Southland By Nina Revoyr: Novel Analysis

The award winning novel Southland, by Nina Revoyr, clearly describes life in Southern California during the mid 1900’s. In this novel, Revoyr distinctly outlines the controversy between love, race, and murder. The apparent issues in Southland begin to show themselves through the narrative set in Los Angeles. Revoyr was born in Japan and moved to Los Angeles when she was very young. Born a white American, Revoyr was racially excluded by the white children and had a hard time fitting in. The author of this novel demonstrates how it was hard to make new friends of different race and class in such a stratified society. A character in the book named Nick Lawson is a white cop during this time, and he demonstrates racial discrimination towards African American boys throughout the book. Lawson is assigned to the main case in the murder mystery. While being on this case he uses his power of being a white upper class male, to

He stood in front of her car and refused to move until the woman justly purchased cookies from Jackie. This demonstrated the eventual effect that racism has on people. Frank was a non confrontational person, but this small act was enough to push him over the edge. In a way the Watts Riots were the same as the cookie scandal, just on a grander scale.

Southland focuses on the past and present racial injustices in Los Angeles. Revory demonstrates that Los Angeles was and is a very stratified place. Social and financial status still acting as a key role in out stratified society. White upper class males are still oppressing minority black males. Nick Lawson greatly demonstrated racism towards African Americans during this time. Gender, race, and ethnic differences can have a major role in the actions, perceptions, and behaviors an individual has towards another person. This would be exemplified when the women refuses to buy girl scout cookies from