4.4.1
Racial Attitudes in Literature from 1850-2009
To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee (1960)
To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee (1960)
To Kill a Mocking Bird was a Pulitzer Prize Winner and still is taught in American schools today.
Plot
Plot
- The novel tells the story of Atticus Finch, a white lawyer from Alabama, defending a black man, Tom Robinson in court on a charge of raping the ‘white trash’ character Mayella Ewell.
- In court, Atticus effectively discredits the testimony of the ‘white trash’ family of Mayella and Bob Ewell yet Tom is still found guilty of rape.
- Atticus Finch is labelled as a ‘nigger lover’ because he saves Tom from being lynched.
- Tom tries to escape prison but is shot dead.
Message
Message
- The novel advocated racial tolerance at a time when many people were racist.
- In the novel, the children of Atticus Finch condemn the punishment of people who are targeted by the law because of their race.
Reception
Reception
- The novel received high literary praise. Many people felt that it did much to help the Civil Rights movement and Atticus was seen as a great hero.
- The novel did, however, receive criticism too.
- The fact that Tom Robinson had to rely on the help of a white man to save him furthered narratives of 'white saviourism'. Tom is not really a main character in the novel.
- Some Southern schools tried to ban the book as it portrayed white people in the South in a negative manner.
Beloved , Toni Morrison (1987)
Beloved , Toni Morrison (1987)
Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved received a Pulitzer Prize and contributed to her Nobel Peace Prize award.
Plot
Plot
- The book highlights how in the 1980s black communities were still struggling to forget the memory of slavery.
- The story is set in the Reconstruction period and it involves a mother killing her daughter to avoid the child being taken into slavery.
- The killing causes further issues for the mother as her children become affected and she is possessed by the ghost of her murdered daughter.
- The book was extremely popular.
Beloved the film
Beloved the film
- Oprah Winfrey produced and acted in Beloved the film in 1998.
- The film flopped in the American box office.
- This suggests that late 20th Century American audiences still did not want to address the history of race in American or evaluate their memories of slavery.
The Help, Kathyrn Stockett (2009)
The Help, Kathyrn Stockett (2009)
The Help tells the story of black domestic workers. It was hugely successful both as a novel and a film.
Plot
Plot
- The story details the struggle of black domestic workers in the early 1960s and the racism they encountered from white and mainly female Americans.
- The stories of the black domestic workers seen in the film are collated by a white woman, 'Skeeter' who wants to highlight their plight in a book she is writing.
- The impact of Skeeter's book means the author is condemned by other white women and is forced out of the area.
Message
Message
- The reader gains some understanding of the racism experienced by black domestic workers.
- However, the film is problematic because it fails to amplify black voices and black experiences.
- The main character in the novel is Skeeter and the storyline centres around her book, not the experiences of Aibileen and the other black domestic workers.
Film
Film
- The Help was so popular it was made into a film in 2011, which also was extremely popular.
- The issues with the book remained in the film that again failed to amplify black voices. The focus is on Skeeter and her book.
- Viola Davis who played Aibileen Clark in The Help has spoken out and said that she regrets taking the role as the film failed to show what it really felt like for the black maids.
- Ablene Cooper, the real nanny of the Stockett family who the character of Aibileen is based said that her portrayal in the film was embarrassing and filed a lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett.
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
Jump to other topics
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
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