Down by the Riverside and Segregation
“Down By The Riverside” by Richard Wright is a short story that contains themes of resistance to racial segregation. The story follows Brother Mann as he tries to survive in the hostile environment created by a massive flooding of the Mississippi combined with the already hostile environment of the South. The first issue that Brother Mann is shown to be dealing with is the economic aspect of evacuation from the flood region. Mann is said to have “figured that the water would soon go down. He had thought if he stayed he would be the first to get back to the fields and start spring plowing”(Wright 55). This passage contains both the socialist ideas of Wright, and the racial caste system of the south. The passage is indirectly showing the audience the cruelty of the economic system as it is, that a man might risk his life just to be able to make the money he needs to survive instead of taking the opportunity to save his life. However, it is also notable that we don’t see any white characters in nearly as precarious situations, the only white character who seems to have stayed behind and not fled to the hills, is the mailman whose family seems to be in a far more secure position.
Brother Mann’s resistance to the segregationist system really only begins when the levee breaks and he and Brinkley are sent out to try and save people at the hospital. As is expected of a naturalist writing, Mann seems to have very little agency in his own resistance, only being chosen by Brinkley to be his partner because he was the nearest person who Brinkley can ask (Wright 83). By the time that the pair reached the hospital “the water had already covered the steps and was making for the first floor”(Wright 84). At the hospital Mann is ordered to “knock a hole through th[e] ceiling”(Wright 85) and then to lift the white patients and staff through the hole and onto the roof. It’s notable that while Mann is ordered by a white man to do all of this, while he is actually cutting into the roof he is given some certain level of power over the white soldier who comes with a flashlight. The soldier demeans Mann calling him “boy”, yet in the same moment the soldier accepts the request by Mann for him to point the flashlight where Mann wants him to, reversing the expectation that in the segregationist hierarchy that a white man would be giving the orders.
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Image of the Great Mississippi Flood |
Later in the story Mann helps out the Heartfields, minus their patriarch, as their sheltering at home has finally gone awry, and they call in for help. This moment leads to a crossroads, as Mann enters the home, and has the opportunity to either help or kill the remaining Heartfieds, since the son knows he killed the father. Once again the agency in the situation is given to Brother Mann, who originally plans to kill the Heartfields, but once the house begins to be torn from its foundations, throwing him onto the floor, he instead decides to save the family. Mann saves the family despite all his thoughts of self-preservation urging him not to, he had even thought of trying to convince Brinkley to not bring them to the house entirely, but ended u[ shying away from that proposal. This moment, like the previous, reverses the hierarchy, as all agency is given to a black man about whether the white family will live or die.
In both the previous moments Mann is given agency over white characters, which while not active rebellion, does act as a form of resistance against racial segregation. Yet in the end, despite the good deeds of Mann he is betrayed by the Heartfield son, how reveals to the soldiers that Mann killed his father. If we take Mann to represent the movement for equal rights, as the prompt requests that we do, then we see a commentary on the relation between the equal rights movement and white society emerge. Mann has done his best to do the right thing, and his only “sin” is killing the Heartfield father, an act of self defense. Yet despite all the good deeds and the justification for the one “bad” thing Mann does, the soldiers still lead Mann towards what would be his inevitable execution. One could interpret this moment as a commentary of how in spite of any good actions committed by the equal rights movement, those opposed will always find some blemish, one which could even be justified, and use that to condemn the movement for not taking oppression in stride.
I really like your interpretation of naturalism on this story and definitely agree with your claims about agency. I wonder, though, why Mann would choose to help the Heartfields. Possibly he felt guilty for murdering their father, but he also must have felt stranded as Brinkley was so intertwined in the white community that he was unable to trust him and tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteHey Dima, I thought your interpretations of times when Mann had agency in the story to be really interesting, and agree that it did play a kind of resistive role considering how oppressive the white class was in the story. It was upsetting that despite him doing the right thing with his agency he was still killed, but I agree that it was likely a message about the mistreatment faced by black people as they fought for better.
ReplyDeleteHi Dima, I really like the approach you took with the role reversal of Mann having agency at some points in the short story. Despite the fact that most of the time Mann had little control of the events going on in his life, the fact that there was times where he did have a semblance of control over a white person’s actions/lives shows the subversion of the roles for the way they lived at the time. While Mann did still frustratingly die at the end despite his good deeds, the author did a good job of showing his point through Mann’s character.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting you mentioned the brief moments where Mann was able to have agency but it was overshadowed by the treatment given to him by the white people around him. It made me think about how when black people had opportunities to rise up and do well for themselves and others, white people would be trying to keep them down. I think this is also reflected in Mann's unfortunate ending, where he still gets killed, even after helping the Hartfields.
ReplyDeleteNice blog post, Dima. Mann has gone through a lot of trouble in his life on that ship, and this story does shine light and give proof how racial segregation and discrimination was very troublesome, and motivates blacks to do something big to change this. Mann was a very strong individual, even though people didn't really like him. I agree with you when you said that Mann was trying his best to be a good person, but people still didn't like him and they end up killing him, which was really cruel.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it is both interesting and saddening to connect the parallels between Mann and the Civil Rights movement as whole. You make a great point about he is still betrayed by the system even when he does all of the correct things, and this reveals how even if society and people try to make it seem like we have moved past racism and are truly equal, so many things show evidence against this. I cannot help but think that if the roles were reversed and Mann was white and killed a black man out of self defense, he would be seen as a hero, even though they did the exact same thing.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree, and find it quite striking how it many moments, Mann is given complete agency, however I think that Wright is trying to make a broader argument with it too. I believe he is arguing that segregation and racial dynamics strip black people from their agency, as shown in the scene where he is rescuing the family. While he does have the power in that scenario, something in his mind prevents him from taking control, and instead leads himself to his eventual death.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting to note that the scenes in which Mann truly does experience agency are incredibly brief. I think the idea that one cannot exercise their own moral agency under the system of segregation is relevant. It shows that the system of segregation will never end with moral appeals but must be forcefully arrested through civil disobedience.
ReplyDeleteHey Dima! I totally agree that the theme of agency is really significant in "Down by the Riverside" and the message it conveys. The scenes you brought up with the hospital and the saving of the Heartfields feel to me like Wright is trying to convey that Mann only has the illusion of agency; while he does temporarily reverse the hierarchy and act with agency for the white people who are helpless in the scenes, in the grander scheme his actions of brief agency are no use compared to the enormous systems of systemic racism and exploitation. This fits with the naturalist theme of "Down by the Riverside" as the characters are helpless against oppressive forces of nature.
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