ipl-logo

Violence In Mailer's The Naked And The Dead

934 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Slavery effect on american culture

The twentieth century witnessed a devastating level of violence by individuals, groups, and states. This applies both in comparison to earlier periods, and in contrast with the desire of the individual to preserve his or her integrity, the social and political utopian dreams of a world at peace, and the duty of states to protect human life and preserve social order. Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim—predicted the price that modern society would have to pay for its processes of modernization in terms of inhumanity and destruction. In Norman Mailer 's The Naked and the Dead (1948), man battles for humanity and integrity in every moment in modern life and he is subjected to violence — physical, mental, emotional — while killing …show more content…

From lynchings, whippings, and brutality of police to race riots, slave rebellions, and other forms of retaliatory action, the black writers have documented those effects of racial violence on the African American community. The first images of violence important to the African American novel are those created by the authors of the antebellum slave narrative. Slavery was, after all, a culture held together by violence. An abolitionist Theodore Parker says, "begins in violence; it must be sustained by violence the systematic violence of general laws, or the irregular violence of individual caprice. There is no other mode of conquering and subjugating a man." ( Jerry H. Bryant. 9 …show more content…

Bigger’s anxiety and fear of the power of white society on blacks leads him to act out his own feelings of suffocation by smothering the white socialite Mary Dalton by accident, an event that causes more intense terror and derives him to burn her corpse in the furnace. When his plan of escape spirals out of control, Bigger attempts to reclaim his threatened autonomy by asserting sexual dominance over his black girlfriend Bessie. However, raping Bessie does not strip her of all power; Bigger fears she can still expose him. The only way Bigger can completely conquer Bessie is to kill

Show More
Related

Rebellions Of Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, And Denmark Vessey

609 Words | 3 Pages

When viewing the history of slavery in America, it becomes clear that violence toward slaves was truly a horrific kind of glue binding together the social construct of slave societies. The role of violence in a slave society can be more clearly understood by an examination of a several rebellions throughout history. Specifically, the rebellions of Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, and Denmark Vessey. A closer look at these rebellions gives insight into how violence controlled the dynamic of slave societies.

Read More

Why Did Europe Use Slaves Through The Triangular Trade To Gain Power?

564 Words | 3 Pages

Slave owners were violent towards their slaves in order to push them and get the job done. A slave named Augustino recalled his

Read More

What Are The Similarities Between WEB Dubois And Booker T. Washington

374 Words | 2 Pages

Both of these men were contemporaries and without a doubt their personal experiences and perhaps the overall black experience in the United States guided their conscious to adopt certain strategies and tactics in order to uplift black people politically, economically and socially. This is where these two leaders fundamentally disagreed, which was followed by suspicion, name calling, distrust and an unwillingness to concede and perhaps recognize the strengths and weaknesses that existed in both of their philosophies. They were divided and they left black America divided and yet their arguments are still highly debated in academic circles and laypersons circles alike throughout America. Lastly, this research study is limited in scope and has not met all the academic restraints consistent with a scholarly paper, nevertheless, at the same time, it will display objectivity and sound research methods by briefly exploring in an unscientific manner, the slave plantation personalities (giving in the seminal study by John Blassigame) and how perhaps those historical values—culture) impacted slave behavior, as well shaped black personalities that proceeded from this peculiar institution.

Read More

Frederick Douglass An American Slave Rhetorical Analysis Essay

732 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.

Read More

Police Brutality In Ava Duvernay's 13th And Frederick Douglass

516 Words | 3 Pages

Both Ava DuVernay’s 13th and Frederick Douglass’s narrative draw many similar parallels between the systematic oppression of black people in modern times and in the 19th century. The scenes of police brutality in 13th especially reflects Douglass’s influence on DuVernay’s perspective. In these scenes, we see black people violently, and sometimes fatally, attacked by the police, who are meant to protect people. This random violence against the black community leads to an overwhelming sense of fear and distrust of authority. This fear mimics the fear Douglass felt when he witnessed the Captain’s cruelty during the scene of Aunt Hester’s torture in Douglass’s narrative.

