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 story quite viscerally through Mann’s various sensory experiences. For example “He took the sandwich and bit it. The dry bread balled in his mouth. He chewed and tried to wet it. If only that old soldiers quit lookin at me… He swallowed and the hard lump went down slowly, choking him” (Wright 80). Throughout the story, I found the naturalist imagery and focus on the physical body critical for permeating a sense of fear throughout the text. These depictions bring to mind images of a prey animal that knows it's being watched by a predator. Thus, this imagery serves to exhibit the almost animalistic racial tensions of the American South during this crisis. We discussed the idea in class that the racial system is impressed on everyone in this story, both black characters like Mann and Brinkley and white characters such as the Heartfield family. Wright displays his characters as largely helpless to free themselves from these social constraints and imposed scripts.

In contrast, A Raisin in the Sun is largely interested in exploring how racial hierarchies influence black characters’ identities. Every character in the family is unique in their struggle even as they experience the same racialized system. At the center of the family is the motif of a “dream deferred”. Walter’s dream, for example, is to achieve financial success - thus, securing his masculinity. However, this dream causes him to clash with his wife and his mother who don’t understand his ambitions. On page 497, Walter is trying to explain his dreams to his mother and Mama interrupts him, saying “So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life-now it’s money. I guess the world really do change” (497). This line to me highlights the connection between A Raisin in the Sun and Down by the Riverside: the stakes. In A Raisin in the Sun, we move into a period and region of the U.S.  where racialized violence is still commonplace but where the racial system has generally morphed. Because the family’s actual lives are not at risk, we instead witness the near-death (aka deference) of their hopes, passions, and constructions of self. 

One of the things I really like about A Raisin in the Sun is the generational discourse positioned between Mama and her children. Both children seek avenues to find their identity. For Beneatha, this means pursuing medical school and learning about Africa from Asagai. Their dreams are fundamentally different because their identities are different. But for each sibling, the central conflict comes from an inability to be who they want to be, not an inability to be at all. I think these differences are largely influenced by the setting the texts depict. Of course, it’s definitely possible (and I’m sure examples exist) for more naturalist/socialist-tinged black literature in a similar setting to the play, which could highlight socioeconomic structures that A Raisin in the Sun doesn’t try hard to dissect. I’m sure that black literature could be produced about the 1927 Flood with a more personified and liberal-tinged narrative, exploring more interpersonal complexities of situated characters. However, the kind of racialized death each author depicts is foremostly a product of the differing modes of racism in the North and South and pre- vs. post-WW2. While life looked differently for many black people in these two settings, it’s interesting the way both authors depict their characters trying to rend themselves from very real systemic shackles.