Race is a significant theme that is depicted within Richard Wright’s Black Boy, and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah, as they utilize their characters to examine how race is perceived in America. Within the novels, the protagonists discover that race is a notion who’s roots are embedded within culture and is an ideology that is nationally prevalent. Their individual encounters also demonstrate to them how race possesses the ability to impede them from experiencing the totality of personal freedom and obtainable opportunities. Within the novels, racism is predominantly perpetrated by those at the top of the racial hierarchy and is powerful enough to mold and affect the manner in which members of the black community think and behave towards one another. However, considering the different periods in which the novels take place, it is evident that Black Boy is a story that examines perceptible racism in the United States, while Americanah reflects a story of contemporary racism. In Black Boy, Richard grows up in the exceptionally prejudiced and segregated south during Jim Crow, and the discrimination enacted against him was the motivating force for his migration to the north. While Richard believed that the north would be a place of refuge, his migration to the north was actually a violation of his personal freedom. It was a violation because his race denied him the personal freedom of making the simple choice of residing in an area he desired to inhabit. It is evident that the voyage from the south to the north was not completed because Richard enjoyed the scenery of the north, but rather because he was unsure if he would survive in the south. Analogously, in Americanah, personal freedom is seized from Ifemelu when she is robbed of her right to freely express herself. This is depicted when she obtains an interview opportunity in Baltimore and is compelled to straighten her hair in order to augment her chances of attaining the job. Evidence of this is seen when Ruth states “My only advice? Lose the braids and straighten your hair. Nobody says this kind of stuff but it matters. We want you to get that job” (Adichie, 249). Later on, when Ifemelu attained the job she questioned whether or not it had anything to do with the alteration of her appearance. Ruth’s statement insinuates that Ifemelu’s hairstyle had the potential to avert her from obtaining the job despite her qualifications. Hence, this quote shows how Ifemelu had to compromise her personal freedom of self-expression due to societies intolerability of characteristics that do not align with whiteness. Now within Black Boy, race places an impediment on occupational and educational opportunities. This is demonstrated by the disproportionate rates of diversity within the labor market. For example, at the hospital it becomes clear to Richard that the nursing occupations were employed by white females, whereas the unimpressible and low income jobs such as cleaning were occupied by black women. The lack of diversity causes Richard to state “I wondered what law
…show more content…
In Black Boy, the ways in which whites feel and view blacks is transposed to the ways in which blacks begin to think about each other. For instance, in Black Boy, white perpetrators utilized their power and ideas of race to generate destruction within the black community through violence. The hatred and disdain that whites felt towards blacks was transferred to the black community and hatred and tension became feelings that blacks felt towards one another as they were deceived by whites. For example, in Black Boy, Wright discusses how although Richard and Harrison engaged in a physical confrontation with the knowledge that the altercation was arranged by whites, many other blacks were often blinded to this fact and sincerely engaged in altercations with their own people, ultimately creating hate and division among them. Additionally, we see how as whites tried to keep blacks intellectually inferior by depriving them from knowledge, blacks began to believe that knowledge was confined to whites. This is depicted when Richard is criticized for desiring to know what has happened with the animals being treated at the hospital. He states “my interest in what was happening in the institute amused the three other negroes…they had no curiosity about “white folk” things” (Wright,
In Black Boy, the ways in which whites feel and view blacks is transposed to the ways in which blacks begin to think about each other. For instance, in Black Boy, white perpetrators utilized their power and ideas of race to generate destruction within the black community through violence. The hatred and disdain that whites felt towards blacks was transferred to the black community and hatred and tension became feelings that blacks felt towards one another as they were deceived by whites. For example, in Black Boy, Wright discusses how although Richard and Harrison engaged in a physical confrontation with the knowledge that the altercation was arranged by whites, many other blacks were often blinded to this fact and sincerely engaged in altercations with their own people, ultimately creating hate and division among them. Additionally, we see how as whites tried to keep blacks intellectually inferior by depriving them from knowledge, blacks began to believe that knowledge was confined to whites. This is depicted when Richard is criticized for desiring to know what has happened with the animals being treated at the hospital. He states “my interest in what was happening in the institute amused the three other negroes…they had no curiosity about “white folk” things” (Wright,