Lutie Johnson

Words: 793

Pages: 4

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André Ajabor
African American Literature 1940 – Present
@02709326
Question:
As portrayed in both novels, how is Lutie Johnson’s murder of Boots Smith and Bigger Thomas’s murder of Mary Dalton a direct representation of oppression?
Intro Paragraph:
Lutie Johnson the Protagonist in Ann Petry’s novel The Street (1946) is an African American mother who lives in segregated America during the 1940’s. Throughout the novel we see Lutie struggling with the hardships of life, trying to get herself and her son Bub away from the street. The street is a ghetto in New York City that Lutie Johnson will try desperately to escape. She wishes to do better for herself and wants the best for herself and for Bub. Her goal is to get out of the ghetto and she …show more content…
Within Native Son, we see Bigger Thomas in a frenzy of fear trying to silence Mary Dalton, in an attempt to keep his job, which is to fit within the normative American society, fearing that he could revert back to his oppressive urban …show more content…
His quick reaction to cover Mary’s face, determined to ensure that she doesn’t move or make any sound shows how Bigger will do anything out of desperation to not mess up his opportunity for a better life. He reacts out of fear from white approval as he can hear Ms. Dalton approaching. He doesn’t pay attention to the fact that he is killing Mary Dalton. All Bigger can see is an opportunity to save his livelihood in an attempt to beat oppression and to fit into what he believes is normative society. Bigger is blind and can’t see the reality that he faces.
Synthesis Section:
Both Lutie and Bigger’s quest for the “American Dream,” is ultimately hindered by oppression. The oppression itself frustrates both characters, blinding them and compelling them to react in a rage of fear and desperation in an attempt to try to escape there past environments. This is so that they can to fit into what they believe is the normative American society. However, both end up committing crimes, not seeing that they contributed to their own downfall and consequently are what results in both of the protagonists’

The Wind In Ann Petry's The Street

like an annoying little brother, but establishing its vicious and terrible features validates Lutie Johnson's determined mindset. Petry conveys the battle between Lutie Johnson's strong will and the horrible wind's persuasion to seek shelter with imagery, personification, and selection of detail. For almost the entire scene, Ann Petry writes strong imagery about the wind instead of writing about Lutie Johnson. Filling the reader's heads about the wind, however, is with purpose; it sets up the reader…

Words 445 - Pages 2

The Street Ann Petry Analysis

Life is a game of survival as you have to hurdle over the obstacles that are place by nature. Ann Petry introduces her novel, The Street, with the uncontrollable force of nature that toys with the wandering souls of an urban city, not excluding Lutie Johnson as she becomes victim of nature. The author is able to do so by describing the wind as purposely doing so with the use of the literary devices: personification, imagery, and diction. For the most part of the novel, Ann Petry demonstrates the mischievous…

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The Street Petry Analysis

The urban setting of Petry’s, “The Street” was clearly not the home of Lutie Johnson. Petry conveys this relationship through the use of imagery, personification, detail, and figurative language. Lutie is taken back by the wind but perseveres in order to reach her goal of reading the sign. The wind’s invasiveness serves to “discourage the people walking along the street” but she will not give in. By targeting the reader’s feelings of irritation, Petry proposes that discouragement is only as strong…

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The Street Ann Petry Summary

establish Lutie Johnson's relationship to the urban setting. Petry uses imagery to set up the urban area. As she is explaining what the wind does, she is including what is in the area. She describes it by having scraps all around the streets. She describes how the wind manipulates the area. She also uses imagery to set up Johnson's relationship to the winds. ¨She shivered as the cold fingers of the wind touch the back of her neck.¨ Here we can see that the wind leaves an eerie feel on Johnson. Petry…

Words 511 - Pages 3

The Street By Ann Petry Essay

The urban environment of the city is often criticized by environmentalists due to the city inhabitant’s carelessness and apathy for the environment in which they live in. The people in the city often tarnish the purity of their environment by littering, and disrespecting it by disregarding the terrible effects that they themselves source to it. In an excerpt from The Street, author Ann Petry creates a picture of the relationship between the urban environment and the people, a relationship of hostility…

Words 678 - Pages 3

Comparing Baldwin And Sonny's Drown

While the world has inevitably evolved since the time of Baldwin and Petry's writing, this does not imply that the causes of the suffering experienced by people of color have been completely eradicated. Rather, they’ve persisted in various forms and degrees, which continue to emerge from the evolving world, all the while remaining firmly anchored in the long-standing traditions around racial discrimination and its implications. Therefore, while the environments of Ann Petry’s The Street, James Baldwin’s…

Words 1511 - Pages 7