John Howard Griffin titling this novel Black Like Me is inappropriate, even including the content covered by the experiment in the book. When Griffin undergoes his chemical treatments, to darken his skin, he becomes black physically. This causes him to be treated in the same manner as the "true" blacks, but even though Griffin is slandered, slated, and abused just as much, he is still mentally a white, degrading the effectiveness of the title and the experiment because his views are corrupted through a lifetime of living as a member of the so-called superior race, even though he believes himself not to be racist.
As the title, Black Like Me, denotes; John Howard Griffin becomes a black man and lives as a Negro among Negroes. "Within a short …show more content…
One such instance was when Griffin was hitch-hiking to Mississippi and Griffin engages in an intelligent and opinionated conversation with the white driver: "His whole attitude of enthusiasm practically shouted, 'Why, you talk intelligently! ' He was so obtuse ... astonish[ed] that a black man could do anything but say 'yes, sir ' and mumble four letter words" (Griffin 89). When placed in the situation Griffin was in, most black men would of either sat through the ride in a quiet ignorance of the insults being inadvertently said, or complied with the requests. The black race was afraid of offending whites because the whites could perform any action towards the blacks and would not receive any punishment because of the racism in the court. To give differing views from the whites could very possibly cause offense, and negative action may have been undertaken. Another such instance in which Griffin acted as a white was when he caught a bus in New Orleans and almost gave a white woman his seat, "my lack of gallantry tormented me. I half rose from my seat to give it to her, but Negroes behind me frowned disapproval. I realized I was 'going against the race '. . ." (Griffin 20) Griffin 's instinct as a white man would have been acceptable, but because he was supposed to be a Negro, the racial struggle came into play. The Negroes thought, "If the whites
As the title, Black Like Me, denotes; John Howard Griffin becomes a black man and lives as a Negro among Negroes. "Within a short …show more content…
One such instance was when Griffin was hitch-hiking to Mississippi and Griffin engages in an intelligent and opinionated conversation with the white driver: "His whole attitude of enthusiasm practically shouted, 'Why, you talk intelligently! ' He was so obtuse ... astonish[ed] that a black man could do anything but say 'yes, sir ' and mumble four letter words" (Griffin 89). When placed in the situation Griffin was in, most black men would of either sat through the ride in a quiet ignorance of the insults being inadvertently said, or complied with the requests. The black race was afraid of offending whites because the whites could perform any action towards the blacks and would not receive any punishment because of the racism in the court. To give differing views from the whites could very possibly cause offense, and negative action may have been undertaken. Another such instance in which Griffin acted as a white was when he caught a bus in New Orleans and almost gave a white woman his seat, "my lack of gallantry tormented me. I half rose from my seat to give it to her, but Negroes behind me frowned disapproval. I realized I was 'going against the race '. . ." (Griffin 20) Griffin 's instinct as a white man would have been acceptable, but because he was supposed to be a Negro, the racial struggle came into play. The Negroes thought, "If the whites