Revolt And Revenge

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

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In "Of the Coming of John," W.E.B. Du Bois presents a story of a young black man and white man, both named John, who attain educations. The protagonist of the story is the black John, and his new knowledge places him at odds with a Southern community, which destroys him by the racism that this town is infested with. The white John also comes back home with different views as well. The real world that was revealed to these two characters affected their friendship and perspective of each other's lives, which a conflict raises between them. The author builds up the opposition between the two Johns in order to show that the racism did not affect the people of this community until the tragic death of these two characters.

The black community was taught not to revolt against the white folks and they respected their own lifestyles. The contrary lives of the two Johns were traditional and they respected it.

In spite of their different life styles, the two Johns were playfellows. They respected they way they lived and grew up, and dealt with it. When they went to college, the dichotomization is presented, because the white John receives a higher education than the black John. Both families and communities were proud of these two Johns. The reason why the author portrays the relationship between these two Johns is because he wants to build up their characters and show how their life styles do not affect each other in this country town. In this small southern town, the people live through segregation and racism. They're used to it, because they lived through it their whole lives. Du Bois presents this view in order to show that racism affects you even though you leave the town to the north, a free...