KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT- IRAQ MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF SULAIMANI FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES

THE CURSE OF BLACKNESS: A STUDY OF THURMAN’S THE BLACKER THE BERRY AND SCHUYLER’S BLACK NO MORE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE COUNCIL OF THE SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY OF SULAIMANI IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE BY DALIA SALAHADEEN ISAMADEEN SUPERVISED BY DR. SAMAN HUSSEIN OMAR

Galarezan 2716 Kurdish

October 2016 A.D.

‫بسم اهلل الرحمن الرحيم‬ َّ ‫َيا أَُّي َها‬ ‫وبا َوقََب ِائ َل لِ َت َع َارفُوا ِإ َّن أَ ْكَرَم ُك ْم ِع ْن َد‬ ُ ‫اك ْم‬ ُ ‫اك ْم ِم ْن َذ َك ٍر َوأُْنثَ ٰى َو َج َع ْمَن‬ ُ ‫اس إَِّنا َخَم ْقَن‬ ً ‫ش ُع‬ ُ ‫الن‬ ِ َّ ِ ُ َ‫الم ِه أَتْق‬ َّ ‫ير‬ ٌ ‫يم َخِب‬ ٌ ‫اك ْم إ َّن الم َه َعم‬ ‫القرآن الكريم‬

49/13 ‫سىرة الهجرة – اآلية‬

In the name of God, Merciful to all, Compassionate to each! O mankind, We created you male and female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may come to know one another. The noblest among you in God‘s sight are the most pious. God is All-Knowing, All-Experienced.

The Chambers 49:13 (Tarif Khalidi- Penguin Books, 2009)

iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Fahima Aziz Al-Khayat, whose love and measureless support have sustained me throughout my life. I owe her a lot. I would not be where I am without her.

iv Supervisor’s Report I certify that this thesis entitled ―THE CURSE OF BLACKNESS: A STUDY OF THURMAN‘S THE BLACKER THE BERRY AND SCHUYLER‘S BLACK NO MORE” was prepared under my supervision at the Department of English Language, School of Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Sulaimani in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature.

Signature: Supervisor: Dr. Saman Hussein Omar PhD in English Literature Date:

/

/ 2016

In view of the available recommendation, I forward this thesis for debate by the examining committee.

Signature: Name: Dr. Azad Hasan Fatah Chairman of the Departmental Committee On Post-graduate Studies Date:

/

/ 2016

v Examination Committees’ Report We, the examination committee, certify that we have read this thesis entitled ―THE CURSE OF BLACKNESS: A STUDY OF THURMAN‘S THE BLACKER THE BERRY AND SCHUYLER‘S BLACK NO MORE” and we have examined the student (Dalia Salahadeen Isamadeen) in its contents and that in our opinion it is adequate with the standing of (

) as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature.

Signature:

Signature:

Name: Asst. Prof. Dr. Latef Saeed Noori

Name: Asst. Prof. Dr. Rebwar

Berzenji

Zainadin Muhammad

Date: 29 /10/ 2016

Date: 29 /10/ 2016

Chairman

Member

Signature:

Signature:

Name: Dr. Kawan Othman Arif

Name: Dr. Saman Hussein Omar

Date: 29 /10/ 2016

Date: 29 /10/ 2016

Member

Member and Supervisor

Approved by the Council of School of Languages.

Signature: Name: Prof. Dr. Abdulqadir Hama Ameen Muhammad Head of School of Languages Date:

/

/ 2016

vi Contents Acknowledge ments ................................................................................................................ vii Abstract.................................................................................................................................. viii Chapter One ............................................................................................................................. 1 Historical and Literary Overvie w .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 African Americans and Racism........................................................................... 1 1.2 Harlem Renaissance Literature ......................................................................... 13 Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................... 23 Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry ....................................................................................... 23 2.1 Critical Overview .............................................................................................. 23 2.2 Rejection and Discrimination............................................................................ 27 2.3 Self- hatred and Self- reconciliation.................................................................... 38 Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................ 49 Schuyler’s Black No More .................................................................................................... 49 3.1 Critical Overview .............................................................................................. 49 3.2 Elimination of Blackness .................................................................................. 53 3.3 Blackness, Power, and Money .......................................................................... 63 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 75 Work Cited ............................................................................................................................. 77 Abstract in Kurdish ............................................................................................................... 85 Abstract in Arabic.................................................................................................................. 86

vii Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my thanks to Kurdistan Regional Government, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, University of Sulaimani, Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages. I also extend my special thanks and gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Saman Hussein Omar for his continuous guidance, instruction and support during the writing of this thesis. I cannot miss mentioning my respectful professors who lectured me during the course of my study; Dr. Kawan Othman Arif, Asst. Prof. Dr. Rebwar Zainadin Muhammad, Asst. Prof. Dr. Zanyar Faiq Saeed, Asst. Prof. Dr. Latef Berzenji, Prof. Dr. Hamdi Hameed AlDouri, Asst. Prof. Dr. Harith I. Turki, and Dr. Kanar Asaad Adham whose lectures were of great value to my study. I would like also to express my grateful acknowledgement to the staff of the English Department particularly the Head of English Department Dr. Azad Hasan Fatah, the Head of Evening Department of English Mr. Asso Ahmed Salih. Their encouragement and notes are highly appreciated. I am really indebted to Miss. Kurdistan Mohammed Qadir, Mr. Shamal Abubakir, Mr. Zana Abdulkareem, Mr. Rebeen Abdullah Kareem, Mr. Zanyar Hassan, Mr. Jutyar Zhazhalaye who provided me with many valuable references. Finally, I am very grateful to a very special person, my husband, Dilshad, for his support and cooperation. I appreciate my lovely daughter, Lara, for her patience during the writing process. Special thanks go to my wonderful father, my brothers, my sister, my husband‘s parents and his brothers for their prayers and encouragement.

viii Abstract

This thesis, which is entitled: The Curse of Blackness in Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry and Schuyler‘s Black No More, investigates the challenges the African Americans encounter due to their dark skin colour in two satirical works of Harlem Renaissance. Both novels present blackness as an obstacle that stands against the African American people to lead a peaceful and dignified life. The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction on the African Americans and racism including the origin of racism, colourism, prejudice, and slavery in the United States and the significance of skin colour in the life of the African American people. It further gives an overview of Harlem Renaissance as a movement and literary era and shows how the issue of skin colour was reflected in the literary works of this era. Chapter Two examines how small differences in skin colour in The Blacker the Berry plays a key role in life chances of the African American people including social desirability, friendship,

professional

life,

and

opportunities

for

marriage.

It

further

traces

the

internalization of racism, the sense of self-hatred among the African Americans, the futile attempts of a black woman character to whiten her skin, and her difficult journey toward selfreconciliation. Chapter Three investigates the relationship between blackness and the socioeconomic status of the African American people in Black No More. It also illustrates the key factors that drive the African American people to turn into white through a scientific transformation process. It further explores how race is commercialized and blackness is being utilized by the American political parties, white as well as black organizations.

ix Finally, the study concludes that both novels demonstrate that blackness is a barrier that plays a paramount role in the social, economic and psychological suffering of the African American people. Both novels show that the problem of blackness would not come to an end unless the blacks reconcile themselves to blackness and get accepted by the white society. The conclusion is followed by a list of books, articles and electronic references consulted during the writing of this thesis. Keywords: Racism, Coloursim, Prejudice, Discrimination, Blackness, Whiteness, Self-hatred, Self-acceptance.

1

Chapter One Historical and Literary Overview 1.1 African Americans and Racism From the dawn of human history, racism and racial discrimination have been a source of agonies and sorrows for many people. In the early seventeenth-century, European traders had practiced slave trading in West Africa where a large number of African people were captured and sold as slaves in the United States. In the twentieth-century, the African people in South Africa faced oppressions and violent death under the system of racial segregation called apartheid which was imposed upon them by the ruling white population. (CavalliSforza). In his book, Racism: A Short History, George M. Fredrickson defines racism as a term that ―is often used in a loose and unreflective way to describe the hostile or negative feelings of one ethnic group or ‗people‘ toward another and the actions resulting from such attitudes.‖ He goes on to say that ―sometimes the antipathy of one group toward another is expressed and acted upon with a single-mindedness and brutality that go far beyond the group-centered prejudice and snobbery that seem to constitute an almost universal human failing.‖ For example, Hitler used racist theories as an excuse to commit the Holocaust against the European Jews. Similarly, he points out, the white supremacists in South America had also used the same excuse to impose the Jim Crow Laws1 to segregate the blacks2 from the whites (Fredrickson 1). For Fredrickson, racism is not only ―an attitude or set of beliefs‖ that one‘s 1

Jim Crow Laws: Unfair laws that, in the southern states from the post-Civil War period to

the middle of the twentieth century, were used to keep African Americans from becoming full, equal citizens. (Howes xxiii) 2

The researcher uses the expressions blacks and African Americans interchangeably. Blacks

is used when an emphasis is given to skin colour, and African Americans is used when reference is not directly made to skin colour.

2 race is superior to others, but it also embodies itself in certain actions, institutions, and structures (Fredrickson 6). Slavery cannot be ignored in any study of racism in the United States. Racism is an outcome of slavery (Omar 11). Howard Zinn emphasises that slavery is heavily intertwined with racism: ―With it [slavery] developed that special racial feeling—whether hatred, or contempt, or pity, or patronization-that accompanied the inferior position of blacks in America for the next 350 years-that combination of inferior status and derogatory thought we call racism‖ (qtd. in Omar 11). Jeffrey Elton Anderson sheds lights on Winthrop D. Jordan‘s viewpoint that racism and slavery virtually arose together and both reinforced one another (95). The African slave trade is traced back to 1502 when the first shipment of African slaves arrived the Caribbean by some Portuguese traders for the purpose of farming. The slaves were shipped from Africa to the Caribbean, Brazil, or the Spanish colonies of Central and South America as well as British North America. By 1860, more than ten million Africans were imported to the United States (Horton and Horton). Historically speaking, African ancestries have constituted a big portion in the history of the United States since the fifteenth-century. During the colonial period1 , the European colonies and their prosperity were greatly reliant on the African labourers, particularly, after European wars and diseases that wiped out most of the Native Americans. In general, the African people had a wide experience in planting and harvesting rice, cotton, sugar in West and North Africa. The European exploited this experience to improve agriculture in their colonies. The forced migration of the Africans to the United States had contributed in creating a mixed American

1

Beginning in 1519, Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherland, and England established

colonies in the Americas. (Johnson and Woloch )

3 culture as the Africans had carried with them their religious beliefs, art, musical forms, and rhythms (Horton and Horton). Slavery had been institutionalized in most of the European colonies in America by 1660. Historians differ in their arguments about the causes of institutionalizing slavery and racism in America. One group of historians asserts on the economic reasons since the agricultural growth of the European colonizers was heavily based on the African slave labourers, while another group argues that hatred towards Africans was one of the reasons behind the enslavement of the blacks in British North America (Young 143). Anderson comments on Ruth Benedict‘s viewpoint that racism, the ideology that some races are superior to others biologically, was promoted after the Darwin era, yet, previously a form of prejudice, particularly ―in-group/out-group‖ prejudice had been practiced from the ancient times. In America, a form of racial prejudice, a negative feeling or attitude ―without the ideological backing of biological racism,‖ had been arisen from the beginning of the European colonization of America. In the European colonies, the blacks were victims of this form of prejudice which was imposed against them to justify colonial slavery. The Europeans perceived the blacks as ―enemies of Christ‖ because most of them were non-Christian. Yet, after their conversion into Christianity, other justifications were created by slave masters to continue slavery. Physical differences, particularly, skin colour was the most obvious marker to differentiate races; therefore the colonizers used this concept to differentiate the ―slaves‖ from the ―free‖ (Anderson 93). Other scholars have different viewpoints. In this regard, Anderson further illustrates Alden T. Vaughan‘s opinion which is different from his predecessors. For Vaughan, racism had arisen in Britain then spread throughout the European colonies. He states that before slavery and even the first English contact with Africans, the English had used the biblical ―curse of Ham‖ as a measurement to judge the African people. Genesis 9:20-27 refers to

4 Ham‘s son, Canaan, who had been cursed by Noah to become servant of his brothers Shem and Japheth forever. Taking this into account, the English considered themselves the descendants of Japheth, while the ―black Africans‖ the descendants of Ham. Additionally, the English realized the ―unusual‖ differences between them and the Africans particularly, skin colour. This way of thinking was an obvious indication of ideological racism, even though the concept had no any biological basis (Anderson 97-98). Commenting on the same issue, Fredrickson asserts that ―the myth of the Curse of Ham or Canaan based on a mysterious passage in the book of Genesis‖ was invoked as a biblical excuse to continue slavery. Canaan and all his descendants were cursed to be ―servants unto servants‖ for the sin of Ham who made God angry because he saw his father, Noah, ―in a naked and apparently inebriated state and mocked him‖ (43). Similarly, Stephen R. Haynes argues that religious beliefs were invoked to hold the Africans in servitude. He asserts that the ―Curse of Ham‖ was used to justify slavery in the United States. He remarks that ―the application of the curse to racial slavery was the product of centuries of development in ethnic and racial stereotyping, biblical interpretation, and the history of servitude.‖ He further explains that from the beginning of the colonial period, a ―racialized version of Noah‘s curse had arrived in America.‖ The writings of abolitionists were clear evidences that the ―Curse of Ham‖ was used as an official ratification for the enslavement of blacks during the 1670s (8). Moreover, in 1818, Senator William Smith from South Carolina used the biblical ―curse of Ham‖ as an evidence to grant a proposal for a fugitive slave bill (Sollors 95). The Dark skin colour of the African people became a symbol for slavery. It made the Africans, Jason R. Young writes, more distinct and conspicuous (145). Oscar and Mary F. Handlin say that ―colour emerged as the token of the slave status; the trace of colour became the trace of slavery‖ (qtd. in Young 145).

5 Throughout history, colour has been a central issue in racism and racial prejudice. Light skin colour was, and still to be, the most favourable colour for the majority of people worldwide. According to Roman Catholic rites, white signified ―light, innocence, purity, and glory.‖ In the Western culture, whiteness represented day which signified ―masculinity‖ and ―superior forces,‖ while black, represented night which was a symbol of ―the ocean, unconscious, the mysterious, and the feminine‖(U. M. Brown 29). Certain beliefs may become tradition with the passage of time if they are carried from one generation to another. When the black slaves first arrived in the United States, the Western culture was vague to them due to their huge cultural distances. Besides the physical differences such as the hair texture and the dark skin that made the blacks to be easily distinguished and degraded, racism, slavery, and social status had more widened the gap between the two races with the passage of time. Every value attributed to whiteness was antithesis to those of blackness as far as skin colour was concerned. For example, light skin people signified ―intellectual‖ and ―morality‖ whereas dark skin people signified ―ignorant,‖ immoralities, and ―evil‖ ( Hall 39). According to the Southern white belief system, ―black people are thousands of years behind whites in terms of physiological development,‖ and ―the brains of black people were believed to cease development at a certain point‖ (ibid). These beliefs were strongly embraced by white elites before the Civil War1 (ibid). Generally, colour divides people into four major categories; red, white, yellow, and black. People‘s skin colour has also been considered as a factor to categorise people in terms 1

Civil War (1861-1865): A war between Northern and Southern states that established the

primacy of the federal government over the states in the administration of justice and elevated the ethical system of free-labor capitalism as the national standard. The war‘s most profound effects on race relations in the United States resulted from its ending of slavery and emancipation of enslaved African Americans. (Matijasic 1:226)

6 of class, religion, and social groups. The light-skinned people used to have prejudice against the dark-skinned people in the United States, Central and South America, Asia, and Africa. However, this phenomenon was more prevalent in the United States because its society was racially stratified. Skin colour and racial markers were used to determine beauty, education, social and economic conditions of individuals in the American society (U. M. Brown 30). Recent anthropologists and genetic studies have proved ―that a person‘s visible skin color is useless as a marker of unique genetic identity and that is invalid as a basis for classifying people into biologically distinct group‖ (Jablonski 1: 38). Yet, in many countries, skin colour remains to be one of the divisive issues through which a person‘s social status or value is estimated, ―often with prejudice.‖ As a matter of fact, human skin colour is variable according to the nearness to the equator. The indigenous people who live near the equator usually have darker skin colour, and those who live close to the poles have lighter skin colour. This fact stimulated the researches in the past to relate the variation of skin colour with the distribution of sunlight. The majority of studies on evolution of human skin colour have been revolved around the effect of sunlight on skin colour and how they are related to each other (Jablonski 1: 39). The African descendants, Obiagele Lake points out, were called by different names from the dawn of slavery such as ―Negro,‖ ―colored,‖ ―Black,‖ ―Afro- and AfricanAmerican,‖ and ―African‖ (9). After the Civil War, many demonstrations were held by the African Americans to capitalize the term ―Negro‖ because it was written in the lower case. The Associated Press and The New York Times were the first to capitalize the term ―Negro,‖ which gained a wide reception from the society during the twentieth-century (ibid 10). The word ―Black‖ was offensive for the African Americans before the mid 1960s. Henceforth, the African Americans used this word with confidence and pride. Both common terms ―Black is Beautiful‖ and ―I'm Black and I'm proud‖ were evidence that the term Black began to imply

7 new meanings (Lake 10). Lake states that Jesse Jackson emphasized on the term ―African Americans‖ in 1989, as he believed that this term has a cultural value for the African American people and it represents their heritage not their skin colour (9). Both Lake and Jeffri Anne Wilder maintain that the European colonialists should be blamed for creating racial terminologies. According to Lake the European colonialists were behind coining racial terms like ―white‖ and ―black‖ and other racial terms that distinguish light-skinned

from darker-skinned

blacks.

