Poetry in literature: forms and analysis

¶ … Alice Walker, and "The Child by Tiger," by Thomas Wolfe. Specifically, it will compare and contrast the theme of the story, the overall message each author is trying to convey. When a story confronts racism, but is unconsciously racist in its portrayal of minority characters, it contains "racism within racism," and does not give a balanced view of the minority characters. Both of these stories contain racism within racism, and defeat the purpose of writing "intelligently" about blacks.

RACISM WITHIN RACISM

In "The Child by Tiger" Wolfe portrays Dick Prosser as a typical black man of the time, working at menial jobs for low wages. Yet here is a man who served in the Army, obviously with some responsibility, who is reduced to chopping wood and cooking, and it is accepted, not only by the people in the story, but by the author as well. When he goes crazy, he is just a "crazy" nigger, and only the whites that are shot really matter. Then it is discovered the Jewish pawnbroker sold him the rifle, and the Jew's portrayal is even more racist than Dick's. Wolfe attempts to portray Dick as a victim of the world he lived in, but his equally racist portrayal of him takes away the importance from his portrayal, and sheds light on Wolfe's own racism, even if he did not realize it. "He came from darkness. He came out of the heart of darkness, from the dark heart of the secret and undiscovered South. He came by night, just as he passed by night" (Wolfe 156).

In contrast, Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" poses the opposite problem, African-Americans, who in trying to fit in a white man's world have lost all traces of their heritage and racial culture. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 53). The heroine changes her white name to the African name Wangero, but her clothing, her speech, and even her Muslim tendencies are not her real generational heritage, and since she really does not understand her African heritage, she is a phony. She is using racism as a barrier to her own family and culture. Her hunt for her culture is pathetic, and she is not a sympathetic character, rather she is a caricature of those blacks that turn their backs on their families in order to find their "roots," but do not value or appreciate what they finally find.