Black Like Me Novel

Black Like Me Novel

The narrative perspective of the novel reveals the racism that took place during the 1950s in the United States, from Griffin’s experience as a black man. To begin, Griffin rides a crowded bus to the Negro YMCA, where he hopes he will be able to find a room. On the bus, he offers the seat next to him to a white woman and she replies “[w]hat are you looking at me like that for?” (20). The other black passengers look amazed that any black man could be so stupid, as white passengers would rather stand than sit next to blacks, since they are such racist beings. The sympathy he thought he detected in her glance was actually hatred. Griffin tried to do something nice, but she chose to make a rude comment instead of accepting the seat or at least appreciating the offer. He is experiencing this hate himself, as a black man, hinting the occurrence of racial injustice in his viewpoint. Also, one day Griffin sits down on a park bench for a moment of rest. A white man tells him that he should move. Thinking that the man is intervening to keep him from getting into trouble, he thanks him. Later, he realizes that “Negroes have the right to sit in Jackson Square” (43). The man simply wanted him to leave because he was black. The fact that the white man told him to move even though he has the right, shows how racist the white man is. Griffin experiencing all the hatred from the whites makes living as a black man very difficult for him. As a Negro, It is challenging for Griffin to find something as simple as a place to rest. Due to his colour of skin, the whites choose to treat him unfairly. To continue, on the morning of April 2nd, Griffin receives a telephone call from a newspaper writer with the Star-Telegram, who tells him that a group of white racists hung his effigy on the main street of Mansfield. Griffin finds out “that a dummy, half black, half white, with [his] name on it and a yellow streak painted down its back, was hanging from a wire” (156). The whites are angered...

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