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Summary Of Hard Rock Returns To Jail

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When the Civil War came to an end, Congress passed legislation on several civil rights issues that aimed at safeguarding those who had previously been slaves. However, even though this legislation had been passed, there was still a prevalent culture of racism that opposed the legislation. This resulted in the civil rights movement, a mass popular movement to acquire equal rights and opportunities for African Americans. Demonstrators pursued their goals through legal legislation, petitions, and nonviolent protests. It took the actions of many brave leaders to end the segregation between African American and Caucasians communities, which lead to many innocent lives to be lost in the process. In the poem, “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall, …show more content…

Similar to Randall’s poem, in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison” imagery shows the struggle of being a proud African American during the civil rights movement. Hard rock is described as, “Split purple lips, lumped ears, welts above / His yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut / across his template” (Knight lines 3-5). The description of Hard Rock makes the reader visualize a much wounded individual. Hard Rock’s description shows if that if does not agree with you he will let you know, making him fearful. The scars on his body show his indifference to physical pain and refusal to live to the current standards of a racist time period. His strength to continue on despite having no voice in society is what others look up too. Randall writes, “A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitch / And didn’t lose his teeth…” (lines 24-25). After his lobotomy he becomes mentally incapable and is forced to accept racism because he can’t show his actions anymore. The image created shows that Hard Rock can no longer put up a fight against racism. Hard rock being rebellious led to the death of not only him, but his peers who supported him in silence. Hard Rock’s punishment helps visualize how it served as a warning to the other men to not be heroic, the prisoner’s just need to worry about themselves, rather than being brave and revolting like Hard Rock did. Knight’s use of imagery is a reminder of how brave African Americans who wanted equal rights were not necessarily

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