8/10/2019 Journal Section 3 Party Down at the Square

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Journal Section 3: A Party Down at the SquareBy Nathanael Foo

Explain how ideas of racism provoke a response from the reader.

Racial inequality has been an issue has spanned decades of human history. The attainmentof true equality within society is a goal that our civilization strives to achieve. A Party Down

at the Square by Ralph Ellison is a short story that depicts the immorality of racism, and the

deadly repercussions that can occur from the acts of racial prejudice within society. Ellison

uses the narrative conventions, including characterization and point of view to convey

negative connotations about racism, and evokes a sympathetic response from the reader

towards victims of racism.

The characterization within the short story provides an in-depth contrast between the victims

and perpetuators of racial discrimination. Jed Wilson is portrayed as the representation of

the racists in the town that the text is set in. He is the instigator of the lynching in the square.

We can see that he is devoid of any sympathy towards the Afro-American peoples, he leadsthe mob, and is expected to be voted sheriff. The fact that he says: aint no Christians

around tonightWere just one hundred percent Americans displays how he is going

against everything that America stands for: equality among all. The setting that is most

probably in the Southern states of America further amplifies Jeds hypocrisy, with the

Southern people usually being more faithful to Christianity than the North in America. The

lynching victim is seen to be a helpless African American, innocent of crime, and unable to

do anything about the situation. The fact that he is unnamed displays how in the eyes of the

white racists, they are dehumanised, and devoid of an identity. The representation of the

African American people within one nameless human that is killed with no mercy symbolises

how they are stripped of their individuality. This evokes a sympathetic response in the reader,

and demonises the racial discriminators within society.

The point of view conveys the events within the story in an unbiased manner, displaying

events from the eyes of an innocent child. We can see bystander effect coming into play

through the eyes of the narrator. He is physically disgusted by the events that he witnesses,

but he continues to view them, this shows the pressure of the dominant discourse, affecting

the psychology of an innocent child. A statue of a Confederate general stands above the

town square where the lynching occurs, and the narrator says that he was fixing to run over

and climb between his legs and sit there and watch. The statue symbolises the freedom and

equality that the American people believe in, with the innocent narrator climbing under the

protection of the statue, we can see how he is still untainted by the desensitizing values and

beliefs of the hegemony within the society that he lives in. The incorrect grammar and

spelling of some words within the story provides validity to the narrators innocence.