African American culture was greatly enhanced due to the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz movement, leading to a big social, artistic explosion that took place in Harlem New York.
The Harlem Renaissance was a open minded, recreational, and artistic nuke that happened in Harlem harlem, New York, throughout the 1920’s. This timer was known as the “New Negro Movement”, which was named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke. The Movement also had the new African-American cultural expressions across the urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by the African-American Great migration, of which Harlem was the Biggest. The Harlem Renaissance was Advised to be a resurrection of African-American arts. Though it has was centered it the Harlem neighborhood of the precinct of Manhattan in New York city, many francophone black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in paris were influenced by the Harlem Renaissance.
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The northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was supposed to be a higher-class white neighborhood in the 1880s, but to much overdevelopment led to empty buildings and desperate landlords looking to fill them.
In the early 1900s, a few middle-class black families from another neighborhood known as Black Bohemia moved to Harlem, and other black families followed. Some white residents initially fought to keep African Americans out of the area, but failing that many whites eventually fled. Outside factors led to a population boom: From 1910 to 1920, African American populations migrated in large numbers from the South to the North, with prominent figures like W.E.B. Du Bois leading what became known as the Great migration. In 1915 and 1916, natural disasters in the south put black workers and sharecroppers out of work. Additionally, during and after world war 1, immigration to the United States fell, and northern recruiters headed south to entice black workers to their companies.
Harlem Renaissance, a bloom of African American culture, especially in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to develop a thought “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. They also sought to break free of Victorian moral values and materialistic shame about aspects of their lives that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs. Never dominated by a particular school of thought but rather characterized by intense debate, the movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature and had an enormous impact on subsequent black literature and conscious worldwide. While the renaissance was not confined to the Harlem district of New York City, Harlem attracted a remarkable concentration of intellect and talent and served as the symbolic capital of this cultural awakening.
The end of Harlem’s creative boom began with the stock market crash of 1929 and wavered until restricted ended in 1933, which meant white advocates no longer desired out the illegal alcohol in uptown clubs.By 1935 many climatic Harlem residents had moved on seeking work, replaced by the continuous flow of refugees from the South, many needing public assistance. That same year, a riot erupted following the arrest of a young shoplifter, resulting in three dead, hundreds injured, and millions of dollars in property damage, as well as serving as a marker of the end of the Harlem Renaissance.
Mrs. Dalloway Clarissa And Septimus Similarities
Clarissa, the socialite and respected wife of an upper-class Parliament member shared more in common with the Lower-Class, shell-shock inflicted veteran Septimius than either of them may have realized. Throughout the novel, we see Clarissa preparing for her party later that evening and we see Septimius navigating through his day with a severe mental disorder. During this, we see vast similarities in their personalities and perspective despite their different social status. While they never actually meet face to face in the novel, we can see the vast similarity between them regarding their dissatisfaction with their lives, and their obsession with death due to it.
Woolf sets the readers up to compare the characters from the beginning of the novel when she describes their appearances in a similar way, Clarissa is described as “”having a touch of a bird about her””, “”and very white”” (4) while Septimius is written as “”pale faced”” and having a “”beaked nose.”” (14) There are also instances where Clarissa considered her intuition of “”knowing people almost by instinct”” as her “”gift””, and Septimius thinking how he “”could see people making up lies as they passed in the street. He knew all their thoughts,”” and he knew everything He knew the meaning of the world”” (66). We see their shared trait of their perceived intuitiveness. They are constantly judging people by the way they look. Upon seeing each other for the first time in a while, Clarissa thinks his face is “”a little thinner, probably dryer”” and he thinks she looks “”much older”” (40) instantly.
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However, a vast difference is seen in the way both characters view life when a mysterious in the two characters way of thinking as a car driving down Bond Street appears. Clarissa has a positive reaction as she spots the car and immediately is in awe wondering if the Queen might be inside. A paranoid reaction is displayed by Septimius when sees the car, as his PTSD causes him to be paranoid as he thinks it is going to explode and burst into flames. Clarissa is a character who is still life despite some of the setbacks she feels has experienced in her life while Septimius thinks everything is doomed and continues to suffer in his own world he seems to be living in.
On the other hand, both characters share a similar dislike of the society they reside in. Woolf created these characters as each other’s’ alter ego from different classes and circumstances. The suppression of emotions and feelings in the modern times and circumstances is prevalent in the book and both characters fall under the pressures of this society. Clarissa navigates a world that includes her choosing her devoted husband Richard over her former lovers Peter Walsh and Sally Seton for a better reputation in society. Richard was a member of the parliament, which granted her a better quality of life than a life with Peter and society wouldn’t have accepted her for being in love with a woman. She has chosen to conform to meet societal expectations and now has unexpressed desires, and is forever, “”mending her dress; playing about; going to parties; running to the House and back and all that”” (41) to fill that hole in her. Septimius on the other hand, is battling PTSD, or shell shock from the aftermath of the war that no one around him understands. He is paranoid of everything, and believes the world is at its worst, he thinks “”The world has raised its whip; where will it descend?”” (14). He chooses to commit suicide rather than covert to societal norms he refuses to submit further to the cruelties of the modern society.
All these issues in both characters life have caused them a sense of alienation that Woolf depicts through rich nature imagery. For Clarissa, we see flowery imagery from the start of the novel. Clarissa describes flowers as having a “”earthy garden sweet smell”” and having “”the delicious scent, the exquisite coolness”” which she lets soothe her (13). However, when her husband Richard bought flowers for his wife, it was to convey his feelings for his wife which he “”never does say”” to her (115). The flowers represent a lack of passion from Richard, and the different responses to the flowers represent the mismatch and miscommunication between them which consequently is part of the cause of Clarissa’s alienation.
Septimius’s alienation is also described with the help of nature imagery, he thinks to himself “”Miracles, revelations, agonies, loneliness, falling through the sea, down, down into the flames, all were burnt out, for he had a sense, as he watched Rezia trimming the straw hat for Mrs. Peters, of a coverlet of flowers (142). Here, Septimius’s mental health has caused him loneliness and suicidal thoughts and used water and fire to represent them and he is accompanied by his wife. He is with her, but as she does not understand her, there is similar miscommunication to Clarissa and Richard’s relationship.
The comparison between them both Is wrapped up in the conclusion of the novel where Clarissa reacts to Septimius’ suicide. She has a strong reaction to his death and considers it “”her disaster-her disgrace”” (185). She Is pained as Septimius got to die after suffering while she had to continue to live on and suffer. She understands why he did it and she “”felt somehow very like him – the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away.”” (186). She shows a sort of admiration for him, considering his circumstance. She feels Septimius committed suicide “”holding his treasure”” (184)- or his soul. She appreciated his defiance to society and that he chose to rather die than succumb to society’s pressure. His death made appreciate and “”feel the beauty”” of life and she deicides she “”must assemble”” back to her party to continue with her life (186). This is certainly a change from her depressive thoughts and attitude towards life she had previously.
