Ambition by Beryl Weston and Contending Forces

Ambition by Beryl Weston and "Contending Forces" by Hopkins depicts the lives of Black Americans in the dominant white American society prior and after the legal abolishment of black slavery. Both novels discuss these social issues while discussing and narrating in closer detail the everyday lives of black Americans as they go through their lives in a new established society. In addition, both novels also touch on the romantic pursuits of the characters in the story.

These love stories also illustrate how the society and the people in it determine the fate and course of romantic love for the main characters. However, the novels start in a different pace: 'Contending Forces" starts with the abolishment of black slavery, then proceeds with life in a society that has its black Americans as the equals of white Americans, not as slaves of them.

Meanwhile, "Ambition" by Weston starts initially with the already abolished black slavery, and we are introduced to a new American society, wherein black Americans are now educated and lived as equals with the white Americans. Despite these differences in the narrative structure, both novels are great eye- openers that illustrate what American society is like after the abolishment of black slavery and what society is like with black Americans as part of the whole operation of running a functional society.

In "Contending Forces," Hopkins presents us with two facets of a society after the abolishment of black slavery. The novel starts with the people, especially the white American society, talk about the nearing end of legal black Slavery in their states. The first facet is the white American society, and the worries that they have over what will happen next after the abolishment of slavery.

This is a very powerful issue to talk about, since this reflects the innermost fears of most white Americans during that time: they fear retaliation and defeat from the black Americans who were once their slaves. Hopkins effectively illustrates these feelings of the white American society thru the following lines: ".. The agitation of the inhabitants of Great Britain over the increasing horrors of the slave trade carried on in the West Indian possessions of the Empire was about reaching a climax.

Every day the terrible things done to slaves were becoming public talk, until the best English humanitarians.. were led to declare the principle: "The air of England is too pure for any slave to breathe" (Hopkins p. 18). These lines voices out the worry that white Americans have over the surge and increase of black American slaves that come in their nation.

They fear that with the nearing abolishment of slavery, and of the increasing population of the black Americans, the white American society may be defeated and be outnumbered, thus, they fear that a reversal of roles in the society might happen.

This is one of the "power plays" of contending forces that Hopkins tries to extend through her novel: the conflict between the black and white American society, and the fear of a reversal of functions and roles of each in the society as one group outnumbers and becomes more strengthened (black Americans) than the other (white Americans). The second facet of Hopkins' novel talks about conflict among the black Americans themselves, particularly between the black Americans of the North and South of America.

In the novel, Dora expresses her paranoia over the Southern black Americans over her as she tells her mother: "why is it that Southern colored people seem to be so prejudiced against the Northern colored people? I always fancied that we were all in the same boat, and that mere accidental locality was not to be considered..." (Hopkins p.181).

This contemplation by Dora expresses the diversity within he black American community, and discusses the issue of the severity of slavery in the South than in the North, which perhaps can be attributed to the bitterness of the Southerners to the Northerners. These two social issues, that is, the conflict between the white and black American society, and the diversity among the black Americans themselves (between Northerners and Southerners) are the core issues Hopkins tackles in her novel in literary form.

Beryl Weston's "Ambition" talks about the black American individual as she pursues her life in a newly ordered society. Weston's novel lacks the historical novelty of most black American- themed literary works; in fact, she talks about the black American's plight as she induces these issues in narrative form.

Weston's "Ambition" is more fluid in narration than Hopkins, who sometimes veers away from the story, and uses history in the narrative, making it more of a historical/biographical account than a story meant to entertain and let the reader imagine of the events being narrated. 'Ambition" is more entertaining, and tells us of Beryl, the protagonist in the story, as she struggled through life being a woman who is in love, and always frustrated and desperate in trying to live a normal life like the others.

Only, she is torn with her responsibilities as the eldest daughter of the family and as a student. Beryl, as a student, is competitive, and is illustrated as an image of a successful and potential model for.