. At this event, the narrator is forced to participate in some sort of battle for the audience’s own entertainment. When they finally remember he was supposed to present a speech, he must talk while blood fills his mouth and his eye throbs. The audience still makes fun of the narrator as he talks. Despite the racist remarks and physical pain inflicted on the author during this event and chapter, when he receives the scholarship he is completely overjoyed and ignores any ill feelings that experience should have given him.  In chapter sixteen, readers observe the narrator give another speech, however the way the event plays out is completely conflicting with the first speech he gave in chapter one. In this chapter, the narrator is giving a speech for the brotherhood, a seemingly progressive organization. The narrator seems to expect

             The books Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison have many differences, but one similarity is the idea that many characters surrounding the main character are blind. In Native Son , Bigger Thomas kills two young women, causing a trial that is heavily used as an excuse for blatant and violent racism. During this time, Bigger notices and points out a certain “blindness” to racial issues that the characters around him experience. In Invisible Man , the main character tells the story of how he discovered his invisibility. When he refers to his invisibility, one definition might be that he feels he is only seen for his skin color and surface appearance instead of his actual self, so his actual self is invisible. Invisibility and blindness aren’t exactly the same, but in these books they make the same point: black people (specifically in these books, the main characters) are viewed superficially because of their race.  One example in Native Son , would

     Throughout history, specifically during the civil rights movement, there have been many African American pieces of literature which highlight inequalities between races. Richard Wright (1908-1960) was an author who wrote various novels, one of which being Native Son , published in 1940. I believe Richard Wright wrote this story to highlight the way prejudice has shaped the lives of all black people, specifically in the United States. Native Son  takes place in Chicago in the 1930s, focusing on 20 year old Bigger Thomas who lives on the South Side with his mother and two younger siblings. The story begins with the family waking up and immediately having to kill a rat in their home. This shows the types of conditions they are forced to live in due to their already high rent and low pay. From the very start, Bigger is at a disadvantage and one could argue that he is forced into thievery because it's one of his only options if he wants to help support his family.       When Bigger