Racism in Fried Green Tomatoes

Evelyn: she does not have anything against coloured people, and has never used the word nigger, but then again she has never really had any contact with coloured people other than, “just getting to know the maid or maids of friends” (p.307 l.19). But her parents has made her afraid of black men, mostly her mother because she would get hysterical whenever there was a coloured man in the neighbourhood. Evelyn has throughout her youth always followed the majority, and they were always of the belief that the coloured people in their town were, “…happy the way they are” (p.308 l.31). She believes that the coloured people have more fun then the white, and despite her fear she actually says to Ninny, “I wish I was

Artis: he goes to Birmingham and he immediately falls in love with the big city, and ends up staying there for the rest of his life. Artis knows that he is black, and that he belongs to the coloured people, “He…saw all the white men sitting there…and knew that this was not a place for him” (p.118 l.16). He lives a very fast life, whenever he had any money, he would spend too quickly to get anything useful out of them, and as he gets older he winds up as an alcoholic. At one time he see his niece in a store, whom he has not seen for many years, he approaches her, but she pretends not to know him, which ultimately end in him being thrown out of the store and called a crazy drunk nigger. He also has to go to jail, he gets ten years just for freeing a dog from two dog catcher, by cutting up a bag with a knife, because he is black he gets charged with attempted murder, and, “It would have been thirty years if those men had been white” (p.274 l.22). He ends up going crazy, and before he dies he thinks back on everything he has been through in his life, but only the good things, “He had been able to forget the insults, and the way his manhood had been cut of in the minds of the whites” (p.371 l.37). Artis has lived a risky life, and in the end he had to pay for it, and though he had been exposed to racism several time, his lifestyle and obsession of women has always been able to overshadow that.

Naughty Bird: she comes down with pneumonia as a little girl, and the only way she is going to survive is if she eats, but she will not eat, before she has met the elephant Miss Fancy. Big George has no chance of letting his little girl meet Miss Fancy because coloured people are not allowed in Avondale park. But then Idgie takes matters into her hands and a few days later Miss Fancy comes walking through Whistle Stop, this racial barrier could have cost Naughty Bird her life. As a teenager she then falls in love with a cook on the train to New York, Le Roy Grooms, but a short while after she delivers his baby, he falls in love with a woman who has very light skin, and move in with her, which, “just about killed her(Naughty Bird)” (p.304 l.11). This causes Naughty Bird to go out and try ever

Some topics in this essay:
Knights Pythias, Baptist Churchwhich, Idgie Ruth, Whistle Stop, Railroad Bill, Naughty Bird, Willie Boy, Bennett Idgie, Ninny Cleo, Roy Grooms, coloured people, whistle stop, falls love, miss fancy, naughty bird, people whistle stop, willie boy, people whistle, attempted murder, trial murder, little girl,