None has done quite so well than McKay and Hopkins in portraying white people as evil. Through Hopkins’ short story and McKay’s poem “If We Must Die”, it is obvious that these authors were not afraid of speaking up about the horrific, unjust time of our nation. So, did McKay and Hopkins receive prolific persecution and criticism for speaking the explicit truth about their treatment as African Americans?
In Hopkins’ story, Jones, an honest and good man, dies at the end to save a train full of white people. Furthermore, the police find the real murderer and realize that it was never Jones, although they were in search of this man for quite some while, believing he was ruthless and evil. The people at his funeral were repentful, knowing that they had made a mistake in judging him for something he never did. Jones is portrayed almost as a Christ-like figure at the end of this story, dying for many guilty, racist and unclean people so they could live and be saved through this train wreck. It is completely possible that there was harsh criticism towards this story, since a black man was portrayed to be like Christ. Many people back then were not even keen on having black people know about Christ and especially not having a black person portrayed as Christ.
In McKay’s poem, he tells his fellow members of his race that “round [them] bark the mad and hungry dogs” (line 3) who are obviously the white persecutors. He also calls them “the monsters” and “the common foe”, which I am sure stirred up anger among the white population. Whites were so used to being in control and the dominating race. It was uncommon to be called something so cruel when these were the words that whites thought of about blacks. I can only imagine what was said to McKay for encouraging his race to stand up to these “monsters”.
Through these authors, it is obvious that they were not afraid to speak their mind or get criticized for doing so. It is wonderful that they wrote these works, so that we may look back upon them today and realize just how cruel parts of society were to people who never deserved that behavior at all.
Shelby hit on a lot of the truths that I too saw in As the Lord Lives, He is One of Our Mother’s Children. Hopkins did not hold back in her true portrayal of the brutality of lynch mobs. As Shelby noted, “the authors were not afraid of speaking up,” and in reality, they should have been. Especially Hopkins, as an African American female writer, she had great risk in writing a story that would surely stir-up opposition.
ReplyDeleteI particularly liked how Shelby touched on how Jones died in a sacrificial-type death at the end of the story, and because of this sacrificial death, Hopkins gives Jones a Christ-like quality. This was a popular tactic of the time for writers, as the Bible was still the most-ready piece of literature and many people could relate with the Christ story. My question is, if Jones is symbolized Christ, is Reverend Stevens symbolized as God the Father? Reverend Steven holds the power of taking away life much like God when Hopkins notes, “It was a human life in his hands” (Hopkins 248). Stevens is also portrayed God-like when Jones “flung himself on his knees in the middle of the room, and raising his clasped hands, cried aloud for heavenly guidance” because it is almost like Jones was praying out to Stevens who was present in the room (Hopkins 248). The last note of why Stevens may portray God is in the story, is because he is a Reverend. Every Sunday teaches sermons at his Church, so he’s not just a man in the town who Jones happened to be saved by, but socially classifying Stevens, Jones was saved by the “most godly” man in the town.
I am now curious to know what the responses to Hopkins story were in fact like. Did using Christ-like images gain her any sympathy as a writer or was she still harshly criticized for openly condemning whites?