Read More

Examples Of Graphic Violence In All Quiet On The Western Front

1079 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through. In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front" is the description by Erich Maria Remarque of the graphic violence and gore and the psychological pain that the average soldier endured on the western front.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Use And Desensitization Of Freedom

155 Words | 1 Pages

The narrative of Frederick Douglas breaks down the very mechanisms used to enslave African Americans; from the deprival of education to an over use and desensitization of violence. What also occurs: is the realization that slavery as a system is able to damage those who are in power and use slavery. Corrupting the morals and empathy of white Americans who come in contact with the societal structure of enslavement. The same cycle which keeps African Americans from breaking free also keeps slave owners on a continuous path of cruelty. As an industry slavery seeks to survive and to do so it must have full support and no opposition; by both parties being changed to fit their roles it is able to do so.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Questions

684 Words | 3 Pages

In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in 1845, Douglass is reflecting on his experiences as a slave, as well as the known experiences of others, following his escape from bondage. He is making a plea to the Northerners who do not have a complete knowledge or understanding of the conditions of slavery in the South or are otherwise unopinionated in relation to it. In a later passage of the narrative, he focuses on the common beliefs of slave owners through a description of Mr. Hopkins, a former overseer he reported to. He reflects on this ideal that any problematic actions, or “misbehavior,” of slaves is awarded with abuse and punishment. Douglass includes concise and sarcastic rhetorical questions and responses in order to shed

Read More

What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Analysis

793 Words | 4 Pages

Douglass stated, “What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow-men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?” He successfully expresses his pain and anger in this quote by providing images of his and his people’s suffering. He tapped into the emotions of his audience, such as mothers, workers, and those who have felt physically pain by exposing them to the amplified struggles he and others had to face. Nonetheless, he continually reminded the audience, both explicitly and subliminally, that his group of people are too human, and that the only difference they share is the color of their skin. He is pleading his cases and hoping that it gets across to his audience in hope they will do the right

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Frederick Douglass

1196 Words | 5 Pages

Utilizing ethos, logos, pathos, and empathy, Douglass paints the portrait of his life as complete as possible, laying bare the horrors of slavery and calling for action. He creates a narrative flow that encapsulates the reader into himself, and forces them through the hell he crawled through to give them these few but full pieces of paper. All the anger, pain, hope, desire, bravery, and fear. Every emotion, every lashing, every aching step is summarized and imprinted into the reader for the sake of humanity’s collective soul, and for the salvation and deliverance of those in bondage. Had Frederick Douglass not have the strong grasp on literature, we might not ever have had such a complete picture of slavery, and might not have solved the issue as completely as we

Read More

Frederick Douglass Use And Abuse Of Power Essay

498 Words | 2 Pages

The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Negative Effects On Slaves

753 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

Read More

Examples Of Violence In Frederick Douglass

1636 Words | 7 Pages

Just Versus Unjust Violence: A Rhetorical Analysis of Violence in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Uncle Tom’s Cabin Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe present slavery in vastly distinct ways. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, author Frederick Douglass dives into a grisly world filled with bloodshed and in the middle of it a man willing to do what it takes to be educated and in control of his own person, narrated with the voice of reason. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, author Harriet Beecher Stowe depicts a variety of characters, their struggle with slavery and religion, their personal relationships, and their deep inner feelings, with no small degree of emotion and sentimentality. Douglass and Stowe’s use of

Read More

Literary Devices In The Underground Railroad

1642 Words | 7 Pages

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

Read More

Injustice In The King's Men

328 Words | 2 Pages

This is the white man's law”(Joyce 9). Bigger is worried about his new job because it is in a white neighborhood and he believes his every action will be watched. “Bigger was forced to be Mary's chauffeur setting him up to be guilty for anything that happened to her”(Brucker 949).

Read More

More about Violence In Mailer's The Naked And The Dead

Related Topics

Open Document