Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, two African-American authors active in the mid-20th century, took up the challenge of exploring and exposing adversity to that African Americans faced. through their writings. They highlighted issues of discrimination and the negative effects of racism not only on African Americans but on society as a whole. Wright and Ellison, in their respective novels Native Son and Invisible Man, depict African-American protagonists constrained by racism and struggling to develop their own identities in the early 20th century, resulting in undesirable identities and, at times, a lack of understanding. identity itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Both Wright and Ellison had similar encounters with racism that greatly impacted their writing. They were both from the southern United States and moved north to urban areas. Wright moved first from Mississippi to Memphis, then to Chicago and later to New York where he met Ellison, who had moved from Oklahoma ("Richard Wright"). When they met in New York, Wright served as a mentor to Ellison and helped him grow as a writer (“Ralph Ellison” 1516). Wright's influence on Ellison is evident through the similarities in their writing styles and content. They both reflect on their personal experiences of discrimination in their novels, and many details of their novels are woven from their own encounters. For example, Ellison's unnamed narrator in Invisible Man even reflects his own migration from the South to New York. By drawing on their own experiences, Wright and Ellison are able to bring their writing to life as these autobiographical techniques add depth, detail, and dynamism. The settings of the novels create a restrictive environment for black protagonists. Although Native Son takes place in the relatively northern city of Chicago, Bigger Thomas still experiences repressive discrimination because he is black and perceived as inferior. Even though he lives in a place with better race relations than the South, white supremacy and division are endemic. In the novel, African Americans were restricted to living in the Black Belt, a neighborhood reserved for African Americans: “The car sped through the Black Belt, passing tall buildings housing black life” (Wright 70 ). African Americans may have lived in the same city as whites, but they were not equal and still had to live in separate areas and neighborhoods. Similarly, in Invisible Man, the unnamed narrator faces racism even after moving up North to New York. At first, he is surprised by all the freedoms of African Americans when he first arrives in Harlem; his treatment here is so different from how he was treated at his black Southern college. He is impressed: “Then, at the intersection of the street, I was shocked to see a black police officer directing traffic – and there were white drivers in the traffic obeying his signals as if it were the most natural thing in the world” (Ellison 159). ). The simple scene shows such a contrast to what the South must be like since he is so shocked by what he sees, and it gives the reader an idea of ​​the conditions of the South. This initial scene of the unnamed narrator describing Harlem gives the impression that it is a great place, full of freedom and equality for African Americans; in reality, it ends up being just as oppressive, because white people still control itslife through their power and influence. Although physical location influences the restrictions placed on black protagonists in both novels, time period plays the most important role due to the state of race relations during the early to mid-20th century. No matter where the African American characters went, they were going to face racism and discrimination because of how prevalent they were at the time. As mentioned above, the setting traps the black protagonist in a limiting environment, which contributes strongly to the theme of the individual in a restricted society. This theme manifests itself in both novels as the racism the protagonists are constantly subjected to traps them in an internal struggle for identity. The setting, particularly the period of the novels, lays the foundation for a restricted society, but it is the vivid depictions of racism used by both authors that paint the picture of a restrictive society. The racism that the protagonists face isolates them from others and essentially from society because they are separated from the white characters. Due to division and discrimination, they are deprived of equal opportunities, which further isolates them and promotes their individual struggles for identity. Racism is an important element in both novels that continually serves to create internal conflict for the black protagonists, as it restricts them. leaving them without identity. The restrictive society pushes Bigger Thomas towards a life of crime in search of an identity; it reflects the racism and discrimination he feels from white people: “To Bigger and his friendly white people, white people weren't really people; they were a kind of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming above us, or like a deep, swirling river suddenly spreading out at our feet” (Wright 114). He expresses that white people