Compare and Contrast: Stories

On the Road and A Coyote Columbus Story

The story of On the Road is about a black hobo during the depression trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night. In the story we find many symbols and underline meanings dealing with the social aspects of the depression years. It is believed that this story dealt mainly with the civil rights movement and will cover that aspect in this paper.

First we will look at the character of Sargeant he is the black hobo in the story. The author calls him a big black man I think that Sargeant the way he is described in the book as being a strong and big black man that he is supposed to represent all black people. I say that because during the time of the civil rights movement the black people were becoming a strong force to be reckoned with (Hughes, 1935).

Next is the setting they never really say were exactly the story takes place but as the reader you assume it is the somewhere in the south. We assume this because the white people even the Reverend is not at all nice to Sargeant. The plot of the story is that Sargeant walks around in the snow trying to get in somewhere to sleep for the night he goes to the Reverend and he turns him away. Then he goes to the church and starts trying to break down the door as he just gets the door broken cops come and start beating him. Sargeant defiantly holds on to the pillars of the church and brings the church down. Sargeant walks away with Christ and the walk to a place where all hobos are sleeping for the night. Then the next morning he is on a train that is actually a jail. I think that when he tries to breakdown the door of the church that is supposed to symbolize the civil rights movement in trying to breakdown the color barrier. I think that the cops coming as soon as he starts to make progress on the door is supposed to represent the struggle that blacks had in trying to get their civil rights. I also think that Christ appears to Sargeant in way that says do not give up. In the story it says that Christ had been up on the cross for two thousand years and that ...