Analysis of Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow"

Social situations illustrate the power of how external pressures influence peoples' reactions and responses. The pressures can often have a strong effect on their responses. Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" illustrates his cruel childhood lesson of learning how to live with the prejudice and discrimination. It is an autobiographical sketch of the Negro experience in a white-dominant society. Whites view themselves as superior to blacks and thus act in ways to express their superiority. Their discriminatory actions create social pressures and dictate consequences that compel blacks to act in certain ways. Rather than simply stating the Jim Crow laws, Richard Wright utilizes his childhood anecdotes to capture the dominant white attitude that imposed a low social status on blacks. While the majority of blacks accept their inferior role, Richard Wright exhibits frustration towards these people's actions and chooses to respond with subtle defiance.

The lesson of how whites are clearly dominant over blacks is reiterated throughout "Ethics of Living Jim Crow." More importantly, however, is that this attitude fosters a social atmosphere that forces blacks to choose how they react. This white dominant theme appears when Wright is applying for a job at the optical company. "I was very careful to pronounce my sirs distinctly, in order that he might know I was polite, that I knew where I was, and that I knew he was a white man" (4) The whites demanded respect from blacks and for the most part, blacks gave it to them. Furthermore, whites expect them to know their place in society. The extensive prejudice and discriminatory practices exercised by whites show their desire to maintain their supposed superiority over blacks. "This is a white man's work around here, and you better watch yourself" (5). Wright's employers at the time wanted him to be the typical black man who dares not defy any white man. "Ethics of Living Jim Crow" constantly shows that a black man must not blur the boundary between blacks and whites. Whites do not want their social status threatened so they create rules to undermine the black man. "I would have been pleading guilty to having uttered the worst insult that a Negro can utter to a southern white man" (7). He knew that attempting to defy the superiority of the white man can be dangerous. In the South, any black man blurring the racial boundaries often faced death by lynching. The extreme nature of these punishments shows the whites dominance and their efforts to maintain their superiority. Their prejudice creates a standard of conduct and forces blacks to act accordingly to avoid violence.

In response to the white dominance, the majority of blacks chose to accept the role made by whites for blacks. They accept their lower social status with a defeated attitude believing that it is the only way they can survive. Wright portrays the importance and prevalence of this attitude through his mother's words "and they were absolutely right in clouting [him] with the broken milk bottle" (2). By using his mother, he shows how he grew up surrounded by blacks who have given in to the prejudice. Furthermore, this submissive attitude is later depicted after he told the other folks about how he lost his first job. They told him that he "must never again attempt to exceed [his] boundaries" (7). This defeated acceptance of the black man's inferiority is why the folks told Wright to "stay in [his] place" (7). Wright uses their viewpoint to depict the submissive response to the white's oppression of many blacks. The folks at home and his mother strongly believed this was their best course of action. There was the possibility that they feared the consequences, but more importantly, they believed that any other action was futile. This attitude of futility is further shown by the Negro maid. "Don't be a fool. Yuh couldn't help it" (13). She understands that Wright had no power to do anything and if he stood up to the watchman, he would have been beaten. This prevailing attitude of defeated acceptance shows the blacks' reaction to the whites' oppression. But more importantly, he almost criticizes their response by using childhood voice to show disbelief and frustration. He portrays them as staying in their place and obeying all commands by a white man. They accept the role with almost no hesitation and embarrassment, which is sharply different from his view.

Rather than accepting the social situation and acting like other black folks, Wright learned to develop subtle ways to defy the whites. "Ethics of Living Jim Crow" begins with "My first lesson in how to live as a Negro came when I was quite small" (Wright 1). In the beginning of his lesson, he only learned of the harsh, cruel reality of "Living Jim Crow." But towards the end of his Jim Crow education, he learned the "subtly cruel" form (13). He dared to ask a white man if he could borrow books from the library under his name. By doing so, his actions sharply contrasted with the other blacks who chose to accept the oppression. Even as a young boy learning to live in a discriminatory world, he tries to accept the world as is but he cannot. Although borrowing books is a small act of defiance, it still shows that he is unwilling to accept things as they are. In addition, his anger towards his mother for not accepting his side and his embarrassment for not being able to help the Negro maid exemplifies his inability to simply accept and live out the expected Negro role. Whites expected blacks to act in an inferior way. Blacks are also supposed to obey all commands and requests made by a white man. But Wright shows that he cannot live in such a world. By writing the note and signing it with the white man's name, he knows that the whites "would not have tolerated it for an instant" (14). He understands that he is breaking the rules, but he still acts that way. Wright's different thinking and methods of "Living Jim Crow" is shown towards the end of the chapter. "There were many times when I had to exercise a great deal of ingenuity to keep out of trouble" (14-15). He knows that openly defying the whites would only result in death or mutilation. Nevertheless, he chooses to defy the regulations through clever ways such as pretending to drop the packages to avoid confrontations. He refused to give a white man the satisfaction of demeaning a black man. Wright does not want to accept the oppression and instead, chooses to defy it in any way possible.

Throughout "Ethics of Living Jim Crow" Wright explores the issue of white dominance through Jim Crow laws and how blacks act in response to these discriminatory acts. Through the discrimination and racial violence, whites created a social situation that forced blacks to either accept the inferior role or defy it. He displays the majority of blacks, including his mother, as submissive to whites. They do not dare defy whites and tried to avoid any confrontation with them. He portrays them to play out the role that the whites created. Contrastingly, Wright portrays himself to progressively learn about how to live in the world. However, he reveals another reaction that the majority of blacks do not choose. He learns to subtly defy the whites' oppression, which shows his revolutionary figure. Even as a young man, he does not accept things as they are but seeks ways to improve his status. The discrimination creates two sharply contrasting responses and it highlights the different views of the time period.