African American Literature Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

1250 total results

An Analysis of the Authors Experiences in Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin (1386 words, 3 pages)

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin"Sonny's Blues", a story written by James Baldwin, takes place in Harlem, New York in the 1960's. The authors' purpose wants the reader to realize the experiences that the author experienced. The story is about the past and present lives of two brothers. It is told ... Read More

Characterization in Alice Walker’s Short Story Everyday Use (971 words, 2 pages)

In the short story Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, the short story is narrated by a black woman in the South who is faced with the decision to give away two quilts to one of her two daughters. Dee, her oldest daughter who is visiting from college, perceives the quilts ... Read More

An Analysis of the Connection of the Author to the Story in “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou (644 words, 3 pages)

Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" By Ashley brown Ashley Brown Accelerated English I 4.30.99 Reardon Maya Angelous turbulent experiences through late childhood and adolescence transformed into an almost a positive force in her adult life as they helped enlighten, inspire, motivate and shape her very being. ... Read More

The Different Observations of the South and the North in Richard Wright’s Black Boy (1206 words, 2 pages)

Richard Wright Author of Black BoyRichard Wrights Black Boy depicts the different observations of the South and the North. In the South, Wright faces pre-depression and racism. In the North, Wright faces the conflicts from the Communist party. At the end of Black Boy, Wright quotes What had I got ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Different Views in Everyday Use by Alice Walker (232 words, 1 pages)

Different Views in Everyday UseIn the story of Everyday Use by Alice Walker the narrator told the story in a wonderful way. She was simple and I feel she gave a fair and just description of each character in the story. Her words put picture perfect description of the character ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Character Celie in the Color Purple by Alice Walker (417 words, 1 pages)

At the tender age of fifteen, Celie, the main character in Alice Walkers The Color Purple is raped by whom she knows as her Pa. Pa forces himself upon Celie and she gets big or pregnant, not once, but twice. When Pa takes the children away, the first a boy ... Read More

The Portrayal of True Beauty in Toni Morrison’s Story (572 words, 1 pages)

Beauty is something that a lot of people in life strive for , because everyone has fitted in their mind what exactly beauty is. People know that it can help you out in life. But what most people dont know is that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ... Read More

A Book Review of “The Bluest Eye” (891 words, 2 pages)

THE BLUEST EYE The Bluest Eye is a complex book. Substance wise it is a disturbing yet relatively easy read, but Toni Morrison plays with the narrative structure in a way so that complexity is added to the hidden depth of the text. From the beginning to the end of ... Read More

An Analysis of the Book “The Bluest Eye” (1227 words, 2 pages)

Essay on The Bluest EyeThere are many themes that seem to run throughout this story. Each theme and conflict seems to always involve the character of Pecola Breedlove. There is the theme of finding an identity. There is also the theme of Pecola as a victim. Of all the characters ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Sympathy in Wright’s Native Son (957 words, 2 pages)

Sympathy in Wright's Native SonIn Native Son, Richard Wright introduces Bigger Thomas, a liar and a thief. Wright evokes sympathy for this man despite the fact that he commits two murders. Through the reactions of others to his actions and through his own reactions to what he has done, the ... Read More

A Plot Summary of Richard Wright’s Book “Black Boy” (1505 words, 4 pages)

Black Boy By Richard WrightAt Richards' grandmother's house. He sets some curtains on fire, which leads to the house catching on fire. The family moves to Memphis. Richard hangs a cat after his father tells him to (sarcastically) Richard's mother punishes him. At six while hanging out at a saloon ... Read More

An Analysis of Richard Wright’s Novel Black Boy (637 words, 2 pages)

Sunny GillEnglish 3-HonorsSeptember 16,2000 Black Boy Chapter 3-6Chapter 3After school had been let out, Richard and the other ways would go to a one-way street and conversed. The boys ranged with age, and attitudes. Some were jokers, and others took the role of practical society people. Richard would participate, and ... Read More

An Analysis of Celie’s Rise Above Oppression in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1380 words, 2 pages)

Celies Rise Above OppressionFrom the year 1910 to the year 1945 the United States had undergone some of the most significant hardships. Within this time, the Great Depression took place leaving many people unemployed and many people left without food or proper necessities. There was also World War I, and ... Read More

The Theme of Racism in Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country (778 words, 1 pages)

Cry the beloved country, by alan paton, is a book which tells the story of how james jarvis, a wealthy estate owner who, because of his own busy life, had to learn of the social degradation in south africa through the death of his only son. If arthur jarvis had ... Read More

An Analysis of Theme in Eva’s Man by Gayle Jones (692 words, 2 pages)

The Theme Behind the NovelWhile reading the novel Evas Man, written by Gayle Jones, an evident theme is established. This is a twisted story of love and betrayal in the engrossing psychological portrait of Eva Medina Canada. The author intertwines recollection of actual events and imaginativeness to expose an existence ... Read More

The Theme of Unfaltering Faith in Zora Hurston Neale’s Sweat (1266 words, 5 pages)

