Social economic or cultural problem
Every time has its social, economic or cultural problem going. The nineteenth century was heavily characterized by racism. The black man was looked down upon as inferior and treated as such. Oppressed by the people, society and government, they often ended up in the bottom of the economy living and working in poor conditions. The life of a black man did not entail anything but birth, struggle to survive and then death. The dream to be great or exception was not one many could dream of even with special talents and abilities. There are a few several great stories that made it to the books of history, but the truth is, a lot of the great stories of the greatness of the black man, were left untold. This essay has derived scenarios from three sources to explain how racism was an obstacle when it comes to individual identity.
The invisible man is a story about a black man who lived in an American society that happened to be widely white and extremely racist. His story show what the life of a black man was in such a racist society. The story also tells of how learnt to cope in every environment he went and how he managed to stay invisible. The author of the book had a deeper perspective on what most works highlighted when it came to the black man. The black man is seen as oppressed, and most work talk about social injustices placed on the black man that hold him back progressing or being at per with the white race. The approach of this author, however, was how the social life of a black man was affected then and how it varied in different societies and settings. While most works work towards showing the black people as oppressed and white people is the oppressors, the author does not take aside. This work aims to understand the black man within his context, and how the society he was set up in affected the black man’s identity.
The main character in the story “the invisible man” is a black man who struggles with finding his identity as a black man. Being in an American society that was extremely racist, he was constantly around white people who decide how they expect black people to behave within their society. As a black man with the desire to live through life, the man finds himself assuming the character set out for him to fit in that particular set up. He attempts to define himself using the characters imposed on him, which makes him anything but his true self. In using their standards to gauge himself, he forgets his true identity from within. As communities changed, standards changed in a bid to adjust; eventually, he was like an invisible cultured, washed off of all the complex of his individuality, and he can barely recognize what he has turned out to become. The changes the narrator had gone through the show a detailed explanation of how he changed. It shows how his skin colour dictated how to act when his limits were tested and whether his personality was able to stand the test.
When the narrator arrives in New York, he joins a factory called liberty paints plants. The factory heavily relies on the contribution of the black man both in terms of skill and labor. The company downright downplays the roles the black play in the growth of the factory products. This makes the narrator suffocated, taken advantage of if not a good place to be in, which is why the narrator feels changed to fight for racial equality. He joins a group called the brotherhood; he felt seen and happy to find a group that was ready to fight for racial equality. This joy was, however, short-lived as he came to realize soon that the brotherhood was using him. As it turned out, the brotherhood did not share the same believes as the narrator, but rather, they were using him as a token black man for a project. The experience of the narrator in New York goes to emphasize how the black man had been used for their skills and abilities but not valued as human beings. The fact that the factory the narrator worked in was highly comprised of the black population; the fact that they were not recognized for contribution shows how the white man used the black man for convenience. The same case applies to the narrator when he joins the brotherhood; he is used for his race and not his beliefs or what he stands for. The above illustrations show how being black in a racist society meant being treated as if one did not exist with a full capacity which made it easy for the black people to lose touch with their individuality or who truly are.
After all the experiences the narrator has gone through, he comes up with the conclusion that he was invisible. This was in the sense that the society had already decided what to make f him. He was limited by how they viewed him in a sense, no matter how much he achieved, to them, he would never amount to much more than a black man. He has, as a result, learnt how to accept it. They would only see him the way they wanted to but not for who he was. In a world where being yourself is not an option, the black man found himself acting more as they wanted and even forgetting how to act like his true self. This shows directly how racism negatively affected individualism.
Incidents in the life of a slave girl are another book that addresses the racism black people suffered in the 19th century. It is an autobiography by which Harriet Jacobs. She writes about her experience as a slave; she explains the essence of her writing is to sensitize people on what slavery entails to encourage the anti-slavery movement. She clearly states that if it were up to her, she would rather not tell the story. In the narrating of the story, the narrator has used the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her experience. When it comes to writing history, the real name of the narrator or who the story is about is important. Usually, authors take pride in the work they have done and expect to be recognized for it. For Harriet, the narrative of slavery had dictated all her life. This erased all the individuality she could have had. This is why she used a pseudo, to express what she went through anonymously, she had been robbed so much of her culture that it did not matter whether her real name was written, her life was a nutshell analysis of what life is like as a slave.
Linda, the name the narrator picked, was born into slavery and raised by her mother and father in a somewhat well off household for slaves. At the age of six years old, her mother dies, and her life begins. Throughout her life, her story entails a lot of compromises. She is forced to make drastic decisions without caring about the long term consequences since she has no choice. After her mother dies, Linda is left of the care of slave masters who taught her how to read. A few years later, her owner died, and she was sold to cruel slave masters who neglected her. Her slave master, Dr Flint, wanted to engage Linda in a sexual relationship, something she did not want. She avoided it for seven-year but knowing that Dr Flint would not give up, she consented to a relationship with another white man.
