Black Like Me Character Analysis

Within the two books of "Black Like Me" and "The Help", two characters seem to really stick out. Not sure if this because they are main characters or not. The two characters John Howard Griffin and Aibileen Clark exemplify the themes of race, society and class, and man versus society through their steadfast changes throughout the book and their developing relationships with other characters.

Race is a big theme with these two characters in their books. John Griffin's whole story relates back to the theme of race. Griffin started out as middle-aged white man living in the south. John was a journalist who had the idea of going through the surgery to become a black man and to witness first hand what living life as a black man was like back in …show more content…
In the book "Black Like Me", John Griffin experiences the society changes during the time he was black from the times when he was white. Griffin explains that while in New Orleans, he comes to realize the many social struggles that blacks have on an every day basis. These include finding a bathroom for people of color, walking down the street and hearing the word "nigger", or even getting refused to be served just because of his skin tone. Griffin talks about how after awhile with all of this happening, he starts to become hopeless. Griffin finds that conditions for black people were appalling and that black communities seemed to be run down and "defeated". John says that after awhile he seemed to be defeated too. Many times Griffin had nightmares from the types of things he had experienced as a black man. He was somewhat traumatized from them. "White men and women, their faces stern and heartless, closed in on me. The hate stare burned through me. I pressed back against a wall. I could expect no pity, no mercy. They approached slowly and I could not escape them. Twice before, I had awakened myself screaming." (Griffin 126). Not only is society a theme that Griffin struggles with, but Aibileen struggles with it