The quest for true freedom : psychological emancipation through the human connection in Wright’s native son and Morrison’s beloved

• Main Author: Sutherson, Sunil Ebenezer
• Other Authors: Andrew Corey Yerkes
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::American
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48711
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The institution of slavery was abolished in 1865, long before America entered the Twentieth Century, yet its manifold effects carried on long into the Twentieth Century. W.E.B. Du Bois, in his work The Souls of Black Folk, which he wrote on the onset of the century, put it succinctly when he stated that ‘the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line’ (Du Bois 5). This declarative statement emphasizes that the tension between African Americans and white Americans in the wake of slavery is the single most important issue that the nation would have to contend with. It also suggests that it could last throughout the whole century. His claim can be supported by the many works throughout the Twentieth Century that discuss the after effects of slavery. Specifically this essay will focus on Native Son by Richard Wright and the neo-slave narrative entitled Beloved by Toni Morrison, which was written in the late twentieth century. Both works delve into the psychological condition of the black subjects, and assert firstly the importance of psychological emancipation from the effects of slavery, and secondly what is required for African Americans to attain self-consciousness. Many critics have argued that being set free mentally is the catalyst to attaining true freedom. Critics have also traced the psychological state of black characters in specific novels to underscore the importance of psychological emancipation. This essay will firstly argue that psychological emancipation is integral in truly setting the African American subject free from the effects of slavery, and it will secondly argue that genuine human condition is the single most important factor that must precede psychological emancipation.