Constructing Self and History: An Autobiographical Reading of Arna Bontemps’s Black Thunder

Abstract

This study examines Arna Bontemps's novel Black Thunder, which has an important place in the history of African American literature, in terms of autobiographical elements related to the author's life story. In his works, Bontemps writes about historical events based on her own experiences, to reconstruct both personal and social memory. The study reveals how Bontemps's life, shaped by economic, cultural, and political factors, is reflected in the novel's characters and events. Therefore, slavery, the search for identity, and the struggle for freedom are examined through the author's own experiences. The study argues that Black Thunder is not only a historical narrative but also a reflection of the individual self's process of self-construction within history. Consequently, the novel touches upon autobiographical elements shaped by the intersection of personal experiences and contemporary history.