Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Black Identity in Faulkner’s “Light in August” and Wright’s “Black Boy”. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A six page paper comparing the protagonists of these two works (by William Faulkner and Richard Wright respectively) in terms of their racial identities, and their reactions to them. The paper asserts that it is very difficult to establish a positive racial identity when one’s race is constantly disparaged by society as a whole, and this has made both protagonists extremely hostile. Bibliography lists five sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_KBwright.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
can either present black people as virtuous and upstanding, with the goal of showing white people how much the two races are alike; or it can honestly reflect the bitterness
and anger of black people about their treatment at white societys hands, a method which does not always present the black person in the most attractive light. The latter option
is the one chosen by Richard Wright, a highly influential black writer during the first half of the twentieth century, and author of the autobiographical Black Boy; but, significantly, it
is also the one chosen by the white author William Faulkner in his novel A Light in August. There are actually many parallels between Faulkners protagonist Joe Christmas and
Wrights own persona as developed in Black Boy. In deliberately refusing to present these characters in the deferential mode expected of black people in that era, Faulkner and Wright provide
what Roger Valade calls "a vivid portrayal of both the economic and psychological effects of racism" (Valade, 386). From the very beginning of Black Boy, Richard Wright shows us the
importance that deference has in black culture. Blacks, he demonstrates, are taught from earliest childhood to be simple, pleasing, and helpful; they are discouraged from doing anything that would agitate
white society or in any way "rock the boat". As Jennifer Poulos observes, they are, in particular, taught to be quiet, and to refrain from expressing themselves within earshot of
whites, because they literally are not conceded to have any "selves" to express: "The African-American community teaches [Wright] the joy of self-expression, but it also reminds him forcibly that self-expression
is "bad" and censors it"(Poulos, 54). But why would blacks have complied with such an arrangement to begin with? Wright argues that a large part of the force keeping blacks
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