Harlem's black community

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.



“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.” (Invisible Man, Page 126)
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Job Interview In Harlem

The narrator finally moves to Harlem from the south. Harlem is a completely different world to him. There is less racism in Harlem. When he arrives there he sees many black people with regular jobs such as cashiers and policemen. He is shocked by this because he wouldn’t see something like this in the south. White people are nicer in Harlem too.
However the narrator is still a little bit self conscious. He is afraid because of his skin color that he will not make it in Harlem as if he had a better chance in the south.

“White folks were funny; Mr. Bates might not wish to see a Negro the first thing in the morning. I turned and walked down the hall and looked out of the window. I would wait awhile.”
In this passage he is meeting up with a white man for a job interview because he needed a job to survive. He is scared that the interviewer might not hire him because he is black. The narrator thinks that the white man doesn’t want to see a black man right away in the morning. The narrator actually degrades his race by doing this. He shouldn’t be intimidated by a white man because of his skin color. It doesn’t seem as if the narrator cares too much about racism. He just does whatever he thinks is right and he thinks obeying white people is right. But by doing that he is only setting his people one hundred years back.

Fighting to Survive

Invisible Man is a compelling story that deals with racism and violence to black people in the south and New York. In chapter one the story grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Right from the beginning the story is tense and interesting.
“But as we tried to leave we were stopped and ordered to get into the ring. There was nothing to do but what we were told. All ten of us climbed under the ropes and allowed ourselves to be blindfolded with broad bands of white cloth. One of the men seemed to feel a bit sympathetic and tried to cheer us up as we stood with our backs against the ropes. Some of us tried to grin.” (Invisible Man, Page 17)
Chapter one takes place in a hotel. The narrator goes to the hotel to give his speech to the white men that own the town. He is asked to join the entertainment. Little did he know that he was going to be the entertainment. He and some other black men were at a boxing ring watching heavy weight champs fight. Then when they were done the black men were told to fight each other all at the same time. The black men had no choice. They had to obey the white men. They were all blindfolded and they started fighting each other nearly to death. The narrator was the second to last one standing. He got knocked out by a bigger person. The reader can see that the racism already starts from here. The white men have all the power and they can tell the black men whatever they want because they have the authority. The black men didn’t even say anything back to the white men. They just did what they were told because they were scared of them. What happened in this quote is cruel. The white men acted as if they were in Roman times in a coliseum. They watched other men fight each other just for their amusement. Do you think that making the black men fight each other was racist or not?

Invisible Man

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison



Invisible Man talks about a black man’s life in a white world. When it was published in 1952 it was a shocking book when it came out. Nowadays it is an important work of literature because it talks about the hardships of a black man in the south. This book is about a young man’s journey in the south to the streets of New York. As the book goes on the man learns more about the world and starts to have a very different views. This book reveals racism in the U.S.The book starts of with the main characters telling the reader how no one can see him because he is invisible to them. They bump into him as if they don’t even see him. He keeps getting disrespected by people so he doesn’t stand for it anymore. One night he confronts a man for knocking him down on the ground. The invisible man pulls a knife on the man making the man think badly about his race. The white probably thought of him and his people as a violent race. Right at the beginning you can see the racism already starting to form.

Family Reunion

The book ends on a happy note even though it started out with racism and violence. As the years passed by the characters seemed to mature and the violence and racism was starting to fade away. Celie writes her last letter to God, the stars, the sky, the people and everything else. She writes this letter as if it were a prayer. The last letter basically sums up everything they have gone through in the story and how it all turned out. It is about a homecoming of Nettie, Olivia, and Adam. These were the people that were in Africa the whole time the story took place. Celie finally sees her children for the first time. They all have a big family reunion on the Fourth of July. Celie ends the letter by saying Amen. The reader can see that one strong black woman was able to withstand violence and racism from almost everyone in the book. Racism still goes on today but it isn’t as bad as it was back when this story took place.

Racism Since The Beginning Of Man

“When the missionaries got to the part bout Adam and Eve being naked, the Olinka peoples nearly bust out laughing. Especially when the missionaries tried to make them put on clothes because of this. They tried to explain to the missionaries that it was they who put Adam and Eve out of the village because they was naked. Their word for naked is white. But since they are covered by color they are not naked. They said anybody looking at a white person can tell they naked but black people can not be naked because they can be white.” (The Color Purple, Page 240)
This is the 83rd chapter in the book. In this part of the chapter Nettie is explaining in her letter the Olinka version of Adam and Eve. Usually people think that white people are the ones being racist when it is also people of color being racist too. They claim that Adam was the firs white man not the first man. They believed that black people were there before white people. The missionaries explain that Adam was naked and the Olinka burst out laughing saying that Adam was white and being white made you naked while being colored did not make you naked. The Olinka say that the black people kicked Adam out of the Garden of Eden because he was white. Because of this the white people think of black people as snakes and want to get back at them. It is true that whites were racist against blacks back in that time but black people in Africa thought very highly of themselves saying that they were the first people and they were better then white people which made the white people racist towards them. Do you think it is still like that today? Do races think they are better then other races?

