The racism of the Jim Crow South can be clearly compared with the novel A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines, and the sonnet “If We Must Die,” by Claude McKay. A main theme in the novel, degrading Jefferson into believing he is a hog, is also mentioned in the poem. Another example of comparison is the goal to “nobly die” rather than to be looked upon as a worthless death. A third similarity is the idea of fighting a common foe rather than yield to defeat. Both of these pieces focus on the enduring racism in the post-Civil War southern society and ways to overcome it.
The reference to hogs in both writings displays the dehumanization used by whites to degrade blacks during the first half of the 20th century. In the story, Jefferson’s lawyer argues that because he is so useless and unintelligent, the jury “might as well put a hog in the electric chair” (8). This shows how blacks, even though slavery had been abolished, were still looked down upon. They were not considered......
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