Similarly,

Wilder states that the negative

consequences of colonialism were greater than slavery in the United States (Wilder 185). He states that the system of white supremacy and racist ideology instilled the notion of valuing whiteness over blackness and improved a new system of language and a new social classification in which whites were privileged (ibid 186). In addition, blackness became an excuse for committing violation and enslavement. Whites were placed at the top of the social hierarchy, which was invented by the colonists, while the blacks at the bottom. To maintain this racial classification, the colonial legislators had invented ―one-drop‖ rule to exclude and deprive those blacks who had white ancestry, as a result of raping the enslaved African women, of the rights and privileges that were assigned to the whites. Eventually, these racial principles had been internalized by the African American people and created division within their community (ibid). Similarly, Ursula M. Brown points out that the Virginia legislature issued a law in 1662, according to which all the biracial ―children should have the status of their mothers,‖ and this contrasted the ―traditional English Law that children assume(d) the status of their fathers.‖ Thus, most of the Southern colonies implied systems of racial classifications. Accordingly, each individual was regarded to be black even if he/she had only one-eighth ―black blood‖ (15). The following table illustrates the race-defining status:

8 Table 1 Fraction of ―Black Blood‖ = ―Race‖ 0

white

1/8

octoroon

1/4

quadroon

1/2

mulatto

3/4

griffe

7/8

sacatra

1

Negro

Source: Brown, Ursula M. Interracial Experience: Growing Up Black/White Racially Mixed in the United States. Westport, CT.:Praeger, 2001. Questia. Web. 10 April, 2015. According to the one-drop‖ rule, all the black were equal in front of law. However, noticeable division was created among the black community on the bases of their skin colour and hair textures. Historical records show that during slavery, the lighter-skinned slaves were given comfortable indoor tasks that made them in direct relationships with their masters. However, the darker-skinned slaves were forced to do hard outdoor tasks in fields under harsh weathers. The light-skinned slaves were entitled to certain benefits and were considered more intelligent and valuable than the dark-skinned slaves ―[b]ecause of their partial white heritage.‖ After the abolition of slavery, the light-skinned blacks kept themselves separated from the dark-skinned people of their race in many walks of life, such as, marriage and social interacting in general. This internalized racism among the black community has been crystallized in the form of colourism (Wilder 186). The term was invented by Alice Walker in 1983, it refers to ―the internalized bias and favor for light-skin European features and ‗good hair‘ that has divided the black community throughout times according to their skin colour (ibid 185). This intra-racial prejudice or colourism is also referred to as colour prejudice (Culbreth 3). Consequently, the reflection of colourism could be seen during the early period

9 of the twentieth-century when segregated social clubs and societies were established and ―separatist standards‖ such as, brown-paper-bag, pencil, ruler, and door tests were applied within the black community. All these paved the way for the creation of ―colour divisions‖ within the black community that produced later different social concepts on skin tone and phenotype (Wilder 186). These beliefs were transformed throughout generations, ―and African Americans today continue to place a premium on lighter skin tone, seeing the different shades of brown as varying degrees of status, acceptance, and achievement‖ (ibid 187). The reason behind distorting the African culture and degrading their physical features was to make the Africans hate themselves and internalize these negative images. ―Self-hate and competition were, and are, primary forces‖ that impeded and suppressed all the sorts of revolt or rebellion of the African Americans. Such negative feelings and impressions about themselves and their race did not only corrode the unity and solidarity of the Africans but it also made them more obedient and more bound to their servitude (Lake 82). The European colonizers did not only employ slavery and racism in the United States, but in Africa and over all the African diasporas as well. They prohibited marriage between races and classified the African people according to their hair and skin colour. They destroyed the political and economic structure of the Africans and distorted the physical and ethical image of the Africans. As a reaction, the African people in all diasporas embodied this image by ―internalizing negative representations of themselves and used all means possible to recreate themselves in a European image‖ (ibid 73). During the Civil war, the President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, accordingly 3,120,000 slaves were freed. Eventually, slavery was formally outlawed in the United States in 1865, when the United States Constitution approved

the Thirteenth Amendment ("Emancipation Proclamation"). Even

10 though slavery was legally abolished, racism did not come to an end. Both the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment failed to root out the racist tendencies that plagued the American society (Lake 51). Few years after the abolition of slavery, most of the Southern states adopted a racial segregation system of Jim Crow laws during the 1880s and 1890s when disputes and tension over power were inflamed between and within different parties. This racial system deprived the black people of their voting right and separated them officially from the white people. The main aim behind this system was to secure the white domination in the South and to prevent the possibility of future biracial revolutions that might create threats to the white rule in the South (Winter 2:477). According to Jim Crow laws, the African Americans were not allowed to vote, and they were separated from the whites in all walks of life. All the residential areas, workplaces, restaurants, telephone booths, parking places, and other entertaining places of the blacks were separated from those of the whites. Marriage between whites and blacks was prohibited in many Southern states. Even more oppressive was the fact that Jim Crow laws were also applied in death; the blacks‘ graveyards, morticians, and even medical school cadavers were all separated (ibid). These laws and restrictions were a vivid manifestation of a larger form of racial discrimination against the blacks. White supremacist groups and organizations, such as Ku Klux Klan (KKK)1 , often committed crimes and violations under the name of racial justice with the support and coordination of police officers (ibid 2:477-478).

1

Ku Klux Klan (KKK): A terrorist organization founded soon after the Civil War (and that

still exists today). Spawned by racial hatred, resentment, and resistance to the idea that blacks and other members of minority groups should have equality with whites, the KKK carried out many acts of violence and terror, especially during the first quarter of the twentieth century. (Howes xxiii-xxiv)

11 During the Jim Crow laws, lynching of the black people became a ritual and it was carried out on daily basis in most of the Southern states. In some towns, the white families used to celebrate lynching ―holidays‖ at their picnics. They participated in the lynching process and became spectators to witness the brutal acts of mutilation, hanging, and burning which usually ended in violent death (A. Thompson 3: 127). The act of lynching increased remarkably after the Civil War as the former slave masters expected revenge from their former slaves (Paulson 2: 553). According to the Tuskegee Institute, there were 4,743 cases of lynching in the United States between 1882 and 1968. It was estimated that the African American people constituted about 73 percent of those cases and the white people 27 percent. However, some scholars asserted that the total number of lynching cases reached nearly 6000 cases (ibid). The racial violations under the Jim Crow laws coincided with the unemployment of the African American people in the Southern cities during the early period of the twentiethcentury. The need for the black labourers in the Southern states decreased due to the crop losses, particularly cotton crops that had been attacked by insects (boll weevils). Both factors paved the way for the African American people to migrate to the Northern states. Consequently, from 1910 to 1930, one million to one and half million African Americans left the South. This remarkable shift from rural South to the industrialized North, which is known as The Great Migration, created many problems and tensions between the new black immigrants, who were uneducated and poor, and the old black inhabitants of the North (Horton and Horton). Until the mid 1950s, the African American people did not achieve their freedom. However, after the World War II, there were many efforts by civil rights activists to improve

12 the status of the African Americans. The successful case of Brown v. Board of Education1 of 1954 and the event of Montgomery bus boycott2 of 1955, which was implemented by members of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), brought about a new phase known as civil rights period. This period was marked by many demonstrations and civil rights activities which ultimately brought an end to the Jim Crow laws, the ―America‘s version of racial apartheid,‖ and created a state of awareness in the United States (Smith 3: 332). The issue of race continued to be one of the most problematic issues in the United States. The President Bill Clinton‘s apology for slavery, in 1997, was criticized heavily by the American public opinion. Furthermore, the American Congress did not approve the project of the African American Museum on the Mall, in Washington D.C. Moreover, in 1996 and 1997, hundreds of black churches were damaged by arson, while white churches were receiving funds for renovation (Horton and Horton). Human Rights Watch‘s World Report 2015: Events of 2014 summarized racial violations in the United Stated during 2014 under the name of ―Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice.‖ According to the report, ―African American men are incarcerated at six times the rate of white men, and three percent of all black males are currently incarcerated in a state or federal prison.‖ People are discriminated and treated unfairly due to their racial differences during the implementation of drug law enforcement. For instance, there is similar or equal

1

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, landmark court case of 1954 in which the Supreme

Court of the United States unanimously declared that it was unconstitutional to create separate schools for children on the basis of race. (Finkelman) 2

In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white

man. Her action led to the Montgomery bus boycott, an organized, citywide protest against segregation that used nonviolent tactics. (ibid)

13 number of both whites and African Americans who involve in crimes associated with drug, yet, the actual number of the African Americans accused and imprisoned due to these crimes is higher than the whites. The reports also mentioned that ―Although African Americans are only 13 percent of the US population, they represent 31 percent of all drug arrests and 41 percent of state and 42 percent of federal prisoners serving time for drug offenses‖ (Human Rights Watch 585). In addition, the African Americans ―are nearly four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.‖ The incident of shooting the unarmed African American Michael Brown, eighteen years old, by white police forces on August 2014, created a strong reaction and anger by the people of Ferguson, Missouri. Many demonstrations broke out in Ferguson as a protest against killing Brown. During the protests, the police forces of Ferguson, who were mainly white, aggressively repressed the protestors, who were mainly black, using teargas, rubber bullets, and other frightening objects and devices which were an obvious violation of the rights to peaceful assembly (ibid).

1.2 Harlem Renaissance Literature Harlem Renaissance, known as New Negro Movement or Negro Renaissance, is considered the first remarkable literary and artistic movement of the African Americans that occurred during the 1920s in the United States. This period is marked by richness of the African American writers who published a large number of poems and fiction which gained, for the first time, positive recognitions and considerable critical evaluations. During this period, the African Americans were also able to publish their first powerful literary journals (Milne l: i i i). The movement blossomed in Harlem, a district of New York City and the center of the African Americans during 1920s. It emerged after the end of World War I (1914-18) and lasted until 1930 which is the beginning of the Great Depression (Howes 4). However, many scholars believed that the publication of W.E.B. Du Bois‘s The Souls of Black Folks: Essays

14 and Sketches of 1903 was the birth of the movement. This text is considered to be a milestone that introduces the African American art and culture and narrates the problem of colour line during the nineteenth and twentieth-century in the United States (Jones 9). Many factors led to the rise of Harlem Renaissance including the Great Migration of the African Americans from the Southern states to the Northern states, which were technologically advanced, and their remarkable contribution, as soldiers, in World War I. Both events were promising to establish a political, social, and economic background for the movement under the American credo ―freedom and justice for all‖ (ibid 9-10). After the war, the African Americans began to think about their position in the United States; they were asking why they were still treated as second class citizens while they served and contributed much for the sake of their country. Besides, the Northern cities, Harlem in particular, became the residence of a large number of African Americans who were enthused by good confidence and eagerness for change. Many black intellectuals such as Du Bois and Alain Locke believed that time was ripe for the white America to appreciate the achievements of the African Americans artists and writers (Milne 1: 335-336). During the Harlem Renaissance, the African Americans became cooperative and more aware of themselves than ever before; literature, art, and politics became their significant devices to alter the conventional notion of African American stereotype. Through their journals, such as, Fire!!, the Crisis, Opportunity, the Messenger, Challenge, and New Challenge, African American writers, artists, and activists earnestly attempted to form the concept of the ―New Negro,‖ who represented the African American individual in his/her influential personality and proud feeling of his/her culture and origin. The movement also brought

about

the

concept

of

Pan-Africanism which

aimed

at

eliminating

racial

discrimination and enhancing solidarity among all the Africans around the world (Jones 10).

15 In addition, many white reformists supported the African American political activists and intellectuals in their quest for achieving the African American civil rights and social reformation. These organizations made serious efforts to gain African American voting rights, anti-lynching rule, and better opportunities for employment and education. For them, art, literature, and music were significant devices through which they could call for their social and political status; at the same time they could show the humanity of the African American people and their eagerness for racial equality. For example, both African American civil rights organizations, NAACP and Urban League allocated space in their journals, Crisis and Opportunity, to the viewpoints of young writers during the flowering days of the movement (Jones 10). Literature of Harlem Renaissance does not have a specific style or manner of its own, and it is not inspired by certain political thoughts. It is rather a manifestation of identity and culture not ideologies or literary schools (Wintz viii). Nevertheless, Harlem Renaissance was very much affected by the modernist movement as they both occurred almost at the same time. A widespread ―malaise‖ characterized the literary works of Harlem Renaissance which reflected the ―fragmentation, alienation, and deterioration‖ of the society due to the World War I (Jones 11). Literature of Harlem Renaissance reflected the grim realities of the 1920s and the 1930s. The issues of race and racism were the main focus in almost every literary work through which the writers denounced the racial discrimination and inequality. Claude Mackay‘s poem ―If We Must Die‖ is one of the remarkable examples of protest against racism and racial inequality. However, most of the writers preferred to show the psychological and social effects of racism on the African Americans rather than openly denouncing it. For example, in both her novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), Nella Larsen explores biracial characters having problems with their racial identities in a white

16 dominated society where racism and prejudice are prevalent (Wintz ix). Many writers of the movement explore the phenomenon of racial passing in their writings (Milne 1: 341-342). Racial passing is defined as a ―practice by which light-skinned African Americans would pretend to be white in order to gain the social and material advantages denied to blacks‖ (Howes xxv). In Larsen‘s Passing, the heroine commits suicide when her white husband realizes her African American origin, while Quicksand portrays the agonies of a biracial heroine who tries to gain an acceptable image in society. She does not feel she is free in the black society, yet when she passes for white, she does not become happy (Milne 1: 341-342). Other literary works that explore similar problems are Langston Hughes‘ poem ―Cross‖ and his play Mulatto (1931), and Jessie Redmon Fauset‘s novel Plum Bun (1929) (Wintz ix). Hee-Jung Serenity Joo states that the racial passing narratives ―have often been used to reveal the constructed and fragile nature of racial categories and to critique the hypocritical and discriminatory system of US democracy that equated white skin with freedom and citizenship.‖ She further states that the racial passing narrative has been considered as significant genre in the history of the African American literature. Racial passers as characters could be found in slave narratives, in ―tragic mulatto‖ novels of the Civil War, and in the literature of Harlem Renaissance as well, aiming to show how the African Americans were oppressed and discriminated in the United States (171). Some other writers of the movement used irony and satire as techniques to criticize the problems they had during their period and their pasts. For instance, many major writers explored controversial subjects like ―the state of African American leadership; the successes and failures of the New Negro Movement; black intra-racial discrimination along color and class lines; white racism; black nationalism; white patronage and its effect upon black cultural movements and ideas.‖ The key authors who addressed these issues through their

17 outstanding writings are; George S. Schuyler (Black No More [1931]) (BNM)1 , Countee Cullen (One Way to Heaven [1932]), Zora Neale Hurston (Moses, Man of the Mountain [1939]), Hughes (The Ways of White Folks [short stories;1934]),‖ Wallace Thurman (Infants of the Spring [1932]), and Richard Bruce Nugent (Gentleman Jigger [c.1928–33; published 2008]) (Dickson-Carr, ―A. A. literature‖ 291). The image of black was a conflicting one during the Harlem Renaissance. Some intellectuals and writers believed that the African American community must be presented in an ideal image through portraying middle class characters capable of making success and achievements in a white-dominated society. Conversely, other writers did not take into account how the black society was perceived by white people. They rather believed that literature must reflect both the positive and negative experiences and realities of the African American lives (Milne 1: 342). For example, the main focus of Thurman, Hurston, Hughes, and some other writers was not to portray how the African American people were eager to resemble the white elite people. They also did not follow the concept of ―sanitizing‖ the African American lives to show only the brightest part in their daily experiences. These writers rather showed how ―self-acceptance‖ would help the African American people to overcome their deep feeling of ―self-hatred‖ in their inner selves and within their community. Hughes, in his short essay ―The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain‖ (1926) asserts that white perception of black people does not matter to him (Glasker 1: 495). He emphasises: We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are

1

All references to Black No More (BNM) in this study are from Schuyler, George S. Black

No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land if the Free, A.D. 1933-1940. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011. Print.

18 glad. If they are not, it doesn‘t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. . . . If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn‘t matter either (qtd. in Glasker 1: 495) Moreover, the problem of skin colour was the main focus in almost all the literary works of the Harlem Renaissance. For example, both titles ―To a Brown Girl‖ and ―Black Magdalens‖ of Cullen‘s first collection poetry, ―Color‖, shows to what extent he is aware of the social meanings of his race and his skin colour in the United States. Another title of his collection is ―The Shroud of Color‖ through which Cullen describes his sufferings as an African American and how his skin color determines his status as second-class citizens in the American society (Milne 1: 341). Cullen says: Lord, being dark, fore willed to that despair My color shrouds me in, I am as dirt Beneath my brother‘s heel (qtd. in Milne1: 341). Similarly, in his novel The Blacker the Berry (BTB)1 , Thurman illustrates how blackness is considered a stigma in the black community, and how the lighter-skinned African Americans discriminate and degrade the darker-skinned individuals in their race (Glasker 1: 495). Gerald Early argues that the African American people were suffering from the ―double consciousness,‖ a concept that is explored by Du Bois. He clarifies that all the African Americans have the sense of dual identity, a sense of being African and American at the same time. They suffer from this feeling more than any other races resettled in the United States such as the European immigrants. They couldn‘t feel that they are completely

1

All references to The Blacker the Berry (BTB) in this study are from Thurman, Wallace. The

Blacker the Berry. A Novel of Negro Life. New York: The Macaulay Company, 1929. Print.

19 American. They have been trapped between two dilemmas; either to assimilate into white society and submit to all their culture and norms, or separate themselves as African which is ―a form of neurotically chauvinistic illusion‖ (Early 11). The problem of skin colour in the American society was not only expressed through literary works, it was also best illustrated through the advertisements of the African American journals during the Harlem Renaissance. During

the

Harlem Renaissance,

cosmetics,

hair straightening,

skin lightening

products, and beauty treatments, in their wider concept, were marketed exclusively to the newly migrated black women who worked as labourers in the Northern cities. These products were often advertised by the African American women. Almost half of the advertisements in the Black journalists were allocated to advertise for skin bleaching and hair straightening materials which became a source of money-making business for the blacks. However, the ingredients of most of the skin lightening products were hazardous, because they usually contained hydroquinone, a caustic chemical that reduces melanin production in the skin. These products might be a real cause of death or dermatitis in case of overdose. Nevertheless, skin lightening had become a phenomenon, it was practiced as a ritual on daily basis; thousands of African Americans underwent this process between ―washing their faces and brushing their teeth‖ as an attempt to eliminate their blackness (Dorman 4-5). James Baldwin‘s essay of his own childhood during the 1920s, in Harlem, shows how the ―Africa's blackness‖ was a synonym of ―lack of civilization.‖ It further illustrates how the desperate attempt of the African American people to change their racial features was considered a shameful thing and ―a lack of positive images of Africans and African Americans‖ (ibid 5). Baldwin writes: At the time I was growing up, Negroes in this country were taught to be ashamed of Africa. They were taught it bluntly, as I was, for

20 example, by being told that Africa had never contributed "anything" to civilization.... One was always being mercilessly scrubbed and polished, as though in the hope that a stain could thus be washed away.. The women were forever straightening and curling their hair, and using bleaching creams. And yet it was clear that none of this effort would release one from the stigma and danger of being a Negro; this effort merely increased the shame and rage. There was not, no matter where one turned, any acceptable image of oneself, no proof of one's existence. (qtd. in Dorman 5) During his visit to the United States in 1916, Marcus Garvey criticized the skin lightening and hair straightening advertisements in Black newspapers and stated that, ―there were many degrading exhortations to the race to change its black complexion as an entrant to society‖ (qtd. in Dorman 35). He condemned those advertisements which explicitly associated the process of skin lightening to civilization and social mobility. For example, ―If you want to be in society lighten your black skin,‖ or ―Have a light complexion and be in society,‖ and ―Take the kink out of your hair and be in society‖ (qtd. in Dorman 35). In 1929, the advertisement for Fan-Tan Make-up cream targeted men specifically and assured them that ―Men find Fan Tan wonderful after shaving. They say it removes gloss and shine and gives that refined light tone so valuable in business and social life‖ (qtd. in Dorman 36). These advertisements were targeted men and women and focused more on social and economic mobility not physical beauty (Dorman 37). Furthermore, the advertisements of Black and White ointment: ―Bleach Your Dark Skin: Race Men and Women Protect Your Future,‖ (qtd. in Dorman 42) reflected the relationship among ―the economic interests, racist aesthetics, and the discourse of civilization‖ in the United States (Dorman 42).

21 In addition, another advertisement reveals the effect of racism on the African American community such as, ―Throw off the chains that have held you back from the prosperity and happiness that belongs to you‖ (qtd. in Dorman 42). It shows an image of a black woman having two faces, like Janus, looking toward two different directions; one toward the gloomy black past and the other toward the bright future (Dorman 43). The phrase, ―throw off the chains that have held you back‖ (qtd. in Dorman 43) is an overt indication to the chains of Jim Crow laws and segregations during Harlem Renaissance and the chains of slavery as well. The image of dark skin in the advertisement is a symbol of the historic slavery as well as the savagery of the black people (Dorman 43). For the majority of the blacks, kinky hair was perceived to be ―poor‖ while straight hair ―good,‖ and the thick lips and nose were ―broad‖ while the European features were ―good‖ (ibid 21). According to Lake, the obsession with hair straitening is a ―manifestation of internalized racism. Internalized racism occurs when members of an oppressed group internalize the myths and stereotypes about them. The degradation of physical appearance is not exempt from this process‖ (Lake 81). The decline of the Harlem Renaissance as a literary movement was due to the start of The Great Depression which created financial crisis and brought agonies to millions of Americans (Howes 136). Needless to say, the economic crisis in any society leads to literary and cultural stagnation. Harlem, which was a flourishing center of the African Americans, became a center of poverty and violations (ibid 137). The Great Depression had a negative impact on the activities and productions of many writers, publishers, and organizations such as NAACP and the Urban League who had a pioneer role in advancing the movement in the beginning of the 1920s. Consequently, both organizations began turning their focus to the social and economic issues at the end of 1920s and 1930s (Wintz ix). In addition, many

22 important figures of the movement left Harlem at the beginning of the 1930s and they did not come back until the beginning of World War II (Wintz ix-x). Despite the difficulties and hard times the writers faced during the Harlem Renaissance, many writers were still able to produce new literary works. However, the actual end of Harlem Renaissance was when several key figures departed Harlem or stopped producing literary works, and the new young writers and artists who appeared, in the 1930s and the 1940s, deliberately drifted away from the movement (ibid x).

