Being Self Reliant is Essential.
“The importance of being self-reliant” is a common theme in African American literature. This is best displayed by Alice Walker’s book “The Color Purple.” Celie is like a beaten down dog that’s been kicked in the face over and over again. She really doesn’t have any characters that are truly there for her, not even Shug Avery. Celie’s mom died, her pa raped her, and her sister is a missionary in Africa. Mr.____, Celie’s husband beats Celie and takes advantage of her throughout the book. No one is going to stand up for her but herself. Throughout the whole book Celie looks at characters like Shug Avery and Sofia who are self-reliant, and they help shape Celie into being a self-reliant individual. By the end of the book, Celie has gotten the courage to stand up to Albert and all of his cruelty. She realizes that by doing this, her life can be significantly changed for the better. In the end she was at peace with life because she was self reliant.
The poem, “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes also has the theme of “The importance of being self-reliant.” This poem is about a mother telling her son that he must keep “climbing.” In the poem the mother says, “But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on.” This line has the important word of “I,” referring to the term self-reliant. She’s trying to say in this poem that progress must start at an individual level for all African Americans. Because of the sacrifices of generations before, the newer generations must be self-reliant as well and make sacrifices to achieve success in the African American community.
Overall during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans had nothing to rely on. They had to rely mostly on themselves for everything they had. Although they had to achieve greatness by working together as a team, the team is only as strong as it's weakest player, and that's why being self reliant was so important.
The poem, “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes also has the theme of “The importance of being self-reliant.” This poem is about a mother telling her son that he must keep “climbing.” In the poem the mother says, “But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on.” This line has the important word of “I,” referring to the term self-reliant. She’s trying to say in this poem that progress must start at an individual level for all African Americans. Because of the sacrifices of generations before, the newer generations must be self-reliant as well and make sacrifices to achieve success in the African American community.
Overall during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans had nothing to rely on. They had to rely mostly on themselves for everything they had. Although they had to achieve greatness by working together as a team, the team is only as strong as it's weakest player, and that's why being self reliant was so important.