Also, some White scientists had developed theories about differences in races that could be explained scientifically such as that of Blacks being less intelligent, and these discoveries encouraged white superiority among the society. The theories although disproved later and considered “pseudoscience”, were still widely accepted due to the influence of the people and the psychological stereotype they had built up.
- Why did the Blacks not complain and protest about their treatment to the state authorities or federal government? [6 marks]
The authorities were whites, and many of them were also prejudiced against the blacks.
Many of the policemen were just as bad as any of the other whites, if not worse, as shown by “A white policeman watched in the corner twirling his nightstick; but he made no move”. The policeman also subsequently accused her of being drunk and arrested her. This shows that even the law enforcers were prejudiced against the black, as prejudice permeated every strata of society. As law enforcers, being prejudiced against the black was against their own purpose, which was to keep the town safe in upholding justice, yet they themselves practiced injustice. If the Blacks complained to the authorities, the authorities would probably not help them in stopping the racism, and the Blacks would likely to be accused of some other crime that they did not commit as the authorities themselves were corrupt. Thus Blacks often had no opportunity to voice out and to make a change in society to stop racism.
Question on Black Boy and A Brief History of the Deep South:
Answer the following question by writing a 200-word response.
Compare the two texts, which you have read, an extract from by Richard Wright and A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South for:
- Tone
- Use of Language (Style)
- Register (Degree of Formality or Informality) [8 marks]
Black Boy by Richard Wright is a personal recountive piece while A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South a piece of expository writing.
In Black Boy, the narrator recalls and describes 2 incidents that occurred on the same day which impacted his life and let him better understand the Whites’ thoughts and how to react to them. The purpose of the author is to let the reader understand situations that went on at that time from the first-person point of view such that the reader can comprehend the severity of the problem, and gives a few insights. On the other hand, A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South illustrates briefly how Black slavery began and progressed in the South. The purpose of the author is probably to inform the reader on how racism progressed on a whole as a whole area, the south, rather than to show real life situations that went on within the community.
In Black Boy, the tone is rather dissatisfied and has hints of complaints, such as in “My face must have reflected my silent anger, for the boss slapped me reassuringly on the back.” In this passage some disgust of the narrator is also shown through even the eclipses right after ‘ “Here have a cigarette,” he said.’ However, in A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South, the tone is a-matter-of-factly as the narrator is merely presenting a set of historical facts, with little bias or emotion, such as in “The Southerners got very rich from these plantation farms making lots of money.” In a way it becomes a more reciting tone as the history of the Deep South is reported.
In Black Boy, words, especially adjectives and adverbs are used to colour the writing, such as in “every fleeting expression” and “hot, dusty road”. However, in A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South, adjectives and adverbs are used for precision of information, as shown in “ruined plantation” and “brutal system”. Another case would be “The Yankie Northerners beat the Southerners and burnt and destroyed many of their beautiful big plantation houses”, where “beautiful” is used not so much to colour the writing but to show the massive contrast of before and after.
Black Boy is rather informal, as the narrator tells you the events of a day in his life. Phrases like “one morning” and “When I went to the rear of the store” show you that the narrator is merely telling you a story. In A Brief Introduction To The History Of The Deep South, the language is rather formal. Passive voice is used, such as in the case of the first sentence, “The American Civil War was started as a fight over the rights to use slaves” , rather than saying “The fight over rights to use slaves started the American Civil War” or something similar, as using passive voice would emphasize more on the American Civil war and also make the tone more formal.