23

Chapter Two Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry If you're white, you're all right. If you're Brown, stick around. If you're Black, get way back. —African American old saying (qtd. in Lake 94)

2.1 Critical Overview Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929) is considered one of the most controversial novels of the Harlem Renaissance which overtly tackles the problem of internalized racism and prejudice within the black community. The title of the novel is derived from an old African American saying, ―The blacker the berry, the sweeter the Juice,‖ which is the epigraph of the novel Thurman utilizes ironically to explore the problem of intraracial prejudice of the light-skinned black toward the dark-skinned individuals within the black community. Thurman was ―one of the most active, energetic, and multitalented‖ writers who was courageous to tackle controversial subjects and had a leading role among the young African American writers during the Harlem Renaissance (Howes 259). The issue of prejudice and colour consciousness1 within the African American community is the main focus in Thurman‘s works which is a reflection of his personal life. He observes that most of the ―blacks‖ hold prejudice against the darker-skinned individuals of their own race. Thurman personally witnesses humiliation by the lighter-skinned people of his own race due to his dark skin colour (ibid).

1

Colour Consciousness: Awareness of colour; especially the feeling that differences in skin

colour, or the colour of one's own skin, have a special importance or meaning. ("colour consciousness")

24 There are mixed readings and reactions to the novel from critics and scholars. Taylor Haizlip considers The Blacker the Berry as ―an important story for our time and for the future. One that should be kept alive, told, and retold, in the context of how black self-hate, black rage is created and how black self-love, black empowerment can triumph‖ (qtd. in L. Brown 40-41). Daniel M. Scott states that recent scholars and critics are more enthusiastic in studying Thurman‘s works and his outstanding role as an intellectual writer who vigorously questioned the construction of racial identities before Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison (324). Thurman explores how race, class, gender, and sexuality are associated with each other and this aspect has been recently studied by many scholars such as Michael L. Cobb, David Jarraway, Mason Stokes, and Daniel Walker (ibid 325). Many reviews were written after the publication of the novel. Some believe that Thurman is not successful to ―dramatize his material, i.e., his less than distinguished effort to give his ‗obsession‘ an ‗effective form.‘‖ Du Bois states that Thurman links racial issues with ―scandalous‖ aspects of urban life (ibid). Though he praises Thurman for tackling a significant subject like intra-racial prejudice, yet he ―finds the novel under-developed, confused between fact and fiction, hovering between depictions of low-down life and racial uplift‖ (ibid 325-326). Du Bois says, ―Indeed, there seems to be no real development in Emma's character; her sex life never becomes nasty and commercial, and yet nothing in her seems to develop beyond sex‖ (qtd. in Scott 326). On the other hand, in ―The Chicago Defender,‖ Dewey R Jones celebrates the novel and says, ―Here at last is the book for which I have been waiting, and for which you have been waiting, whether you admit it or not‖ (qtd. in Scott 325). When the novel was published for the first time, people felt of the reflection of Thurman‘s own suffering in the novel as a dark skin man. This impression had been

25 reinforced through Hughes‘ autobiography, The Big Sea, where he emphasized heavily on the agonies and sufferings Thurman witnessed due to his dark skin colour (Scott 327). Additionally, Thadious M Davis connects the novel with ―the sociocultural reasons for an emphasis on the representations of the female or feminine in African American literature.‖ For Davis, there is similarity between Thurman and his heroine; she believes that Thurman, as the male African American writer, ―uses the textual strategy of responding to racial separation and oppression by assuming a female face‖ (qtd. in Scott 327). These observations, Scott writes, might be reasonable but the emphasis on Thurman‘s autobiography is rather exaggerated and more emphasized than the themes of the novel itself which confront the American discourses on race (327). Scott quotes Thurman‘s response to his novel in his autobiographical piece, ―Note on a Stepchild‖ (in Aunt Hagar’s Children; Collected, 235-40) through which he expresses his anticipation to produce a greater novel that explores other issues beside those of colour or intra-racial prejudice (ibid 328). Thurman states: Thus he summed up his own people, and thus he had been most surprised to realize that after all his novel had been scorched with propaganda. True, he had no mention of the difficulties Negroes experience in a white world. On the contrary he had concerned himself only with Negro among their own kind, trying to interpret some of the internal phenomena of Negro life in America. His book was interesting to read only because he had lain bare conditions scarcely hinted at before, conditions to which Negroes choose to remain blind and about which white people remain in ignorant. But in doing this he realized that he had fixed the blame for these conditions on race prejudice, which manifestation of universal perversity hung like a localized cloud over his whole work. (qtd. in Scott 328)

26 For Scott, this ―harsh self-criticism‖ toward his novel proves that Thurman was aware that his own attitude toward race, identity, subjectivity, art and its roles was still growing and not ripening yet. Even though Thurman criticizes his own novel, his friend Theophilus Lewis, drama critic, states that The Blacker the Berry is a ―novel of which [Thurman] ought to be proud, but isn't‖ (qtd. in Scott 328). For him, the novel is one of the important texts which bring into light the issue of racial consciousness aiming to challenge the ―universal perversity of prejudice‖ (328). Linda M. Carter writes that Thurman tackles a unique subject about the impacts of racism and internalized racism which had never been tackled before. From the publication of the first slave narratives, the main focus of the African American writers was to portray a protagonist who was either suffering from racism and racial discrimination, or presenting him/her in an ideal image to uplift the African race. However, Thurman was different from his predecessors; ―[he] is one of the first black writers to present African American characters who are victims of their own foibles‖ (390). Carter believes that some earlier reviews on the novel were superficial and failed to notice its element of satire. For example, Carter Eunice Hunton describes Emma Lou as ―an incredibly stupid character.‖ In fact Emma Lou acts stupidly, but what Carter forgets to notice is the technique of the satire in the novel and the reasons behind such portrayal by the author who intentionally wants the readers to perceive her as an ―object of ridicule‖ (ibid 391). On the other hand, some recent scholars including Amritjit Singh, Phyllis R. Klotman, Renior W. Gaither, and Sally Ann H. Ferguson are affected by Thurman‘s critical style which is reflected in his novels. They consider him as one of the prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance (ibid).

27 Kassahun Checole declares that The Blacker the Berry is ―an exciting, frank, and timeless novel about the social-psychological framework of the Black community in the 1920s. . . . The novel presents a view of the American socialization process, which results in the internalization of the perspectives of the oppressors by the oppressed.‖ He adds, Thurman himself as an African American writer was grown in such environment and had witnessed this socialization process (117). Checole hails the novel saying that it is ―worth reading and rereading, and it should be used again in classrooms in such a way as to counter pose the self-hate and self-blame perpetrated on African-American youth in particular and the black community in general‖ (ibid 120). J. Martin Favor describes both Thurman and Schuyler as the ―two of the era‘s major satirists.‖ He remarks that both writers played an important and complex role during the Harlem Renaissance. They both use satire as a tool to criticize the extremes and weaknesses of the movement and usually oppose the political and artistic discourses of the era which made the reader think and rethink about the concept of race, colour, nationalism and conformism (Favor, ―Schuyler and Thurman‖ 198). Favor further points out that through their literary works, both Thurman and Schuyler portray how ―race‖ as a social construct shaped the lives of the Americans. ―One of their primary modes of attack, however, is to undermine the very ‗reality‘ of race as a concept.‖ They earnestly denounce the American racial ideology and show its negative impacts on the social, psychological, and economic conditions of people (ibid 204).

2.2 Rejection and Discrimination From her early childhood, Emma Lou witnesses discrimination and rejection not only from the white people of her community in Boise, Idaho, but from her own semi-white family due to her dark skin colour.

28 Emma Lou‘s grandparents are descendants of mulattos. Her grandmother, Maria, is the front-runner and supporter of Boise‘s Blue vein society. It is called by this name because ―all its members [are] fair skinned enough for their blood to be pulsing purple through the veins of their wrists.‖ They consider themselves as a ―high type of Negro‖ who are superior to the ―pure blooded Negro,‖ because they are the offspring of the only true aristocrats in the United States and ―in their vein [is] some of the best blood of the South‖ (BTB 18). All the members of the blue vein society have a desperate tendency to produce a white generation so as to promote their social and economic conditions in the United States. The narrator describes how the blue vein society is restricted only to the light-skinned African Americans so as to eliminate all the traces of black race in their grandchildren which eventually make them easily absorbed into the white race and keep them away from the problem of race (BTB 19). Emma Lou‘s uncle, Joe, describes the motto of the blue vein society: ―Whiter and whiter, every generation. The nearer white you are the more white people will respect you. Therefore all light Negroes marry light Negroes. Continue to do so generation after generation, and eventually white people will accept this racially, bastard aristocracy, thus enabling those Negroes who really matter to escape the social and economic inferiority of the American Negro.‖ (BTB 31) However, one may say that it is difficult to apply this formula on Emma Lou because she is less desirable for marriage due to her dark skin colour. Emma Lou‘s grandmother often tells her that ―she would never find a husband worth a dime‖ (BTB 26). Her mother also tells Emma Lou's uncle Joe that ―‗[m]en like any one they can use, but you know as well as I that no professional man is going to marry a woman dark as Emma Lou‘‖ (BTB 67).

29 In their article, ―The Blacker the Berry: Gender, Skin Tone, Self-Esteem, and SelfEfficacy,‖ Maxine S. Thompson and Verna M. Keith emphasise that both men and women are influenced by colourism within the black community. However, its impact on women‘s behaviour and psyche is greater than men. Furthermore, Thompson and Keith rely on early studies that show how dark-skinned women have low social status, are less desirable for serious relationships or marriages, and have limited chances for educations and employment besides being more sensitive about the colour of their skin than men (338). As far as marriage opportunities of black women are concerned the narrator says, ―A wife of dark complexion was considered a handicap unless she was particularly charming, wealthy, or beautiful. An ordinary looking dark woman was no suitable mate for a Negro man of prominence‖ (BTB 59). In this context, Emma Lou is least desirable for marriage because ―she was not only very dark complexioned, but also a poor, undistinguished young woman‖ (Bell 145). According to Catherine Rottenberg, The Blacker the Berry emphasises the strong relationship between gender, race, and class, and it also shows how race cannot be detached from gender. She adds that the ―[m]ale dominance and privilege as well as the possibility of moving up the class ladder are intimately connected to and informed by the disdain for dark skin‖ (63). She quotes from the text to illustrate this idea: In Boise, and Los Angeles, ―the business men, the doctors, the lawyers, the dentists, […] in fact all of the Negro leaders and members of the negro upper class, were either light skinned themselves or else had light skinned wives‖ [emphasis added] (BTB 59). The word ―or‖ in the sentence, Rottenberg says, refers to the fact that the dark-skinned man could climb up the social ladder and make socioeconomic mobility and his skin colour does not stand much as an obstacle in his way. On the other hand, ―a dark woman was at an almost insurmountable disadvantage‖ and faces difficulties to attain social mobility. Emma Lou suffers much from this racialized gender

30 stratification and its social rules within the black community which make her escape her hometown, Boise and Los Angeles (Rottenberg 63). One may say that Emma Lou may have had a chance for upward mobility through marrying a light-skinned black bourgeois, but her dark skin colour stands as an obstacle and makes her less desirable for marriage. The verse which is sung by little black girls at Lafayette theatre in Harlem illustrates the ―undesirability of black girls,‖ (BTB 204) in the novel. It further shows how the black community in the United States is plagued by colourism. The verse says: A Yellow gal rides in limousine, A brown-skin rides a Ford, A black gal rides an old jackass But she gets there, yes my Lord. (BTB 204) It is obvious that Emma Lou, as a dark-skinned girl, has never been asked for a serious relationship or marriage. She is either abandoned and disappointed or exploited sexually and financially by different men. The first man in her life, Weldon Taylor, has abandoned her after she has been ―lifted into a superlatively perfect emotional and physical state‖ (BTB 65). Emma Lou is left in her sorrow and the old dogmatic saying of her mother and grandmother echoes in her mind that men do not marry a dark-skinned girl, but they ―would only use her for their sexual convenience‖ (BTB 69). Even though Weldon seeks his personal interest and has no colour prejudice, yet Emma Lou believes that he leaves her because ―she [is] a black girl and no professional man could afford to present such a wife in the best society‖ (BTB 70). In addition, Emma Lou has been exploited financially by Jasper Crane, a jobless young boy from Virginia, who meets her in a motion picture theater in Harlem. Jasper, the narrator comments, is successful in his attempts to attract Emma Lou emotionally and to borrow some money from her to buy a job at a recruitment agency. Hoping to start a new

31 love story, Emma Lou draws from her small bank account almost what she has to buy a new dress for the romantic meeting promised by Jasper, but he never comes back (BTB 143-144). Alva, a light-skinned man, who Emma loves truly at Harlem, manipulates Emma Lou sexually and financially. In a conversation with his roommate, Braxton, Alva admits that he wants to use her sexually for economic gains. He tells Braxton directly, ―‗The only thing a black woman is good for is to make money for a brown-skin papa,‘‖ he further goes on to say, ―‗Why not? She‘s just as good as the rest, and you know what they say, ‗The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice‘‖ (BTB 153). Alva exploits Emma Lou sexually and he has not any plan to marry her because she is too black.

It is worth mentioning that this African

American folk saying echoes Thurman‘s epigraph: ―The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice . . .‖ which celebrates blackness and asserts black women‘s desirability. However, Thurman uses this old saying as an irony to satirize the perception of the black community towards their darker-skinned individuals. Alva pretends to be kind and good with Emma Lou in a way that she ―never [realizes] just how she [has] first begun giving him money.‖ Though he doesn‘t ask her obviously, but she gets use to it and becomes a routine and something normal. In spite of this, Emma Lou feels satisfied because she thinks she is no more alone and at least there is someone in her life to make her happy (BTB 182). However, at the end of their relationship, Emma Lou realizes that she has never been more than ―a commercial proposition‖ to Alva and he uses her for money as Jasper Crane does (BTB 251). Moreover, the novel traces the sufferings and difficulties Emma Lou faces to obtain social acceptance. She never feels that she has a home. She escapes from a place to place to get rid of the intra-racial prejudice. Her family never makes her feel welcome; she has always been ―the alien member of the family and of the family‘s social circle. Her grandmother, . . . made her feel it. Her mother made her feel it. And her Cousin Buddie made her feel it, to say

32 nothing of the ways she was regarded by outsiders‖ (BTB 22-23). Her uncle Joe is the only person who embraces her in her family and treats her kindly (BTB 14). One can say that Emma Lou is ostracized not only at home but also at her school. At her graduation ceremony in Boise high school, she looks at herself as an ―odd and conspicuous figure‖ among her white and coloured colleagues (BTB 10). Similarly, in the eye of her colleagues, she is also a very ―odd-looking‖ pupil because she is the only ―Negro‖ pupil in the entire school (BTB 11). Emma Lou finds herself helpless and unable to change her physical appearances; therefore she decides to change her location by joining the University of Southern California in Los Angeles aiming to meet educated minorities whom, she thinks, would evaluate her on her personality not her skin colour (Allmendinger 53). However, in the University of Southern California, Emma Lou is frequently left out and neglected when she joins certain groups of students because she could not express herself in a suitable way or participate in their dialogues during the period of intermissions (BTB 51). Hazel Mason and Grace Giles are the only two black girls on campus who treat Emma Lou friendly (BTB 53). They are all treated unfairly and are not allowed to become members in Greek letter sorority which is established by the coloured girls. Furthermore, they are not invited to any party or social activity arranged by the sorority because they are not ―high brown or half-white‖ (BTB 53-54). However, Verne Davis, a dark rich girl, is an exception and easily gets social acceptance by the coloured students because her father‘s wealth could ―compensate for her dark skin‖ (BTB 59). The coloured female students realize that accompanying such dark-skinned girls like Grace, Emma Lou, and Hazel would ruin their chances for marriage and would ―make them the more miserable to attain the threshold only to have the door shut in their face‖ because men ―would not tolerate a dark girl‖ (BTB 59).

33 Emma Lou is always rejected wherever she goes, the narrator comments, ―There [is] no place in the world for a girl as black as she anyway‖ (BTB 26). She experiences rejection and discrimination in her high school and college life. Ultimately, she realizes that Los Angeles, too, is ―a small town mentally‖ like her hometown, Boise (BTB 71). The narrator summarizes Emma Lou‘s suffering, ―Then there had been the searing psychological effect of that dreadful graduation night, and the lonely embittering three years at college, all of which had tended to make her color more and more a paramount issue and ill‖ (BTB 221). Thus, she decides to stop studying at college and go to Harlem hoping to find a better life and acceptance of people in a more cosmopolitan environment where she could live with more educated and professional people (BTB 72). Many studies focus on the significance of skin colour in the life of individuals and find that colour is a key factor through which one‘s educational and professional achievement is determined. These studies show that light-skinned blacks are more privileged than the darker-skinned blacks as they have better opportunities to complete their studies, get more respected positions, and have a higher income. According to one study ―the effect of skin color on earning of ‗lighter‘ and ‗darker‘ Blacks is as great as the effect of race on the earnings of whites and all Blacks‖ (Thompson and Keith 337). Moreover, Ordner W. Taylor argues that The Blacker the Berry reflects the system of pigmentocracy1 in the United States in which the dark-skinned African Americans experience

1

Pigmentocracy is a society or state of affairs in which skin color determines socioeconomic

and/or political status. In theory, any imbalance of power favoring people of one skin tone over another could be considered a pigmentocracy. Historically, pigmentocracy can be traced back to the colonial times. The light-skinned African Americans are socially and economically more privileged than their dark-skinned counterparts; Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, Collin Powell, and Jesse Jackson represent the actual implication of this phenomenon. (Moadel 3: 1703)

.

