The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1945-12-08
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LIGhIS OUT
Few novels succeed in being
good reading and convincing argu-
ments for change at the same
time, but Lights Out is both. II
ia the story OF blinded sailor
who hnds himsel, faced with an
entirely new approach 10 life. and
meets It's challenge The fact that
he is from Florida and has been
taught all the usual things about
Jews and Negroes makes his re-
adjustment TO q world in which
color does not enter more dim
cult.
Baynard Kcndrick. the author Of
Lights Out has worked At the
Valley Forge General hospital ut
Phoenixville. Pa. and at the Old
Farms Convalescent hospital in
Avon, Conn. in which he Sc. the
action OF his novel. II Il clear
that he understands what the
young patients there must face.
But he succeeds in making his
book hopeful one. and the aver
age layman who knows little about
The blind will also appreciate bet
ter the handicspS which the blind
must face. Many OF these handi-
caps come about through the fall
ure ~ those around them 70 accept
them naturally. Lights Out" also
gives some insight into the minds
Of the returning service man.
whether wounded or in full health.
His Values Shift
Living in darkened world did
not prove as difficult 10 Larry New
in as did the idea that he could
no longer depend on his ewes 10
help him live within the Southern
pattern OF prejudice He comes
10 like Joe Morgan only 10 discover
he is a Negro:
He'd gone downtown with O
Niger. Worse than that. he liked
the guy. The South WAS burdened
with Negroes. He knew all about
II. and how to keep them In their
place. What the hell was the army
doing allowing them to associate
with white men who had lost their
sight? Negroes should be ear
marked somehow. maybe made Ia
wear bell.
But he finds after q visit home
that his values have shifted and
only his father Seems unchanged.
II H his father who tells him that
he and other boys like him could
make friends with Negro boys:
"You can make friends with this
Negro boy Then 70 around
with him. Get other blind boys
To do II too. There's nobody i'm
the country will ever dare TO raise
a voice against you"
IN the end Larry concludes:
What = hell Of q way 10 learn
that God wasn't the money your
country worshipped-that God wAa
merely loving everyone. black 90
white or yellow or brown. Of every
nation
Lights Out" faces the problems
OF blindness and OF prejudice in
fortnight fashion. Its appeal ID
not limited. however. II Is q book
you shouldn't miss.
Lights Out" by Baynssd Ken
drick; William Morrow Com
pany; 1945: $3.50.
QUALITY"
The lead story Quality by Cid
Ricketts, Sumner in the current
Ladies Home Journal tells Of a
young mulatto girl who has been
studying 10 be nurse in the
North. There her associates do
not know she is a Negro and when
she falls in love with an inferno
she runs away from the situation.
Back in Mississippi she finds .
way OF life OF service which 10
satisfying.
Although the author lacks un.
derstandIng OF the goals OF Nee
zrocs, her story is nonetheless un-
usual. II Is certainly a new de-
parture for a popular magazine
like the Ladies Home Journal. To
borrow their slogan never under.
estimate the poWer ~ n wonnan"