"Monster" and "Incognegro" both talked highly about racial issues. In Monster, Steve is a 16 year old black boy on trial for murder. I believe, in a way, this creates a conversation because the fact of the matter is - he is up for murder and he is what society views as " the perfect canidate." When I say this I mean our world today is more inclined to believe that a person of a "minority" group would commit a murder rather than someone of the "dominant" race. Steve's indentity does not favor him in the situation. Even in the beginning it is hard to believe that his defense attorney even believes he is innoncent. Whether or not this is talked about in the book, during trial you have no idea what is going on in a judge's head. Even though they are not suppose to judge/nor discriminate against a person for the color of their skin, how do you know they aren't? How do we know that Steve being black could have been used against him?
Zane creates a stir because he is a black male pretending to be white. He is doing this for the fact that he wants to help his brother out but at the same time, his identity is taken away from him. Pretending to be someone else, you can completely lose who you are. I don't know believe Zane did, but how do we know Zane doesn't wish that he was white and not black? Using it for stories or to watch lynchings, could this trigger him wishing he was someone else?
Both books share the fact that these indivduals are at a disadvantage because they are black. Steve's trial could have gone better if he wasn't hanging out with a crowd that was completely black - or is he wasn't black himself. Zane has to pretend to be a white male to get the coverage he wants or help out someone in need. Looking at these two stories it is hard to believe they are at any advantage at all. Both stories were sad and brought up racial issues that we are still facing as a society today.
Power is big in our society and these characters have to gain it. They do not have power in their hands from just being themselves. Zane gets power when he saves his brother and Steve gets it when he is found innoncent. Both had to work for the little power they eventually got. Nothing was handed to them.
I agree that Zane loses his sense of identity by trying to act and look like someone else. I think he did it for a greater good in order to help his people but in order to do that, he had to lose himself in the process. It was a selfless act and Zane had little to no choice because he had to save his brother as well as did not want to be oppressed the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteFirst impressions of people help us to establish who they are. The jury's and possibly the judge's first impresson of Steve may have been about him being a black teen with his buddies robbing a drugstore that got out of hand. But I think that as the trial progressed and the evidence was introduced, they could have changed their opinions of him.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you and Joe that Zane, while being undercover as a white male, that he did lose part of who he is. Though hes truly African American, his genetics causes him to look different than his brother. But losing part of his identity is necessary in the South in order to survive. This was probably how Vladek felt when he needed to wear the Polish masks in order to wonder the streets for food.