Juneteenth | Themes

Juneteenth Themes

Darkness and Light

Darkness and light play an important role in Ellison's Juneteenth. The words both represent race, Caucasian and African American, and are personified in the white preacher, Bliss, and his grown-up alter ego, racist senator Sunraider. The term bliss means complete happiness or paradise. It is heavenly, full of light and devoid of evil and immorality. On the other hand, the term Sunraider carries the implied meaning of an individual that raids the sun, i.e., removes all aspect of light. Sunraider is the personification of darkness, just as Bliss is the personification of light. The importance of light and darkness appears in other places. When Bliss is contained within the coffin at the revivals he is trapped inside the darkness. However, inside the darkness of the box the young, white preacher is dressed in his white satin outfit and upon his cue, he is reborn from the darkness into the light...
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