Show how racism in society is revealed through the experiences of the characters in 'The White Bandage' and 'The Golden Cadillac'.

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Show how racism in society is revealed

through the experiences of the characters in

‘The White Bandage’ and ‘The Golden Cadillac’

In 1865, slavery was finally abolished and black people were now independent. Now that black people were no longer forced to be slaves you would of thought that they would be free and happy. In fact, they were probably worse off.

Slaves didn’t exactly have an easy time. They lived a difficult and arduous life and weren’t paid or rewarded for their hard labour. In some cases, though, slaves were treated fairly well and, even though still being slaves, there was some form of acceptance for them. Even though it may have been extremely rare.

But once they were given their ‘freedom’, they had to go through humiliation, segregation and a life of violence and hatred towards them and their families.

I am going to look at two stories, ‘The White Bandage’ and ‘The Golden Cadillac’ and see how they reflect the racism in society.

‘The White Bandage’ tells a story about a black teenage boy who wishes to become an athlete. At the beginning of the story it explains how he had ‘won the mile…at the Missouri state meet for Negroes’. Seeing as it was ‘one of the best high school times of the year’ he wanted it to be publicized. He was hoping for it to be printed in the Scholastic Record Book.

When it came to summer, the teenager and a few of his friends went looking for jobs. For two months they kept going downtown but always came home with nothing. By August, his friends had given up, but he continued going downtown.

One day, it was particularly hot. The teenager decided he would get a drink so he walked into a restaurant to buy one. Once he was in there, though, he realised he had made a mistake. The man at the counter immediately told him ‘We don’t serve niggers here’. Then someone else in the restaurant smashed a bottle and started coming towards him. The teenager had already been through a lot with being rejected for jobs and now he was being refused service in a restaurant.

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The man slashed the teenager’s hand and then threw him out of the restaurant. The teenager eventually fainted.

‘Then I fainted. A wonderful feeling, like falling away from the world’

When he awakes, a white lady is kneeling next to him. By saying a white lady he is making a statement that he didn’t notice she was a lady. She was a white lady. Not the same as a black lady. She was caring for him and this was unusual. A policeman soon walks up and immediately assumes the teen is bothering the lady. Again, he notices the man ...

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