Online ISSN: 2515-8260

Blacks’ Struggles after Slavery in Chester Himes’ The Third Generation

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R. Sivasankari1 , Dr. K. Lavanya

Abstract

This paper is on Blacks’ struggles after slavery in Chester Himes’ The Third Generation. Himes describes the story of a southern black family in the early 1900’s, their struggle to live among whites after slavery, their expectation to get an equal right and to lead a luxury life as that of whites. Here, Taylor’s family struggles hard to live a life like whites. Though, blacks are freed, they are not given full rights during that time. Many blacks want to enjoy the life of whites; so they start to bring the whites’ atmosphere around them. Lillian Taylor, the wife of William Taylor, wants to be white. So, she fuses her thought on her family. In order to follow her wish, she takes effort to make everything under her control. She thinks herself as ‘half white’. She wants her children to live like whites. But situations make her wishes worse. Her husband, William Taylor being a professor, moves to different location. So, the family also moves to follow his career. Lillian, as they moved to rural life setting, hates that life. She couldn’t see whites’ atmosphere around her. Himes has depicted the life of Taylor, their struggles to keep up between their career and their wish to lead white’s sophisticated life in white society.

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