Racism Around the World

“Two white men came yesterday and spent a couple of hours strolling about the village, mainly looking at the wells. Such is the innate politeness of the Olinka that they rushed about preparing food for them, though precious little is left, since many of the gardens that flourish at this time of the year have been destroyed. And the white men sat eating as if the food was beneath notice.
It is understood by the Olinka that nothing good is likely to come from the same persons who destroyed their houses, but custom dies hard. I did not speak to the men myself, but Samuel did. He said their talk was all of workers, kilometers of land, rainfall, seedlings, machinery, and whatnot. One seemed totally indifferent to the people around him - simply eating and then smoking and staring off into the distance – and other, somewhat younger, appeared to be enthusiastic about learning the language. Before, he says, it dies out.” (The Color Purple, 173)

This passage is from one of Nettie’s letters to Celie talking about her life in Africa with the Olinka tribe. In this passage the reader can see a little bit of racism from the two white men that are mentioned. It’s not only America where black people are treated unfairly; it’s everywhere else where there are black people. White people believe that they are superior no matter what. We see that in this passage. Two white men were strolling around the village and the Olinka were rushing to make a special dinner for them because they were white. The white men did not even like food. It was given to them for free in a hurry to satisfy them but it didn’t. One of the white men wanted to learn the Olinka language before it died out. This to me seems that he didn’t believe the Olinka were going to survive. He probably thought the white man would take over and that would be the end of the Olinka tribe. If you were in the Olinka tribe would you make food for the white man that is going to destroy your tribe?

Now I've seen everything!

“What can I tell you about New York-or even about the train that took us there! We had to ride in the sit-down section of the train, but Celie, there are beds on trains! And a restaurant! And toilets! The beds come down out of the walls, over the tops of the seats, and are called berths. Only white people can ride in the beds and use the restaurant. And they have different toilets from colored.One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going-we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.” (The Color Purple, Page 126)
In this chapter Nettie is writing a letter to Celie saying that she is going to Africa with her missionary friends. In this quote she tells her about New York and we see a perfect example of racism and segregation in this quote. Nettie is saying how the trains in Africa have all these features such as toilets, beds, restaurants, and berths (seats that turn into beds). However these luxuries are only for the white people. The black people had their own train carts. This is a perfect example of the Jim Crow Laws. Separate but equal. These features are separate but are they really equal. The white passengers had berths and clean toilets and were able to use the restaurants in the train while the black people had their own dirty bathrooms and could not use the restaurants. This quote shows that black people did not have the luxuries that white people. Another example of racism in this quote is when Nettie and her missionary friends meet a white man. The white man asks where they are going and they tell him that they are going to Africa. When they tell him this he says “Niggers going to Africa now I have seen everything”. He is disgusted and tickled. Why would he be disgusted by black people going to Africa?

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

“Mayor ________ bought Miz Millie a new car, cause she said if colored people could have cars then one for her was past due. So he bought her a car, only he refuse to show her how to drive it. Everyday he comes home from town he look at her, look out the window at her car, say, How you enjoying’er Miz Millie. She fly off the sofa in a huff, slam the door going in the bathroom. She ain’t got no friends. So one day she say to me, car been sitting out in the yard two months, Sofia, do you know how to drive? I guess she remembered first seeing me up gainst Buster Broadnax car. Yes ma’am I say….. Do you think you could teach me? She says.” (The Color Purple, Page 100)
This quote is from Celie’s forty-fourth letter. In this passage the reader can see the racism in which white people portray against black people. Miz Millie, the mayor’s wife, demands a new car from him because she thinks that if a black person can own a car then she should own a car also. She thinks that whatever a black person has a white person should have also and it has to be better then the black person’s. Even though Miz Millie owns a better car then Sofia she still doesn’t know how to drive but Sofia does and the mayor refuses to teach her. So Miz Millie asks Sofia to teach her how to drive. If Sofia doesn’t do it she will probably be forced to do it. So she helps her out and now Sofia has to take care of the kids and house and teach Miz Millie how to drive which makes her situation worse. It seems as the white owners are putting her to work like back in the slave days and she doesn’t have any say what so ever. Sofia is a much better driver then Miz Millie which shows that black people can be better then white people in certain situations. So why do the white people still discriminate against the blacks and feel like they have more power over them? Anything that a white person can do a black person can do it too maybe even better.

Racism and Violence in Books

One of the major themes in The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker, is the violence on the black community. Since the black people in the south are victims of racism by whites in the south they create their own black community to escape from white racism and violence. However the violence within the black community tears them apart which makes the white racists happy. So when the black men beat their women and rape their women the white racists like this and support this. In Walker’s novel most of the male characters are violent sexist and racist rapists. The novel is very graphic and gruesome when it comes to the female characters being raped. Not only are white males beating down black women but even the black men are beating their own women. However those who start the violence are actually the victims. Some of the male characters in the novel are Mr._______, Harpo, Alfonso and the prison warden. Some of the female characters are Sofia, Squeak (Mary Agnes), and Celie, the protagonist. Harpo beats his wife Sofia only after his father tells him that Sofia’s strength makes Harpo less of a man. Mr._______ beats and rapes his wife Celie only because of the way his own father treated him. One example of white racism is when the prison warden beats and rapes Squeak.



“Poor little Squeak come home with a limp. Her dress rip. Her hat missing and one of the heels come off her shoe. What happen us ast. He saw the Hodges in me, she say. And he didn’t like it one bit. Harpo come up the steps from the car. My wife beat up, my women rape, he say. I ought to go back out there with guns, maybe set fire to the place, burn the crackers up ” (The Color Purple, Page 94)
This passage comes from Celie’s forty-first letter. This letter displays white power at its worst. Squeak, one of the black women exposed to black violence, comes back from the prison that is holding Sofia beat up and torn. Her clothes are ripped and she has bruises all over her body. The prison warden, Squeak’s uncle, raped Squeak. She was dressed up as a white woman in attempt to get Sofia out of Jail. He later finds out that she was his mulatto niece and he felt that she does not have any rights. Southern laws stated that any person that was mixed race was considered black no matter what. Light skinned people were used as servants in houses while dark skinned people were used as slaves in the plantation. The white warden knew that he would not get in trouble for raping her. Back in the south violence was everywhere. The reason Sofia was put in jail in the first place was for saying, “Hell No” to the mayor’s wife. The mayor slapped Sofia and she knocked him out which put her in jail. Racism and violence was very common in the South.