Style #1: Point By Point Example
Identify the compared works:
-Hughes, “Why You Reckon?”
- Ellison, “Black Ball”
*Both works address racism but use completely different characters and styles to reveal the
prejudices that African Americans faced in the 1920’s.
- Characters:
- stealing out of poverty – angry, implied threat of violence
- Father is educated, “being American is better” – reliable, hard working
-
Style:
Diction, slang, non-standard English – characters are not educated and without power immediate
Standard English, tone is more one of persistent reflection on the problems of race, laws
-
Theme of racism:
Similar, problems of race and inequity, powerlessness
Conclusion:
The value of work – Instrumental in the new voices of African Americans and the establishment of the
Harlem Renaissance. This was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.
Style #2: Block Style
Identify the compared works:
-Hughes, “Why You Reckon?”
- Ellison, “Black Ball”
*Both works address racism but use completely different characters and styles to reveal the
prejudices that African Americans faced in the 1920’s.
- Langston Hughes, “Why You Reckon?”:
- stealing out of poverty – angry, implied threat of violence
- Diction, slang, non-standard English – characters are not educated and without power –
immediate
- Ralph Ellison, “The Black Ball”:
- Father is educated, “being American is better” – reliable, hard working
-
Standard English, tone is more one of persistent reflection on the problems of race, laws
- Similarities and Differences:
- Similar, problems of race and inequity, powerlessness
- Characters are different and style is different
Conclusion:
The value of work – Instrumental in the new voices of African Americans and the establishment of the
Harlem Renaissance. This was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.