Treatment of Prejudice by Four Novelists : Richard Wright, Sinclair Lewis, Lillian Smith, and Ann Petry

Prejudice is an unreasonable attitude revealed in emotional, verbal, and physical manifestations. Generally, it is caused by fear, hate, and desire for both economic and psychological advantages. Stereotypes of the Negro held by the Whites and over discrimination have adverse effect on both the Negroes and Whites. Discriminations practiced by Whites center around sexual relations, social contacts, living conditions, legal inequalities before both courts and police, occupations, use of public facilities, education, physical violence , and press reports. Richard Wright, Sinclair Lewis, Lillian Smith and Ann Petry have included prejudice in their novels of this study. Each considers to some extent the causes of prejudice, the stereotypes held by Whites, the effects which prejudice has on both Negro and White, and the various aspects of discriminations. The presentations of prejudice and its manifestations are accurate in comparison to the fact of prejudice as established by sociological studies, personal narratives and biographies. The fact that Lewis and Petry are from the North, Smith and Wright from the South; Lewis and Smith are White, Petry and Wright are Negro; or Lewis and Wright are men, Smith and Petry are women seems to make little difference in their handling of prejudice.