Great story kinda streotypical though. This story shares with the theme of fear and alienation growing out of racial differences. Jim seems completely comfortable with Olaf. Olaf, on the other hand, has a horror of Jim that seems to stem mostly from his blackness. The old man may well have been intimidated by any man as large as Jim, but it is hard to imagine that his revulsion and fear could have been as lasting and as extreme if Jim had not been black.
Again, this impression is supported by the words the narrator uses to describe Jim as Olaf sees him. These words convey that Olaf sees Jim as something less than human and as someone who therefore cannot be counted on to have human thought processes and responses. To Olaf, Jim is a beast who may kill him in a fit of unprovoked rage.
Olaf's baseless, relentless fear of Jim is echoed in late twentieth century and early twenty-first century studies that find that many white people are afraid of, or at least suspicious of, black men in situations where they are not afraid of white men. It is a long-known fact of human nature that human beings generally react negatively to people who are different from themselves. Further, race has been shown to be a difference that many people find particularly threatening. These facts are the central realities of Wright's story.
Beginning of the story made me kind of irritated because due to the size and color of the sailor, Olaf was frightened and intimidated by him. Only thing that kept me from reading is that i know how african-americans were treated during the wars. Some couldnt hold positions such as generals,liutenants and etc.
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