Heroes and Anti-Heroes: Racism in Himes and Paredes
This paper offers a comparative literary analysis of Chester Himes's If He Hollers, Let Him Go and Americo Paredes's With His Pistol in His Hand, examining how both works expose structural racism in America through their respective protagonists. Set against the backdrop of wartime Los Angeles and the Texas–Mexico border, the paper traces the ways in which racial prejudice—both overt and institutionalized—constrains the lives of Bob Jones and Gregorio Cortez. The analysis considers how both authors use narrative, folklore, and personal experience to compel readers toward social awareness and activism, ultimately arguing that only a critical, conscientized perspective can make structural and cultural violence visible to those who remain privileged within it.
- Introduction: Structural Racism in Two American Stories: Contextualizes both novels within American racial history
- Arguing the Long-Term Consequences of Racism: Traces systemic racism's grip on Jones and wartime America
- Persuading Readers to Activism: Compares how Himes and Paredes move readers toward action
- Conclusion: Synthesizes both works through conscientization theory
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper draws a sustained, parallel comparison between two distinct literary works—one a realist novel, the other rooted in folklore and ballad—showing how each uses a different narrative mode to expose the same underlying system of racial oppression.
- It grounds literary analysis in historical context, anchoring the texts in wartime America, the Zoot Suit Riots, and Japanese-American internment to demonstrate that the works reflect documented social realities rather than mere fictional conceits.
- The introduction of the concept of "conscientization" in the conclusion gives the paper a theoretical anchor, elevating the discussion from plot summary to critical theory.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative literary analysis by reading two thematically linked but generically distinct texts alongside each other. Rather than treating each book in isolation, it identifies a shared structural argument—that racial violence is systemic and inescapable—and shows how each author reaches that argument through different literary means: realist fiction for Himes and folklore-to-ballad transformation for Paredes.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a contextualizing introduction that situates both works within broader American racial history. The second section deepens the argument by tracing the long-term consequences of structural racism as depicted in Himes's novel. The third section shifts to Paredes, analyzing how ballad and folklore function as vehicles for political persuasion. The conclusion synthesizes both works through the lens of conscientization, arguing that critical awareness is the necessary precondition for meaningful activism.
Introduction: Structural Racism in Two American Stories
Chester Himes and Americo Paredes tell stories that compel readers to be concerned about structural racism in America. Though the settings are circa 1900 and the 1940s, the stranglehold that bigotry has on America—particularly in the South—has not been eliminated. Certainly bigotry, or at least the overt expression of it, has abated somewhat, but one wonders if Himes would still conclude that society is characterized by hypocrisy and contradiction. Racial hatred and racial violence find expression today, just as they did in Los Angeles in the 1940s.
With His Pistol in His Hand by Americo Paredes is a Texan tall tale—and an American true story. The book began as a doctoral dissertation in the Department of English and came to wider fame when a lead story was published in Dallas in 1957 by Mody C. Boatright (ed.) in Chapter II, "The Legend," of Mesquite and Willow. The time is the Texas Revolution, with references extending up through World War II. The place is the Texas–Mexico border. The central problem is the persecution of Mexicans by Anglo-Americans.
Chester Himes's If He Hollers, Let Him Go does not simply begin with Bob Jones building Liberty ships in the shipyards of Los Angeles. Quite obviously, the story has its roots in the antebellum South, from which it was only a short leap to the 1940s. The years before World War II were characterized by a narrowly defined nationalism and deep suspicions of difference—sentiments that nearly kept the United States out of the war altogether, and did so for some time, as Wilson resisted aiding the Europeans. On top of these fears were piled increasing immigration rates and further erosion of domestic homogeneity. The prejudices of white Americans were raw and incendiary. As Bob Jones knew, violence could flare from the embers of bias at any time and in any place.
References
Dunn, S. (1960). With his pistol in his hand: A border ballad and its hero. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 63(3), 487–491.
Itagaki, L. M. (2003). Transgressing race and community in Chester Himes's If He Hollers Let Him Go. African-American Review, 37(1).
Himes, C. B. (1945). If he hollers, let him go. New York, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Co.
Mertz, R. J. (1974). No one can arrest me: The story of Gregorio Cortez. Journal of South Texas, 1.
Paredes, A. (1958). With his pistol in his hand: A border ballad and its hero. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
R. E. C. (1946, 2nd Quarter). Race in the rough: If he hollers let him go. Phylon (1946–1956), 7(2), 210–212.
Wright, M. T. (1946, Spring). It can happen anywhere: If he hollers let him go. The Journal of Negro Education, 15(2), 213–214.
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