34 discrimination and face difficulties for upward mobility due to their dark skin colour (Taylor 123). Aloysius McNamara, Emma Lou‘s stepfather, believes that his skin colour hampers his attempts to achieve social and economic success. He wishes he had been white, ―he would have been a successful criminal lawyer.‖ The narrator comments, ―but being considered black it [is] impossible for him ever to be anything more advanced than a Pullman car porter or dining car waiter, and acting upon this premise, he hadn't tried to be anything else‖ (BTB 25). It is obvious that Emma Lou‘s dark skin tone stands as an obstacle impeding her to make a social and economic mobility. The narrator illustrates that neither college certificate nor a good job opportunity could take her out from the pit of her blackness and ―her face,‖ which is too black, would ―be her future identification tag in society‖ (BTB 12). The narrator articulates Emma Lou‘s feeling the moment her name is called to receive her high school diploma: Get a Diploma?-What did it mean to her? College?-Perhaps. A Job?- Perhaps again? She was going to have a high school Diploma, but it would mean nothing to her whatsoever. The tragedy of her life was that she was too black. Her face and not a slender roll of ribbon –bound parchment was to be her future identification tag in society. High school diploma indeed! What she needed was an efficient bleaching agent, a magic cream that would remove this unwelcome black mask from her face and make her more like her fellow men. (BTB 11-12) One can say that Emma Lou‘s dark skin colour makes her encounter discrimination and successive failures in her attempts to find a prestigious job in Harlem. For example, the first employment agency she visits offers her low paying jobs like ―dishwashing‖ and ―day work‖ while she has ambition to get ―‗a stenographic position in some colored business or

35 professional office.‘‖ Though Emma Lou has not enough experience in working, yet she has a ―certificate of competency‖ for her participation in two courses of business during her school vacation (BTB 81, 82). In a real estate firm, she is discriminated due to her skin colour and told by a typewriter, who laughs in her face, ―‗I‘m sorry, Miss. Mr. Brown says he has someone else in view for the job.‖ In addition, Mrs. Blake, from an employment agency, tells Emma Lou without looking at her face directly that ―‗lots of our Negro business men have a definite type of girl in mind and will not hire any other‘‖ (BTB 98, 101) Skin tone is one of the primary terms and conditions for employment in the novel. These two job announcements in the novel illustrate the significance of skin colour: ―Wanted: light colored girl to work as waitress in tearoom. . . .‖ or ―Wanted: Nurse girl, light colored preferred (children are afraid of black folks). . . .‖ (BTB 137). Eleonore van Notten‘s comment shows how Emma Lou‘s dark skin colour plays a significant role in diminishing her chances for employments: while looking for a job, Emma Lou realizes that ―[s]ecretarial positions, for example, are reserved for her mulatto peers, as are the better apartments and the more attractive light-skinned males‖ (215). It is difficult for the ―college-trained colored girls‖ like Emma Lou to find a suitable job in Harlem. The ―rude interviews‖ of the employment agencies and the type of posts they offer her make Emma Lou more conscious of her ―place‖ and position as a dark-skinned girl. Maid-in waiting to a white actress, who imitates black dancers, is the only option left to her through which she gets introduced to the sordid lives of the white liberal, bohemian, semiintellectual and their obsession with the issue of colour and coloured people (Checole 119). Emma Lou‘s life is a reflection of the African American community during the Great Migration, when a large number of African American people migrated to the Northern urban

36 centres so as to promote their socioeconomic conditions as well as to obtain equality and escape the tough rules of Jim Crow laws and slavery lives of the South (Checole 117-118). Emily Bernard also asserts that the dark-skinned people have limited job opportunities in Harlem. She observes that Airline Strange, who is originally white, has a job as an actress and plays the role of mulatto on stage, while black actresses of different skin coloures are rejected and hardly get jobs. As a maid of a white actress, Emma Lou represents all the blacks in Harlem community who cannot achieve their financial independence, but rather make their living from white support that make them more vulnerable to its power and prestige (Bernard, ―Unlike‖ 412). The chief irony lies, Sarah E. Chinn writes, in the scene in which Emma Lou is ―deepening the artificial duskiness of her [Arline Strange‘s] skin‖ when she asks her not to ―let on to my brother you ain't been to Small's before. Act like you know all about it‖ (BTB 116). For Chinn, this scene is not only ironic but burlesque as well; a white working-class actress like Arline darkens her skin by cosmetics so as to improve her career and to act well on stage imitating mulattoes. On the other hand, a dark-skinned middle-class woman like Emma Lou lightens her skin so as to be accepted and not to be fired from her job (86). In addition, the major characters and actors on the stage are all white in ―various shades of blackface,‖ while the blacks are either taking the role of minor characters or the chorus girls (ibid 85). Furthermore, for cabaret clubs skin colour is also a matter. Emma Lou is rejected by the Stage Director in the ―Cabaret Gal‖ when she asks him to employ her in the cabaret ensemble so as to get a higher salary at the same time she would have a better chance to change her career in future. Quoting the novel, the Stage Director says, ―‗Well, you see, we worked out a color scheme that would be a complement to Arline‘s makeup. You‘ve noticed, no doubt, that all of girls are about one color, . . .‘‖ Emma Lou discovers that all the black

37 girls are not ―one color,‖ as the Stage Director claims, they rather consist of mulatto and light-brown women who lightened their complexion. She also realizes that even the male black ensembles are not so dark like her (BTB 131). One may say that Emma Lou again is rejected on the basis of skin colour and even low-quality job as such is unattainable for her because she is too black. Emma Lou realizes that ―color is both causally connected to race and in the excess of it.‖ She believes that in the hierarchy of human races, color replaces race; for example, if someone is ―too black,‖ he/she is regarded as another race different from ―Negro.‖ Emma Lou‘s blackness, instead of being an accepted feature of Negro identity, stands as a visual marker separates her not only from the white people but from the black members of her own race and family (Chinn 83). At Harlem, again, Emma Lou is bitterly rejected on the basis on her skin colour, by a house owner who does not agree to rent out her house to Emma Lou once she looks at her dark-skinned face: ―‗We have nothing here.‘‖ She goes on to say, ―Persons of color didn't associate with blacks in the Caribbean Island she had come from‖ (BTB 137). Notten states that The Blacker the Berry is a reflection of America‘s social structure and its caste system which is almost based on colour. He further sheds lights on the historical analyses of Steven L. Carter who argues that this caste system is an outcome of the racial perception of the black middle class who eagerly tried, since its formation, to obtain a good social place in the white American society (Notten 216). For Blake Allmendinger, the caste system within the segregated African American community has been created as a result of many factors including, white discrimination, intra-racial prejudice, restricted options for women, class repression, and snobbery. He further concludes that

―[w]ithout a college degree or extensive career opportunities, Emma

38 Lou has only one means of achieving upward mobility—marriage to a light-skinned man—a goal that remains unattainable‖ (Allmendinger 55).

2.3 Self-hatred and Self-reconciliation The rejection and discrimination Emma Lou experiences as discussed in the previous section creates a feeling of low self-esteem in her, thus affecting her psychologically, socially, and economically. The writer makes it clear in the novel that Emma Lou‘s chances for happiness do not exist because of her colour: ―There could be no happiness in life for any woman whose face [is] as black as hers‖ (BTB 70). Through the novel, Thurman illustrates how racism and colourism have a divisive effect on the lives of the African American people. The novel traces how Emma Lou, as a dark-skinned girl, suffers not only from the prejudice of her society and its racial attitude but the negative self-image she has developed due to the internalized racism. Blackness is disdained and ridiculed in Emma Lou‘s society. The narrator comments that it becomes a ―custom‖ of the light-skinned African Americans to ridicule the darkerskinned individuals of their race. They believe that ―[a] black cat [is] a harbinger of bad luck, black crape [is] insignia of mourning, and black people [are] either evil niggers with poisonous blue gums or else typical valued darkies‖ (BTB 13). Such ―custom‖ of disdaining for blackness passes down from parents to their children, thus creating a whirlpool of hatred reinforced by the African American themselves. From her childhood, Emma Lou‘s semi-white world of her mother‘s family and all the white people of her hometown have instilled in her mind hatred toward blackness (Bell 145). One may say, her dark skin colour becomes an object of ridicule. Her mother always complains to have such a dark-skinned girl which eventually makes Emma Lou hate her own skin colour. She also does not allow her to associate with people and rather hides her away

39 during the family occasions. Emma Lou often gets ridiculed by her mulatto friends and her white playmates who label her ―crow-like complexion‖ (BTB 221). She further gets ridiculed publically on street; she is called ―coal‖ by a dark-skinned boy who speaks loudly in Harlem: ―‗Man, you know I don‘t haul no coal‘‖ (BTB 108). Braxton used to call her ―little inkspitter‖ (BTB 153). In addition, Alva feels ashamed to accompany her publicly or introduce her to his friends because he is sure that they mock him for having relationship with ―dark meat‖ and might tell her some offensive expressions like, ―‗black cats must go‘‖ (BTB 158). People often tell Emma Lou‘s mother, ―‗What an extraordinarily black child! Where did you adopt it?‘‖ and ―‗Such lovely unniggerish hair on such a niggerish-looking child,‘‖ and others give advice to Emma Lou‘s mother: ―‗Try some lye, Jane, it may eat it out. She can‘t look any worse‘‖ (BTB 23). While others feel sorry and say, ―‗It beats me how this child of yours looks so unlike the rest of you . . . Are you sure it isn't adopted‘‖ (BTB 161). The narrator describes Emma Lou as an ―unfortunate‖ to inherit the ―negroid‖ nose, the ―thick lips,‖ and the black skin colour of her father beside ―some of color chromosomes‖ (BTB 22) her mother carries from her ancestors. Emma Lou‘s birth brings misfortunate to her mother because her blackness takes her mother out of the blue vein society. For this reason, Jane asks for divorce and marries ―a red-haired Irish Negro‖ in order to be assimilated back into her social circle, the blue vein society. Nonetheless, Emma Lou remains, in her mother‘s perception, a ―tragic mistake which could not be stamped out‖ (BTB 22). Blackness is a metaphor for ―evil‖ and badness in the novel. Chinn observes that Emma Lou‘s mother often refers to her as an ―evil, black hussy‖ (BTB 208). In addition, her colour blind friend, Gwendolyn, describes her as ―common‖ and ―low‖ specifically when Emma Lou decides to return to Alva and live with him and his child and ends up her relationship with the decent man Benson Brown: ―Where is your intelligence and pride? I'm through with you, Emma Lou. There's probably something in this stuff about black people

40 being different and more low than other colored people! You're just a common ordinary nigger!‖ (BTB 245-246). Chinn states that Emma Lou‘s mother and Gwendolyn link ―blackness as a color with the most negative beliefs about Negro people as a race,‖ that is to say being ―black‖ means to be ―hussy, a nigger, common‖ (BTB 208). This is in some way similar to the way Emma Lou herself looks and perceives her black friend Hazel at the college (Chinn 91). Through The Blacker the Berry, Thurman shows ―how blackness comes to represent the pejorative evidence of ‗Negro-ness‘ within black communities even as the repressive Jim Crow laws and the regime of lynching made no legal distinction between African Americans of different colors‖ (ibid xv-xvi). Eventually, Emma Lou herself becomes a snob and practices prejudice on individuals of her race who are darker than her. Bernard W. Bell writes, ―The chief irony, however, is that Emma Lou internalizes snobbery and prejudice of those who reject her.‖ In Emma Lou‘s eye, Hazel is an inferior and a ―barbarian‖ girl (146) and she ―resent[s] being approached by any one so flagrantly inferior, any one so noticeably a typical southern darky, who [has] no business obtruding into the more refined scheme of things‖ (BTB 35-36). Emma Lou calls Hazel a ―darky-like clownishness,‖ (BTB 41) and believes that she should have to be more polite in the presence of white people so as to give a positive impression about the black people and avoid creating any kind of embarrassment to other people of her race who are more educated than her (BTB 41). From her childhood, Emma Lou‘s mind has been occupied with the ―right sort of people‖ and of ―the people who really mattered‖ (BTB 46). She is used to categorize people accordingly. For her, Hazel Manson does not belong to either group because she is just a ―little nigger from down South‖ (BTB 46). She decides to limit her friendship only to the ―right sort of people,‖ (BTB 46) ―superior southerners,‖ and northerners like herself. She feels superior to Hazel and other black people who come from the southern states as she believes

41 that they ―knew nothing of the social niceties or polite conventions‖ (BTB 46). Emma Lou doesn‘t know the exact meaning of the ―right sort of people.‖ However, she wishes to make friendship with those coloured students in the campus, who frequently reject her, as she considers them the ―right sort of people‖ (BTB 57). This attests to the fact that Emma Lou has internalized racism and is practicing it on her fellow blacks. As a matter of fact the so called ―right sort of people‖ are mainly light-skinned people who come from Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia to the West like Emma Lou‘s family to improve their life conditions and get more freedom.

These people felt superior to the darker skinned people of their race and lived

separately in their southern homes and they insisted to have the same life style in the North too (BTB 58). In contrast of what is said about blackness, whiteness in the novel is synonym for purity, power, and morality. In a conversation with his friends, who are racially mixed writers, Truman declares, ―We are all living in a totally white world, where all the standards are the standards of the white man, and where almost invariably what the white man does is right and what the black man does is wrong, unless it is presented by something a white man has done‖ (BTB 166). Truman further states: ―you can't blame light Negroes for being prejudiced against dark ones. All of you know that white is the symbol of everything pure and good, whether that everything be concrete or abstract. Ivory Soap is advertised as being ninetynine and some fraction per cent pure, and Ivory Soap is white. Moreover, virtue and virginity are always represented as being clothed in white garments. Then, too, the God we, or rather most Negroes worship is a patriarchal with man, seated on

white throne, in white-apparelled angles eating white honey

and drinking white milk.‖ (BTB 165-166)

42 One can say that Truman‘s viewpoint shows how the African American people including their elites and the educated ones perceive whiteness and how they have internalized racism and prejudice of the whites believing that they [the whites] are superior to them. As far as social-psychological aspect is concerned, many studies prove that skin colour has a great effect on self-esteem, desirability, and quality of life of individuals (Thompson and Keith 337). One can relate that Emma Lou‘s low self-esteem and her bad psychological condition are demonstrated when she looks at herself in the mirror: ―she never faced the mirror without speculating upon how good-looking she might have been had she not been so black‖ (BTB 75). For Emma Lou, thus to have a ―good-looking‖ is to have a light skin colour. Regarding the relationship between skin color and quality of life, Bell emphasises that Emma Lou‘s involvement with low quality work and her frequent visits to cabaret and rent parties in the middle of the novel show her ―moral decline.‖ As a black, she fails to find decent jobs due to the colour prejudice of the people around her and her own feeling of inferiority (146). The narrator describes Emma Lou‘s low quality of life and her feeling of inferiority: ―She had thought Harlem would be different, but things had seemed against her from the beginning, she had continued to go down, down, down, until she had little respect left for herself‖ (BTB 223). Moreover, Alva ―relegate[s] her [Emma Lou] to the position of a hired nurse girl‖ while she is working as a teacher in a public school at Harlem. Emma Lou‘s low-esteem and feeling of inferiority makes her return to Alva after their separation and serve him and his handicapped child, who is from another woman, as a nurse and cleaner (BTB 247). Similar to Bell‘s view on Emma Lou‘s internalization of prejudice, Bernard asserts that racism affects Emma Lou and instills within her hatred toward ―blackness in herself and

43 others.‖ She hates people with negriod features and wishes to have a light-skinned partner, a thing that makes the readers have little sympathy with her (Bernard, ―Unlike‖ 413). Bernard‘s viewpoint is well-exemplified by Emma Lou‘s perception of her friend, John, whom she thinks, is ―too pudgy and dark.‖ His ―body and body coloring [are] distasteful to her‖ (BTB 105,139). She rather prefers ―intelligent looking, slender, light-brown skinned men‖ (BTB 105). Furthermore, Emma Lou wishes that the skin tone of her first love, Weldon Taylor, ―had been colored light brown instead of dark brown.‖ She wishes that she was a wife of a light-skinned man, thus her children would not experience agonies like her (BTB 62). Emma Lou ―[doesn‘t] like black men.‖ However, it is not until the end of the novel, Emma Lou realizes that she has practiced the ―same discrimination against her men and the people she wished for friends that they had exercised against her-and with less reason‖ (BTB 141, 259). Emma Lou sinks deeper into self-hatred and wants to escape the ―unwelcome black mask from her face‖ (BTB 12) so as to achieve recognition and not to be ridiculed by others. The narrator says that Emma Lou‘s desperate desire to transform herself and escape her blackness is so strong that makes her eat many arsenic wafers, which causes her much stomach pain, to get the pallor of her skin increased to lighten her skin colour (BTB 139). She also uses many bleaching creams, peroxide solution and Black and White ointment. Yet, all attempts are ineffective to her skin; in return they create only blackheads, irritating rashes, and burning (BTB 139-140). Emma Lou‘s impossible efforts to bleach her skin colour manifest her submission to the evil of coloursim. One may say that Emma Lou‘s self-hatred and her disdain for blackness is abbreviated best in Thurman‘s epigraph, ―My color shrouds me in,‖ from Cullen‘s poem, ―The Shroud of Color‖ (1924). Like Emma Lou, Cullen laments being born black. He sees

44 his blackness as a shroud, which is an obstacle to his happiness and makes him miserable and sad. The writer provides more examples of self-disdain in the novel. It is not only Emma Lou who suffers from that. Her step father, Aloysius, also sinks into even a deeper self-hate and disdain for his own race because he is not light skin enough to assimilate into the white society. It is impossible for him to lighten his brown-skinned colour he inherits from his mother (BTB 24). He ― was so conscious of the Negro blood in his veins and so bitter because of it, . . . For it was Negroes and not whites whom he blamed for his own, to him life's tragedy. He was not fair enough of skin, despite his mother's and his own hopes, to pass for white‖ (BTB 23-24). However, Ursula M. Brown asserts that skin colour has a greater impact on women than on men, particularly, in the United States where the western standard of beauty is prevalent and standard. She states: dark-skinned

black

men

frequently

have

been

able

to

counteract

discrimination based on color with special talents, intelligence, and education. This has been much less possible for women who live in a world where the beauty of a woman counts as much as physical prowess, intelligence, or financial security matters in men. With the American beauty ideal being fair skin, blond hair, and blue or green eyes, dark-skinned black women have been especially vulnerable to color prejudice. (30) Ursula M. Brown exemplifies Emma Lou‘s suffering and her feeling of discontent about her skin colour: ―She should have been a boy, then color of skin wouldn't have mattered so much, for wasn't her mother always saying that a Black boy could get along, but that a Black girl would never know anything but sorrow and disappointment? But she wasn't a boy; she was a girl, and color did matter, mattered so much . . .‖ (BTB 10). One may say

45 that being black and female makes Emma Lou more vulnerable to discrimination in her community and ultimately makes her hate her blackness. As stated in the previous section, women, generally, are more colour conscious than men according to Thompson and Keith (see page 29). Emma Lou becomes so colourconscious to the extent that ―any time someone mentioned or joked about skin color, she immediately imagined that they [are] referring to her‖ (BTB 205). In her conversation with Alva about colour-consciousness she says angrily, ―‗Color-conscious . . . who wouldn't be color-conscious when everywhere you go people are always talking about color. If it didn't make any difference they wouldn't talk about it, they wouldn't always be poking fun, and laughing and making jokes. . . .‘‖ (BTB 210). Chinn observes that Emma Lou ridicules and hates whatever blackness represents, yet she herself is a real representative of blackness. She abbreviates Emma Lou‘s problem with blackness and declares: Emma Lou's problem is that she sees blackness as both inside and outside her sense of self, both abjected and introjected, as evidence for the thing she rejects (rural poor or urban working-class ‗ignorant‘ blackness) and the thing she represents, the ‗evil, black hussy‘ who has sex outside marriage, gets drunk at rent parties and brings men home (all of which Emma Lou actually does). (91) Chinn further states that Emma Lou isolates herself from the teaching staff of the public schools where she teaches at Harlem as an escape from her blackness and all its negative connotations (ibid). She illustrates that Emma Lou becomes ―too shy to make an approach and too suspicious to thaw out immediately when someone approached to her‖ (BTB 248). She does not know how to communicate with others and becomes ―more haughty, more acid, and more distant than ever‖ (BTB 249). In addition, she thickens the ―purpling

46 face powder and rouge‖ (BTB 248) in an exaggerating manner that the teaching staff send her an anonymous letter advising her to reduce the excessive amount of her facial complexion. Even though Emma Lou is desperately attempting to ―disappear‖ and hide her black face, she makes herself more noticeable through wearing an eye catching mask of lightening powder on her face which is more ―grotesque and unnatural‖ (Chinn 91). Emma Lou becomes too conscious that she perceives the letter of the teaching staff as a mockery because she is the darkest person in the school and the majority of the African American teachers are lighter than her and the darkest one is a ―pleasing brown‖ (BTB 248). Emma Lou becomes more colour conscious and always feels that she is ridiculed by the teaching staff; she imagines that she is being ―pointed out‖ or is laughed at when she is passed by them (BTB 248-249). Emma Lou believes that she is victimized by the society and her genetics for being too black and lives in an ―environment‖ where ―her complexion is viewed as a curse.‖ (Allmendinger 53). The narrator articulates Emma Lou‘s depressed feeling about her skin colour from the opening paragraph of the novel: More acutely than ever before Emma Lou began to feel that her luscious black complexion was somewhat of a liability, and that her marked color variation from the other people in her environment was a decided curse. Not that she minded being black, being a Negro necessitated having a colored skin, but she did mind being too black. (BTB 9) Colour is neither a mask as Emma Lou perceives it, nor a symbol of a real ―Negro‖ identity, poverty, and low class as Arline Strange thinks. Colour does not have any ―intrinsic‖ significance outside the context of color prejudice. It is likely an outcome of an old cultural set of beliefs about slavery passed down from slavery days (Chinn 89). Despite the fact that blackness is a curse to Emma Lou throughout her social and professional life, there is a glimmer of hope for her self-reconciliation at the end of the novel.

