Racial Barriers in Grace Paleys Short Story Samuel Essay -- Grace Pal

Racial Barriers in Grace Paleys Short Story SamuelIt is hard to part the difference between which race is more important. single(a) might ask themselves if white is superior over colored skin. There have been numerous struggles and ofttimes success in the fight towards equality between the races. Although many large steps have been made, there are still existing racial barriers. One particular struggle is whether or not people of different races should interact with each other. Should Caucasian adults interact with young children of color? A question that becomes curiously critical when children are putting themselves in potenti wholey dangerous situations. This moral debate is portrayed in Grace Paleys short story, Samuel.The same conflict haunts twain hands and women, but is portrayed as two completely different groups. The narrator is selective omniscient and allows the mens and womens feelings to be expressed when presented with the same racial issue such as portra yed in Samuel. This also allows the reader to observe how each sex responds to the issue. Grace Paley writes, The men and women in the cars on all side watch the young boys playing on the chopine. They do not like them to jiggle or jump but dont want to interfere (191). This shows that some(prenominal) men and women did not like what the boys were doing outside on the platform, and each deals with it in very different ways.The men in the subway cars make no lying-in to break through the barriers. They take no initiative to interact and stop the boys from the risky situation the put themselves in. The men seem to excuse themselves and the boys actions by reminiscing their boyhood and all the brave adventures they had in their lives. Instead of ... ... He becomes the symbol of hope that the Caucasian adults are willing to break down the barriers separating them from the African American children. When the other men just stood there daydreaming, this citizenly (192) man str uck the first blow that could break down the racial wall. But because of this single action, one of the boys (Samuel) falls off the platform and dies. I believe that if we stand together to fight the battles and the struggles of our society today it would only make us stronger. One individual cannot make a difference. The one blow of the citizenly (192) man is nothing, but many blows that are consistent and strong will break down the wall of inequality. BibliographyPaley, Grace. Samuel. Literature for Composition Essay, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th ed. Ed. country Barnet. New York Longman, 2001. 190-192