Literature Core (1080-01 S2022)
Backwacking, a Plea to the Senator was published in 1977 by Ralph Ellison but takes place in 1953 in Alabama. This piece is formatted as a letter to Senator Sunraider from a white resident of Alabama concerned about a new activity in the black community taking place called backwacking. Although somewhat unclear in the description,…
“And Love Them?”, a short story published in 2000 by Thomas Glave, details the inner monologue of a white woman concerning her experiences with black people throughout her life and within social situations. Glave, a black male author from the Bronx, New York, illustrates a continuous turmoil within the narrator’s perception of black people as…
“And Love Them?” is written by Thomas Glave, a Black author from The Bronx. This piece is written from the perspective of presumably a white woman. The story follows the thoughts and feelings of an unnamed white narrator. She vocalizes her frustrations with the black people she comes across, in her personal and professional life.…
White Rat is a short story written by Gayl Jones in 1977. The White Rat is told through a narrator who is known to many of his close friends as the “white rat”, and this is because of his very white skin color while being an African-America. The short story details the White Rat’s relationship…
The short story “White Rat,” written by Gayl Jones in 1977, details the complex relationship of a very fair skinned African-American man, who we know as “White Rat,” and his wife, Maggie. The couple has a son together, “little Henry,” and we know that he has a clubbed foot, which is the root of much…
Gayl Jones’ short story “White Rat” (1977) involves the narration of a very light-skinned man called “White Rat”, his Black wife Maggie, and their son Little Henry, who has a clubbed foot. It starts in the present tense with Maggie returning to live with the narrator and their son after running off with J.T., who…
Amari Jackson Zora Neale Hurston 1926 play Color Struck starts off by telling the story about john and Emma . John is a light skinned man and his partner is Emma who is which a black women , and they are competing in a cakewalk. Although throughout the story Emma becomes jealous of a mulatto…
The short fiction story “White Rat”, by Gayl Jones, was published in 1977. It follows a light-skinned African-American, known only as “White Rat”, his wife, Maggie, and Little Henry, the first child of White Rat and Maggie born with club-foot. Due to White Rat’s light skin, he is often mistaken for a white person; however,…
The play “Color Struck” by Zora Neale Hurston was originally published in 1926. Taking place in the South, the story revolves around a cake-walk dance competition, with the winner receiving a large cake as their prize. The main characters are John, a light-brown skinned man, Emmaline or Emma, a dark-skinned black woman, and Effie, a…
Zora Neale Hurston’s 1926 play “Color Struck” tells the story of a couple in the “Jim Crow” South on their way to a cakewalk competition. Because this story is formatted as a play, the text is primarily organized through dialogue. Without much narration, aside from stage directions and how the characters speak their lines, the…