In “Down By the Riverside,” Richard Wright uses a naturalistic style of writing to urge the entire black community to unite in opposing racial segregation of the Jim Crow south. Naturalism is the idea that nature has total power over an individual, rather than the individual’s actions. While the flood might seem like the nature that controls Mann and his family, Wright conveys through multiple passages that a white supremacist society is really the overarching force on their lives. By representing the ways in which Mann fails to survive the flood and the mis-treatment from white people despite his greatest effort, Wright instills the idea that the black community needs to unite to stand against racial segregation for the Civil Rights Movement's success. Firstly, the two paragraphs at the start of page fifty-six contain vivid descriptions of both the flood and white supremacy. When describing the flood, Wright says, “He looked out; his house was about twelve feet above...