47 Singh points out that Campbell Kitchen, the white writer, possibly Thurman‘s version of Carl Van Vechten, helps to change Emma Lou‘s self-hatred into self-love and make her accept herself and her ―unchangeable‖ blackness (111). Singh goes on to say that Emma Lou is greatly affected by Kitchen‘s doctrine: ―[E]very one must find salvation within one‘s self, that no one in life need to be a total misfit, and that there was some niche for every peg, whether that peg be round or square‖ (BTB 256). Eventually, she confronts her self-hatred and comes to a conclusion that she has to reconcile herself to blackness (BTB 257) and to have a new beginning and looking forward ―not so much for acceptance by other people, but for acceptance of herself and by herself.‖ She decides that her new doctrine in life would be changed to ―find—not seek‖ and she does not need another Jasper Crane and Alva in her life to exploit her. She succeeds in freeing herself from the influence of Alva knowing well that she loses him, but she is sure that she makes a ―pyrrhic victory‖ (BTB 258). Carter states that Thurman, at the end of the novel, conveys a message to African American people who have a feeling of inferiority and disdain for blackness. His message is a call for self-reconciliation and salvation (390). Thurman states: For the first time in her life she felt that she must definitely come to some conclusion about her life and govern herself accordingly. After all she wasn't the only black girl alive. There were thousands on thousands, who, like her, were plain, untalented, ordinary, and who, unlike herself, seemed to live in some degree of comfort. Was she alone to blame for her unhappiness? Although this had been suggested to her by others, she had been too obtuse to accept it. She had ever been eager to shift the entire blame on others when no doubt she herself was the major criminal. (BTB 256) According to Singh, the emphasis on the issue of ―blackness‖ in The Blacker the Berry is to show that ―a dark skin is a human and as beautiful as any of the myriad shades

48 that are found within the black community and generally in life.‖ Singh believes that literature is the best devise to instill this ―commonsense notion‖ within the white and black Americans (Singh 106).

49

Chapter Three Schuyler’s Black No More ―My sociology teacher had once said that there were but three ways for the Negro to solve his problem in America,‖ … ―‗To either get out, get white or get along.‘‖ —George Samuel Schuyler (BNM 8)

3.1 Critical Overview Schuyler is known best for his novel Black No More, which is considerd a ―double milestone‖ in the African American literature becuase it is the first African American science fiction novel and the first completely satirical novel written by an African American author to satarize the African American people (Dickson-Carr, ―Schuyler‖ 1091). This novel makes Schuyler an important figure in the American literary history. It was published in 1931 and it marked the beginning of African American science fiction which is represented by the works of Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, and Tananarieve Due. As a satire, it adds value to the prolific tradition of satire which is represented by Thurman, Charles Johnson, and Ishmael Reed (Leak xxx). Black No More speculates a futuristic world in which the advanced science and technology are used. It is regarded as science fiction especially in the process of transforming the blacks into white as it is mentioned in David H. Keller‘s 1928 Amazing Stories Quarterly story which had likely affected Schuyler. However, Schuyler‘s main concern is not the scientific aspect through which the blacks are transformed racially, but rather a social commentary he makes through this process (Lawson 94). Black No More‘s subtitle, Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933-1940, ironically proposes a conflict between science and racial problems in the United States. It holds a double irony because Schuyler actually wrote the novel in 1930 when the blacks were racially and economically

50 discriminated and their lynching reached its highest point and he, ironically, calls that land a ―Land of the Free.‖ Schuyler believes that the ―true freedom‖ for the African Americans is not only to free themselves from oppression and exploitation of the white people, but also to rid themselves of their blackness and racial identity which always had negative connotations in the United States (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 62-63). As far as black literary satire is concerned, Darryl Dickson-Carr states that the satiric novel often portrays racism as the ―rotten‖ and as an essential component of the American cultural politics through creating chaotic and absurd sceneries. He goes on to say that, ―[t]he apparent chaos of the satiric novel's scenery is but a pale imitation of the senselessness of racism‖ (ibid 32). He exemplifies that Dr. Junius Crookman creates an atmosphere of political and social turmoil and hysteria over race through the irrational act of turning all blacks into white in America and taking out the ―black inferiority‖ from the ―American equation.‖ Such chaotic world, Dickson-Carr observes, is to a great extent resembling the world Ralph Ellison might have thought about during the time he wrote his essay, ―What America Would Be Like Without Blacks‖ (ibid 31-32). The satirits, Bell writes, usually use realism as a tool to convey their messages. He observes that Rudolph Fisher, Schuyler and Thurman have their own distinctive style in condemning norms, individuals, and institutions of the Harlem Renaissance. As far as colour prejudice is concerned, Fisher deals with it with derision, while both Schuyler and Thurman condemn it and deal with it with ―bitter anger‖ (149). Dorman states that Black No More is a protest against the American racial discourses and a lampoon of those figures who idealize whiteness and believe that it is a synonym for civilization (71). Like Jonathnan Swifts‘s Gulliver’s Travels, the previaling genre in Black No More is satire. At the first glance, one may not consider those two novels are works of science fiction.

51 Schuyler does not bound his novel to the forms and structure of science fiction, he rather uses his own style to convey his message. Black No More presents its events in a documentary style relying on lots of allusions to the tradition of African American literature and contemporary life (Lawson 94). The ―pioneering acheivement‖ of Schuyler‘s Black No More and his earlier works did not attract enough attention of critics, they rather remained ambigious for years. Many African American critics ignord Schuyler‘s work

due to many factors including, Schuyler‘s

iconoclasm, his anticommunism, his bitter criticims of the Civil Rights Movement, and it was believed that he was an assimilationist and hated his ―blackness.‖ However, Schuyler‘s significance and population was increased during the 1980s when the importsance of the Harlem Renaissance‘s works had been acknowledged (Dickson-Carr, ―Schuyler‖ 1091). It is important to mention that Schuyler was motivated by some phenomena that led him to write Black No More. Citing Jeffery B. Ferguson, Sonnet H. Retman states that what inspired Schuyler to write Black No More was the popular cosmetic product of his time such as, Kink-No-More hair straightener, Black-No-More skin cream, and the popular cosmetics line of Madam C. J. Walker, an African American businesswoman. These products exclusively targeted the African American people and guaranteed to make them close to the white standards of beauty (1453). There are mixed readings and reactions to Black No More from different critics and scholars. In his book, George S. Schuyler: Portrait of a Black Conservative, Oscar R. Williams sheds light on some critics‘ viewpoint about Black No More. He states that most of the African American critics praise Schuyler‘s satirical style and his representation of race relation in the United States. Alain Locke‘s opinion about Black No More is brief and positive. For him, the novel successfully satirizes race relations despite of the existence of some ―farce and burlesque‖ sceneries (53). Lock further comments, ―I believe that one of the

52 great new veins of Negro fiction has been opened by this book.‖ Rudolph Fisher also has a favorable viewpoint about the key features of the novel; he observes that ―The idea is large and suggestive, the general plan is adequate, the movement swift and direct, and the climaxes satisfyingly inevitable‖ (qtd. in O. R. Williams 53). In addition, Du Bois‘s opinion of the novel in the Crisis magazine is encouraging although he is personally parodied in the novel (O. R. Williams 53). Du Bois admires Schuyler‘s boldness of style in attacking the problem of race in America: ―Mr. Schuyler‘s satire is frank, straightforward, and universal.‖ He further comments, ―It carries not only scathing criticism of Negro leaders, but of the mass of Negroes, and then it passes over and slaps the white people just as hard and unflinchingly straight in the face.‖ He considers Black No More as ―rollicking, keen, good-natured criticism of the Negro problem in the United States.‖ Therefore, he encourages his readers to read it: ―You are bound to enjoy it and to follow with joyous laughter the adventures of Max Disher and Bunny, Dr. Crookman, and – we say it with all reservations- Dr. Agamemnon Shakespeare Beard‖ (qtd. in O. R. Williams 53). In his introduction to Black No More, Reed says, ―There‘s nothing like it. And now it‘s time to call it what it is: an American classic‖ (Reed xiii). He praises Schuyler for his powerful talent in language, especially his American dialects, and his wit in using irony which altogether enables him to write ―what might be the most scathing fiction about race written by an American: Black No More.‖ He also points out that the combination of comedy, science fiction, and satire in the novel enables Schuyler to create an imaginative world through which he answers a pressing question of what would happen if the blacks disappear through using a chemical formula? (ibid x). Lois Brown points out that some critics believe that Schuyler‘ Black No More and his other works particularly, ―Negro-Art Hokum,‖ which mirrors racial problems are a call for

53 assimilation. However, he quotes Harry McKinley who strongly emphasises that Schuyler‘s purpose was to attack the ―destructiveness and foolishness of American‘s obsession with skin color.‖ He goes on to say that the novel itself ―underscored Schuyler‘s conviction that simply ‗getting white‘ as so virtually all the Negroes in the novel, would not solve the race‘s problem‖ (qtd. in L. Brown 45). Moreover, Bernard pionts out that Schuyer rather advocates and believes that the common national identity is an umbrella under which both black and white Americans unite, and it should come before or rather replace their racial and ethnic fedelity (Bernard, ―The New Negro‖ 277). Like Thurman, Schuyler raises the question of race and colour in his novel. However, ―Schuyler was acutely aware of Thurman's theme in The Blacker the Berry and took America, both white and black, to task on the question of color in his delightful and scathing piece of satire, Black No More‖ (Singh 111).

3.2 Elimination of Blackness Like the world of Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry, the black community in Schuyler‘s Black No More is also suffering from internalized racism. Favor states that in Black No More, Schuyler relates the submission and obedience of the black people to the oppressive system under which they live to their internalization of racism. Schuyler shows the reflection of internalized racism on his characters in the novel through his character description (Favor, Authentic Blackness 118). Favor sheds light on some examples in the novel: in his description of the African American people, Schuyler states: ―A lifetime of being Negroes in the United States had convinced them that there was great advantage in being white.‖ Regarding his main character, Max/Matt: ―As a boy he had been taught to look up to white folks as just a little less than gods.‖ About the aim that pushes Dr. Crookman to invent Black-No-More treatment: ―He was so interested in the continued progress of the American Negroes that he wanted to remove all obstacles in their path by depriving them of

54 their racial characteristics.‖ In his description to Dr. Beard, caricature of Du Bois in the novel, Schuyler states: ―The learned doctor wrote a scholarly and biting editorials in The Dilemma denouncing the Caucasian whom he secretly admired and lauding the greatness of the Negroes who he alternately pitied and despised‖ (BNM 30, 34, 28, 54). In addition, Schuyler ridicules the wrong idea of judging individuals on the basis of their phonotypic traits or racial characteristics. That is to say, blacks are generally hated or not welcomed due to their appearances, particularly, their blackness, and whites are praised just because they are white. He asserts that race or skin colour does not have any relationship with intelligence or creativity; for example, the dark skin colour of both Dr. Crookman and Dr. Beard does not affect their ability and intelligence to bring about new ideas or technology (Favor, Authentic Blackness 118). As far as skin colour and intelligence are concerned, one may say that Schuyler, through his character in the novel, Dr. Cutten Prodd, declares that humanity owes to ―those races whose skin color was not exceedingly pale,‖ asserting that the ―Norwegians and other Nordic peoples had been in savagery when Egypt and Crete were at the height of their development‖ (BNM 149). In spite of the fact that both Dr. Crookman and Dr. Beard are ―learned men‖ and they should ―know better,‖ they succumb to the feeling of ―self-hatred.‖ A feeling which stems from ―hegemonically imposed notions of racial difference,‖ not from cultural inferiority as both their levels of education are as high as any white educated individual in the society (Favor, Authentic Blackness 118). Max/Matt‘s feeling of happiness and satisfaction for the first time when he turns into white shows to what extent he hates his racial appearances and his dark skin colour because they stand as obstacles in his way to get freedom and become independent. Max/Matt becomes so happy with his new white appearance that his ―reflection in the mirror gave him new life and strength‖ (BNM 14). The narrator describes Max/Matt‘s feelings the moment he

55 sees his white face in the mirror after he turns into white through Dr. Crookman's Black-NoMore treatment: How good it was to be free, white and to possess a bankroll! He fumbled in his pocket for his little mirror and looked at himself again and again from several angles. He stroked his pale blond hair and secretly congratulated himself that he would no longer need to straighten it nor be afraid to wet it. He gazed raptly at his smooth, white hands with the blue veins showing through. What a miracle Dr. Crookman had wrough! (BNM 22) Singh virtually transfers Emma Lou into Schuyler‘s novel, claiming that she ―would have found happiness in the world of Schuyler's Black No More where Dr. Junius Crookman discovers a process to turn black skin white forever‖ as her efforts to rid herself from her dark skin colour is in vain (109). There are many reasons and factors that push the African American people to change their racial identity and turn into white phenotypically through the scientific process of Dr. Crookman's Black-No-More.

In his article ―‗The Open Sesame of a Pork-Colored Skin‘:

Whiteness and Privilege in ‗Black No More,‘‖ Jason Haslam sheds light on the nature of the ―economic relations‖ between both black and white groups in the novel which is based on the exploitation of blacks who are considered inferior and dealt with as servants. He illustrates a scene in the beginning of the novel through which Max/Matt is dealt with as a servant and inferior in a Harlem nightclub by a white man who asked him to go and buy him a bottle of liquor (20). The white man asks Max/Matt whether he could go and bring him a bottle of liquor: ―Sure,‖ said Max, heartily. What luck! Here was the very chance he'd been waiting for. These people might invite them over to their table. The man handed him a ten dollar bill and Max went out bareheaded to get the liquor. In

56 ten minutes he was back. He handed the man the quart and the change. The man gave back the change and thanked him. There was no invitation to join the party. Max returned to his table and eyed the group wistfully. ―Did he invite you in?‖ asked Bunny. ―I'm back here, ain't I?‖ answered Max, somewhat resentfully. (BNM 4) Haslam argues that Max/Matt, as a black man, could not mingle with the white group, he could do so only if that mingling is ―mitigated by an unequal and exploitative economic relationship.‖ This racist treatment, he assumes, stimulates Max/Matt to rid himself of his black skin and pass for white. He asserts that Max/Matt is desperately eager to be eligible to all the rights and benefits that are assigned exclusively to the white citizens, a point which is also claimed by both critics, Frye Jacobson and Richard Dyer (20). Jane Kuenz also believes that Max/Matt‘s motivation to turn white is to climb up the social and economic ladder and to reach ―a level and kind of economic opportunity currently unavailable to him.‖ She asserts, ―in short, wanting to be white [in Black No More] means wanting to be a free and democratic citizen of the nation, to be included in the conceptual realm of America‖ (185). It is significant to bring into light the agonies and bad living conditions of the southern African American people who approach the North to change their racial identity through Dr. Crookman's Black-No-More treatment so as to escape their sufferings under Jim Crow laws. The narrator describes the African American life in the South after their migration to the North: Thousands of railroad waiting rooms remained unused because, having been set aside for the use of Negroes, they were generally too dingy and unattractive for white folk or they were no longer necessary. . . . Real estate owner who had never dreamed of making repairs on their tumbledown

57 property when it was occupied by the docile Negroes, were having to tear down, rebuild and alter to suit white tenants. Shacks and dry goods boxes that had once sufficed as schools for Negro children, had now to be condemned and abandoned as unsuitable for occupation by white youth. Whereas thousands of school teachers had received thirty and forty dollars a month because of their Negro ancestry, the various cities and counties of the Southland were now forced to pay the standard salaries prevailing elsewhere. (BNM 86) However, in the North, particularly in Harlem, the African Americans who had escaped from racial prejudice and settled in Harlem also led a difficult life ―at the mercy of white and black real estate sharks.‖ In comparison with their white fellows, the ―Negroes‖ have to pay a higher rate with the average of one hundred per cent for renting smaller accommodations and bad services. Quoting the words of the novel, ―What, indeed, was fifty, sixty or seventy dollars when one was leaving behind insult, ostracism, segregation and discrimination?‖ Most of the African Americans sell their own properties to second-hand stores in order to be absorbed into white society (BNM 31). Kuenz describes the eagerness of black people who gather around Black-No-More sanitarium waiting to undergo the process of racial passing of Dr. Crookman as if they are ―would- be millionaires‖ standing in front of (186) ―a new oil district or before a gold rush,‖ looking ―excited,‖ ―wild,‖ and ―strained‖ (BNM 52). Like the rest of the black people, Max/Matt is eager to rid himself of his blackness and all the agonies and discrimination he is subjected to. For him, whiteness means freedom; therefore, he decides to be the first one to undergo Black-No-More treatment: Why not be the first Negro to try it out? Sure, it was taking a chance, but think of getting white in three days! No more jim crow. No more insults. As a white

58 man he could go anywhere, be anything he wanted to be, do most anything he wanted to do, be a free man at last . . . and probably be able to meet the girl from Atlanta. What a vision! [emphasis added] (BNM 7) Serenity Joo relates that Max/Matt was hesitant at the beginning, but when he realizes that he would ―be a free man at last,‖ he instantly decides to whiten himself. She sheds light on the research of a labour historian, David Roediger, who refers to the origin of the meaning ―freeman‖ in the Webster dictionary 1829. The first meaning of ―freeman,‖ in this dictionary, is ―one who enjoys liberty . . . one not a slave or a vassal,‖ and its second meaning is ―one who enjoys or is entitled to a franchise,‖ both definitions show the word‘s ―double meaning of economic and political independence‖ (qtd. in Serenity Joo 172). Serenity Joo relates that Max/Matt‘s enthusiasm and immediate decision to pass for white is due to his deprivation of both political rights and economic privileges enjoyed by white citizens in the United States during this period (173). As a black youth, Max/Matt never feels like an American citizen and he is forbidden to enter lots of social places which are restricted to white people. The narrator describes the oppression and segregation of the blacks through Max/Matt‘s speech after he passes for white: ―God! What an adventure! What a treat it would be to mingle with white people in places were as a youth he had never dared to enter. At last he felt like an American citizen. He flecked the ash of his panatela out of the open window of the cab and sank back in the seat feeling at peace with the world‖ (BNM 23). Similar to Emma Lou‘s world in The Blacker the Berry, one may say that in the capitalist society of Black No More skin colour does also matter in marriage and making relationships. At the opening scene of the novel, Max/Matt expresses his sadness to his friend Bunny for not being a suitable partner for his x-girlfriend because he is black (Dickson-Carr,

