Black skin what a mask - Essay Example

Black Skin What a Mask The of the article, “Black Skin What a Mask” has tried to shed light on the life of a black friend inthe college. Although the story is told by a narrator who is anonymous, he has brought out his personal experience with a black colleague coming from Zimbabwe. He narrates how his black friend experienced emotional problems in an unfamiliar environment. This made the narrator indulge in constant misunderstanding with the black friend since they had different perceptions regarding social life.

One of the psychological effects which manifest its self is the discomfort which accompanies ones black skin (Kalu, 2007). The narrators unnamed friend is not comfortable wherever he is because of the racial discrimination he experiences in the course of his schooling. For example, the narrator argues that he is continually looking for perfection in order to match his white colleagues. The unnamed friend does this through taking a bath more than three times and buying clothes. The unnamed friend wants to be comfortable.

He also desires to be at the level set by his colleagues or narrator.Secondly, one can argue that the black person being described is suffering from mental illness. There is a lot that the unnamed friend does that no ordinary being can do. For instance, the narrator makes it clear that the black mans mental capacity is questionable. This is after doing observation on his bathing pattern and grooming rituals. In other instances, he scrubbed himself until he bled (Kalu, 2007). These are practices that people with mental illness are associated with.

Further to this, the unnamed friend indulges in manic money spending, alcoholism and promiscuity among other lavish activities (Kalu, 2007). The mental illness which the friend suffers makes him do things that he cannot sustain and leads him to more problems. Therefore, mental illness forms part of the problems the friend suffers from.Thirdly, the black person is suffering from an identity crisis in a white dominated culture. The narrator point out that the black friend is running away from his racial identity by doing many things that can see him change.

For instance, the narrator asserts that his friend bought many lotions and deodorants with the aim of appeasing things friend took hold (Kalu, 2007). He has also tried to purge his tongue through improving his English to acquire the acceptable accent. Similarly, he has done many things to his hair, bought whole shops of clothes as well as many pairs of shoes. Despite buying all these goods and changing his physical image, he was not still satisfied with his image therefore putting himself in an identity crisis.

It has become a psychological problem which he has to deal with by doing all within his disposal.In other cases, the narrator has portrayed the black friend to be in daring need of love and affection. In several occasions, he had been looking for women to dance with when they went out with the narrator to drink (Kalu, 2007). However, many of the white women he met were not attracted to him hence remained lonely. His search for a girlfriend did not give a promising result, but left him desperate.

ReferenceKalu, A. C. (2007). Anthropology of African Literature. In Black Skin What a Mask by Dambudzo Marechera. New York: Reinner.