Threat to Life in Naturalist & Realist Texts
Down by the Riverside and A Raisin in the Sun are two texts depicting black people struggling against oppressive American systems. In Down by the Riverside , we see the main character, Mann, fighting to preserve his own life and that of his family amidst the 1927 Mississippi River Flood crisis. We watch Mann’s life, his struggle, and eventual death at the hands of white people upholding the racialized crisis labor system that Mann’s been pressed into. In A Raisin in the Sun , we see a working-class black family in the post-WW2 north similarly dealing with the realities of the racialized system and how they can eek meaning and fulfillment as this system works against them. There are numerous differences between the two texts from their settings to their form. However, I believe that the largest difference between the texts stems from the characterization of these characters in the system. As we discussed in class, Down by the Riverside is a naturalist text. We observe the s