aren't even humans, just like white people felt like other African Americans aren't even humans. Wright reinforces this idea through a simile comparing white people to an ambiguous natural power. This "natural force" is what restrains Bigger and makes him feel like he has no choice but to commit crime both as a means of finding an identity and defeating white power by breaking the rules established in their restrictive society. Similarly, Ellison shows how the unnamed narrator has been trapped by society because he always felt like he was being told who he was, mostly by white people in power, and was never able to understand it for himself: “All my life I have been looking for something. , and everywhere I turned, someone was trying to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too…I searched for myself and asked everyone but me questions that I, and I alone, could answer” (Ellison 15). Reflecting on his life, the anonymous narrator discovers the extent to which he was trapped by society and that the only way to free himself was to declare himself an invisible man. His only escape from the chains of society was to go underground. Wright and Ellison show how white power oppresses their black protagonists, primarily through stark depictions of racism. Both Wright and Ellison use color images wherever possible in their novels as a means of describing and identifying people; as a result, white society attempts to impose identities chosen on the protagonists based on the color of their skin. Wright uses color to describe everyone in the novel, even the most insignificant and irrelevant characters that appear. In addition, it appliesthis same tactic not only to people but also to objects. For example, the description of a young girl includes: “She looked like a doll in a window: black eyes, white face, red lips” (Wright 62). Indeed, in a simple simile depicting a doll, Wright used three different colored words. In doing so, Wright emphasizes the importance of color by repeating it in descriptions of everything; indeed, he develops color as an important symbol throughout the novel. Through the manifestation of color, he represents the division of America at the time and manages to highlight intolerance towards whites. Wright's constant repetition and emphasis on color reflects the biased and intolerant view of white people. By weaving all the colors together, Wright develops color imagery; However, it is ironic that even though he places so much emphasis on color through repeated images, he fails to paint a colorful world. It establishes a two-tone world of black and white; furthermore, he rarely included colors other than black or white in his descriptions (Faulkner 3592). The emphasis on color imagery helps the reader understand how Bigger felt trapped and lost his identity in the overwhelming sea of ​​colors that seemed to control his life. Ellison also develops a strong pattern of color imagery in Invisible Man, but in a different way. While Wright throws it in the reader's face by making sure to use color diction in almost every sentence, Ellison uses it in a more subtle but equally effective way by employing color imagery, but often at symbolic purposes. For example, when the unnamed narrator is mixing paints in the paint factory, he only works with white paint because it is the most important to the company, “'White! It is the purest white you can find. No one makes a paint whiter. This lot here is headed to a national monument!' » (Ellison 202). His boss shows such enthusiasm for white paint by repeating "white" three times, which he goes on to show his prestige since it will be used for a national monument. This accent is meant to reflect and symbolize white prestige. Ellison is trying to make the point that just as white paint is superior to all other paints, white people are superior to all others. He deepens his point in this scene when the unnamed narrator mixes the paint poorly: “The paint was not as white and bright as before; it had a gray tint” (Ellison 203). Even the slightest imperfection in the paint that makes it no longer the purest white provokes this reaction from his boss: "'What the hell are you doing, are you trying to sabotage the company?' » (203-204). This is significant because it shows that anything that is not the purest white is neither good nor unworthy. The slightest deviation from white in a batch of paint was hyperbolically capable of sabotaging the entire paint business. Ellison translates this idea as how white people felt about people of color at the time, and how even the slightest color in someone makes them inferior. Ellison carefully develops the color imagery in Invisible Man by repeating color diction with underlying messages. Color imagery is an effective tool for highlighting race relations because issues surrounding racism and discrimination revolve around something as trivial as the color of a person's skin. This is an obvious way of showing the power of race to change the identity of the protagonists. Wright and Ellison also use a clear pattern anddark to highlight racial tensions in Native Son and Invisible Man. In Native Son, Wright uses snow as a recurring symbol throughout the novel. The snow begins to fall once Bigger kills