Inhaltsverzeichnis

1.  Introduction.  2

2.  Prejudice - newly defined.  4

3.  The relationship of color and class consciousness to identity  8

4.  The role of the protagonist in the Harlem Renaissance  11

5.  Conclusion.  13

6.  Bibliography.  16

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1. Introduction

It is not only Lincoln in Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem (1970) who is regarded as ugly because of his pronounced black features. In Wallace Thurman’s novel The Blacker the Berry the protagonist also experiences different forms of intra-racial prejudice. Like Lincoln, Emma Lou is regarded as “the real thing [-] black, ugly and odd.” ² This is at least how she feels and how she sees herself, always observing herself through the eyes of others. To give a brief introduction to the topic of intra-racial prejudice, Brooks’s poem was chosen to support the fact that people are prejudiced against other people; even though they belong to the same race. Although the utterance about Lincoln is made by a white man in a movie theater, it cannot be denied that those racist remarks also occur among people who are perceived to belong to one and the same race. Either way, Lincoln is regarded as being the ugliest boy that everyone ever saw. And this is exactly how Emma Lou feels. She supports the misconception of the white man at the movie theater and of society’s stereotypes that dark-skinned blacks do not know as much as light-skinned blacks and therefore are considered to be inferior. The author already makes a distinction between darkskinned African Americans and not that dark-skinned African Americans when he compares the “real thing” black person with “those diluted Negroes you see so much of on the streets these days”. With this phrase she covers one of the major topics in Wallace Thurman’s novel which is about prejudice within one race. The protagonist is always aware of her color which is a result of her sstruggle with the society and herself and it will be described on several examples in the novel. Further, the

¹ http://www2.gasou.edu.

² Ibid.

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protagonist’s social standing and her long way to an agreeable attitude in life will be presented in order to show the protagonist’s consciousness of other people’s complexion for she herself is troubled by the obvious presence of her dark pigmentation. As a last point, the time, in which the novel was published, will be compared to the protagonist’s attitude and it will be questioned if the novel supports the main goals of the progressive movement of that time.

It is important, however, to state some major definitions before going into detail of the analysis. Since the term ‘African American’ is considered to be the most appropriate, it is used in this paper. For the purpose of avoiding too many repetitions distinctions between the terms ‘African Americans’ or ‘Blacks’ will not be made. Further, as there do not only exist the two races black and white, it is important, however, to state that there is much of a diversity within these groups as well. To describe the variations within the black race for example, it was not only Thurman who used every known adjective to distinguish between the different shades of skin by using expressions like “high yaller, yaller nigger, blue veins, half white, dictys, mulattoes, high brown, etc.” ³ Not attempting to downplay the diversity of skin color and other physical appearances within the different races, in this paper there will be only put emphasis on the different shades of skin color within the group of African Americans. Since the novel’s central character is a dark-skinned girl, in many cases the point of view of this character will be taken over. All the color questions and struggle will find their origin in the protagonist’s mind.

³ Thurman, Wallace, The Blacker the Berry, The X Press (London, 1997).

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2. Prejudice - newly defined

Why do people have prejudice against people perceived to belong to other races? Many believe that a difference in physical appearance has something to do with differences in behavior, attitude, intelligence, or intrinsic worth of people. The fact is, however, that all over the world humans “differ in their skin color, eye color and shape, hair color and texture, body shape, stature, limb proportions, and other physical characteristics”. ⁴ Yet, in Wallace Thurman’s novel The Blacker The Berry the visible differences of skin color and other physical characteristics are not the main reason for prejudices between different races but the reason for prejudice within one race. Concentrating on Emma Lou Morgan, the dark-skinned protagonist of the novel, Thurman describes on the one hand the suffer and pain of a young girl who cannot overcome her obsession with skin color and on the other hand he represents her class consciousness. She is always on the search for the “right sort of people”, which include the ‘right’ color of skin and the ‘right’ class. Her intention is “not to go out of her class” ⁵ and find someone with an acceptable skin color. Emma thinks that only those people matter who are northerners like herself or superior southerners. This attitude, however, does not make her less prejudiced than anyone around her. The only thing that really matters to her is people’s complexion, including her own. Since she is unwanted from birth on because of her dark skin pigmentation she makes skin color to be one of the most important worries of her life. “Whiter and whiter, EVERY generation” (p. 11) is the motto she adopts from her family. The “nearer white you are the more white people will respect you” (p. 19). From the moment that she enters the world - a black child not wanted by her own relativesshe is the alien member of her lighter-skinned family and the family’s social circle which partly is the cause for all her suffer. Her skin color is just too dark, too dark for her and too dark for her relatives. Facing the family’s motto from day to day gives her a constant source of torture. She feels rejected and unwanted by the majority because she does not only receive this feeling from most of her own relatives but also from other people. She constantly thinks to be the victim of discrimination. As a result, Emma Lou escapes in order to leave the prejudice she receives from people of her own race behind her. Nevertheless, when she searches for a job or looks for a

⁴ www.encarta.msn.com.

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