“Bright and Morning Star”

Shaping the African-American Community: Identification and Desire-to-be

In my essay I will show that identification, or the way society perceives the African-

American people, and the desire-to-be, the African-American community’s desire to be seen as

a component of the American society, influence the people who are confronted with the status

of being a “nigger”.

First, identifying himself as a black person, Johnny-Boy feels the urge to fight against

the white people who despise African-American minority’s rights. He is confronted with the

concept of Anglo-Saxon privilege: the “rich” whites have the power and the “natural right” to

govern the community and to disconsider the black and poor people. Johhny-Boy accepts his

status and doesn’t try to “pass” for white, that’s why he likes to consider everyone equal:

“Ma, Ah done tol yuh a hundred times. Ah cant see white n Ah cant see black”, he said. “Ah sees

rich men n Ah sees po men.”(418)

(…) “Lawd, yuh tryin to maka revolution n yuh cant even keep yo coat buttoned.” Her nimble

fingers fastened his collar high around his throat.” (419)

In this case, Johnny-Boy is not just a “docile body; he can and do disidentifies with the

dominant norms of the society” in which he lives (Rottenberg, 315).

In this context, the relationship between Reva and Johnny is impossibe. He is identifyed with

the status of being an African-American and the society would punish Reva and her family if

their love was discovered, because of the need to empasize categorization in the community

between “white (civilized/intelligent/moral/hardworking) and black people

(savage/instinctual/licentious/lazy)” (Rottenberg, 316)

“A man needs a woman by his side … She thought of Reva; she liked Reva; the brightest glow

her heart had ever known was when she learned that Reva loved Johnny-Boy. But beyond Reva were cold

white faces. Ef theys caught it means death …” (415)

As a result, the black community is faced with white officials’ racial violence. The

Sheriff and his people treat with disrespect Sue when they come in her house in seach of her

son:

“Yuh see her?”

“Naw!”

“Look in the kitchen!”

“Gee, this place smells like niggers!”

(…) “Lissen, nigger woman, yuh talkin t white men!”

“Yuh need somebody t teach yuh how t be a good nigger!”

(…) The sherrif slapped her straight across her face with his open palm.

(…)” Wheres that nigger son of yos?” the sheriff asked.

“Find im”, she said.

“By Gawd, ef we hafta find im we’ll kill im!” (419)

An even worse attitude they show towards Johnny-Boy, when they find him:

“(…) she saw Johnny-Boy lying in a trough of mud. He was tied with rope; … (438)

“Ahm gonna split his eardrums,” the sheriff said.”Ef yuh got anythin t say t him yuh bettah say

it now!”

She saw the sheriff stoop over Johnny-Boy, place his flat palm over the one ear and strike his

fists against it with all his might. He placed his palm over the other ear and struck again. Johnny-Boy

moaned, his head rolling from side to side, his eyes showing white amazement in a world without

sound.”(439)

As a response to white’s attitudine towards black people, the later ones feel that they

can’t trust or show respect to those who mistreated them. That is the reason why Sue mistrusts

Booker’s kindness when he offers to go and announce Jonny-Boy’s comrades that the Sheriff

knows about their future meeting:

“(…) Yes; she was too weak to go. But should she tell Booker? If only she had somebody like

Reva to talk to! She did not want to decide alone; she must make no miskate about this.

“Sue, lissen! Johnny-Boys caught. Ahm here. Yuh tell me who they is n Ahll tell em.”

(…) “Yuh gotta tell me who they is, Sue!”

“Ah tol yuh Ah don know!”

“Yuh do know!C mon! Set up n talk!”

“Naw!” (426-427)

In the same time, Sue is aware of the fact that the Sheriff and his men consider her a

slave and that they don’t respect her privacy and her property. She is resigned with the fact that

she will never be perceived otherwise than an annoying “nigger woman”:

“Again she heard the sheriff’s threatening voice: Git yuh a sheet, cause hes gonna be dead! (…)

Lawd Gawd in Heaven, Ahma go lika nigger woman wid mah windin sheet t git mah dead son!” (433)

On the other hand, it is also highlighted the African-American men’s desire-to-be-seen

as “Americans” and to have their rights and needs respected. The black people try to emulate

dominant regulatory ideals by creating a party in which will be included the the African-

Americans and white men in poverty. In this way, the “rish” white men will aknowledge them

as being part of the community.

“Johnny-Boy out there on those wet fields rounding up white and black Communists for a

meeting tomorrow? (408)

(…) The wrongs and sufferings of black men had taken the place oh Him (God) nailed to the

Cross; the meager beginnings of the party had become another Resurrection. (410)

To sum up, all the rules society imposes to black people trigger two different attitudes:

the African-American community is seen as a secretive, closed and subversive one, while the

counterpart rebels against this identity because of the desire to be seen as a part of the town’s

community.

Works cited:

Wright, Richard. Bright and Morning Star (Early Works). NY: Library of America,

1991

Rottenberg, Catherine. Passing: Race, Identification, and Desire

(http://dajialai.org/ziliao1/Marxism/Criticism/Race,%20Identification,%20and%20Desire.pdf)

Rottenberg, Catherine. Race and Ethnicity in "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored

Man" and "The Rise of David Levinsky": The Performative Difference

(http://www.jstor.org/stable/4141857)