LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:7 July 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Portrayal of Racism in Chester Himes’
A Rage in Harlem

K. Elaiyarasi, II Year M.A., R. Lissy, M.A., M.Phil., and
Dr. C. Govindaraj

A Rage in Harlem

Abstract

African American literature is created in the United States by writers of the African American race. African American literature earned early high points with slave narratives of the nineteenth century. Thus began the rising status of African American literature. Black authors have shared a common burden over time of representing the African American race. Maintaining the posture of what it means to be black in America has allowed authors to establish an African American identity that transcended the individual. Chester Himes’ role as a hard-boiled fiction writer has its roots far removed from the typical pulp and dime novel origins. He is the son of a dark-skinned father and a light-skinned mother, both teachers. The racial tension between his parents and society was palpable, leading to one of Himes’ recurring themes: discrimination by blacks against blacks. In addition to his childhood in a racially tumultuous household, Himes also experienced certain events in his adulthood that influenced his writings. Like his childhood, Himes’ adult life was characterized by multiple racial identities and social tensions. In the novel, A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes portrays the racial discrimination. In this novel, A Rage in Harlem, the protagonist Jackson, the “square” who works for the local undertaker loses his money and money that he has “borrowed” from his employer, caught in a confidence game by his not-so-faithful girlfriend Imabelle, her common-law husband Slim, and Slim’s cohorts. Jackson appeals to his brother, Goldy, for help after being swindled. Goldy, whose work consists of passing himself off as a Sister of Charity, happens to be an informant for detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. This novel proves the Negroes’ fight for their own rights. It is set in Harlem. It shows the sufferings of the Blacks in the United States. The novel exposes the racial discrimination against Blacks in Harlem in particular and American society in general.

Keywords: Racial discrimination, Blacks against Blacks, Chester Holmes, A Rage in Harlem.

Race as a Factor in Human Relations and Exploitations

The sense of race is a relative one depending on the country one migrates to; the idea of race starts affecting one in the longer run. One may have to face differentiation in the new social set up due to one’s race, compared to the already existing or newly arriving immigrant races. Race is primarily determined by birth and color. The color white is naturally the first established, dominant one. The black or brown or yellowish races have to contend with the white race. In the case of the black race in the United States of America, not only is the black color is the unfortunate one, since they had entered the white man’s country as slaves. As a consequence the blacks could not get even an iota of equality in all social aspects of life for a long period.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K. Elaiyarasi, II M.A. English

R. Lissy, M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor

Dr. C. Govindaraj
Assistant Professor & Head
govindlissy@gmail.com

P. G. & Research Department of English
Sri Vidya Mandir Arts & Science College
Uthangarai 636902
Tamilnadu
India
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