The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-06-24

cegnaiion that have ever read. but
lis implications 60 far beyond the
story it tells OF love between white
man and a Negro girl
strange Fruit" and Native Son"
Mr.. Adams comparison OF Miss
Smiths novel and Native Son" is
especially good:
There -. to my mind. q marked
this book and another, published
three years ago. which also had a
wide sale, and, in lesser degree, po-
tential power to affect opinion.
refer. OF course, 10 Native Son" by
Richard Wright. The first book was
less effective instrument on the
side OF constructive thinking, not
because It's author was Negro but
because its pages were Scared with
hatred and rs Thesis blUnied by
It's Use OF what, 20 ny mind, was
much too singular and biased case
history. The Negro boy Bigger
Thomas was a poor example Of his
race. or Of any race, for that mat
ltAs AHOii " lllNll ~ llaAlk A4lC NAllOI@
tatlun implicit in the book Bigger,
80 far as ! could determine vas
born mean; and II not actually a
congenitsl criminal. al least a bor-
der,.ne case. In spite OF It's melo-
dramatic force. Native Son" was
baSicaIly illogical. confused and IN
sound
Tracy's Weakness
Mr.. Adams discusses too the ques-
ton OF Tracy'S weakness which
others have mentioned and which
Vas criticized IN column by Ralph
Matthews in the Airo-American.
Mr. Adams has this 70 say:
The only serious weakness in
her book. ! think. is the fact that
the white youth about whom her
story Ccnters was deliberately made
a weak character and yet. although
/ this obvious intention weakens her
effect, II makes possible the story
she tells Had Tracy Deem grown 10
manhood with more CUTS than he
| possessed. he very probably would
/ have sought his future elsewhere
! than in the droWSy little Georgia
town where he was born: and very
| likely TOO, he would have seen more
| clearly the hazards OF the situation
| into which his love for Nonnie
Anderson was leading her as well
as himself"
think that Mr. Adams refutes his
own criticism IN the last sentence
above Some Negroes rather self
| fs,t r.stAttutxr -
Matthews column that Miss Smith
made Tracy weak 20 show that only
a weak man would have fallen in
love with a colored girl. In Light OF
! Miss Smiths sincerity and sympa-
! thetic treatn ent OF her characters,
this criticism is both unjust and un-
| warranted. II Is true that like Mr..
Adams says had Tracy been strong
er he would have found a different
solution 10 his problem but then
| the story would have been totally
| different Tracy like all those
around him was the product OF his
family lie, the town and the times
III which he lived Had he been
taken out OF this situation this book
which bareS the South'S racial dis
ease could not have been written.
] have written al such length
again about Strange Fruit" because
! think ii IS OF the greatest i'm
portance that an author has pre-
sen,ed the tru.h about the South
with such clarity and insight. All
the criticisms o. the book have
heard voiced seem TO grow out OF n
sort OF wary ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and
an association OF Nonnie with all
colored womep and the conclusion.
therefore, that Negro womanhood
J has been treated lightly by Miss
Smith. This sort OF feeling il COM
! parable 10 the white mans concep-
ton OF southern womsnhood' in
its lack Of realism. Nonnie and
Tracy were normal human beings
and their love no more remarkable
than that Of Bigger and Clara i'm
Native Son or of Percy and Bess
in "Porsy and BesS' yet there were
no criticisms OF either or these on
this score. Actually. the relationship
between that i'm Strange Fruit"
was on far higher plane than that
IA either OF the two other cases.