Questions and Answers
What is the main problem faced by individuals in terms of identity according to the passage?
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What is the singular characteristic of the American culture mentioned in the passage?
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What did immigrant families attempt to do in order to belong to the adopted culture?
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According to the passage, what became feeble substitutes for genuine culture for immigrant families?
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What did native Americans try to translate the uncertainties of newness into, according to the passage?
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What did individuals, whether foreign or native, eventually find comfort in according to the passage?
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Which novel features a protagonist who becomes white to succeed in business and life?
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In which novel do the characters struggle against cotton's empire and fight the system with black share-cropper cooperatives?
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Which novel attempts to project the Negro image in conventional terms?
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Which novel features a character struggling against impersonal forces controlling personal destiny using cotton as a symbol?
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In which novel does a character reveal a secret after falling in love with a white lady, with love ultimately triumphing?
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Which group struggled to discover their identity in America after emancipation?
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What did Negroes lack in contrast to immigrants?
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Who worked to define Negro character and personality in the American context?
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What did the American Dream offer to all men, including Negroes?
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Who saw the American Dream as color-blind and the future as a matter of progress and hope?
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What was the range of Negroe response to discrimination?
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What is the main theme of Claude McKay's poetry?
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Who does DuBois collaborate with in expressing the need to balance conventional values with the recognition of distinctive Negro spirit?
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What idea does DuBois touch upon in 'The Souls of Black Folk'?
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What is the protagonist's ambition in the literature mentioned?
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In what way does McKay's work differ from embracing self-pity?
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What is crucial to McKay and other writers according to the text?
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'Black and Unknown Bards' by Johnson expresses regret for what?
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'The Souls of Black Folk' by DuBois touches upon the idea of what?
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'Black and Unknown Bards' by Johnson is charged with the sense of what?
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'Marshall, a Negro social club' was described with what according to the text?
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What was the prevalent attitude among Negro intellectuals and leaders towards Marcus Garvey?
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What was the common goal of Negro artists, poets, and novelists during the mentioned decade?
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Who shared the belief in the ultimate justice of an economic system and the idea that the future of Negroes was within the American context, despite the challenges posed by negative stereotypes?
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Based on the text, why did black writers find it challenging to develop complex characters?
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What attitude did the black hero have towards the order of things according to the text?
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What was Uncle Tom's character primarily intended to represent in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin?
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How did Washington and DuBois view the status of the race despite their apparent differences?
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What was one of the challenges faced by black writers according to the text?
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What is the title of Jessie Fauset's first novel?
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What does Joanna's father do for a living in the novel 'There Is Confusion'?
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What causes the breakdown of the relationship between Joanna and Peter in 'There Is Confusion'?
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In the novel, who falls in love with Joanna's brother but faces disapproval from Joanna?
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Where are Peter and Maggie reconciled in 'There Is Confusion'?
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What themes do Fauset's novels promote?
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What softens Peter's heart and dissolves his bitterness in 'There Is Confusion'?
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How does 'There Is Confusion' end?
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Study Notes
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Ferguson's example highlights the burden of race for black believers in America's capacity to absorb Negroes and their potential for individualism.
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Black leaders had to explain the entire race to gain advantage for individuals and promote achievement, but every failure or crime became a source of shame.
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Image consciousness was prevalent among Negro intellectuals and leaders, leading to a hysterical reaction against Marcus Garvey, who was perceived as a fool and charlatan.
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Negro artists, poets, and novelists were promoted during this decade to challenge the stereotype of Negroes and delineate honorable and sympathetic characters within the bounds of actual Negro experience.
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Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, despite apparent differences, agreed that the race was downtrodden and projected solutions based on the progressive bias of uplift.
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Washington believed in the ultimate justice of an economic system and believed the Negroes' future was within the American context, but efforts to find black identity within the American cultural context were challenging due to negative stereotypes.
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The Negro character was highly circumscribed by whites, with limited acceptable traits, making it difficult for black writers to develop complex characters and conform to genteel dogma.
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The black hero could not be aggressively critical of the order of things due to the desire to heal the wounds from the Civil War and eradicate lingering bitterness between northern and southern whites.
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Uncle Tom, a character from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, is often maligned but was intended to be a hero based on unquestioned faith in God and loyalty to owners.
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Tom's sense of honor led him to serve his loved master even beyond the grave, demonstrating the era's values and assumptions regarding Negro character.
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Jessie Fauset wrote novels to portray Negroes in standard American life
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Her first novel, "There Is Confusion" (1924), tells the story of Joanna Marshall and her erratic romance with Peter Bye
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Joanna's father, a businessman, owns a catering business, and Joanna has a strong desire for respectability and success
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Peter Bye is bitter about his ancestry, as his white ancestors enjoyed wealth produced by black ancestors who were not acknowledged
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Joanna's jealousy and Peter's bitterness lead to the breakdown of their relationship, causing Peter to leave medical school
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Joanna's friend, Maggie Ellersley, falls in love with Joanna's brother, Philip, but Joanna's disapproval causes Maggie to marry an older man who turns out to be a gambler
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Peter and Maggie are later reconciled in Europe, and they discover their past love for each other
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Peter meets and saves a white woman, Meriwether Bye, on the troop ship to France, softening his heart and dissolving his bitterness
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"There Is Confusion" ends conventionally, with Peter and Joanna married and having a child, and the old family head offering to take Peter's son into the white family legacy, which Peter refuses
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Fauset's novels promote the image of conventional respectability for Negro characters and illustrate the themes of uplift, self-perfection, and honor.
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