The Picture of Puritan Afro American Community

leader or preacher, the growth of hisher church is faster compared with other communities which have weaker leaders or preachers. Among rural Negroes the church is still the only institution which provides an effective organization of the group, an approved and tolerated place for social activities, a forum for expression on many issues, an outlet for emotional repressions, and a plan for expression on many issues, an outlet for emotional repressions, and a plan for social living. It is a complex institution meeting a wide variety of needs. It is a social center, it is a club, it is an area for the exercise of one‟s capabilities and powers, a world in which one may achieve self-realization and preferment. Myrdal 867. Those situations are pictured within the Ruby community. The church becomes the central of social life. They use the church to hold a meeting when there is something to discuss or when there is a problem in the society. As the leader, a preacher has a big role in Ruby community for example in the case of Arnette Fleetwood. Here, Reverend Misner has a big role in solving the problem that the Morgan family and the Fleetwood family face. And he knew that Jeff wanted very much to kill somebody. Since he couldn‟t kill the Veterans Administration others just might have to do. Everybody was relieved when Misner came back down the stairs smiling. “Yes. Well.” Reverend Misner clasped his hands, gave them a little shake near his shoulde r as though he‟d already knocked the contestant out…. He smiled again. He was very close to being too handsome for a preacher. Not just his face and head but his body, extremely well made, called up admiring attention from practically everybody. A serious man, he took his obvious beauty as a brake on sloth – it forced him to deal carefully with his congregation, to take nothing for granted: not the adoration of the women or the envy of the men Morrison 58. The Morgan family domination seems to be undefeatable. Steward Morgan and Deacon Morgan have a big role concerning the decision that Ruby makes. Most of the preachers, except Reverend Misner, are under their influence and they do not have any power in Ruby. Take an example Reverend Senior Puliam. Actually he knows the case of Arnette and K.D. as the disgrace of the Morgan family but he keeps it in secret. ….Puliam was targeting Misner. Because surely he would not stand before the bride and groom – a guest preacher asked to make a few few remarks before the ceremony to a congregation made up of almost everybody in Ruby, only a third of whom were members of Pulliam‟s church – and frighten them to death on their wedding day. Because surely he would not insult the bride‟s mother and sister-in-law, who wore like a coat the melancholy of tending broken babies and who not only had not chastised God fro that knockout blow to everything they dreamed of but seemed to increase in steadfastness as each year passed. And although the groom had no living parents, surely Puliam did not intend to embarrass his aunts – to put the feet of those devout women to the fire for caring too much, perhaps? for the sole “son” the family would ever have, now that Soane‟s boys were dead, Dovey having had none, and not allowing mourning for either of those losses to tear them up or close their hearts. Surely not. And surely Pulliam was not trying to rile the groom‟s uncles, Deacon and Steward, who behaved as if God were the silent business partner Morrison 142-143. The domination of the Morgan family seems to be unstoppable. This situation is clearly pictured when Deacon Morgan is preaching: “So understand me when I tell you nobody is going to come along some eighty years later claiming to know better what men who went through hell to learn knew. Act short with me all you want, you in long trouble if you think you can disrespect a row you never hoed.” Twenty varieties of “amen” italicized Deek‟s pronouncement Morrison 86. After slavery preacher‟s monopoly of status in Negro community was diminished as business and professional men increased in number. As improvements in education have been rapid in the last decades, the bulk of the old Negro preachers are today below the bulk of younger generation Negroes in education. Young people have begun to look down on the old-fashioned Negro preacher Myrdal 875. It is described in the novel Reverend Misner knows that there is something wrong within Ruby. Economically he can afford nothing PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI compared to the Morgan family who has most of Ruby ‟s assets. Moreover he is an outsider as shown in the novel when he has a conversation with Patricia Best. “Well help me figure this place out. I know I‟m an outsider, but I‟m not an enemy ” Morrison 212. Although he is an outsider but he has a good will to save Ruby before bad things happen. He persuades Patricia Best to do the best for Ruby. Patricia cannot afford it so Reverend Misner and Anna Fleetwood find another way to save Ruby. They persuade young generation to criticize the word “Beware of the Furrow of His Brow” as a symbol of feudalistic movement. Reverend Senior Pulliam knows Reverend Misner ‟s and Anna Fleetwood‟s plan. …Cleave unto another if you want, but if you are not cleaving to God Pulliam‟s God, that is your marriage will not be worth the license. Because he knew she helped him organize the young disobedients. “Be the Furrow” Morrison 143. It seems that the role of the preacher in Ruby decreases. The most powerful people in Ruby are the Morgan family who has the biggest assets in Ruby. The situation in Ruby is getting worse and worse and the peak is the Convent massacre.

3. Living in Isolation

Managing an isolated community is one way to protect them from discrimination. The population of the free blacks increased steadily from the middle of the seventeenth century until emancipation Pinkney 54. One of prominent figure is Abraham Lincoln. He opposed to the institution of slavery and opposed to the racial integration. This situation made him assassinated in 1865. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI After Abraham Lincoln assassination, the discrimination was growing faster and faster in the south area. Because of their economic plight and the widespread violence directed against them, many black people sought to improve their status through migration. In 1900 nearly nine-tenths of the blacks in the United States were in the South, the vast majority of them lived in the rural areas. The migration took several forms: rural blacks sought safety in the relative anonymity of cities, Southern blacks moved North, and many blacks moved to countries in Africa. Because of their economic plight, the absence of skills, and discrimination elsewhere in the United States, most blacks remained in the rural South. The community of Ruby is a community of black people who live in the South. They isolate themselves in order to avoid discrimination from white people. Steward Morgan as one of the new father in Ruby strictly rejects the presence of white people in Ruby. This situation happens when a white man gets lost in Ruby and he asks for help in Anna Fleetwood Store. After a white, a station wagon drove up and parked so close to the store; both Misner and Anna could see the fever in the baby‟s blue eyes. The mother held the child over her shoulder and stroked its yellow hair. The driver, a city- dressed man in his forties, got out and pushed open Anna‟s door. “How you all doing?” He smiled. “Fine and you?” “Look like I‟m lost… Misner followed to give him directions. “Who all is that?” asked Steward. “Just some lost folks.” Anna handed him a thirty-two-ounce tin of Blue Boy. “Lost folks or lost whites?” “Oh, Steward, please.” “Big difference, Anna girl. Big. Right, Reverend?” Misner was just stepping back in.