Nature and Nurture
Nature and Nurture
While “Down By the Riverside” protests against racial inequality by emphasizing Mann’s lack of freedom or agency in a system of oppression, A Raisin in the Sun promotes racial equality by giving each member of the Younger family a distinct voice and viewpoint which enables them to fight against segregation.
Lack of hope and control in “Down By the Riverside” forces the reader to confront the ugly truths of racism and the tragedies it causes. As a naturalist text, Wright aims to send the message that humans are products of their environment and will ultimately lose to natural or societal disaster. In the context of black men like Mann, this means powerlessness against a racist society and lack of true agency amidst a flood. Even in his final moments, Mann is silenced during his interrogation and fails to die with his own hands. As Mann is escorted away by the white soldiers, he thinks, “Ahll die fo they kill me!” and runs toward the water (Wright, 102). Death represents his last possible source of hope and agency, but even the power of killing himself is taken away by the soldiers who shoot Mann before he can reach the water. This tragic story urges the audience to take action against racial violence, and brings to light the struggles of the black community in the South which are often silenced.
The absolute segregation in “Down by the Riverside” shows that there is no way for the black community to find peace or success in a society with white oppressors. The natural disaster simply heightens racial tension instead of bringing the community together. In order to build the levee, “white folks were threatening to conscript all Negroes they could lay their hands on to pile sand- and cement-bags” (Wright, 56). Forced into pseudo-slavery, this labor exposes how little progress has been made even after legal emancipation. Wright reveals how black people have no power to resist oppression due to fear of racial violence. His depiction of openly-practiced and absolute segregation that white authorities support suggest the black community has no way to fight against this racist system. Instead, he protests indirectly for a new system which works with and for black people rather than solely against them.
On the other hand, A Raisin in the Sun depicts setbacks as well as small steps forward while giving voice to various ideologies of the Civil Rights Movement which allows for a multidimensional and empowering depiction of a black family. Hansberry’s realism allows her to depict nuance through varying perspectives in the Youngers, the actions they take, and the consequences of those actions without strongly pushing the reader towards any singular message. While Mann’s actions were unpleasant products of his situation, Raisin depicts characters that would make different decisions given the same scenario. Each member of the family wants to use the life insurance money for their different dreams, which leads to Mama deciding to buy a house and splitting the rest of the money among her children’s ambitions; she says to Walter “I want you to take this money and take three thousand dollars…for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account—with your name on it” (Hansberry 509). Every character believes in different ideologies which shape these dreams—Beneatha’s progressive, exploratory mindset; Walter’s struggle with masculinity and materialistic American Dream; and Mama’s more traditional values in family and physical freedom—and by showing the ways these different beliefs shape their character and actions Hansberry emphasizes choice and agency, though sometimes limited, within a poor black family.
Hansberry’s representation of segregation in the North carries more nuance, and the resolution of the Youngers moving into the white neighborhood represents both hope and foreshadowing. Lindner attempts to veil race as the reason he wants to prevent the Youngers from moving in, unlike the blatant segregation in “Down by the Riverside”. But despite Lindner’s proposal to prevent the Youngers from moving into their new house, the Youngers prioritize familial pride over complacency rooted in materialism. Despite his internal conflict between choosing money and the house, Walter ultimately rejects Lindner, saying, “...we have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it” (Hansberry 529). This resolution is imperfect: Walter has lost his business investment, and the family will likely continue to receive backlash in their new neighborhood. However, the family’s decision to stand their ground represents resistance against segregation, and presents hope to change the current system rather than overthrow it completely.
Though equipped with distinct messages and narrative styles, “Down by the Riverside” and A Raisin in the Sun are forms of protest literature which emphasize the need for racial equality. They represent various ideologies and struggles present during the Civil Rights Movement, and aim to bring to light black voices.
Hi Sabrina, I completely agree with your perspective about the different ways Wright and Hansberry chose to show protest through their writing. I think you framed your thesis very well by saying one "protests against racial inequality" while the other "promotes racial equality". I liked the way you demonstrated this difference in tone and protest delivery, and pointed out the tragedies in Down By the Riverside in comparison to the hopeful foreshadowing in A Raisin in the Sun. I happened to pick the same topic, and my thinking was very similarly aligned with yours, so it was cool to read the way you arranged your argument as well. Looking at the historical significance of the timeline in which these works were written, do you have any other ideas for connecting it to the Civil Rights Movement? I am wondering about how you would elaborate on the "ideologies" represented, because I had to think for a while to come up with my own connections. What I ended up concluding about these two works, I kind of linked the optimism, as well as growth and unity in Raisin, to perhaps the hopefulness of a Civil Rights Movement, and that it reflected a union among the people at the time in fighting for their rights. Since Down By the Riverside is a lot darker, I feel like it more desperately calls attention to the struggles of systemic racism, which would make sense since it was written before the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and could play a role in encouraging a movement like that to happen. So I am curious about any other ideas that you had! Great blog, I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteSabrina, I really liked how you compared the element of choice in Down By the Riverside and A Raisin in the Sun to illustrate how both stories were ones of protest against racism. While one has no choice (man vs nature), the other has a plethora of choices--and both get the attention of the reader to that of racial inequality. It was a really good idea to compare the two! I wonder how the difference in time period influenced these works as well, elucidating the struggles between decades for African Americans as separate yet terrible. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Sabrina!! You've made a wonderful point contrasting the difference between the motives of each piece of literature (fostering equality vs. denouncing racism) and the methods that each author uses to create their stories are definitely clearer to see. I'm intrigued by this "new system" you talk about in your paragraph about "Down By The Riverside" although I can see how the story hints at it by showing Black characters that have a community of dependency and support as well as Black and white characters working together during the flood (although weren't they only rescuing white residents? Maybe that last part isn't quite the best example).
ReplyDeleteHi Sabrina! Your interpretation of the narrative styles and takeaways in “Down by the Riverside” and “A Raisin in the Sun” insightfully shows how each work critiques racial inequalities. I like that you point out that “Down by the Riverside” employs naturalist techniques, while “A Raisin in the Sun” emphasizes the character perspectives. I totally agree that Wright’s short story exposes the ugly truths of violence and pseudo-slavery during the 1928 Mississippi flood, while “A Raisin in the Sun” reveals Black housing, financial, and educational difficulties in the North via the different beliefs of each family member. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteSabrina, I really liked how you juxtaposed the great need for a complete overhaul of the system in Down by the Riverside with the small, yet impactful, changes needed in Raisin in the Sun. I found your point about hope in Raisin in the Sun intriguing, and I think there could be some expansion on the difference in environment and resulting beliefs to contrast the two protest literature pieces. With the restrictions of Jim Crow so rigidly conforming the protagonists, it's believed that only a complete revisioning of the system can lead to change, while Raisin in the Sun believes more of a hope-based change within the system (even if it goes outside some lines).
ReplyDeleteSabrina, I really liked how you brought up the different subtle messages between "Down by the Riverside" and "A Raisin in the Sun." While Mann's message focuses more on the primal desperation caused by racial inequality, the Younger family shows a much slower but all the same prominent racial inequality. In "Down by the Riverside" we see Mann be stripped of his autonomy and his last desire taken from him by a system created to keep him inferior. While in "A Raisin in the Sun" Mr. Lindner tries to strip them of their autonomy, but the Youngers live in a society where they're able to refuse and take back their ability to choose back for themselves. Although the different stories have very different stakes and situations, they both focus on showing the effects of racial inequality, even in less drastic situations.
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