In society, people are constantly searching for their identity and where they belong. They ask themselves questions like “Who am I?’ or “What am I doing here?”. The relatability of the topic is why authors typically use it to engage the readers and make the readers feel closer and more connected with the narrator. When it comes to identity, sometimes human beings default to what they know or what is easiest rather than accepting who they are. In James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, the narrator is frequently faced with his racial identity question which reveals that he tends to choose the path of least resistance even if it may not satisfy him.
The first scenes of the book address the narrator's internal conflict …show more content…
The narrator is staying with an African-American teacher in Macon, Georgia, the south, and he hears rumors that a crime has been committed and despite the teacher’s suggestions, he follows the crowd. A group of mostly white people with some African Americans on the outside circle a black man. The white people tie the man to a stake and burn him alive as they riot and cheer. The narrator is horrified and stunned at what he had just witnessed. He is also humiliated to be a part of a race that can be victim to such horrible crimes. The reaction was “not based on fear, but out of shame”. In the end he decides that he will not claim nor deny his blackness but he will pass as whatever race the people assume he …show more content…
The previous examples in the novel have established that the narrator typically chooses the easiest path for him. He agonizes over telling her but ultimately decides to tell his love the truth. They run into Shiny, his old black friend, and he sees how well she interacts with Shiny and gets the confidence to tell her his secret; however when he does, she is aghast. She does not talk to him for many months. The narrator calls this the “only time in my life that I ever felt absolute regret at being colored, that I cursed the drops of African blood in my veins, and wished that I were really white”. This event stands out because it does not follow the pattern of his previous choice making
The first scenes of the book address the narrator's internal conflict …show more content…
The narrator is staying with an African-American teacher in Macon, Georgia, the south, and he hears rumors that a crime has been committed and despite the teacher’s suggestions, he follows the crowd. A group of mostly white people with some African Americans on the outside circle a black man. The white people tie the man to a stake and burn him alive as they riot and cheer. The narrator is horrified and stunned at what he had just witnessed. He is also humiliated to be a part of a race that can be victim to such horrible crimes. The reaction was “not based on fear, but out of shame”. In the end he decides that he will not claim nor deny his blackness but he will pass as whatever race the people assume he …show more content…
The previous examples in the novel have established that the narrator typically chooses the easiest path for him. He agonizes over telling her but ultimately decides to tell his love the truth. They run into Shiny, his old black friend, and he sees how well she interacts with Shiny and gets the confidence to tell her his secret; however when he does, she is aghast. She does not talk to him for many months. The narrator calls this the “only time in my life that I ever felt absolute regret at being colored, that I cursed the drops of African blood in my veins, and wished that I were really white”. This event stands out because it does not follow the pattern of his previous choice making