Using Flooding as a Metaphor for the Struggle of the Civil Rights Movement

    As discussed in class, Down By the Riverside is in many ways a naturalist novel. This is to say that the characters of the story are very much at the mercy of the world around them and appear virtually powerless to change their own destinies. Rather than their own will, the force which is responsible for carrying forward most of the plot of the story is the flood. The flood is a relentless natural force partially responsible for creating tragedy, for our own protagonist, Mann. The flood changes the course of Mann’s life overnight, causing him to experience great loss, separation, and community conflict. However, the more accurate culprits for the tragedy Mann experiences in the story, are the white people in the community whose true colors are revealed as a result of the stress of the flooding. The flood exposes their imposition of power dynamics and awakens racial community tensions that were already in place. In this way the flood is not to blame for Mann’s misfortune and was rather just the kindling that exposed inevitable and deeply rooted African American discrimination that had been lying dormant under less tense conditions. In this way, the flood reveals the ways in which racism is still prevalent in post-slavery America and the ways in which black Americans struggle in a basic effort to survive and have their voices heard.

    The first example the author uses to depict white racism awakened by the flood is through Mann’s wife and unborn son. We see, in the face of the flood, that Mann and his family are a part of a social status that means they don’t own a boat, meaning, in their individualistic community, they are essentially left to die in the event of natural disaster where the standing consensus is “every man for themself”. Because of this, we see Mann willing to go to untold lengths in order to ensure his family’s safety and wellbeing, as he is willing to steal a boat to take his wife to the hospital and bring his family to the hills. Despite trying to pursue a higher moral course of action for the survival of his family, Mann is immediately met by resistance from his surrounding environment as he rows against the current in the flood and defends himself from a white family who resorts to racially-motivated violence by assuming the worst of his intentions. Mann receives his first break in the story, when two white soldiers offer to take his rowboat and give them a ride to the hospital on a motorboat. As if to say that his stroke of luck was too much to ask, Mann rushes to the hospital only to find that his wife perished on the journey over. Devastated beyond belief, Mann is left with no time to process the death of his wife and unborn son as he is quickly enlisted by white soldiers in the flood prevention work on the frontlines. As much as he would like to refuse, Mann operates under a self-preservative submissiveness that recognizes the societal power held by the white soldiers of the flood response team. Once again, the flood is revealed not to be the true enemy, but just the impetus that lifts the veil as we see how black people in the community are used as an expendable form of labor amidst the flood. A clear theme is that amidst all this chaos, black people such as Mann and his family are denied the basic right to process devastation, denied a voice, and overpowered by the social dynamics which place white people above them, leaving them powerless to seek change which fights back against their oppression.

    Another way the story sets up the powerlessness of African Americans is by making Mann’s struggle to survive seem hopeless from the start. Even from the very beginning of the story, the reader gets the impression that Mann is destined to fail. The feeling comes from narrative setup which indicates a tone of skepticism and hesitation from Mann surrounding a willingness to accept the boat he is offered by his friend. His fearfulness of who the boat belongs to implies that Mann thinks the boat is too generous and convenient to be true, suggesting that he feels that accepting it will come back to bite him. The looming notion that the boat is stolen constantly sits in the back of the reader’s mind and leads them to feel the same sense of impending doom clearly expressed by Mann's tone. Despite the many signs screaming at Mann and the reader, Mann ultimately has no choice but to take the boat if he is to have any chance at saving his wife and unborn son. This sense of choicelessness and impending doom lasts until we finally see Mann resist the power dynamics as he runs away from death row. For a brief moment, we hold out hope that Mann’s attempt to escape will finally be the turning point where he takes charge of his own destiny, but the initial suspicion of failure is confirmed as we see his freedom stopped short by the white soldiers who shoot and kill him.

    All in all, the denial of human rights and the depiction of powerlessness in the face of white supremacy is in many ways a depiction of the black experience by the author. The author means to capture the reality of African American experience to convey the gravity of their profound powerlessness as individuals. Everything from being dealt a poor hand, having a lack of authority over one's own destiny, and being doomed to fail are all narrative tools that the author uses as examples of how it feels to be in a position of powerlessness. The author’s naturalist depiction of Mann’s obstacles is in many ways a reference to the social issues addressed by the Civil rights Movement and its central strategy. Recognizing the ineffectiveness of the individual voice as it is shown in this story, the strategy of the Civil Rights Movements centered around banding African Americans together to induce an unignorable roar for change. This is a good explanation for why the Civil Rights Movement manifests itself in the form of unignorable mass protests, aimed to fight the same societal issues we see Mann and his family struggle with in the story.