Students: Your assignment is to examine the characters and context in Devil In A Blue Dress, and write a response to one of the three prompts below. Your essay should be approximately 750 words long. There is no quick correct answer to the questions raised below. The challenge is select one, and to read the text carefully and base your response on evidence that you find.
1. “It was a strange experience but I had seen it before. Mr. Todd Carter was so rich that he didn’t even consider me in human terms. He could tell me anything. I could have been a prized dog that he knelt to and hugged when he felt low. It was the worst kind of racism. The fact that he didn’t even recognize our difference showed that he didn’t care one damn about me.” (chapter 17, page 117)
-Examine how racism shapes the lives of the characters - of all races - in Devil. Use what you find to explain why Easy reacts this way to Carter.
2. Daphne was a chameleon lizard who changed for her man, as Easy says in chapter 26. Examine her relationships with the men she pulled into her orbit. Who was she to each, who was she to herself, and how did race shape the world she lived in?
3. The events in Devil started when Easy was fired by a racist foreman at Champion Aircraft. As a result, he needed a job or face the foreclosure of the house he loved. Easy didn’t set out to do bad in the world, yet people died as he searched for Daphne. Examine the killing that happens in the book - dating back before the war to the murder of Mouse’s step-father - and consider whether or not Easy was morally responsible for the blood that was spilled. Is it possible for a good man to live a blameless life in a world that is distorted by greed, self-interest, and racial prejudice? How can a man hold his head up in a low-down world? Make sure to use examples to make your point.
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