Despite the fact that African American Literature does not have the same long history as the literatures in the Old World, it has already created a solid basis for its own further development. The works by multiple African American authors prove it to the point. The significance of the African American literature is undeniable, and that is what makes its studying so important. Since the questions it raises concern not only the African people, but also the whole wide world, it is a subject to be studied closely and attentively.
The significance of the article called African American Literature Digest Continued is undeniable. It gives a retrospective to the date of the African American literature beginning and briefly describes the stages of its development.
The principal theses of the article are easy to enumerate; these are the origin of the African American literature, the stages of its development, its most famous writers and their impact on the literature and society. The question that underlies the whole article is whether literature could change the course of the matters in real life, or whether it can influence the situation only slightly.
The central points the article discusses are now in the limelight as well, even though the related issues have been long discussed and have been resolved for several times. It must be the importance of the issue that makes people go over and over it until there could be a certain compromise made. These problems concern the ignorance of Africa, its underdevelopment which writers depict in the most picturesque and convincing way; the second issue that the article touches upon is the phase of enslavement and slavery that the US have passed trough; though the wound has been cured for several centuries, it is still aching, and it is only time that can help making t not so painful. The third idea that the article is related to is another humane bondage, the racism and its consequences in the modern society. this one continues even now, however well the racial issue has been discussed. Though it might sound sad, the racial discrimination still exists, and each time people are trying to make it vanish, it takes a shape of something else, something philosophical and harmless. And as people notice the concept under its well-thought disguise, it is too late again.
The article is very significant, since it explains a lot of things previously unknown or known only slightly and unconsciously. It makes the old prejudices come in the light, and as they do, they vanish once and for all. It creates a clear idea of what the African American literature has been all this time, where it has started and what it has led to. The article also gives a hint to its further development, explaining that literature knows no stopping and it will continue its triumphing way even as the people who have written it fade away. Giving a brief outline on the American writers whose works were related to the issues described above, among them Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Howard Griffen. Their novels that further on became classics and won the hearts of million people not only in the USA, but also all around the world, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Black Like Me, have shown all the miseries of the outcasts of the American society in a most persuasive way. Sincere and meaningful as they are, they teach people in the humorous way, which is the best one when a person needs to inhale a couple of moral rules and principles. Not a bit annoying or calling for yawning, the novels open a new world to the reader, a world where the troubles and small pieces of happiness make a big life pattern, where the powerful and the neglected are of the same importance and live very similar lives.
The article has had a great impact on me, explaining several points that I have been dwelling upon and making me think of the new issues which have never occurred to me before. What I want to emphasize is that the article made me finally understand that the battle between the just and the unjust has not been won yet. It is still going on, with all racial and other important social questions still on the agenda. It has become clear to me that however good the result of the battle is, the moral principles and rules that one has drawn from it must not be forgotten, and otherwise this all will start over again. Basically, however productive the world development might be, people should not forget about the humanity and the rules that it prescribes. The core idea is that there must not a single society that has outcasts in it. The cast of the neglected is not to be created on any account. The miserable life these people lead is something that any society should be ashamed of, understanding that this is the fault of the incumbents, and not anyone else’s. The strongest must think about the weak, and then a change for better might happen.
The article now has made it clear to me that there is something that any of us can do, and that each person can contribute to the injustice vanishing for good. I also think that this process will unfortunately last much longer and will touch upon the other spheres of people’s lives, since it has not been solved yet. The story so far is to continue, and no one knows what it will end like. But still our world is not the right place for injustice and other inhumane things.
The article leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and yet the readers feels that they can handle these questions themselves. African American Literature Digest Continued is a kind of a revelation to the people who think that the problematic issues of the beginning of XX century are to be forgotten. It makes people understand that if they want the world develop, they must not forget the lessons they have learned during the process of the world getting older. We have passed certain stages of development, but there is a heavy lot ahead, and the knowledge that we possess must not be lost.
Reference
“African American Literature Digest Continued”. The Free Library by Parlex. (2008) n.p. Web.