Negro Youth Speaks

Alain Locke’s essay, Negro Youth Speaks is very representative of the Harlem Renaissance. It discusses the younger generation who Locke refers to as the “voice of the New Negro” (47). It is through this younger generation that African Americans have broken into true artistic levels, competing with their white counterparts. At this time, art became a very important segment of society for African Americans to showcase their talents and accomplishments. Locke feels that this new generation has “stopped speaking for the Negro” and now “they speak as Negroes” (48). It is this New Negro that has changed society and the way that African American art is evaluated. I liked that Locke pointed out that the African American artists of the Harlem Renaissance had a new way of thinking and a new outlook about their lives. Locke stated that African American artists had a “new aesthetic and a new philosophy” (49). I think that this new attitude gave rise to the Harlem Renaissance and characterized this time period in African American history.

This New Negro no longer has the obligation to represent the race. Instead they are free to express themselves as individuals through their art. There are fewer restrictions on the African American because they are not as held back by the prejudice and oppression of the earlier generations. Locke’s essay has a very positive tone. I think when this essay was published it provided African Americans with hope and motivation to break free from the restrictions of the past and strive to accomplish great things. Locke was sending a message that this new generation is finally going to be able to make the contributions that they have always been capable of doing.

Passing

For this blog I decided to focus on the character of Clare. She is a very dynamic character and seems to have many layers to her. I think that understanding Clare is an important element to understanding the novel. In class we discussed Clare’s inconsideration towards others. The first sign of this inconsideration came when Clare stared at Irene to the point where it made her uncomfortable. To stare at someone without being polite enough to look away is one small example that seems to be representative of a bigger issue. Clare’s insensitivity only continued to get worse. The part in the novel where Clare invited Irene and Gertrude over to her home to meet her husband was a truly despicable scene. I could not believe that Clare would subject her friends to her husband’s racism. Clare was completely insensitive to the women’s feelings. Then when Clare wrote a letter to Irene after the incident, I was sure that she was going to apologize for her husband’s behavior but instead she only expressed her gratitude toward Irene for coming over. Clare is also a very manipulative character. I see her manipulation as a pattern that will develop throughout the novel. Clare has been able to clearly manipulate her husband into believing that she is white. She will also continue to draw Irene into her game for her own purposes.

I feel as though Clare will be exposed as a black woman to her husband by the end of the novel. By many of her actions, I almost have to say that she has it coming to her. I am very curious to finish this novel and determine what Larsen’s feelings were about the concept of passing. From what has been read so far it seems as though Larsen wants to expose the negative side of passing much like Johnson did in his novel, The Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man. The positive side of passing is very apparent to most people including the material advantages as well as avoiding dangerous situations. It seems to me that Larsen is choosing to portray Clare, who is consumed with material wealth and white luxuries stemming from her ability to pass, as a manipulative and vain character. I think that Larsen, like Johnson, will choose to show the emotional problems afflicting African Americans who lived their lives passing.

The Gift of Laughter

The Gift of Laughter written by Jessie Fauset was a nice change of pace. This piece of writing focused on a different aspect of the African American’s life during the Harlem Renaissance than we have been reading about and discussing in class. While I was reading this essay I found myself wondering how this idea of the African American as a comedy figure emerged. It was no doubt a way for white people to mock African Americans or portray them in a theatrical role without having to take the African American’s feelings, struggles, and thoughts into consideration. In essence, it seems to me that this may have been a way to dehumanize the African American by making him look foolish and incompetent. This essay was not the first time that I have been exposed to the portrayal of African Americans in this manner. I have heard about the minstrel shows before but I had never really understood the significance of them until reading Fauset’s essay.

I found this essay to be very interesting because Fauset highlighted the progression of African American actors and their struggles to overcome the long-standing stereotype of their traditional comedic character. Fauset voiced the African American’s frustration at being categorized into such a frivolous role when the African American’s life has been filled with tragedy and oppressive circumstances. They have so much potential to portray dramatic and substantial roles but unfortunately many of these actors were stifled by stereotypical roles imposed by the white acting community and audiences. Fauset said it best when she stated, “To be by force of circumstances the most dramatic figure in a country; to be possessed of the wells of feeling, of the most spontaneous instinct for effective action and to be shunted no less always into the role of the ridiculous and funny- that is enough to create the quality of bitterness for which we are ever so often rebuked” (165).

I liked that Fauset wrote about the negative side of this early comedic character but she also ended the essay on a positive note. Fauset saw the African American actor as now using comedy as an “emotional salvation” (166). African Americans have taken a once mocking role and turned it into one that provides the African American people with a legitimate form of art and expression giving the African American people a sense of pride and entertainment.