Finding you identity and self worth gets difficult sometimes. It takes time to realize your worth. Your self identity is the way you view yourself and the relationship you have with the world and the American society. Identity can basically examined, who you are and where your from, most of all who you want to become. As a African American woman, I am often tempted by society to do greater than the rest of the ethnicity groups. Because back then we did’nt have the right to do anything. They was just there to be there it’s either a slave or a house wife. The readings that was covered this semester, perceived self identity. Each character in the novels went through self identity issues to find their true self, and their inner being. It took them a while to know their inner self and know their purpose, their value, and spiritual beliefs. Not as what others viewed them but basically what they discovered in themselves. When you know your inner being it requires you to know yourself worth. It also want u to know who u are and what is in stored for you. It pushes you to do better, instead of being mediocre.
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The characters in the novels that I’ve read showed courage and faith in whatever they were doing and what they want to do. They never went back to the worst but try to do better , for them and there family. They wanted their self identity. They wanted to be their own person. They wanted to be able to stand on their two feet. They went through poor compensation and intimidation. Throughout history the slaves worked long hours under pressure. So now they have the chance to work less hours and be their own boss. They was tired of demonstrating a state of compliance, towards their master.
Identiity overall has been the African American struggle. In the text that I read almost all of the characters struggle with the identity, their self worth. Many African Americans and their descendants have struggle to define their place in America. The two worlds, both white and black had changed and strengthened because of the past black literature and the years that follows. The African American culture influence the way they think and behave, this is how African Americans struggles to break free from bondage. The three themes that African Americans go through and exhibited are identity, racism, and culture. The identity, in which we have includes black literature and artifacts that depicts and illuminate the conflict and tensions of the historical reality of being black in America. The names that was used in the novels that defines each characters as Africans, for example Quickskill and Mr. Jiveass Nigger. They both have unique names that represents themselves as an unique individuals. For example, the book The
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Different Drummer, Tucker, the descendant of the African was a slave and one of the 1st slave to work on his master’s plantation. He later realized that his family was really freed. All of the years that he was under this man’s control. He finally realized that had freedom. He destroyed all ties with the land he owns and also the association with his master. He no longer needed him to do anything for him. He was a man and has to be the man for his family. He destroyed the tree that stood and symbolize slavery. He was no longer the victim of this slavery. He was the triumphant sector of the new America. And his self worth and his identity was restored.
Racism was also depicted in the historical struggle to gain the justice needed for equality. Blacks were treated unfairly and wasn’t treated like they ought to be treated . The challenges between blacks and whites exhibits hatred between both groups that bring challenges to all other Americans. In one of the reading that same thing happened, the book the different drummer, when The African was forced into slavery and was dehumanized by the Wilsons. The African escaped from his master, and because he escaped the master worked hard to find him. He was not going to let a black man make a mockery of him. Every night the African freed all of his masters slaves. The African goals was to free and the enslavement.
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‘Let America Be America Again’ by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again,
Let it be the dream it used to bet,
Let it be the pioneer on the plain,
Seeking a home where he himself is free,
(America never was America to me)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed,
Let it be that great strong land of love,
In the poem that was written by Langston Hughes illustrates what the slaves wants America to be and what it never was. The poem opens a thought of the American Dream, on what it wants to become. His hope for America the reality of life. The beginning line of the poem, entails that America has to be the America it once was, to me it’s a lie. America back then practiced slavery and oppression, it destroyed the lands people to build their own homes. The ideal of an “ America” was all a dream. It’s what they want for their America to be. We, as people should be able to rise up and redefine the American equality and take back our land. The poem is powerful message. The theme of this poem is against injustice and inequalities that exists in America. And this
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can corrupt the American dream. All characters in the novels we read for the semester, The African, Quickskills, and Tucker have a lot of similiars with the poem Let America Be America Again. They led their people to freeadom by fighting against slavery and restrictions. The African escaped from his master . The African vowed to be free and never be enslaved again. Quickskill came to liberate the fellow slave, who were enslaved in his masters plantation. Tucker realized that he had some value and wanted freedom for his family. All three of these characters laid their lives on the line for their fellow man. They would rather prefer to die with dignity rather than become a white man’s property. They wanted to make a difference and not be enslaved in this injustice. They all refused to follow the rules of the system, as the slaves wanted to smell the sense of real freedom and justice. “ The negroes even smelled anger, having been crammed together, each of them with no more room to himself than a baby in a crib, meaning that slavery has been presented for to long and it came a high time to rebel against it instead of doing nothing” ( Kelley,12)
The identity in both the black literature and the African American culture lies on the dynamics of the decades before times going back to slavery. The black literature of the past broke barriers for the new generations. Look, we have and African American president, Barack Obama with his confidence and efforts there was a change in the landscape of black identity. Identity is a issue very dear to the African American
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community and black literature. With all this going on for example in the writing in class, blacks weren’t allowed to have any identity, but now their reevaluating their identity. The book that I’ve read was a good summary of problems that we faced by African American people. It challenges the notion that their is a “black identity” that emerges the black folks in America, that aims to define and expose the changes in the black American identity.
The color line between the whites and black during those time and black literature was very uneven. They weren’t equal. Black was identified as coon and slow and with no direction. The whites were the rulers, the controllers, the masters. The black and whites color line differ in pigmentation that drives the personal crisis in the work we’ve read this semester. In the book Erasure, Theolonious Ellison, a black writer, who works were rejected for not engaging with the African American experience for not being black enough. The books that he wrote talked about Greek myth instead of the blacks struggles. He never wrote about the urban hardship. He writes as a white author and denies speculated stereotypes which seem present in the society. I admire this character because he illustrates good integrity. He never allowed race to define his identity. He vowed to be his self and never belittled himself for anyone. He wrote what he feels like to write. He never did it because someone told him too. His mother was ill, his sister
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died and his brother is a homosexual. He took on a lot to justify his identity and to keep him sane. He is characterized to me, as a realistic person who believe in freedom
of speech.
The struggle with identity made me think about how I perceive myself and others, and even more importantly, how I think often in categories. I would not say that categories are always bad, because they help us to understand the world, but they can become dangerous when they produce stereotypes and prejudices. The good thing about Erasure that not only the views of American society toward African Americans are discussed, but also the way African Americans see themselves and how they add to the common stereotypes. This book should target everyone who is interested in how racism and prejudices are produced and how they maintained should have a look at it, because this novel grants the reader some very interesting perspective in the subject. Furthermore, everyone who likes a good story and read will have his/her pleasure with the novel called Erasure.
The book “ The Life & Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger, George Washington is in search of his identity. He was a trickster, a con artist, an object of white women’s sexual fantasy. Mr. Washington was fed up with the racism in America, he left his home on a quest to find his true self. He was tired being perceived differently. He’s tired of trying to be someone that he’s not. He wanted to know himself. He’s tired of being a object
of a white woman. He wanted to be free. He traveled to Copenhagen on the pursuit of happiness. He wanted to stop the whoring to the white world, and wanted to be chosen as to see only blackness and to live right out of his insides.
The readings that I’ve read demonstrates the word identity. The charcters went through a lot in order to know their truself and value. Identity , to me means knowing oneself and being at peace with either the master or even u.
