f segregation. We see this when Mrs. Wilson hollers at Ella “You stop that, you evil gal!” (Wright 2737). We see the derogatory use of language here as well as the narrator’s unnerved reaction “Her voice jarred me so that I gasped. For a moment I did not know what was happening” (Wright 2737).
We see, too, that often in oppressive and racist environments, the individual is not only isolated from the dominant, oppressive race, but he is often ostracized and feels isolated even from his own. This is the case in many African American autobiographies. Blacks who suffer the impact and abuses of racism and oppression traditionally either rebel against or accept their subservient position in society. Often, blacks who rebel are viewed as trouble-makers, a danger to other blacks who will suffer the consequences of white anger, and other forms of ostracism and ridicule from members of their own race. On the other hand, if black individuals react by accepting their oppression, they are often viewed as Uncle Tom’s, a derogatory term meaning they have given in to white oppression. We see this dual isolation and ostracism suffered by the narrator in Black Boy. He is told by his mother he will die if he tells the truth about what he has seen “The next morning my mother called me into the kitchen and talked to me for a long time, cautioning me that I must never mention what I had seen and heard, that white people
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