Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon - Book Report/Review Example

Fanon felt disorientated in the French society because of being part of a colonized family. He encountered French racism during different phases of his life that ultimately worked to shape his psychological theories about racism and culture. The book reflects the personal observations and experiences of the author himself and could truly be regarded as a representative of the era and place where it was written. The book also indicates the psychological conditions, disturbance and annoyance of the author who felt dejected in the white dominating society.

The book was written in 1950s and it explicitly describes the feelings of the minorities and oppressed groups in the white dominating societies that decided to put on the white masks in order to an acceptable part of the white society. In the book, the author reflects his own experiences and life incidents to illustrate the sorrow felt by the colonized groups when they have to overlook their own mother culture to adopt the white culture and in turn they become socially and culturally perplexed.

The book presents detailed analysis of the feelings of the blacks and reflects their problems experienced at that time. However, it is also a fact that the book and analysis presented in the book could not be limited to that specific time period and nation only but the feelings and psychology of the oppressed nation described in the book is applicable to various groups like Palestine, Tamils and African Americans even today. The book was intended to convey the message to the colonial as well as colonized nations of the world however it is also a fact that it remained obscure for some decades after its first publication.

However, in 1980s the book got the attention of the masses as an anti-colonial and anti-racist book. The book became more popular in the English speaking countries whereas it remained relatively minor work in the French speaking countries though the book was actually written in connection with French society and intended to convey messaged to the French speaking people. Fanon writes about the book and its reception by the people that Why write this book? No one has asked me for it. Especially those to whom it is directed1 In the book the author has used the theoretical base for the description and analysis of these feelings and experiences of the blacks living in the white dominating world.

He adopts a sympathetic attitude towards the blacks and tells about their miseries that they faced after losing their cultural originality. He tells that the blacks developed inferiority complex because they were departed from mother lands and its culture and this complex also compel them towards imitating the cultural codes of the white colonizers. The blacks living in better socioeconomic conditions especially adopted the strategy of acquiring the features of white culture to make their selves familiar with the society and surrounding environment.

The book presented detailed views of the author regarding the colonization of the African lands by the white people. The book is based upon the thesis that the oppression of the nations compels them towards certain unwanted ways and they have to make some difficult and indisposed decision according to the requirement of the situation. The colonialism changes the psychology of the nations and the oppressed nat