Faith Can Conquer AllFor the past week, people all over the world have had their eyes on the 2000 OlympicGames in Sydney, Australia. Along with the many different Olympic sports, there are manydifferent winners...of all shapes and sizes. However, it is not the different physical appearances ofthese athletes that are ... Read More

An Analysis of the Response Paper for Sonny’s Blues (628 words, 2 pages)

Response paper for "Sonnys Blues"The story "Sonnys Blues" depicts the life of two brothers, the oldest being a prominent teacher and the youngest, Sonny a musician and drug user. The story opens as the brother learns of Sonnys arrest for the use of heroin, he contemplates about it all dayand ... Read More

An Examination of the Use of Symbolism in the Short Story, Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin (760 words, 1 pages)

In the story "Sonnys Blues" by James Baldwin, we see many uses of symbolism. Symbolism is the most critical literary technique that Baldwin uses to achieve the intense connection to the characters that the reader feels in "Sonnys Blues"."Sonnys Blues" is a story about the relationship of two brothers and ... Read More

A Response to Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin (817 words, 2 pages)

Response on Sonny's Blue"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin is a short story about the past and present life of two brothers. Pain and sorrow is part of their life, and the world surrounding them is viewed very differently by the two brothers. Sonny and his brother learn to deal with ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Racist Attitudes and Their Influences in Master Harold (1475 words, 2 pages)

Racist Attitudes and Their Influences in Master Harold and the boysWe have all heard the saying that the rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer. This somewhat describes South Africa in the 1950s. During this time in Africa, the white people kept getting more powerful while the ... Read More

An Analysis of the Topic of the Native Son and the Role of Bigger Thomas (619 words, 1 pages)

Kevin Kilkenny8-23-00PD-7Native Son Any opinion I have on this book has to be based on Bigger Thomas. Various forces have shaped him. Forces that have changed the life completely for Bigger Thomas. In Native Son, Bigger Thomas seems to be composed of a mass of disruptive emotions rather than a ... Read More

An Analysis of the Topic of Richard Wright Born on September 4, 1908 (493 words, 1 pages)

Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908 on a farm in Mississippi, the first of two sons born to Nathan Wright, an illiterate sharecropper, and Ella Wilson Wright, a schoolteacher. When Wright was a small child, his father abandoned the family to live with another woman. After this, Wright's ... Read More

An Introduction to the Life and Work by Lorraine Hansberry (1537 words, 2 pages)

Lorraine Hansberry rejected the limitations of her race and gender and through her written works, became a social activist and expanded the role of a black woman in America. Lorraine Hansberry wrote many works that allowed her to explain her views. She also explored these ideas through playwrights. Lorraine Hansberry ... Read More

A Plot Summary of the Story of A Raisin in the Sun (445 words, 1 pages)

A Raisin in the sunBeneatha was describing how her whole family has this bug she calls Ghetto-it is, which explains the actions of all the main characters in the first act. When Beneatha said this she was just welcoming Asagi into her home. He asked her what was wrong and ... Read More

An Analysis of the Meanings Symbolized by the Horizon in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston (783 words, 1 pages)

How far can you see? Way, way off in the distance? But there is one sight always at the end of your vision the horizon. Doesnt matter how far North, South, East, or West you go you are never going to get past the horizon. In the book Their Eyes ... Read More

The Life and Times of Celie in the Color Purple by Alice Walker (229 words, 1 pages)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is about the life and times of Celie. Celie is a woman who has had a hard life. At the age of 14 she is raped by the person she thinks is her father and bores two children for him. Pa, as Celie calls ... Read More

The Sorrows of Celie in the Color Purple by Alice Walker (635 words, 1 pages)

A Lesson Well LearnedThe Color PurpleAlice Walker, POCKET BOOKSWASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS, 1982.The intensively descriptive novel, The Color Purple is about Celie, a woman born in the early 1900s, unselfishly surviving the social injustices of those times. As the novel unfolds, Celie experiences so much sorrow, that she is forced to ... Read More

The Theme of Racism in Native Son by Richard Wright (528 words, 1 pages)

Native SonThe novel Native Son, written by Richard Wright, is a book that deals with a poor, black man named Bigger Thomas growing up in a rat-infested one-bedroom apartment on the South Side in Chicago during the Depression. It deals with the racism between blacks and whites, the poor and ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Use of Race in Their Eyes Were Watching God (879 words, 2 pages)

The Use of Race in Their Eyes Were Watching GodThis novel, while poetically conveying a black woman's pursuit of true love, seriously addresses society's ability to be judgmental and oppressive. Gender, race, economic security, and social stratification share equally important roles in the development of the main character, Janie. Hurston ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of the Civil Rights Struggle by African Americans in Dr. King’s Novel (511 words, 1 pages)

While reading Dr. King's novel, I was able to get an uncensored idea of what African Americans went through in their struggle for civil rights. I cannot comprehend the extent to which they suffered while protesting, and it would be ignorant of me to think that I could understand. The ... Read More

African American Literature Essay Examples