Two Sides of a Coin

There are things in life which we can never really explain. Perhaps we can share our opinions but we can never really tell the truth about these things. Life has never been easy to deal with. It is like a roller coaster that offers you a thrilling experience or a carousel that gives you a relaxing journey around the circles of your life and yet it will always be a memorable ride down the road of challenges and opportunities. However not all people are given the chance to grasp these opportunities because there are hindrances, challenges that we have to face so as to finally get the chance of having these once in a lifetime breaks.

There are two kinds of people in the world. One who will always find a way to fool the other and hinder his growth while the other is someone who is being beaten, being fooled and being played by the people around him. In two magnificent stories of Black people, two sides were drawn to describe these people and how their life goes. While one is shown as a person of great goodness, the other was someone who is full of bravery to the point that people were afraid of him already.Two faces of a single race, in a world wherein they are oppressed, they remained to be puppets and properties of the society despite of the attitude, the bravery and the goodness that they have. In a world full of white people, how can a black man grab his chance of living a free life he always wanted and he deserves? How will a person who wanted to escape oppression find his way towards freedom? We can never tell nor explain such things but we always wanted to find the reasons why it happens.

We may consider such oppression as part of the past already but we can never deny the fact that it has been part of our history. Racism and slavery, a cliche topic already and yet we do not hide its reality to the present generation. We can never own a person and there was no rule for such ownership but in the world they once had, black people can never be part of the free society. There had been several stories about black people, fiction and non-fiction; these stories tell more about the lives of African-Americans who were victims of racism and slavery.While the white Americans had been spending their times loving the society and life, African-Americans were slaves and properties of these white men. As workers in the plantation, they work hard for the white race, in some cases, we can consider that they are the ones who provide for them because if they were not working in their fields, factories and plantations, they will not be able to have successful business and wealth will be impossible to achieve.

Dry September In William Faulkner’s Dry September, he narrates the life of Will Mayes who was wrongly accused of the crime he did not commit.Set in a barber shop as the initial setting, people inside were talking about what had happened to Minnie Cooper and who did it to her. The first person who they suspected as the culprit is Will Mayes, however, the barber insisted that it was not him because he knows that Will is a good person but the youth also insisted that it was a nigger and it was Will (Faulkner). In a long debate, the barber did not win and the group decided to put the law in their hands, probably to eliminate, kill or do something bad to Will who was at that time in the factory as night security.The barber who is really concerned of him and was tagged as nigger lover followed the group and convinced them not to do anything that may hurt Will (Faulkner 338-39). John said they will just talk to him but the event did not simply turn out that way.

With a gun in John’s side, the barber is sure that they will hurt him or kill him. He told them that if it was Will, he would not be staying in the factory and would simply try his best to escape but the group did not believe him and soon they handcuffed Will and brought him in the car and in the end, Will was killed (Faulkner). Blood Burning MoonIn this narrative, it was a story of love affairs. However we can also include lust and racism too since Tom and Louisa were both African-Americans and Bob is the youngest son of a plantation owner. Bob have an affair with Louisa and he is not sure why he likes her. He resorts into wishing that it is still time of slavery so that he can have Louisa and have sexual encounter with her without minding what the people will tell him.

On the other hand, Tom is a black man who is really in love with Louisa that he will do anything just to have her, even if it means killing another man (Toomer).Louisa on the other hand is disturbed of her situation and did not remain true to any of these men. Tom upon knowing that Louisa have an affair with Bob, he threaten the other black men with his knife while Bob upon knowing that a black man is courting Louisa became mad and the two had a duel. Tom accidentally killed Bob who happened to run away and fell in a whit man’s arms. The following incidents were the most crucial because Tom without any investigation was lynched by the white society (Toomer).

Knowing the SidesWilliam Faulkner and Jean Toomer presented two different person or black personality. While Faulkner presented his subject as a person of good will and kindness that he earned respect of a white man, Toomer on the other hand presented a strong and brave black American who will do whatever it takes to have the person he loves. However, the similarity they had is the way they were treated by the society. Although it was a time of Harlem renaissance already, they were not able to escape from the scrutinizing eyes of the white society.Two different situations which somehow lead to the same end, the death of two black Americans.

The exhibition of two different characters of the same race symbolizes that there are no justice for them. With no investigation, they were condemned by the society because they were black. Furthermore, they were accused of the things they might have done but were never given the chance to protect themselves. People thought black Americans were their properties and they always have the right to punish them which is not right in any sense.

It is not the color which exhibits the goodness of the person. It was never the basis of a person’s right or freedom. In the eyes of God, whether were black, white of brown, he will look at us in the way we treated each other when we were still alive. The oppressive society can never tell what is true and as long as they will continue to separate people because of the color of the skin, we will also prohibit them from gaining their freedom and the opportunities which they can easily have.