Linda got into a romantic relationship with their white neighbour Mr Sands with whom she birthed two children. Linda did this in the hope that Dr Flint would get upset and send her and her children to Mr Sands, but M. Flint did not. The decision for Linda to be romantically involved and have children was not voluntary, or within her character Linda had been forced under the circumstances, to give herself to a man in a bid to avoid her slave master from taking advantage of us. This illustration shows how sad it is that as a black woman, free will even of your own body was not there In a society like this; individuality was not an option with the slaves forced to do what they have to, to survive.
Linda was also familiar with the life of holding. When Dr Flint discovered that she had indeed had an affair and birthed two kids, as punishment, he ordered her to be sent to his fields to be broken as her field hand and so will her children. To avoid this painful fate and knowing that running away was not easy for her especially with two children, Linda hatched another plan She hid in the attic of her grandmother to make it look like she ran away. As a result, her kids were given to her grandmother, who raised them as she watched them from the attic. She hid in the attic for years, which was not good even for her health. Later while in New York, Linda goes into hiding again once the daughter of Dr Flint attempts to take her as a slave again. For Linda, survival and freedom are the only two things that matter. The values of family staying united is a luxury Linder, nor her children can enjoy. While their rights to live are linked to the will of the white people, the black people only looked forward to making it through. They did not have the luxury to choose love, or what culture to raise their children in. This led to children not inheriting any sense of individuality from their parents.
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville is my next source that illustrates how racism impacted individualism. It is a story about a naïve optimistic ship captain called Benito Delano. Delano runs into a ship that appears to need his help. When he initially sees the ship, it is strange looking and has no flag; this meant that they needed help. Delano hurried to offer them supplies he had that he assumed that they would need, naturally. When he gets to the ship, he notices that there were black slaves as well as sailors, all in poor looking conditions with a caption names Benito Cereno, one who Delano thought of as strange. While in the ship, Delano sees a lot of unusual behaviour, but it takes him a while to realize what is happening. A couple of times, he had noticed the sailors seeming scared to speak in the presence of the black slaves. In one bizarre incident, a sailor had given him beads and told him to cut it, but a black slave had grabbed the beads and thrown them in the ocean. To this point, Delano should have noticed that something was off; however, his racism was so bad that he naturally did not think the black man could be the oppressor and not the captive. From this illustration, it shows how the character of a black man had been reduced in meaning. It did not matter how much he did or what rank he rose to, in the eyes of a white man; he was nothing more than a black man. If Delano were not racist, he would have noticed that the black slaves had overpowered and were basically in control of the ship.
Benito Cereno, the supposed captain, was followed by a black slave named Babo who followed him around everywhere and supported him in everything. The way Delano saw it, their relationship had become so close they were co-dependent on each other. He thinks of Benito as the slave master and Babo as the slave. The reality was, the black slaves had taken over the ship, and it was Benito who was in deed under the command of Babo. In one such occasion, Babo cuts Cereno on his cheek as he is saving him. Later, Babo shows Delano a wound that was allegedly inflicted on him by Cereno as punishment for the cut on his cheek. At this point, Delano should have noticed a disconnect in the story and see that Cereno is entirely manipulated. Due to the deep racism rooted in Delano, the story made more sense, especially since the alternative would mean that the black person had power. He naturally did not understand how a black person would dominate a white man; he truly believed that he was inferior.
There were many other reasons from Delano to realize sooner than he did that the boat he had gone to rescue was a slave revolt. On several occasions, Delano had witnessed the black slaves behaved violently towards the sailors. He would think it was strange that these slaves got away with behaviour he considered punishable. He had also taken note of looks the sailors were trying to give him as if trying to tell them a secret. He recalled instances where a sailor almost said something, but then a slave showed up, and the sailor went quiet as if they were scared to get caught. Going back home and analyzing the factors, it only made sense to conclude that something was off. He, however, did not as that would mean insinuating that the black people had dominated the white. That felt like an insult to the intelligence of the Spanish sailors. These feeling of superiority blinded Delano from seeing the truth that slavery is not about the colour of the rather; rather it is about oppression inflicted on one human by another, regardless of race.
In conclusion, the nineteenth century was characterized by extreme racism. It was characterized by slavery and undermining of the black man. The above works have illustrated how the black man was used and abused in the racist American society over and over again. More to racism, this essay analyzes how the black man was affected by the society he was raised in. It relates how society treated the black man and how that contributed to affecting the mentality of the black man. It analyzes how the black man lost his identity, trying to survive the dictatorship and controlling of the black man. It explains how the black people were oppressed into hiding away their cultures, their beliefs, even their names.