“The end was in the beginning.” These words prove true as the roller-coaster-ride of a novel wraps up in its last chapters. From the very start, the narrator yearning for the white man's’ attention and approval was essentially what lead to his demise. His younger and naive self wanted so badly to be a part of the white world. He was stuck always looking in but never being a part of it. He was the top of his class but not good enough to have his speech listened to. He was a committed student, but not valuable enough to keep after just one “mistake”. He moved to the North to be equal, but still found himself lacking in every sense of the word equality. Although for the black society’s standards at the time, the narrator was very successful and doing well for himself. However, that wasn’t enough for him. He wasn’t content in his world. In his younger years, all he wanted was to be part of the white world. Part of their world. Always so close, but not quite there.
As odd as it may sound, he’s stuck on the outside a lot like the Disney princess, Ariel in The Little Mermaid. In her famous song Part of Your World she sings, “I want to be where the people are,” and “Wish I could be, part of that world,”. She sings about the fact that she should be happy yet she still wants to be on land so desperately, much like the adolescent narrator. His wanting to be more ends up leaving him exactly where he started- no High School diploma and going no where. The end was in the beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Keal_UfT6o
I like the reference to Little Mermaid you used to compare the narrator to that of Ariel. In the novel, the narrator yearns for a greater purpose in society. Even though to his fellow black peers he is deemed successful, he still has a sense of being "invisible". He doesn't want to just be a contributing member of the black community but rather to American society in general where race doesn't bind you to a certain group. This is predominately the theme of the novel; finding ones self and purpose through the prejudice time in which the novel takes place.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great connection between characters. Each struggled with finding themselves within their own realm of society and both characters yearned for the greener grass on the other side. This also reminds me of Rapunzel and how she feels (and literally is) locked up and wants so much more of the world than the little bit her mom rations her.
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