Mary and burns her body, and it is often at night that the snow falls. Wright creates an image of light, white flakes blending together, and juxtaposes it with the dark, night sky: "Around him there was silence, and night, and falling snow, falling as if it had fallen from the beginning of time and would always fall until the end. of the world” (Wright 184). This shows the interaction between light and dark, white and black. White dominates all darkness throughout the novel, covering the town and burying Bigger as he tries to escape the authorities. In the end, whiteness wins as the snow finally stops falling once Bigger is arrested. Wright is trying to point out that light presents obstacles to darkness; just as white people in society present obstacles for black people. Ellison presents the motif of light and darkness in another interesting way through his unseen and anonymous narrator. Instead of losing himself in the darkness that white society has thrust him into, the narrator embraces the light to confirm his invisibility, which is the identity he has sought for his entire life: "I can now see the darkness of light. And I like the light. Perhaps you will find it strange that an invisible man needs light, desires light, loves light. But maybe that's precisely because I'm invisible. Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form” (Ellison 6). He learned to embrace the light, which represents white society, in order to create his own identity of invisibility. Instead of trying to defeat the light with his own darkness, he faded into the light so that his new identity of invisibility could be confirmed: "Without light, I am not only invisible, but also formless" ( Ellison 7). Even though he managed to gain an identity on his own, he was nonetheless driven to it by the power of light. Ellison does this to show that the anonymous narrator's struggle for identity was able to end not only by embracing his darkness, but also by accepting his light to secure an identity. The light and dark motif used by Wright and Ellison accentuates the power struggle between African Americans and white society. Wright and Ellison also explore the implications of racism in their novels by introducing foil characters for black protagonists. These authors use white characters to create contrasts that are the exact opposite of Bigger and the unnamed narrator. They do this in order to create a striking juxtaposition between the characters to reflect the division of society in the early 20th century. Wright, for example, develops a contrast between Bigger Thomas and Mary Dalton. There are obvious differences such as race, gender and wealth. Additionally, Mary is oblivious and it turns out she knows little about black people. Although she tries to befriend Bigger, it is insulting because she does not take his feelings or desires into account; she is unable to identify with black people because of the way society has conditioned her to perceive them. She is a symbol and her ignorance represents the ignorance of white people in the early 20th century (Bradley 2018). Similarly, Mr. Norton in Invisible Man attempts to befriend the unnamed narrator and pretends to understand his situation. Although this seems like a nice gesture, in reality it offends the unnamed narrator because it seems condescending and insensitive to his situation. Mr. Norton doesn't realize he doesn't want her pity; he just wants his own freedom and equality. Mary and Mr. Norton's unconscious ignorance clashes with Bigger, and the unnamed narrator's concerned and offended responses lead to a conflict that highlights society's underlying racism. In Native Son, Wright constantly uses animal similes to construct and highlight the racism of society. Wright often compares the novel's African American characters to animals using similes; furthermore, it contributes to dehumanizing black people by portraying them as subhuman. The simile is simple but effective because it is repeated so frequently throughout the novel; Furthermore, it is powerful because it draws readers' attention to the main idea that white Americans think less of African Americans, which is the source and driver of racism, segregation, and discriminatory acts. For example, a passerby describes Bigger: “He looks exactly like a monkey! " exclaimed a terrified white girl who was watching the black killer" (Wright 279). In this simile, by comparing Bigger to a monkey, he becomes less human due to the association with an animal. Specifically, it draws a comparison to a primitive ancestor of the human species, which makes it seem like an underdeveloped human. This reinforces the idea of ​​white supremacy since this exact comparison and others like it are repeated several times throughout the novel. This engraves in Bigger's mind the idea that he is truly inferior to the white people who verbally attack him. Wright is able to highlight racism through his use of literary features. While Wright focuses on animal comparisons to emphasize racism, Ellison expands on the symbolism of the Sambo doll. The Samboles dolls are small black dolls made from paper and appear in the novel when sold on the street. Clifton, the man who sells them, makes them dance like puppets, "A smiling doll in