Today blacks legally have the same rights as whites but the segregation in society is still striking.
During that time, where apartheid was a big part of the US, a young girl lived in Alabama, USA, and she has written a story about her life and experiences.
The short story is called: “Jesse” by Joy Boothe. As mentioned, the story is about a young white girl, who is named Joy Boothe. She lived in Alabama, USA. Joy’s grandmother was a racist, her father working at the plywood mill, and finally her mother who is at home with Joy and her little sister. The father has a black friend, which is named Jesse. Jesse is a kind and loving person, and Joy becomes friends with him. In the start of the story, Jesse tells about her Uncle which was an alcoholic and killed himself. Later in the story, Jesse loses his arm, because Jesse arm was caught by a big roller, and they must cut his arm off. In the story, the father ends up shooting the mother and himself, and the children moves to live with their grandmother. Joy misses Jesse but the grandmother will not let her go see him. The story ends with Joy getting pregnant, and she decides that her baby should name Jesse, through her grandmother is against it.
The story takes place from 1957, when the narrator was five years old, to 1979 when the narrator was twenty-seven years old. Other indicators of this fact are that the narrator, watched TV programs suchas “Rawhide” that ran from 1959-1966 and “I Love Lucy” that ran in the same period.
In addition, the using of the word nxxxr was a normal way of addressing and talking about black people in this period. In the story, saying the main character that she had touched a “nxxxr” before, when Jesse shows her where her father works.
The place and time of “Jesse” is of big importance due to the theme and message. In the mentioned period, blacks were inferior to whites because of the previous history of slavery in the USA. Even though the blacks worked for the white people, was the relationship between blacks and whites very bad, even though blacks worked very hard, to please the white people. You can say, that the white people disgusted at the sight of the black people. As an example, the Jim Crow laws made sure that the blacks and whites were segregated in public, they could not attend the same schools, drink from the same fountains and so on. It was these conditions the civil rights movement, which Martin Luther King was the head of, fought against. And finally, the fact that Joys family used to be farmers but the father is now the gluing foreman at the plywood mill, is an indication that the story took place during the change from farming to industrial work.
In addition, the fathers work is an indication, of the family’s status in society. It is not a respected job and the family does not have a lot of money, however, they do not belong to the lowest social rank, the father work hard to provide food for the family and toys for the kids. The parents try hard to give their children a good life, but the world seem to be against them. This is ironic because the white family is unstable and the black family (Jesses family) is loving and stable and no matter what happens in the story, Jesse is always kind and understanding, even after the father murders his wife and thereafter himself. Another indication that the family belongs to a lower social rank is the Uncle Jesse, who is mentioned on p. 1 l. 4, to be an alcoholic and later it is said that he shot himself on the porch. But through the family is a little bit poor, they are a loving family. The father helps Jesse, even though he is a “nxxxxr” and people find it very strange and became very mad, when white people helps black people. You can see that the father care about Jesse, when Jesse loses his arm. The father is very sad, and he fight for that Jesse can get a job. He says” He can do more with one arm, then many other can with two arms”.
This story is one of many examples where the whites are showed as ‘bad’ people, meaning they are narrow-minded and only focused on themselves against which the blacks are showed as loving, caring and openhearted people.
These stories also show a little, that the difference between whites and blacks, is not as big as many thinks. People think that just because we have different skin colours, they have a reason to segregate the society, but the fact is, even though we look different, act different, talk different, develop differently, we all have the right to live on this earth and no race should feel superior to another.