Both novels, James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, grapple with the complex issue of racial oppression and inequality. Both novels employ retrospective narration, however, they differ in their attempt at reconciling the racial question that plagues the liberal American society: a sacrifice of actual racial identity which further reinforces the binary racial classification in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man while a sense of foreboding in The Fire Next Time characterises the future of the American society if this binary racial classification is not transcended.
The use of retrospective narration in both the texts reflects the maturity the narrator develops as he ages this …show more content…
This racial identification and categorisation stems from the binary opposition of the two races, where being white is the negation of being black. This highlights then, the white race as the privileged faction and this is foregrounded when looking at how Red and Shiny are described in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Shiny is inevitably described with great attention to his colour, “his face was as black as night, but shone as though it was polished” (Johnson 6 ) while Red’s description does not include any colour description, just “a face full of freckles and a head full of very red hair” ( Johnson 5 ). Because this happens in the novel before the young protagonist is made aware of his mixed race, he identifies himself as white and Johnson by that extension foregrounds that as a representation of the white society, the child notices these features and especially skin colour just as how other white people would view it. He assumes he is white and Red is white so this whiteness is not the discrepancy or uniqueness unlike Shiny’s clearly much darker skin which is noteworthy to the younger narrator. Similarly, in The Fire Next Time, Baldwin critiques the social segregation created by binary opposition as seen in signs during the second world war, of “ White” and “Colored” (Baldwin 55). Baldwin states that “ darkness of (his) skin so intimidates them” ( Baldwin 92) and that is why the white society subjugates and discriminates against the blacks. Baldwin propositions that “ what white people do not know about Negroes reveals precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves” (Baldwin 44). Because whiteness is the privileged faction, “ Negroes— are taught really to despise themselves from the moment their eyes open on the world….. this world is white and they are black” (Baldwin 25). This jarring juxtaposition which immediately renders
The use of retrospective narration in both the texts reflects the maturity the narrator develops as he ages this …show more content…
This racial identification and categorisation stems from the binary opposition of the two races, where being white is the negation of being black. This highlights then, the white race as the privileged faction and this is foregrounded when looking at how Red and Shiny are described in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Shiny is inevitably described with great attention to his colour, “his face was as black as night, but shone as though it was polished” (Johnson 6 ) while Red’s description does not include any colour description, just “a face full of freckles and a head full of very red hair” ( Johnson 5 ). Because this happens in the novel before the young protagonist is made aware of his mixed race, he identifies himself as white and Johnson by that extension foregrounds that as a representation of the white society, the child notices these features and especially skin colour just as how other white people would view it. He assumes he is white and Red is white so this whiteness is not the discrepancy or uniqueness unlike Shiny’s clearly much darker skin which is noteworthy to the younger narrator. Similarly, in The Fire Next Time, Baldwin critiques the social segregation created by binary opposition as seen in signs during the second world war, of “ White” and “Colored” (Baldwin 55). Baldwin states that “ darkness of (his) skin so intimidates them” ( Baldwin 92) and that is why the white society subjugates and discriminates against the blacks. Baldwin propositions that “ what white people do not know about Negroes reveals precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves” (Baldwin 44). Because whiteness is the privileged faction, “ Negroes— are taught really to despise themselves from the moment their eyes open on the world….. this world is white and they are black” (Baldwin 25). This jarring juxtaposition which immediately renders