59 A. A. Satire 63). Black men prefer light-skinned women over dark-skinned women. As black men, both Max/Matt and Bunny ―had in common a weakness rather prevalent among Aframerican bucks: they preferred yellow women. Both swore there were three things essential to the happiness of a colored gentleman: yellow money, yellow women and yellow taxis. They had little difficulty in getting the first and none at all in getting the third but the yellow women they found flighty and fickle. . . . They were so sought after that one almost required a million dollars to keep them out of the clutches of one's rivals.‖ (BNM 2) Dickson-Carr argues that both Max/Matt‘s and Bunny‘s viewpoint about lightskinned women reflects the problem of colourism which plagued the black community during twentieth century (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 63). The dialogue, Favor writes, that takes place between Max/Matt and Bunny, about women of different skin colour could be part of a dialogue in Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry (Favor, Authentic Blackness 130). He refers to a scene in the novel where Max/Matt and Bunny see Helen for the first time at a nightclub: Bunny comments, ―Now that‘s my speed,‖ and Max/Matt tells him, ―you couldn‘t touch her with a forty-foot pole,‖ assuring him that he is unable to approach her as long as he is black. Based on his experience, Max/Matt knows how white women think: ―Man, I can tell a cracker a block away‖ (BNM 3). Favor argues that Max/Matt‘s speech shows how ―racial line‖ separates both black and white race and determines their sexual desirability and relationships (Favor, Authentic Blackness 130). Max/Matt‘s opinion on race and colour, Favor writes, is crystalized when he is rejected by Helen to dance with him because he is black (Favor, Authentic Blackness 130): ―‗I never dance with niggers! . . . Can you beat the nerves of these darkies?‖‘(BNM 5). Favor argues that this situation increases Max/Matt‘s hatred of his blackness and encourages him to whiten

60 himself (Favor, Authentic Blackness 131). Quoting the words of the novel, Max/Matt ―realizes that ―there [is] no hope for him to ever win her [Helen] as long as he [is] brown‖ (BNM 10). Serenity Joo analyses Max/Matt‘s dream the night he is rejected by Helen and states that his eagerness to ―dance, dine, or simply ride in a car with her [Helen]‖ does not reflect his sexual desire but his real feeling and thirst to gain legal rights of citizenship and public acceptance. The nightmare Max/Matt sees at the end of his dream shows how the lives of the African American men are shaped by the act and threat of lynching (181). The narrator illustrates Max/Matt‘s unconscious mind that he [d]reamed of dancing with her, dining with her, motoring with her, sitting beside her on a gold throne while millions of manacled white slaves prostrated themselves before him. Then there was a nightmare of grim, gray men with shotguns, baying hounds, a heap of gasoline-soaked faggots and a screeching, fanatical mob. (BNM 6) Retman states that Max/Matt‘s horrible death at the end of his dream mirrors the restriction and prohibition of mixed marriage in the American society which is ―most intimate violation of the culture of segregation‖ (qtd. in Retman 1454). He also argues that even though Helen is a strong motive that pushes Max/Matt to transform into white, yet whiteness or ―what in fact defines whiteness in this novel is economic and social privilege, not an essential racial identity‖ (1454). Needless to say, passing for white is a sharp turning point in Max/Matt‘s life. Crookman‘s Black-No-More treatment does not only enable him to transform physically but it further paves the way for him to climb up the social and economic ladder. As a white man, he easily joins the Knights of Nordica, the parody of the white racist organization, KKK,

61 through which he becomes wealthy and marries his favourable white girl, Helen, the daughter of the Head of the Knights of Nordica. In the capitalist system, Retman points out, white women are considered ―desirable commodities.‖ He quotes Saidiya Hartman who asserts that ―masculine mastery entailed the possession of women as the sign of that mastery, and extrapolating from the racialized premises of this logic, the possession of white women was made the ultimate figure of manliness‖ (qtd. in Retman 1454). Max/Matt believes that whiteness would grant him everything including the white girl of his dream, Helen; he could marry her and then he would be able to have a white offspring too, thus his whiteness becomes a profitable project (1455). As far as social and economic status is concerned, black women are discriminated and have less chance for employment and upward mobility in the novel comparing with whites or light-skinned women. It is an irony to find all the female employees in Dr. Beard‘s office, National Social Equality League (NSEL), light-skinned women whereas NSEL works to achieve equality for the African American people. Ironically, Dr. Beard condemns the white people for discriminating and degrading black women, while his female employees are mostly yellow and light-skinned women (BNM 54). However, one can say, in the world of Black No More, eliminating the physical features of the African Americans does not solve the problem of racism. Hatred toward the blacks remains even when they turned into white. After all the African Americans, Juda Bennett writes, undergo Black-No-More treatment and transform into white except those in prisons, orphan asylums, insane asylums, and homes for the aged, other criteria of differences are created in order to make the original whites feel superior (Bennett 25-26). Aiming to distinguish the ―real‖ Caucasian from the whitened African Americans, a genealogical study has been conducted throughout America. However, this process has proved useless because

62 America is an interracial country and the American people have mixed race background. Ironically, people who are extremely white become odd and subjected to racism by the original white people of America (Bennett 25-26). The narrator describes this situation in the novel: ―Many people in the upper class began to look askance at their very pale complexions. If it were true that the extreme whiteness was evidence of the possession of Negro blood, of having once been a member of a pariah class, then surely it were well not to be so white!‖ Ironically, prejudice and hatred toward those who are ―exceedingly pale‖ (the whitened blacks) has increased and many efforts have been made to pay them less and segregate them from the original American whites (BNM 148). Through his epigraph, Schuyler declares that America is a mixed-race country and it is difficult to distinguish blacks from whites. He writes ironically: Dedicated to all Caucasians . . . who can trace their ancestry back ten generations and confidently assert there are no Black leaves, twigs, limbs or branches on their family tree Schuyler, in his epigraph, ridicules the obsession of white people with racial ―purity,‖ yet he implicitly scorns the African Americans‘ desperate desire to change their skin colour, observing the fact that almost all races and ethnicities, even the non-Anglo- Saxon whites, to some extent, idealize ―whiteness‖ (T. Williams 204). Schuyler utilizes the theme of what Addison Gayle calls ―colorphobia among Blacks and whites‖ in his novel to satirize the extreme tendency of the African American people to whiten themselves and undergo any unreliable or unscientific invention available just to rid themselves of their racial characteristics (Rutledge 242).

63 Black No More is a call for all humanity to accept each other and encourages them to embrace the idea of interracial marriage. Schuyler condemns the feeling of self-hatred among the African Americans and emphasises that the personality of an individual is much more important than his/her own racial features. At the end of the novel, when Max/Matt‘s origin is revealed, Helen and her family who are racist whites and have used to hate Max/Matt and all the blacks, learned to love him and his black child (O. R. Williams 53). The narrator articulates Helen's feeling and her new perception toward race, ―[she] felt a wave of relief go over her. There was no feeling of revulsion at the thought that her husband was a Negro. There once would have been but that was seemingly centuries ago when she had been unaware of her remoter Negro ancestry‖ (BNM 129). She eventually realizes that even though Max/Matt and she have ―Negro ancestry,‖ but they love each other and have a happy life together and ―all talk of race and color was damned foolishness. She would probably have been surprised to learn that countless Americans at that moment were thinking the same thing‖ (BNM 129). Schuyler is unbiased in his critique; he condemns both whites and blacks together for their perception on race and colour believing that ―salvation for America, and perhaps even for the world, will arise if the populations become ‗mulatto- minded‘‖ (Woodson 128).

3.3 Blackness, Power, and Money In the world of Schuyler‘s Black No More, black and white racist organizations, businessmen, and political parties compete with each other to keep racism alive in order to get power and money. For Retman, Black No More prospects new marketplaces where racial features are commercialized and dealt with as a ―commodity‖ during the Fordist period1

1

Fordist period: The period from the end of War World II to the beginning of the 1970s is

seen as a relatively stable period with steady economic growth. The period is called the

64 (Retman 1449). He compares the Fordist technologies of mass production with Black-NoMore business which ―reproduces a black body that is able to pass for white on a massive scale‖ promising a ―coercive genocide of blackness,‖ a description based on Max/Matt‘s comparison of ―that horrible machine‖ of Black-No-More to ―the electric chair,‖ (BNM 14) the moment he transfers into white (Retman 1453). Similarly, Susan Gubar asserts that the ―commercialization of race change‖ is obviously seen through the large electric sign of Dr. Crookman‘s Black-No-More Inc. in which (19) [a] black face was depicted at the lower end of the arrow while at the top shone a white face to which the arrow was pointed. First would appear the outline of the arrow; then BLACK-NO-MORE would flash on and off. Following that the black face would appear at the bottom and beginning at the lower end the long arrow with its lettering would appear progressively until its tip was reached, when the white face at the top would blazon forth. After that the sign would flash off and on and the process would be repeated. (BNM 20) One may say that the position of the black face at the bottom of the electric sign and the white face at the top reflects the actual position of both white and black races in the American society where the blacks are placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy whereas the whites at the top. Through his race trading business, Dr. Crookman turns into a millionaire and is enabled to collect a great wealth to buy a monoplane, limousines, and establishes various sanatoriums across the United States. Ironically, unlike his black fellows, he himself does not transform into white in order to access white privileges (Jarrett 114) because he claims that

Fordist period, after Henry Ford as a paradigmatic representative of both mass production and relative welfare for workers. (Hudson 324)

65 he ―pride[s] himself above all on being a great lover of his race‖ (BNM 28). However, as a ―crook,‖ he already achieves whiteness by the wealth he gained through Black-No-More business; a business which is more profitable than those of hair-straightening and skinbleaching. Dr. Crookman basically takes advantage of the inferiority complex of the African Americans people which justifies the elimination of their racial characteristics to elevate racially (Jarrett 114). Schuyler employs the name of Dr. Crookman as comical pseudonym to indicate his lust for money while he claims that he is achieving the greatest dream of the African American people which is whiteness (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 65). As a business, Black-No-More Inc. paralyses the work of almost all the beauty centres that work on skin bleaching and hair straightening in the United States. The narrator states, ―the actual business of hair straightening that had furnished employment to thousands of colored women who would otherwise have had to go back to washing and ironing, declined to such an extent that ‗To Rent‘ sings hung in front of nine-tenths of the shops‖ (BNM 51). Black-No-More Inc. becomes a pioneer business that outdates Mme. Blandish/Mrs. Blandine‘s cosmetic line because Black-No-More treatment is not limited only for hair straightening

and

skin

whitening,

but

transforming

all the

black

physical features

permanently (Retman 1453). Mme. Blandish/Mrs. Blandine is a beauty specialist who has the most famous beauty centre for hair straightening in Harlem (BNM 23). After Dr. Crookman‘s invention, she rarely has black customers except few Jewish girls who often visit her to straighten their hair as it is the most desirable style in the American society (BNM 32). However, for her own financial benefits, Mme. Blandish/Mrs. Blandine invents a new solution to darken skin colour, which ―sprang[s] up like weeds in cemetery,‖ at the end of the novel when the tendency toward darkness rises among the upper class. The obsession with darken skin colour increases after the announcement of Dr. Crookman who says the whitened blacks or the ―new Caucasian[s]‖ are two to three shades whiter than the ―old Caucasian.‖

66 The narrator indicates that within two years, fifteen companies are established to produce several kinds of stains and artificial tans for the entire nation so as to darken their skin (BNM 150). One may say, the obsession with skin colour has plagued the American society in the novel. Commercialization of racial features becomes a great profitable business for many capitalists like Dr. Crookman and Mme. Blandish/Mrs. Blandine to make money and accumulate wealth. Black-No-More Inc. does not only bankrupt the beauty centres and the producers of skin whitening and hair straightening materials which are mostly run and marketed by blacks, but also the Negro weekly newspapers since their incomes are greatly based on advertising these products (BNM 51). In addition, Black-No-More Inc. bankrupts the black elites who hold leadership positions at black intellectual establishments. Santop Licorice and Dr. Beard are examples of black leaders who fight against Dr. Crookman‘s Black-No-More Inc. and work seriously to shut it down because they lose their black followers and supporters who all whiten themselves and vanish into the white society. Licorice, head of Back-To-Africa Society, represents Marcus Garvey, and Dr. Beard, founder and Head of NSEL, represents Du Bois (Gubar 19). Schuyler satirizes both Du Bios and his organization, NAACP, which is parodied by NSEL in the novel, as they live off racism and segregation of the African America people. ―If the issue of race prejudice and discrimination were actually solved, Schuyler seemed to say, the NAACP would go out of business‖ (Glasker 1: 489). In his description to NSEL, Schuyler states that it had for forty years (from the date of writing this novel) that NSEL established to advocate the rights and equality of Negro citizens and called for abolishing lynching. However, its existence mainly depended on the donation and charity of white people as the blacks seem to be doubtful about the concept of black liberation and freedom.

67 Apparently, the NSEL‘s officials strive to end oppressions of the blacks, yet they ―were never so happy and excited as when a Negro was barred from a theatre or fried to a crisp.‖ When the African American people eventually vanish into the white society through Black-NoMore, NSEL faces difficulty to pay for its publications, The Dilemma, its staff salaries, and other expenditures (BNM 53). In a parallel dimension, Schuyler ridicules Licorice as for about fifteen years (from the date of writing this novel) he had been benefitting financially from encouraging the African Americans to go back to Africa through his organization. Yet, Licorice personally had never seen Africa and does not have any intention to travel or live there permanently. Even though the main goal of Licorice, apparently, is to spread racial solidarity among the African Americans, yet the newspaper of Back-to-Africa Society, The African Abroad, becomes a devise to attack other black organizations in the name of defending the African American people. It is an irony to find that the cost of printing The African Abroad is funded by the American white people and the biggest portions of the newspaper are allocated for advertising skin bleaching and hair straining products which are considered revenue and income for the Association (BNM 63). Through his satire, Schuyler attacks both Du Boise and Garvey as integrationist and nationalist black politicians who, just like the white racist leaders, persecute the African American people. They rather function like parasites feeding on racism and their existence are greatly dependent on the continued discrimination and agonies of the African American people (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 65). Schuyler believes that the black leaders work for their own personal benefits and do not actually want the African American people to gain their civil rights and freedom because they would lose their prosperous living conditions. In the novel, the black leaders ally with white racist groups to legally shut down Dr. Crookman‘s

68 Black-No-More Inc. in order to stop the process of black racial passing which put their profits at risk (Woodson 130). At the end of the novel, when all America turns white, ―brown, not black, [becomes] beautiful.‖ The capitalism and free enterprise system are the main causes behind the problem of colour in the United States since those who reject Black-No-More Inc. and attempt to shut it down are businessmen (Montgomery 1: 719). What makes NSEL different from Back-to-Africa Society is that the former is gaining wealth through calling for black liberation, the latter, tries to eliminate them through sending them back to Africa through a dangerous way (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 65-66). As far as politics is concerned, Dickson-Carr writes, Schuyler explores how the issue of race is exploited and brought to the world of politics. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties compete with each other as each tries to take advantages from the ―common fear‖ of black equal rights, particularly, black intra-racial marriage and its negative impacts on the American white people. In the world of Black No More, the key American political parties arise ―xenophobia‖ towards the black as a tool to increase the number of their supporters and voters. (ibid 66). Dickson-Carr further refers to the political atmosphere of the1936 election in the novel to illustrate his point: For the first time in American history it seemed that money was not going to decide an election. The propagandists and publicity men of the Democrats had had so played upon the fear and prejudices of the public that even the bulk of Jews and Catholics were wavering and many had been won over to the support of a candidate who had denounced them but a few months before. In this they were running true to form, however, as they had usually been on the side of white supremacy in the old days when there was a Negro population observable to the eye. (BNM 117)

69 Furthermore, the Republicans ask for five million dollars from Dr. Crookman and his partners for their presidential campaign expenses promising them their support and protection, specially their lying-in hospitals, from any attack that might happen. It is obvious that this kind of deal is a vivid example of how the Republicans manipulate the issue of race and encourage elimination of blackness to keep their power. Gorman Gay, National Chairman of the Republican National Committee tells Crookman and his partners, ―You fellows are rolling in wealth and we need your help. In the past two years you've collected around ninety million dollars from the Negro public. Why not give us a good break? You won't miss five million, and it ought to be worth it to you fellows to defeat the Democrats‖ (BNM 105). On the other hand, Arthur Snobbcraft, head of Anglo-Saxon Association and candidate of Vice president of Democratic Party, utilizes eugenics and racial purity to rise to power in the novel. Schuyler describes the Anglo- Saxon Association as a ―group of rich highbrows who can trace their ancestry back almost two hundred years.‖ They consider themselves as ―the cream of the white race and should maintain the leadership in American social, economic and political life‖ (BNM 100). Aiming to win the upcoming presidential election, Snobbcraft and his statistician, Dr. Samuel Buggerie, revive racism, after the whole America

turns

white,

through

conducting

a genealogical study throughout America

distinguishing the ―pure whites from the imitation whites.‖ According to this study, Dr. Buggerie reveals the availability of almost twenty million people in the United Stated who have ―some slight non-Nordic strain‖ proposing that through a law those ―non-Nordics strain‖ would be forbidden to marry ―pure strains‖ and would also be stripped of their citizenship and all their rights (BNM 103). Dr. Buggerie schemes to announce his statistical data few days prior the Presidential election, if there is a good funding, to shock the Americans and reveal the black ancestry of the majority of the Republican nominees. He

70 believes that this makes the whites realize ―how great was the danger from the black blood,‖ and ultimately the Democrats would have a greater proportion of votes than the Republicans (BNM 110). However, Schuyler employs a ―brutal piece of poetic justice,‖ at the end of the novel, through an episode in which Snobbcraft and Dr. Buggerie are both lynched ―when the scheme to tar the Republican Party leadership with the strain of black ancestry backfires‖ (Warren 40). Both Dr. Crookman and Dr. Buggerie are irresponsible scientists who use their knowledge to reach power and money (T. Williams 205). According to Schuyler, the main aim of both socialism and eugenics are to improve human living conditions.

However, he

believes, both concepts might be theoretically promising, but in reality, human nature ―in its ugliest form‖ exploits the quest for truth for the sake of gaining power (ibid). Max/Matt, as a Grand Exalted Giraw at the Knights of Nordica, also inflames racism and racial tension among the whites to accumulate wealth. Max/Math realizes that the capitalist hierarchy which runs the socio-political system in the United States is built on the racial hierarchy of social privileges as it is argued by David Roediger and Eric Schocket. With this in mind, Max/Matt, after passing into white, learns that he can accumulate wealth and rise to power through imitating the same racist behaviour he had witnessed from the whites. Through practicing the racist behaviour of the whites, Max/Matt gets ―full access to the privileges of whiteness,‖ privileges which Schuyler describes as (Haslam 22) ―the hard, materialistic, grasping, inbred society of the whites‖ (BNM 34). Max/Matt realizes that as a white he has a better opportunity to climb up the economic and social ladder and discovers further that ―one really profits from whiteness by producing and selling it, not simply owning it‖ (Retman 1456). Bribing the Paradise Mill owners in South Carolina to break the strike of their white workers is a vivid example of how Max/Matt uses whiteness for his own benefit. Max/Matt

71 inflames racial prejudice and spreads racial hysteria against the blacks among the white workers of Paradise Mill through spreading rumour that the masterminds of their unionism are originally ―whitened Negroes‖ (Gallego 96). Through his racist speech, Max/Matt successfully breaks the strike and enables to make the white workers ―race conscious instead of class conscious‖ (BNM 86). In other words, he alters their class struggle with racial struggle. Eventually, the workers are persuaded that working under the supervision of a bad white leader is much better than working under the supervision of a good black leader even if he treats them properly (Gallego 96). Haslam quotes Stacy Morgan who emphasises that Black No More ―suggests the ironic manner in which America‘s racial hierarchy serves to oppress the very white masses who are so critical to its effective enactment‖ (qtd. in Haslam 24). He further agrees with David R. Roedige and Angela Y. Davis who assert that racism does not only persecute the black people, but the white people as well, whose toil and strife under the white capitalism system exacerbate their persecution (Haslam 24). It is useful to say that the name ―Paradise‖ is used as an irony to describe the bad working conditions of the white workers (Gallego 96). The narrator describes how the white workers are also tortured and manipulated through racism: ―The mill hands kept so busy talking about Negro blood that no one thought of discussing wages and hours of labor‖ (BNM 83). Even though the mill owners build a summing pool, a tennis court, and a playground for the workers, yet their working hours are too long that they could not utilize them or enjoy their free times (BNM 82). The narrator further goes on to say, ―[i]t did not matter that they had to send their children into the mills to augment the family wage; that they were always sickly and that their death rate was high. What matter such little things when the very foundation of civilization, white supremacy, was threatened? (BNM 84).

