Wanda's Paper

Wanda’s paper addresses the dual identities present in Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and uses Du Bois essay “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” to deepen the argument. Her thesis states being black in America extends to “white” people as well. Her argument is developed by referring to the changes that Johnson (the narrator) goes through throughout the book. She addresses how Johnson, who originally identifies as a white person, learns to look down on blacks while in his original situation. Once he finds out he is bi-racial, he begins to feel confused about his identity and begins to withdraw himself from white society, isolating himself with his music. At this point, he is at an in-between stage. Wanda then introduces the idea that even though he begins to identify more with his black heritage, he does not completely abandon his white identity. However, the way he relates to white culture changes. In his relationship, he seems more like a secondary citizen. For instance, in the way he strives to date white women yet doesn’t think himself fully worthy or the way he works for a white man as an entertainer. After this, he continues to “flip-flop” between cultures, mixing aspects of both, yet never belonging to either. This sense of uncertain, incomplete belonging is similar to what is outlined in Du Bois.

I think Wanda does a good job of explaining, with numerous examples, they ways that a “double consciousness” exists. However it is not really clarify why it exists. Why can’t a person simply identify as a mixture? One way to answer this is to look at the role of society more closely. It might be interesting to look at travel; how does his identification and understanding of his race vary depending on his location?In the south, he considers himself to be black, in the North he relates more closely with white. Together this indicates race is a product of surrounding.