Casey's paper

Casey's paper focuses on the role of music and performance in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. She uses a number of ideas from Du Bois to help understand the narrator's actions and feelings. The narrator's struggle with being both black and white indicates the existence of a double conscious. Casey argues that the narrator attributes two aspects of his life- his music and his school- to the races he is trying to choose between. She uses two examples to illustrate Du Bois' idea of seeing oneself as others do. These include his experiences with his father and a duet with a girl.

I think it would be good to expand the idea of how he attributes his music and his school to being both black and white. I wonder if you could analyze the scene where the narrator sees his father with another family at the opera. Would this situation relate to your argument about musical performances? I would also explore the connection between race and performance to a greater level.