orange and black tissue paper... which a mysterious mechanism made go up and down in a loose movement, trembling shoulders, a exasperating sensuality. movement, a dance completely detached from the mask-like black face” (Ellison 431). Ellison uses Sambo dolls as a symbol of African Americans, and the strings that make the dolls dance and move are representative of white society, which has a hold and control over African Americans at the time (Jarenski). This highlights the situation of the individual restricted by society because it pushes it to the extreme since the puppeteer has exclusive control; all movements are controlled and restricted by the manager. This reinforces the idea that African Americans are oppressed by whites. The racist environments created by Wright and Ellison negatively impact their black protagonists. The persistent segregation and discrimination that surrounds them oppresses them. They are repressed by racist society and do not benefit from the same opportunities. For example, Bigger acknowledges his unequal opportunities due to his race: “'I could fly an airplane if I had the chance,' Bigger said. “If you weren't black and you had a little money and they let you go to this aviation school, you could fly a plane,” Gus said” (Wright 17). This shows how the racist society oppresses not only Bigger, but all African Americans because of their lower social status due to their race. The unnamed narrator of Invisible Man also finds himself in similar situations. For example, throughout the novel, her various jobs include serving white men as chauffeurs, being barred from office jobs fromhigher level and the constraint of accepting a job in a paint factory. His opportunities are limited. Due to the racism and discrimination that the black protagonists constantly experience due to their environment, they become oppressed and have little to no freedom or equality. Due to these feelings of oppression, a common theme of fear arises in Native Son. and The Invisible Man. Indeed, fear begins to consume the lives of the oppressed black protagonists. Wright describes the fear and oppression of African Americans: “They hate because they are afraid, and they are afraid because they feel that the deepest feelings of their lives are being attacked and outraged. And they don't know why; they are powerless pawns in a blind game of social forces” (Wright 390). He shows here how their fear arises from their oppression since their lives are violated by the intervention of white people. They have no say in their own lives and identities. In turn, it was the fear Bigger felt that caused him to resort to violence to gain an identity. In Invisible Man, the unnamed narrator's eventual realization of his fear is what sets him free to find his identity. He realized that everything he did was in reaction to the fear he felt; it controlled his life: “I did not understand, in those pre-invisible times, that their hatred, and mine too, was charged with fear” (Ellison 47). However, it was the fear he constantly felt that came from his oppression and that always had a hold on his life. Once he realized this, he became his own person and freed himself from the identity he was given. The culmination of the racist environment that oppresses and instills fear in the black protagonists lies in the struggle for an individual in a restricted society to develop. an identity. Wright develops this through Bigger, who is searching for an identity. He feels lost in a sea of ​​white people because he cannot be recognized by any white person in society. Throughout Native Son, Bigger struggles with his only identity being black: "It made him live again in this harsh, acute awareness of his color. and feel the shame and fear that accompanied it, and at the same time it made him hate himself for feeling that way” (Wright 347). The only recognition he ever received from anyone was for his race, and it wasn't until he accidentally found himself involved in a spate of criminal activity that he gained notoriety and, with that, a identify. On his path as a criminal, he feels free from the chains in which he has always been locked, “never has his will been so free as in this night and this day of fear, murder and flight” (Wright 239) . Although this is not the identity Bigger wanted, he is happy and satisfied because he is finally noticed by white people; in fact, he feels proud that white people are paying attention to him: "The papers should be full of him by now." It didn't seem strange that they were, because all his life he had felt things happening to him that should have entered into them. But it was only after he had acted on the feelings he had harbored for years that the newspapers reported the story, his story” (222). It is then that Bigger feels that he has acquired an identity by being recognized. This recognition from the white community who now fear and hate him gives Bigger the satisfaction of having his own identity. Ellison explores the same quest for identity through the anonymous narrator. The protagonist is so lacking in identity that his name is never spoken. This dissociates him from the reader as well as himself. The reader follows him on his journey through life where he is always defined by what the.