Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
What makes the Man Who Went to Chicago an especially effective culminating story for Eight Men is the way in which it transforms these motifs to generate new and strikingly affirmative meanings" (155). This transformation relates to the manner in which the story's protagonist manages to learn from his series of menial jobs and use this newfound knowledge to his advantage. Moreover, these experiences provide the crucible in which the protagonist's character is forged and he is able to rise above the meanness and pettiness that exemplify his peers. In this regard, Butler reports that, "He is careful to reject the self-defeating strategies used by his co-workers in dealing with the hospital such as the 'sullen silence' (193) adopted by Bill and the pointless violence employed by Brand and Cooke" (155).
Furthermore, the protagonist's series of jobs in the hospital, post office, dishwasher, and insurance salesman for a Negro burial society provide him with a "new kind of education" (185) that allows him to develop a "new faith" (191) in American society, and one that is also reflective of Jurgus's conclusions about life in the Jungle. The episodes suggest that during the 1930s - like today, the real heroes in American society were those who did not give up hope, who went to jobs when they could find them that they did not particularly like because the kids were hungry and needed shoes, and who overcame these challenges to their very survival in ways that built up their character rather than tearing it down.
Conclusion
The research showed that the 1930s were a tough period in American history, with...
Notwithstanding the modest inroads made by New Deal initiatives, the 1930s were hard on some people more than others, and it is reasonable to conclude that most black Americans experienced these hardships more than their white counterparts and this certainly appeared to be the case with the characters in Richard Wright's short stories in Eight Men. Today, the personal accounts of these experiences related in Wright's short story, "The Man Who Went to Chicago," provide some valuable insights into what things were like 80 years ago and how much things have changed since then.
Works Cited
Best, Gary Dean. The Nickel and Dime Decade: American Popular Culture during the 1930s. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993.
Butler, Robert J. The Critical Response to Richard Wright. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Cavan Ruth S. And Katherine H. Ranck. The Family and the Depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Chicago. (2008). U.S. Census Bureau. [Online]. Available: http://www.census.gov/rochi/www/fun1.html.
Duffus, Matthew. (1999, January 26). The Mississippi Writers Page. [Online]. Available: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/wright_richard/.
Elder, Glen H. Jr. Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1906.
Wright, Richard. "The Man Who Went to Chicago" in Eight Men. New York, 1961.
Works Cited
Best, Gary Dean. The Nickel and Dime Decade: American Popular Culture during the 1930s. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993.
Butler, Robert J. The Critical Response to Richard Wright. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Cavan Ruth S. And Katherine H. Ranck. The Family and the Depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Chicago. (2008). U.S. Census Bureau. [Online]. Available: http://www.census.gov/rochi/www/fun1.html.
Duffus, Matthew. (1999, January 26). The Mississippi Writers Page. [Online]. Available: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/wright_richard/.
" (Seitles, 1996) Seitles claims that integration has been a success in the fight against racial prejudice and states that: "Social consequences of racial isolation intertwine with grim economic realities for minorities. Due to the lack of interaction between racial groups, African-Americans are unprepared to work and socialize in a white majority society, while conversely, whites are not relating to, working with, or living with blacks. Prospects for African-American children raised
(It will be recalled that Wright's then unpublished Lawd Today served as a working model for The Outsider.) Cross, in his daily dealings with the three women and his fellow postal workers feel something akin to nausea. His social and legal obligations have enslaved him. He has inherited from his mother a sense of guilt and foreboding regarding his relationship to women and his general awareness of amoral physical
Lobbying does not have a particularly positive image in the United States, mainly because of its association with large banks and corporations, and subverting the legislative and regulatory process in favor of big business against the public interest. Lobbyists spent over a billion dollars a year at the federal level, which was more than money spent on campaign contributions. In 2009, the energy industry spent $450 million lobbying Congress and
..) the subsequent U.S. occupation of the island tied its economy ever closed to the United States as U.S. military governors promulgated laws giving U.S. firms concessionary access to the Cuban market. By the late 1920s U.S. firms controlled 75% of the sugar industry and most of the mines, railroads, and public utilities." (Leogrande and Thomas, 2002, 325-6) The economic dependence on the United States and in particular the high degree
Slave Narrative and Black Autobiography - Richard Wright's "Black Boy" and James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography The slave narrative maintains a unique station in modern literature. Unlike any other body of literature, it provides us with a first-hand account of institutional racially-motivated human bondage in an ostensibly democratic society. As a reflection on the author, these narratives were the first expression of humanity by a group of people in a society where
However, his work was not always well accepted and the there was a public outcry at the minimalist and bare design of this building. Another aspect of his designs that should be mentioned was his fondness for the use of natural materials in his buildings. He "...skillfully manipulated classical materials including marble, onyx, wood, and mirror, into a careful composition of visual patterns" (ArtandCulture Artist: Adolf Loos). Other important constructions