72 In addition, Max/Matt often gives racist speeches to white people so as to increase membership in his white supremacist organization, Knight of Nordica, using the whites as ―stepladder to the real money‖ (BNM 40). The narrator comments: For an hour Mathew told them at the top of his voice what they believed: i.e., that a white skin was a sure indication of the possession of superior intellectual and moral qualities: that all Negroes were inferior to them: that God had intended for the United States to be a white man's country and that with His help they could keep it so; that their sons and brothers might inadvertently marry negroes, if BLACK-NO-MORE, Incorporated, was permitted to continue its dangerous activities. (BNM 45) Through Max/Matt‘s speech, Schuyler explores how the American people from different social classes including leaders and ordinary people are moved by such traditional racist beliefs. Even though Max/Matt wants to teach these racist beliefs, it is obvious that people from all the races have believed in the ―coded variants of these dogmas‖ (DicksonCarr, A. A. Satire 64). Similar racist discourses are made by the Democrats and the racist white organizations through radio, pamphlets, posters and editorials aiming to frighten the white population of the menace of Black-No-More treatment and racial mixing of black and white ancestry. Such racist discourses inflame anger of the whites, the things that ultimately drive them to burn Dr. Crookman‘s hospital and the entire babies and people inside it (BNM 111). Haslam states that through the events within the novel, Schuyler illustrates that the freedom and the privileges that are twinned with whiteness are immoral and not ―positive things,‖ because they are an output of persecuting the opposite, what so called ―other.‖ For example, Max/Math‘s extreme feeling of happiness after being whitened is directly accompanied ―by a feeling of superiority and a paradoxical racism‖ (Haslam 22). One can

73 relate that Max/Matt‘s conversation with Bunny after he turns into white is a clear evidence of Haslam‘s viewpoint. Max/Matt states: ―I‘ve learned something on this job, and that is that hatred and prejudice always go over big. These people have been raised on the Negro problem, they‘re used to it, they‘re trained to react to it. Why should I rack my brain to hunt up something else when I can use a dodge that‘s always delivered the goods? (BNM 89) However, John C. Gruesser attributes Max/Matt‘s character change to a ―perfect white supremacist,‖ after he turns into white, to the fact that he personally witnesses discrimination and racism firsthand when he was black. In other words, he becomes himself an oppressor and racist (684). As a white racist organization, both the Knight of Nordica and the Anglo-Saxon Association feed on racism through spreading racial hysteria against the blacks: the former makes a money through inflaming racism, while the latter uses all its money and capacity to keep racism alive (Haslam 26). Haslam brings to light the consequences of racism in the novel and asserts that the purpose behind lynching both Snobbcroft and Dr. Buggerie, which is a violent act done by Rev. Alex McPhule and the people of Mississippi, is not actually to obtain power, but rather it is the consequences of that power. He further clarifies that the power structure in the United States is based on racism and oppression of the black people, whereas in other countries it is based on economy (28). As far as religion is concerned, Oscar R. Williams states, ―[t]hrough the lynchings, religion used to commit the most unspeakable acts of cruelty in the name of humanity (53). Additionally, Michael Peplow defines the act of lynching as a ―horrible parody of a true religious celebration‖ (qtd. in Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 68) because Rev. McPhule, as a

74 religious man, persuades the lynch mob to celebrate lynching both of Snobbcroft and Dr. Buggerie and to ―proceed according to time-honored custom.‖ The lynch mob start with ―preliminaries,‖ castration, and conducting a random ―surgery‖ just because they are black then chasing both injured men through the forest and finally catch them and burn them ―gaily‖ and ―proudly‖ at stake (BNM 146). Such violent act of lynching was frequently conducted against the blacks as a ritual all over the American South during the time the novel was written (Dickson-Carr, A. A. Satire 68). In the light of the events within the novel, one may say that in the world of Black No More, the African American people are victims of being black and the problem of race and colour would not come to end as long as the black and white races would not accept each other. The political parties and both white and black elites enflame hatred toward the blacks and keep racism alive so as to gain power and money.

75

Conclusion

Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry and Schuyler‘s Black No More are two examples of Harlem Renaissance novel which show the challenges the dark-skinned African Americans encounter in the United States due to their blackness. In The Blacker the Berry, the African American people are plagued by colourism and internalize the prejudice and racism of the white Americans to the extent that the lightskinned blacks discriminate and reject the darker-skinned individuals of their race which creates the sense of self-hate and disdain for blackness among the blacks. Emma Lou‘s hatred of her blackness makes her try the impossible to whiten her black face because she is discriminated twice for being woman and being too black. In this novel, blackness clearly diminishes the chances of the characters to gain social acceptability and economic development. In addition, whiteness, through the lenses of white and black Americans, represents purity, power, and beauty, while blackness is viewed as curse, evil, and badness. Moreover, in Schuyler‘s Black No More, blackness is an obstacle in the way of the African American people to climb up the social and economic ladder and enjoy the right to interracial marriage. It is impossible for Max/Matt to marry Helen and make upward mobility if he does not turn into white. The obsession with skin colour reaches a point that the whole African American community stands eagerly in turns to undergo Dr. Crookman‘s Black-NoMore to eliminate their blackness. The capitalists, the political parties, the white and black elites in the American society turn blackness and ―Negro blood‖ into hysteria and common fear, even when blackness is disappeared, to gain power and money. Both novels show that blackness is not only disdained in the white American society but within the black community as well. There is a desperate attempt of the blacks to eliminate their blackness in both novels. However those attempts are futile; in The Blacker

76 the Berry, Emma Lou‘s attempts to escape her blackness is in vain as along as skin colour is something unchangeable. In Black No More, whiteness is achieved through a scientific process, but hatred towards the whitened blacks does not disappear. Therefore, one may infer that both novels illustrate that blackness is an obstacle that causes the social, economic and psychological suffering of the African American people and it remains a curse as long as the African Americans would not accept their blackness as something real and unchangeable and get accepted by the whites too. Both novels, thus, end up with a glimmer of hope as they call for salvation and selfacceptance. In The Blacker the Berry, Emma Lou, despite of all the difficulties she faces due to her blackness, she finds salvation and reconciles with her blackness. It follows that The Blacker the Berry encourages self-love, self-acceptance, and reconciliation with blackness as it is, after all, real and unchangeable. Similarly, In Black No More, Helen and her white racist family realize that the personality of human beings is much more important than their racial backgrounds; they eventually accept Max/Matt and his black child after the origin of his race is revealed. Accordingly, Black No More calls for eliminating the racial borders that distinguish the whites from the blacks, through intra-racial marriage, instead of eliminating blackness and racial features of the African Americans.

77

Work Cited

Allmendinger, Blake. Imagining the African American West. Lincolin, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Questia. Web. 10 March, 2015. Anderson, Jeffery Elton. ―Ethnicity, Nationality, and Race in Colonial America.‖ A Companion to African American History. Ed. Alton Hornsby, Jr. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 90-104. Print. Bell, Bernard W. The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1987. Print. Bennett, Juda. The Passing Figure: Racial Confusion in Modern American Literature. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1996. Questia. Web. 10 March, 2015. Bernard, Emily. ―The New Negro Movement and the politics of art.‖ The Cambridge History of African American Literature. Ed. Maryemma Graham and Jerry W. Ward JR. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 268-288. Print. —. ―Unlike many others: Exceptional White Characters in Harlem Renaissance Fiction. ‖ Modernism/modernity 12.3 (September 2005): 407-423. Project Muse. Web. 10 October, 2014. Brown, Lois. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Print. Brown, Ursula M. The Interracial Experience: Growing Up Black/White Racially Mixed in the United States. Westport, CT.: Praeger, 2001. Questia. Web. 10 April, 2015. Carter, Linda M. ―Wallace Thurman (1902-1934).‖ African American Author, 1745-1945: Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. Wesport: Greenwood Press, 2000. Questia. Web. 10 March, 2015.

78 Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca. ―Race.‖ Microsoft Encarta. 2009 ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. DVD-ROM. Checole, Kassahun. ―The Blacker the Berry. by Wallace Thurman.‖ Journal of Black Studies 12.1 (Sep., 1981): 117-120. JSTORE. Web. 13 October, 2014. Chinn, Sarah E. Technology and the Logic of American Racism: A Cultural History of the Body as Evidence. London: Continuum, Wellington House, 2000. Print. ―colour consciousness.‖ Def. 1. Oxford Dictionaries.com. Oxford Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2016. Culbreth, Donnamaria. Employment Discrimination in the 21st Century: An Empirical Investigation of the Presence of Intraracial Colourism Discrimination Among Black Americans in the Workplace. Diss. Capella University, 2006. ProQuest Digital Dissertation Web 1 November, 2016. Dickson-Carr, Darryl. ―African American literature and the Great Depression.‖ The Cambridge History of African American Literature. Ed. Maryemma Graham and Jerry W. Ward, JR. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 288-310. Print. —. ―Schuyler, George S.‖ Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Ed. Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2004. 1090-1092. Print. —. African American Satire: The Sacredly Profane Novel. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. Questia. Web. 15 May, 2015. Dorman, Jacob S. ―Skin Bleach and Civilization: The Racial Formation of Blackness in 1920s Harlem.‖ Journal of Pan African Studies 4.4 (June 2011): 47+. Ouestia. Web. 13 May, 2015. Early, Gerald. ―The New Negro Era and the Great American Transformation.‖ American Studies 49.1/2 (Spring/Summer 2008): 9-19. JSTORE. Web. 13 May, 2015.

79 ―Emancipation Proclamation.‖ Microsoft Encarta. 2009 ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. DVD-ROM. Favor, J. Martin. ―George Schuyler and Wallace Thurman: two satirists of the Harlem Renaissance.‖ The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance. Ed. George Hutchinson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 198-212. Print. —. Authentic Blackness: The Folk in the New Negro Renaissance. Durham: Duke University Press, 1999. Google Book Search. Web. 15 Jan, 2015. Finkelman, Paul. ―Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.‖ Microsoft Encarta. 2009 ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. DVD-ROM. Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A Short History. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2002. Print. Gallego, Mar. Passing Novels in the Harlem Renaissance: Identity Politics and Textual Srategies. Hamburg: LIT Verlag Munster, 2003. Google Book Search. Web. Jan 15, 2015. Glasker , Wayne. ―Harlem Renaissance: 1-Black Critics of.‖ Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Ed. Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2004. 488-491. Print. Gruesser, John C. ―George S. Schuyler, Samuel I. Brooks, and Max Disher, Black Empire. by George S. Schuyler; Robert A. Hill; R. Kent Rasmussen.‖ African American Review 27.4 (Winter, 1993): 679-686. JSTORE. Web. 13 Oct, 2014. Gubar, Susan. Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Questia. Web. 15 Jan, 2015. Hall, Ronald E. An Historical Analysis of Skin Color Discrimination in America: Victimism Among Victim Group Populations. New York: Springer, 2010. Print.

80 Haslam, Jason. ―‗The Open Sesame of a Pork-Colored Skin‘: Whiteness and Privilege in ‗Black No More.‘‖ Modern Language Studies 32.1 (Spring, 2002): 15-30. JSTORE. Web. 13 Oct, 2014. Haynes, Stephen R. Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Questia. Web. 10 March, 2015. Horton, James Oliver and Lois E. Horton, ―African American History.‖ Microsoft Encarta. 2009 ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. DVD-ROM. Howes, Kelly King. Harlem Renaissance. Ed. Christine Slovey. Detroit: UXL, 2001. Print. Hudson, Heather A. ―Universal Access to the New Information Infrastructure.‖ Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs. Ed. Leath A. Lievrouw and Sonia Livingstone. London: Sage Publication, 2006. Google Book Search. Web. 20 Jan, 2016. Human Rights Watch. World Report 2015: Events of 2014. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2015. Print. Jablonski, Nina G. ―Skin Color.‖ Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Ed. John Hartwell Moore. Vol. 1. New York: Thomson Gale, 2008. 38-42. Print. Jarrett, Gene Andrew. Deans and Truants: Race and Realism in African American Literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. Google Book Search. Web. 15 Mar, 2015. Johnson, E. Paul and Nancy Woloch , ―United States (History): Colonial Experiments.‖ Microsoft Encarta. 2009. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. DVD-ROM. Jones, Sharon L. Rereading the Harlem Renaissance: Race, Class, and Genderin the Fiction of Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dorthy West. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Questia. Web. 15 May, 2015.

81 Kuenz, Jane. ―American Racial Discourse, 1900-1930: Schuyler‘s ‗Black No More.‘‖ NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 30.2 (Winter, 1997): 170-192. JSTORE. Web. 02 Nov, 2014. Lake, Obiagele. Blue Veins and Kinky Hair: Naming and Color Consciousness in African America. Westport,CT: Praeger, 2003. Questia. Web.10 April, 2015. Lawson, Ben. ―George S. Schuyler and the Fate of Early African-American Science Fiction.‖ Impossibility Fiction: Alternativity, Extrapolation, Speculation. Ed. Derek Littlewood and Peter Stockwell. Amsterdam: Rodopi B. V., 1994. Google Book Search. Web. Feb 20, 2015. 87-107. Leak, Jeffrey B. Introduction. Rac(e)Ing to the Right: Selected Essays George S. Schuyler. By George S. Schuyler. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2011. Google Book Search. Web. June, 2015. Matijasic, Thomas D. ―Civil War.‖ African American History. Ed. Carl L. Bankston III. Vol. 1. Pasadena: Salem Press Inc., 2006. 226-232. Print. Milne, Ira Mark ed. Literary Movement for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literary Movements. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Print. Moadel, David. ―Pigmentocracy.‖ Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. Ed. Carlos E. Cortés. Vol. 3. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc., 2013. Google Book Search. Web. 20 September, 2015. 1703-1704. Montgomery, Maxine Lavon. ―Literature: 4-Fiction.‖ Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Ed. Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2004. 716-722. Print. Notten, Eleonore van. Wallace Thurman's Harlem Renaissance. Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V., 1994. Google Book Search. Web. 20 September, 2015.

82 Omar, Saman Hussein. Motherhood, Home, and Identity in Selected Novels of Toni Morrison. Diss. Salahaddin University, 2009. Saarbrücken: Verlag, 2015. Print. Paulson, Darryl. ―Lynching.‖ African American History. Ed. Carl L. Bankston III. Vol. 2. Pasadena: Salem Press Inc., 2006. 553-557. Print. Reed, Ishmael. Introduction. Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933-1940. By George S. Schuyler. New York: Random House, Inc., 1999. Google Book Search. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. Retman, Sonnet H. ―Black No More: George Schuyler and Racial Capitalism.‖ PMLA 123.5 (Oct., 2008): 1448-1464. JSTORE. Web. 17 Sep, 2014. Rottenberg, Catherine. ―Wallace Thurman‘s The Blacker the Berry and the Question of the Emancipatory City.‖ Mosaic 46.4 (December 2013): 59-74. Project Muse. Web. 10 October 2014. Rutledge, Gregory E. ―Futurist Fiction &Fantasy: The ‗Racial‘ Establishment.‖ Callaloo 24.1 (Winter, 2001): 236-252. JSTORE. Web. 23 Sep, 2014. Schuyler, George S. Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933-1940. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2011. Print. Scott, Daniel M., III. ―Harlem Shadow: Re-Evaluating Wallace Thurman‘s ‗The Blacker the Berry.‘‖ MELUS 29.3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 2004): 323-339. JSTORE. Web. 13 October, 2014. Serenity Joo, Hee-Jung. ―Miscegenation, Assimilation, and Consumption: Racial Passing in George Schuyler‘s ‗Black No More‘ and Eric Liu's ‗The Accidental Asian.‘‖ MELUS 33.3 (Fall, 2008): 169-190. JSTORE. Web. 17 Sep, 2014.

83 Singh, Amritjit. The Novels of the Harlem Renaissance: Twelve Black Writers, 1923-1933. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1978. Questia. Web. 10 October, 2014. Smith, Robert Samuel. ―THE 1950s AND 1960s.‖ Encyclopedial of Race and Racism. Ed. John Hartwell Moore. Vol. 3. New York: Thomson Gale, 2008. 328-332. Print. Sollors, Werner. Neither Black nor White Yet Both: Thematic Explorations of Interracial Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Questia. Web. 05 April, 2015. Taylor, Ordner W., III. ―Harlem Renaissance.‖ Icons of African American Literature: The Black literary World. Ed. Yolnada Williams Page. California: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2011. 103-133. Print. Thompson, Anderson. ―Woodson‘s Early Life.‖ Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Ed. John Hartwell Moore. Vol. 3. New York: Thomson Gale, 2008. 127-132. Print. Thompson, Maxine S. and Verna M. Keith. ―The Blacker the Berry: Gender, Skin Tone, SelfEsteem, and Self-Efficacy.‖ Gender and Society 15.3 (Jun., 2001): 336-357. JSTORE. Web. 02 Nov, 2014. Thurman, Wallace. The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life. New York: The Macaulay Company, 1929. Print. Warren, Kenneth W. What Was African American Literature? Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print. Wilder, JeffriAnne. ―Revisiting ‗Color Names and Color Notions‘: A Contemporary Examination of the Language and Attitude of Skin Color Among Young Black Women.‖ Journal of Black Studies 41.1 (SEPTEMBER 2010): 184-206. JSTORE. Web. 02 November, 2014. Williams, Oscar R. George S. Schuyler: Portrait of a Black Conservative. Knoxville: The University of Tennesse Press, 2007. Google Book Search. Web. 20 Feb, 2015.

84 Williams, Tyrone. ―Black No More.‖ Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition. Ed. Williams. Pasadena: Salem Press, Inc., 2009. 202-205. Print. Winter, Thomas. ―Jim Crow laws.‖ African American History. Ed. Carl L. Bankston III. Vol. 2. Pasadena: Salem Press, Inc., 2006. Print. 476-479. Wintz, Cary D. Introduction. Harlem Renaissance Lives: From African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. , 2009. vii-x. Google Book Search. Web. 07 April, 2015. Woodson, Jon. To Make a New Race: Gurdjieff Toomer, and the Harlem Renaissance. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Questia. Web. 10 May, 2015. Young, Jason. R. ―Origins and Institutionalization of American Slavery.‖ A Companion to African American History. Ed. Alton Hornsby, Jr. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 143-158. Print.

