Ernest J. Gaines : Crisis and Racial Identity

Description

The present study deals with references to historical events and figures over the past of Blacks in America as opposed to Whites in the context of racial ideology based on materialistic interests and biological differences with social, economic, cultural and political objectives that brighten up extreme crisis according to Ernest J. Gaines.
The necessity of change by black characters in hostile environment interspersed with oppression and racism is a recurring theme by the author. As such, Gaines highlights two kinds of diametrically opposed characters: one is submissive and conservative; the other, rebel and non-conformist, whose conflicting actions bring about a break with submission in order to reach heroic transcendence. The process from submission to heroic transcendence these characters show consists in resulting in qualitative bounds, synonymous with sudden awareness for the promotion of superior production method or social system. This awareness brings about the destruction of the historical stereotypes and emphasizes the reconstruction of African American’s true identity.