Richard Wright's "Down by The Riverside" illustrates, in tragic detail, the continuous cycle of false hope plaguing a black man who had the misfortune of acting in self-defense. Mann, the conveniently named protagonist, is pinned against nature throughout the story's plotline (hence Man[n] vs. Nature), and this environment drastically shapes his behavior. Particularly, Wright describes the flooded setting that forces Mann into a state of cognitive dissonance; his moral code is strong, but he knows he must also act against it to protect himself and his family. On one hand, Mann does not want to steal a boat, let alone kill anybody, but he also realizes he and his loved ones would die if not for him committing these necessary "sins". Thus, Wright brilliantly builds suspense by developing a character who is forced to worsen their situation each page-turn---even so, the reader still considers Mann's survival a positive product of this worsened situation, at least until the story's climax. To me, "Down by The Riverside's" conclusion establishes the devastating common fate of many black people during one of America's most racist periods, and thus makes situations like Manns' seem rightfully hopeless (even when he saved multiple white families from the flood, his altruistic actions ultimately led to his death because he was forced to kill Mr. Heartfield in self-defense very early on in the story). However, I also get the sense the Richard Wright wants to unite his readers against the racist atrocities in America by creating such an emotionally invigorating piece of work. The last scene of Mann desperately scanning around him for signs of help while he gets dragged out of a black-run cafe (I think it was a cafe? It's not very clear) to get executed, specifically, aims to motivate "Down by The Riverside's" readers to be less complacent in the growing civil rights movement.
Up until his death, Mann submits to all the things that white men order him to do. Even when his pregnant wife had just passed away at the Red Cross, Mann had no time to grieve before a white man asked, and essentially forced him, to join the flood rescue efforts. This compliance is a form of self-preservation for the protagonist, who realizes that responding "no" to the white characters' requests would most likely lead to a much worse fate than saying "yes". However, once Mann realizes and fully accepts that he will be killed for fighting back against Heartfield (i.e. "They goin t kill me", pg. 97), there is no longer a need for him to worry about self-preservation. When dragged out to his execution tent by two white soldiers, he decides to run "Right thu them trees!", as "He would die before he would let [the soldiers] kill him" (pg. 102). Despite the soldiers claiming Mann "shouldntve run" after brutally shooting him as he fled, the protagonist probably had more control over his autonomy in this final scene than he had at any point prior when a white character was telling him what to do. If Mann was going to die anyways (which Wright heavily implies by adding a repeating sense of false hope in "Down by The Riverside"), he at least died on his terms. This notion could be applicable in the grand scheme of the civil rights movement as well, where taking action against American racism often seemed to be terrifying and impossible. Wright implies that continuously complying to racist norms would never lead to any social progression; rather, it is necessary to retaliate and protest in order for America to no longer function under the terms set by racist white people.
Right after Mann is publicly accused for his "crimes" (which were self-defense and boat theft he hadn't even done), he not only focuses on taking action himself (by plotting to run away and make his death messier for everyone involved), but also on what the crowd around him does. He scans the faces of the people in the black-run cafe where soldiers were running in to grab and "trial" him, and the scene became clear: Mann "knew that [the black people in the cafe] would not and could not help him, even as he in times past had not helped other black men being taken by the white folks to their death". This feeling of helplessness elucidates another aspect of Ricard Wright's argument, which is that obedience disrupts the unity that can protect people against a common evil. Mann notes that he wasn't receiving help because of the systemic issues preventing black people from protesting the unfair killing of other black people; it was simply too risky to speak out against white soldiers. This fear made it impossible for Mann to get a fair treatment and proper trial, and thus he had an undeserved death with no one to help him.
The conclusion of "Down by The Riverside" was Richard Wright's way of stating that obedience would not be beneficial to the civil rights movement. Instead, he emphasized how a sense of non-complacency and protest could lead to increased unity, which could help fight against the norms of racist America. By exposing the horror of a southern flood near a racist Red Cross Hospital, Wright managed to deliver a broader message about what the civil rights movement should focus on so that situations like Manns' would be less prevalent.
No comments:
Post a Comment