‫‪85‬‬

‫‪Abstract in Kurdish‬‬ ‫پىختوي تىێژينووه‬ ‫ئَٗ ٌێىۆڵ‪ ٗ٠ٖٕٚٗ١‬وٗ ٌٗ ژێش ٔا‪١ٔٚ‬شأی‪ٗٔ" :‬فشٖذی سٖشی ٌٗ سۆِأی عێشِاْ سٖشرش‪ ,‬ش‪١‬ش‪ ٓ٠‬ذش ‪ ٚ‬سۆِأی‬ ‫عىا‪ٍٗ٠‬س چ‪١‬رش سٖػ پێغری ت‪ٔٛ‬ی ِٔٗا"‪ ,‬ذ‪ٛ‬ێژ‪ ٌٗ ٖٕٚٗ٠‬عٗس ئٗ‪ ٚ‬ئٌٕٗگاس‪١٠‬أٗ دٖواخ وٗ س‪ٚ‬تٗڕ‪ٚٚ‬ی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ٗ١١‬‬ ‫ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ دٖتێرٗ‪ ٖٚ‬تٗ ٘ۆی سٖٔگی سٖشی پێغر‪١‬أٗ‪ ٌٗ ٖٚ‬د‪ ٚٚ‬سۆِأی عاذ‪١‬شی ٘اسڵُ سێٕ‪١‬غأغذا‪ٗ٘ .‬سد‪ٚٚ‬‬ ‫سۆِأٗوٗ سٖشی ‪ٖٚ‬ن وۆعپێه ٌٗ سێی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ ٗ١١‬واْ ٔ‪١‬شاْ دٖداخ ٌٗ تٗسدَٖ تٗ د‪ٙ٠‬ێٕأی ژ‪٠‬أێىی ئاص اد ‪ٚ‬‬ ‫ئاع‪ٛ‬دٖدا‪.‬‬ ‫ٌێىۆڵ‪ٖٕٚٗ١‬وٗ ٌٗ عێ تٗػ پێى‪ٙ‬اذ‪ .ٖٚٛ‬تٗشی ‪ٗ٠‬وَٗ پێشٗو‪ٗ١١‬ن دٖستاسٖی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ ‪ ٚ‬سٖگٗص‬ ‫پٗسٖعری پێشىٗػ دٖواخ وٗ تٕچ‪ٕٗ١‬ی سٖگٗصپٗسعری‪ ٚ ,‬سٖٔگ پٗسعری‪ ٚ ,‬و‪ٚ ,ٕٗ١‬وۆ‪٠‬ال‪ٗ٠‬ذی ٌٗ ‪٠ٚ‬ال‪ٗ٠‬ذٗ‬ ‫‪ٗ٠‬وگشذ‪ٖٚٛ‬واْ ‪ ٚ‬گشٔگی سٖٔگی پ‪١‬غد ٌٗ ژ‪٠‬أی ئٗ فش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ دٖگشێرٗ‪ٗ٘ .ٖٚ‬س‪ٖ٘ٚ‬ا و‪ٛ‬سذٗ‪ٗ٠‬ن ٌٗ عٗس‬ ‫٘اسڵُ سێٕ‪١‬غأظ ‪ٖٚ‬ن تض‪ٚ‬ذٕٗ‪ٗ٠ٖٚ‬ن ‪ ٚ‬چٗسخێىی ‪ٚ‬ێژٖ‪٠‬ی ‪ ٚ‬واس‪٠‬گٗسی سٖٔگی پێغد ٌٗ عٗس تٗسِ٘ٗٗ‬ ‫ئٗدٖت‪ٗ١١‬وأی ئَٗ چٗسخٗ دٖخاذٗ س‪.ٚٚ‬‬ ‫تٗشی د‪ ٌٗ َٖٚٚ‬واس‪٠‬گٗس‪ ٜ‬جێا‪ٚ‬اص‪ ٗ١٠‬تچ‪ٛ‬وٗوأ‪ ٝ‬سٖٔگی پ‪١‬غد ٌٗعٗسٌ٘ٗی ژ‪٠‬أی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ‬ ‫دٖوۆڵێرٗ‪ ٌٗ ٖٚ‬سۆِأی سٖشرش‪ ,‬ش‪١‬ش‪ ٓ٠‬ذش وٗ پٗ‪ٖٔٛ٠‬ذ‪ ٗ١٠‬وۆِٗاڵ‪ٗ٠‬ذی ‪٘ ٚ‬ا‪ٚ‬ڕێ‪ٗ١‬ذی ‪ ٚ‬ژ‪٠‬أی پ‪١‬شٗ‪٠‬ی ‪ٌٗ٘ ٚ‬ی‬ ‫٘ا‪ٚ‬عٗسگ‪١‬شی دٖگشێرٗ‪ٗ٘ .ٖٚ‬س‪ٖ٘ٚ‬ا ئَٗ تٗشٗ تٗد‪ٚٚ‬اداچ‪ ْٚٛ‬دٖواخ تۆ پٗ‪٠‬ڕٖ‪ٚ‬وشدٔی سٖگٗصپٗسٖعری ‪ ٚ‬سٖق ٌٗ‬ ‫خ‪ٛ‬د ٌٗ وٗعا‪ٗ٠‬ذی ژٔێىی سٖػ پێغد ‪ٚٗ٘ ٚ‬ڵٗ تێغ‪ٚٛ‬دٖ وأی تۆ عپ‪١‬ىشدٔٗ‪ٖٚ‬ی پێغری ‪ ٚ‬گٗشرٗ عٗخرٗوٗی ٌٗ‬ ‫پێٕا‪ٚ‬پٗعٗٔذوشدٔی خ‪ٛ‬د‪.‬‬ ‫تٗشی عێ‪َٗ١‬‬

‫دٖوۆڵێرٗ‪ ٌٗ ٖٚ‬عٗس پٗ‪ٖٔٛ٠‬ذی ٔێ‪ٛ‬اْ سٖشپێغر‪ ٚ ٝ‬تاسی وۆِٗاڵ‪ٗ٠‬ذی ‪ -‬ئات‪ٚٛ‬سی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ٗ١١‬‬

‫ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ ٌٗ سۆِأی چ‪١‬رش سٖػ پێغری ت‪ٔٚٛ‬ی ِٔٗا‪ٗ٘ .‬س‪ٖ٘ٚ‬ا پاڵٕٗسٖ عٗسٖو‪ٗ١١‬واْ ئاشىشا دٖواخ وٗ پاڵ تٗ‬ ‫ئٗ فش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ دٖٔێد تۆ گۆڕ‪ٕ٠‬ی سٖٔگی پێغر‪١١‬اْ تۆ عپی ٌٗ سێی پشۆعٗ‪ ٗ٠‬وی گۆڕ‪ٕ٠‬ی صأغر‪.ٖٚٗ١١‬‬ ‫جگٗ ٌِٗٗػ‪ ,‬ئَٗ تٗشٗ ٌٗ عٗس چۆٔ‪ٗ١١‬ذی تاصسگأ‪١‬ىشدْ تٗ سٖگٗص‪ ٚ‬ع‪ٚٛ‬د ‪ٖٚ‬سگشذٓ ٌٗ سٖشی ٌٗ ال‪ ْٗ٠‬پاسذٗ‬ ‫ع‪١‬اعی ‪ ٚ‬سێىخشا‪ ٖٚ‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ ٗ١١‬سٖػ ‪ ٚ‬عپ‪ٗ١١‬وأٗ‪ ٖٚ‬دٖوۆڵێرٗ‪.ٖٚ‬‬ ‫ٌێىۆڵ‪ٖٕٚٗ١‬وٗ تٗ دٖسئٗٔجاَ وۆذا‪٠‬ی دێد وٗ ٘ٗسد‪ ٚٚ‬سۆِأٗوٗ سٖشی ‪ٖٚ‬ن وۆعپێه دٖخٗٔٗ س‪ ٚٚ‬وٗ سۆڵی‬ ‫عٗسٖوی دٖت‪ٕ١‬ێد ٌٗ ِٗ‪ٕٗ٠‬ذی وۆِٗاڵ‪ٗ٠‬ذی ‪ ٚ‬ئات‪ٛ‬سی ‪ ٚ‬عا‪٠‬ىۆٌۆژی ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬وأذا‪ٗ٘ .‬سد‪ ٚٚ‬سۆِأٗوٗ‬ ‫ئٗ‪ ٖٚ‬ئاشىشا دٖوْٗ وٗ وێشٗی سٖشی ٘ٗسگ‪١‬ض وۆذا‪٠‬ی پێ ٔا‪ٗ٠‬خ ذا ئٗفش‪٠‬م‪ ٗ١١‬ئِٗش‪٠‬ى‪ٗ١١‬واْ خ‪ٛ‬د‪ ٜ‬خۆ‪٠‬اْ ‪ٖٚ‬و‪ٛ‬‬ ‫سٖػ پێغد پٗعٗٔذ ٔٗوْٗ ‪ ٚ‬ذا ٌٗ ال‪ ْٗ٠‬وۆِٗ ڵگای عپی پێغرٗوأٗ‪ ٖٚ‬پٗعٗٔذ ٔٗوشێٓ‪ .‬د‪ٚٚ‬ا تٗ د‪ٚٚ‬ای دٖسئٗٔجاَ‬ ‫ٌ‪١‬غرێه تٗ‪ ٚ‬ورێة ‪ٚ ٚ‬ذاس ‪ ٚ‬پێگٗ ئٗ ٌ‪١‬ىرشۆٔ‪١١‬أٗ وشا‪ ٖٚ‬وٗ ٌٗ ٔ‪ٛ‬ع‪ٕ١‬ی ئَٗ ٔاِٗ‪ٗ٠‬دا تٗواس ٘اذ‪.ٖٚٛ‬‬ ‫‪ٚٚ‬شٗ عٗسٖو‪ٗ١١‬واْ‪ :‬سٖگٗصپٗسٖعری‪ ,‬سٖٔگ پٗسعری ‪ ,‬و‪ ,ٕٗ١‬ج‪١‬ا‪ٚ‬اصی سٖگٗصی‪ ,‬سٖشی‪ ,‬عپێری‪ ,‬سٖق ٌٗ خ‪ٛ‬د‪,‬‬ ‫پٗعٗٔذوشدٔی خ‪ٛ‬د‪.‬‬

‫‪86‬‬

‫‪Abstract in Arabic‬‬ ‫ملخص الرسالة‬ ‫ذثذث ٘زٖ اٌشعاٌح اٌر‪ ٟ‬ذذًّ عٕ‪ٛ‬اْ‪ٌ" :‬عٕح اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد‪ :‬دساعح ف‪ ٟ‬س‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ح ثشِاْ األشذ ع‪ٛ‬اد ًا‪ ,‬األدٍ‪ٚ ٝ‬‬ ‫س‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ح عىا‪ٍ٠‬ش ال ع‪ٛ‬اد تعذ ا‪ "ْ٢‬اٌرذذ‪٠‬اخ اٌر‪ٛ٠ ٟ‬اج‪ٙٙ‬ا األفاسلح األِش‪٠‬ىاْ تغثة تششذ‪ ُٙ‬اٌغ‪ٛ‬داء ف‪ٟ‬‬ ‫إثٕر‪ ِٓ ٓ١‬األعّاي اٌغاخشج ٌٕ‪ٙ‬ضح ٘اسٌُ‪ُ ٠ .‬مذَ وال اٌعٍّ‪ ٓ١‬اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد وعمثح ذمف ت‪ٛ‬جٗ األفاسلح‬ ‫األِش‪٠‬ىاْ ٌ‪١‬ع‪١‬ش‪ٛ‬ا د‪١‬اجً دشج وش‪ّ٠‬ح‪.‬‬ ‫ذرأٌف اٌشعاٌح ِٓ ثالثح فظ‪ٛ‬ي‪٠ .‬عط‪ ٟ‬اٌفظً األ‪ٚ‬ي ِمذِح عٓ األفاسلح األِش‪٠‬ىاْ ‪ٚ‬اٌعٕظش‪٠‬ح تّا ف‪ٟ‬‬ ‫رٌه أطً اٌعٕظش‪٠‬ح‪ ,‬اٌٍ‪١ٔٛ‬ح‪ ,‬اٌرذاًِ‪ٚ ,‬اٌعث‪ٛ‬د‪٠‬ح ف‪ ٟ‬اٌ‪ٛ‬ال‪٠‬اخ اٌّرذذج ‪ٚ‬أّ٘‪١‬ح ٌ‪ ْٛ‬اٌثششج ف‪ ٟ‬د‪١‬اج‬ ‫األفاسلح األِش‪٠‬ىاْ‪ .‬تاإلضافح اٌ‪ ٝ‬رٌه‪٠ ,‬عط‪٘ ٟ‬زا اٌفظً ٌّذح عٓ ٔ‪ٙ‬ضح ٘اسٌُ وذشوح ‪ٚ‬عظش أدت‪ٟ‬‬ ‫‪ٚ‬و‪١‬ف‪١‬ح إٔعىاط ِشىٍح ٌ‪ ْٛ‬اٌثششج عٍ‪ ٝ‬االعّاي االدت‪١‬ح ٌ‪ٙ‬زا اٌعظش‪.‬‬ ‫‪٠‬ثذث اٌفظً اٌثأ‪ ٟ‬اٌذ‪ٚ‬س اٌّ‪ ُٙ‬اٌز‪ ٞ‬ذٍعثٗ اإلخرالفاخ اٌظغ‪١‬شج ف‪ ٌْٛ ٟ‬اٌثششج عٍ‪ ٝ‬فشص اٌذ‪١‬اج‬ ‫ٌألفاسلح االِش‪٠‬ىاْ تّا ف‪ ٟ‬رٌه اٌشغثح االجرّاع‪١‬ح ‪ ٚ‬اٌظذالح ‪ ٚ‬اٌذ‪١‬اج اٌّ‪١ٕٙ‬ح ‪ٚ‬فشص اٌض‪ٚ‬اج ف‪ٟ‬‬ ‫س‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ح األشذ ع‪ٛ‬اد ًا‪ ,‬األدٍ‪ .ٝ‬وّا ‪٠‬ررثع ٘زا اٌفظً إعرثطاْ اٌعٕظش‪٠‬ح ‪ ٚ‬وشا٘‪١‬ح اٌزاخ ف‪ ٟ‬شخظ‪١‬ح‬ ‫إِشأ ٍج ع‪ٛ‬داء ‪ِٚ‬ذا‪ٚ‬الذ‪ٙ‬ا اٌعثث‪١‬ح ٌرث‪١‬ض تششذ‪ٙ‬ا ‪ٚ‬سدٍر‪ٙ‬ا اٌظعثح ٔذ‪ ٛ‬لث‪ٛ‬ي اٌزاخ‪.‬‬ ‫‪٠‬غرمظ‪ ٟ‬اٌفظً اٌثاٌث اٌعاللح ت‪ ٓ١‬اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد ‪ ٚ‬اٌ‪ٛ‬ضع االجرّاع‪- ٟ‬االلرظاد‪ٌ ٞ‬ألفاسلح األِش‪٠‬ىاْ ف‪ٟ‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫أ‪٠‬ضا اٌذ‪ٚ‬افع اٌشئ‪١‬غ‪١‬ح اٌر‪ ٟ‬ذذفع تاألفاسلح ِٓ أطً أِش‪٠‬ى‪ ٟ‬اٌ‪ٝ‬‬ ‫س‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ح الع‪ٛ‬اد تعذ ا‪ . ْ٢‬وّا ‪ٛ٠‬ضخ‬ ‫اٌرذ‪ٛ‬ي اٌ‪ ٝ‬اٌٍ‪ ْٛ‬األت‪١‬ض ِٓ خالي عٍّ‪١‬ح ذذ‪ٛ‬ي عٍّ‪١‬ح ‪ .‬وّا ‪٠‬غرىشف ٘زا اٌفظً و‪١‬ف‪١‬ح ذغ‪٠ٛ‬ك‬ ‫اٌعشق ‪ٚ‬إعرغالي اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد ِٓ لثً األدضاب اٌغ‪١‬اع‪١‬ح ‪ٚ‬إٌّظّاخ األِش‪٠‬ى‪١‬ح‪ ,‬اٌغ‪ٛ‬داء ِٕ‪ٙ‬ا ‪ٚ‬اٌث‪١‬ضاء‪.‬‬ ‫ف‪ ٟ‬اٌخراَ‪ ,‬ذخٍض اٌذساعح اٌ‪ ٝ‬أْ وال اٌش‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ر‪ ٓ١‬ذغرعشضاْ اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد وعمثح ذٍعة اٌذ‪ٚ‬س األعظُ ف‪ٟ‬‬ ‫اٌّعأاج اإلجرّاع‪١‬ح ‪ ٚ‬االلرظاد‪٠‬ح ‪ٚ‬إٌفغ‪١‬ح ٌألفاسلح األِش‪٠‬ىاْ‪ .‬ذىشف وال اٌش‪ٚ‬ا‪٠‬ر‪ ٓ١‬تأْ ِشىٍح اٌغ‪ٛ‬اد‬ ‫ٌٓ ذٕر‪ِ ٟٙ‬ا ٌُ ‪٠‬رظاٌخ اٌغ‪ٛ‬د ِع أٔفغ‪ِٚ ُٙ‬ا ٌُ ‪٠‬رُ لث‪ ِٓ ٌُٙٛ‬لثً ِجرّع اٌث‪١‬ض‪ .‬يتبع اإلستنتاج قائمة‬ ‫بالكتب والمقاالت والمراجع األلكترونية التي تمت اإلستفادة منها في إعداد الرسالة‪.‬‬ ‫الكممات الدالة‪ :‬العنصرية‪ ،‬المونية‪ ،‬التحامل‪ ،‬التمييز ‪ ،‬السواد‪ ،‬البياض‪ ،‬كراهية الذات‪ ،‬قبول الذات‪.‬‬

‫‪87‬‬

‫دى‪ِٗٛ‬ذی ٘ٗسێّی و‪ٛ‬سدعراْ‬ ‫‪ٖٚ‬صاسٖ ذی خ‪ٛ‬ێٕذٔی تااڵ ‪ ٚ‬ذ‪ٛ‬ێژ‪ٖٕٚٗ٠‬ی صأغری‬ ‫صأىۆی عٍێّأی‬ ‫فاوٗڵری صأغرٗ ِشۆڤا‪ٗ٠‬ذ‪ٗ١١‬واْ‬ ‫عى‪ ٌٝٛ‬صِاْ‬

‫رهشتر‪‌,‬شیرین‌تر‌‬ ‫سهر‌رۆمانی‌سێرمان‌‌ ‌‬ ‫ك‌له‌ ‌‬ ‫یه ‌‬ ‫وه ‌‬ ‫شی‪‌:‬لێكۆڵینه ‌‬ ‫‌‬ ‫‌‬ ‫تی‌ره‬ ‫نه ‌‬ ‫فره‬ ‫‌‬

‫بوونی‌نهما‬ ‫‌‬ ‫چیتر‌رهش‌پێستی‌‬ ‫‌‬ ‫و‌رۆمانی‌سكایلهر‌‬ ‫‌‬ ‫ئَٗ ِاعرٗسٔاِٗ‪ ٗ٠‬پێشىٗػ وشا‪ ٖٚ‬تٗ ئٗٔج‪ِٔٗٛ‬ی عى‪ٌٛ‬ی صِاْ ٌٗ صأىۆی‬ ‫عٍێّأی ‪ٖٚ‬ن تٗشێه ٌٗ پێذا‪٠ٚ‬غری ‪ٗ٠‬وأی پێذأی پٍٗی ِاعرٗس ٌٗ ئٗدٖتی ئ‪ٕ١‬گٍ‪١‬ضی‬

‫ٌٗ ال‪ْٗ٠‬‬ ‫داٌ‪١‬ا طالح اٌذ‪ ٓ٠‬عظاَ اٌذ‪ٓ٠‬‬

‫تٗ عٗسپٗسشری‬ ‫د‪ .‬عاِاْ دغ‪ ٓ١‬عّش‬

‫طةالَرِيَزان ‪6172‬‬

‫تشريين يةكةم ‪6072‬‬

‫‪88‬‬

‫حكومة إقميم كردستان‬ ‫و ازرة التعميم العالي والبحث العممي‬ ‫جامعة السميمانية‬ ‫فاكمتي العموم االنسانية‬ ‫سكول المغات‬

‫لعنة السواد‪ :‬دراسة في رواية ثرمان األشد سواداً‪ ،‬األحمى‬ ‫ورواية سكايمر ال سواد بعد اآلن‬ ‫رسالة ماجستير مقدمة الى مجمس سكول المغات في جامعة السميمانية كجزء من‬ ‫متطمبات نيل شهادة الماجستير في األدب االنكميزي‬ ‫من قبل‬

‫داليا صالح الدين عصام اٌذ‪ٓ٠‬‬ ‫إشراف‬

‫د‪ .‬سامان حسين عمر‬

‫طةالَرِيَزان ‪6172‬‬

‫ذشش‪ ٓ٠‬األ‪ٚ‬ي ‪6072‬‬