| This thesis revisits the motif of the journey as told through the works of selected African American writers, revealing their epiphany to the painful reality of migration and its dehumanizing effects upon the spirit of black people. It examines the portrayals of various characters, exploring the beneficial as well as malevolent possibilities that two vast American regions would have on their mental stability. In an approach that juxtaposes a historical study with a formal analysis of fictional texts, it exposes the depth of southern liberation and the scope of northern oppression. In the literature of such renowned writers as Richard Wright, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, August Wilson, Gloria Naylor, Rudolph Fisher, Bebe Campbell Moore, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, and W.E.B. Dubois, it recognizes the black individual's struggle for acceptance in the unfamiliar and unfriendly urban cultures of the North, where he/she is left isolated from the unity of Southern culture. |
