One of the most noteworthy examples of sociology transformed into art is Ann Petry's story, "In Darkness and Confusion" (1947), which recreates the Harlem riot of 1943…. What is most striking about the story, however, is that within the narrative itself a similar transformation occurs. What begins as a riot ends as a traumatic experience which transmutes the inarticulate and patient protagonist into an enraged and aggressive one. The transformation thus moves beyond the levels of sociological awareness and psychological response to the level of archetypal participation, in which, through rites of passage, an innocent is initiated into the communal experience of the culture.
In accord with the implicit theme of riot as ritual initiation into the mysteries of the community, the transformation in the Black protagonist, William Jones, is presented in terms of darkness and confusion. Before the riot, "darkness" refers to the sociological fact of William's skin color and the ghetto dwelling which his blackness had forced him to rent; psychologically, "darkness" describes the condition of ignorance and restricted awareness which is the result of William's sociological circumstances…. William's life had not allowed him either the education or the leisure to become reflective, to philosophize on his condition, which means that he has not allowed himself to develop what [William H.] Grier and [Price M.] Cobbs call the "black rage" which comes from the Black man's consciousness of his condition. (p. 54)
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