Balancing Optimism and Exposing Injustice: Richard Wright and Lorraine Hansberry's Different Forms of Literary Protest

                                                               Charlotte Lin

Wright and Hansberry both use literature as a form of protest, but differ in their methods of delivering their message to the audience. By humanizing Black characters and narrating events of racial oppression, both authors call attention to systemic constraints on freedom, highlighting the need for change. However, Wright’s writing style focuses on demonstrating the weight of societal injustices towards Black people through a naturalistic and demoralizing story, while Hansberry promotes the need for racial equality by showing realistic circumstances and examples of modern societal failure. A Raisin in the Sun uses liberal realism to emphasize agency, hope for growth, and freedom of choice, which also correlates with the progress of the Civil Rights Movement at the time. Down By the Riverside reveals inevitable suffering caused by societal corruption through socialist-driven naturalism, taking a different, perhaps hopelessly portrayed approach to impactfully expose the world’s injustices.

Down By the Riverside’s narration style focuses on the uncontrollable effects of nature and the lack of liberties for Mann and his family, forcing them to act and adapt out of survival. The characters are not only trapped by the flood but also by the social expectations and structural oppression (potentially even more so). This emphasizes the need for drastic systemic reformation, and considering how severe the natural disaster is depicted, it is a powerfully dramatic way to deliver Wright’s message. The story includes little character development and blatantly illustrates the misfortune predominantly caused by an institution built against African Americans. While the flood plays a large role in Mann and his family’s struggles, the characters likely would have had much stronger chances of survival if they hadn’t needed to fight against not just nature, but the society pitted against them as well. The disheartening progression of pure suffering and the eventual demoralizing ending of Mann’s journey carry through to expose America’s systemic failure and send a cry for help and societal transformation. In addition, the development of Mann’s story also proves to be out of his control, further demonstrating the oppressive economy and how society is stacked against people like Mann. Forced to act out of survival, they are put in impossible positions and face moral dilemmas (need to steal a boat, or shoot at someone). However, each decision ultimately produces unfavorable and destructive outcomes, showing that their fates were never in their hands, that a hopeful future never existed for them. This sense of powerlessness, despite the characters’ incredible efforts, is used to expose the corrupted system and prove that the adversities of Black people are not due to their strength or morals, but a crushingly inescapable social injustice.

In contrast, although A Raisin in the Sun’s overall emotional development goes through dispiriting lows as well, it evidently ends on a higher note that looks towards the future. While the play also protests the unequal social structure, it empowers the Black community and provides hope for liberal advancements. Hansberry develops circumstances that highlight different personalities and dreams, creating a work of literature that connects with a wide audience, humanizing African Americans on a large scale and thereby bringing to attention the need and deservedness of racial equality. A Raisin in the Sun also presents challenges caused by economic injustice, but inspires social progress through the characters, who demonstrate courage and resilience. A clear separation from Wright’s naturalistic work, Hansberry’s writing is more realistic and relatable. Although the constraints of discrimination still heavily challenge the characters, the Younger family can persevere and control their situations to an extent, making important decisions that shape their destinies. This ability to make meaningful differences in their own lives and choose to work towards liberal progress and gradual equality demonstrates a different kind of empowerment and hope for freedom from overly restrictive external forces. Examples could include Walter’s initially irresponsible choice with the money, and how, while it harms him and his family, it eventually plays a significant role in his maturing, which shows in a different decision he makes at the end by rejecting Mr. Lindner's offer. Hansberry shows realistic consequences of institutional barriers, but the agency shown by the characters creates opportunity for the future, and encourages looking towards radical change with hope.

Both narratives humanize characters and challenge stereotypes of African Americans, and while Wright uses extreme conditions to stress the dire need for major, structural renovation, Hansberry accentuates the impacts of societal oppression through creating realistic and understandable situations. Wright’s pre-Civil Rights work and Hansberry’s mid-Civil Rights writing have very different portrayals, which is relevant to the settings they were written in. By comparing and contrasting the two authors’ forms of activism, we can track the evolution of protest and methods of activism. Before the movement, Wright’s leftist view urged a complete societal reconstruction by studying and emphasizing the failures of the systems that existed at the time. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Hansberry’s realism promoted faith and collective action for equality. There is a presence of optimism in Hansberry’s writing that is not seen in Wright’s, and the characters' aspiration for radical transformation as a unified family at the end of the story reflects the collective push in society for justice and emphasis on hopeful coalition during the Civil Rights Era. Hansberry uses realistic literature to have a collaborative vision for a gradual, hopeful progression towards societal integration and forward-moving equality, while Wright advocates for a drastic reconstruction of societal structures by powerfully depicting the irredeemable state of society in a harsh, naturalistic narrative.