SEARCH FOR REINTEGRATION OF THE EXCLUDED BLACK AMERICAN IN SELECT WORKS OF RICHARD WRIGHT M. REGINA DOROTHY M.A., M.Phil., POST GRADUATE AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PERIYAR E.V.R. COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) TIRUCHIRAPPALLI 620 023 TAMIL NADU INDIA MAY 2014
SEARCH FOR REINTEGRATION OF THE EXCLUDED BLACK AMERICAN IN SELECT WORKS OF RICHARD WRIGHT A Thesis submitted to the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By M. REGINA DOROTHY M.A., M.Phil., RESEARCH SUPERVISOR Dr. V. Ramasamy POST GRADUATE AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PERIYAR E.V.R. COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) TIRUCHIRAPPALLI 620 023 TAMIL NADU INDIA MAY 2014
Dr.V.Ramasamy Reader and Head(Retd) Department of English Periyar E.V.R. College Tiruchirappalli 620 023 Date: 20.05.2014 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis titled Search for Reintegration of the Excluded Black American in Select Works of Richard Wright submitted to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English is a record of the independent research done by the candidate M. Regina Dorothy, in the Postgraduate and Research Department of English, Periyar E.V. R. College, Tiruchirappalli-620023, under my supervision during the period January 2008 May 2014. It has not formed the basis for the award of any previous Degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or other similar titles to the candidate or anybody else. Tiruchirappalli 20.05. 2014 Signature [Dr.V.RAMASAMY] Research Supervisor
DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis titled Search for Reintegration of the Excluded Black American in Select Works of Richard Wright is entirely original and a product of my research under the guidance of Dr. V. Ramasamy, Former Reader and Head, Department of English, Periyar E.V.R College, Tiruchirappalli 620 023, during the period January 2008 May 2014. The thesis has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, or any other similar title. It has not been submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma. Tiruchirappalli 620 023 20.05.2014 Signature [M.REGINA DOROTHY] Research Scholar
Acknowledgement I am honoured to acknowledge the help and consideration from a group of supporters around me. I owe my greatest debt to my research supervisor Dr. V. Ramasamy, Reader and Head (Retd.), Department of English, Periyar E.V.R. College, Tiruchirappalli 620 023, who offered me insights in African American Literature and inspired me to consider the same as a field for my Doctoral Studies. I am grateful to him for his supervision, patience, encouragement, critical support and help with materials, throughout the course of this study. He skilfully offered advice and constructive suggestions while encouraging me to develop my vision. He has followed my topic closely from its inception and brought it to a completion with his holistic guidance. I am obliged to thank the Principals, Periyar E.V.R College, Tiruchirappalli, for granting me permission to do research in this college. I am thankful to Prof. William John Bosco, Head, Department of English of the institution for the help rendered by him. I wish to express my gratitude to the benevolent management of Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli for granting me permission to do the research work. With gratitude I remember the support and encouragement by the Principals, Heads, and the staff of the Department of English for their valuable guidance and suggestion, for the completion of the dissertation. My special thanks to the Osmania University Centre for International Programmes (OUCIP), Hyderabad, The American Library, Chennai and Holy Cross College Library for allowing me to access the primary and secondary materials related to my research. I also wish to specially acknowledge the help rendered by Ms.M. Lalitha Kutty, Librarian,
Interlibrary Loan, National Library of Medicine, Rockville Pike, Bethesba, MD 20894, USA. I owe my thanks to my dear family and my friends who were a constant support in all my endeavours. Above all, I thank God for His unconditional Love and Compassion throughout my period of research. EVR College M.Regina Dorothy Tiruchirappalli - 620 023.
Abstract Chapter I of the thesis traces the oppressed conditions of African Americans, the Great Migration which contributed to the Black urban culture, the Harlem Renaissance, the beginning of the Great Depression, the growing American Civil Rights Movement which made powerful impression on Black writers and Black activists who were striving to end segregation and racism and create a new sense of Black Nationalism. Richard Wright s portraits of oppressed Negroes were drawn from his own experiences as a small boy and adolescent and a young man. This knowledge is very essential to understand the quintessence of his works. A brief history of his works, a literature survey, and theories employed in his fiction, the author s contemporaries and a critical view of his select works and the thesis statement are included as they form the preamble and the basis of analysis of his works in the subsequent chapters. Chapter II Exclusion of the Blacks in a White World: A Journey Towards Manhood and Freedom deals with Wright s last novel The Long Dream that recapitulates Black Boy and his carefully documented personal experiences. In The Long Dream Wright s attention was directed mainly to his treatment of Southern Racism. It is about the protagonist Rex Tucker (Fishbelly) growing up in Mississippi in the thirties and forties. Sexuality in relation to race and Racism is the primary theme of this novel. Black Boy A record of Childhood and Youth is a depiction of what occurs when Negro sensibility attempts to fulfil itself in the undemocratic South. Here it is not the individual that is the immediate focus but that upon which his sensibility is nourished. In the Black Boy the author Wright has effectively achieved freedom and the status of a writer, while Rex (Fishbelly Tucker) escapes the South to France from the white oppressors. Chapter III Oppressing Social System: Liberation from Fear and Hate through Finding Personal Dignity deals with Native Son and Uncle Tom s Children. Native Son
emphasizes Bigger Thomas position in his society and his search for an ideology that will explain his oppressed state. This chapter indicates the need for the self realization and personal dignity of an individual for the expression of social action to establish freedom. However, all the short stories in Uncle Tom s Children demonstrate the deterministic influence of social and economic conditions and the futility of an individual s effort to rebel unless that any effort is part of a collective action. Chapter IV From Man s Interminable Isolation to Human Solidarity- A Metaphysical Quest explains how in The Outsider and Eight Men Richard Wright portrays modern racism through his characters in an alienated environment. As an existentialist Wright presents his protagonists who allowed themselves to become subjugated by a caste system that did not correspond to their sense of life. Wright as a black man living in a hostile racist environment believed in the necessity of a socialist upheaval of the individual and society. In the Eight Men Richard Wright presents the intense isolation suffered by the black man and his quest towards human solidarity. Chapter V is a concluding chapter which brings out the author s style of writing which supports the main focus of the thesis. The chapter also sums up the arguments of the previous chapters and suggests area for further research. It also evaluates Wrights uniqueness as a writer in respect of style theme and treatment. The thesis has examined the need for reintegration of the excluded Black Americans in Richard Wright s works. The present research, it is hoped offers the perspective of exploring in manifold dimensions how the black man in America can truly enjoy being an American.
CONTENTS CHAPTER. NO. TITLE PAGE NO. I Introduction 1 II Exclusion of the Blacks in a White World: A Journey towards Manhood and Freedom 30 III Oppressing Social System: Liberation from Fear and Hate through Finding Personal Dignity 82 IV From Man s Interminable Isolation to Human Solidarity- A Metaphysical Quest 139 V Conclusion 190 Works Cited 221