The Complexity of Life - Book Report/Review Example

Compare and contrast how Gregory Howard Williams (in his book Life on the Color Line) and one of the other (Malcolm Gladwell or James McBridefrom the book Half and Half) are able to achieve a positive self-image and a productive role in society despite being a “permanent hostage to questions of racial difference.” Prajakta Kanegaonkar The complexity of life increases tremendously when the fundamental questions about our very existence arise. Questions like what makes me different from the people around me, where do I come from, tend to disturb a sensitive person the most. This situation gets more bitterer when the societal foundation is based on racism and color supremacy. Life on the Color Line is indeed a very touching and sensitive account of how prejudices can affect a person deeply. The first ten years of his life Williams grew up believing that he was a white. Understandably this might have given him a security that every child needs. This also gave him the advantage of being brought up in a society which was entitled for privileges. After his parents’ separation he shifted to Muncie, Indiana where he came to know the most violent truth about his life. His father by marrying into a white family had crossed all the boundaries the society had laid. It would have been easy for Williams to follow the norms for entirely black or entirely white society. However the question of his very existence that stood in front of him with more and more ferocity. At an age where most kids are indulged, pampered he was forced to face a turmoil that was to change his life forever. He had been to Muncie to visit his white relatives who now shunned the children. He had no other alternative than to take a refuge in the black community. Neither of the sections of the society was kind to the kids. The blacks had little to spare and often bore a grudge towards them. Whites had already outcaste them as racial mongrels. As put by Williams himself, “though only ten years old I faced one of the hardest choices of my life, to dream or to despair. I chose to dream”. He worked diligently to achieve his dreams and correctly took refuge in education. Williams and his brother worked their way hard towards the betterment of their life. However he was more than often subjected to the inequalities and brutalities of racism. Denial of academic awards because he was black, violence inflicted by his fellow students, is to name a few. The struggle is unimaginable, especially when he has to constantly negotiate and bargain with people about being colored Williams’ parents were not keen to establish their children in life. Father was only eager to put the boys to work as early as possible, without having to work himself. His grandparents were all too eager to abandon him. His mother after the self-realization returned only on the condition that the boys have to forget that they are black. This came as a cruel blow to Williams. A family forms a part of the society and yet maintains its own values and principles when it comes to supporting of its members. The time when he expected his parents to stand by him, they had abandoned him and returned only when they found it convenient. The acceptance was conditional and a matter of convenience. As Williams himself puts it, “I hadn’t wanted to be colored, but too much had happened to me in Muncie to be a part of the white world that had rejected me so completely”. He refused to take his mother’s offer. He could never forget that he was colored and neither would the society around have let him forget that. The paradox of his life was his bi-racial identity showed him the way to be his own person. Many of us do not realize the truth about ourselves in life till almost the end of it. We keep searching for the identity which is our own. Through various means and ways we keep looking for the true self. For Williams probably the life gave all the hardships and bitterness in the initial years, only to make him more resolute and determined to find his own identity which neither depended on being black or white nor depended on the situation or injustice of the society around. He rose to the situation and created his own place which shows the true spirit of the human. This goes to prove that performance and achievement does not depend on the skin color, race and which side of the society you are born. Malcolm Gladwell was born to a brown mother and a white Father. The marriage was based on solid foundation of trust and love. More than once he has put across his father’s or his mother’s views about racism in his article “Lost in the Middle”. His father was oblivious to the racial differences around. He could be easily invited everywhere in the community he stayed and lived with. These could consist of Mennonites or Jamaican natives. He recognized the human race as “human race” and not black, brown or white. He bridged the gap between races and reached out to people because he was unable to see any differences at all. His mother could be termed as “middle-class brown”. Her family history consisted of mixed marriages and she was all too aware of the repercussions about them. She accepted her marriage radically and not because like the father she was oblivious to the complications of color but with an awareness of going open eyed into it. Malcolm Gladwell was always a loner as a child. He was aware of the civil rights movement, but he always thought that it was happening at some other place and was all too foreign to ponder over. It did not really pertain to him. He was also a witness to the West Indian immigration that happened in Ontario. He has mentioned that he felt a kinship with the immigrants. He never attributed his being “different” to the fact that he was a child of a mixed marriage. He always thought the reasons that were normal and healthy to his age. He encountered the first disturbing question about his identity then. He was asked, “What are you?” He could not take the question because of the structure of the question. Writer admits about not being like his parents at all. His father was gifted to treat people as if no barriers existed. His mother appreciated the differences when not relevant. He is more than normal while dealing with whites as well as West Indians. But he constantly feels the loss of sense of belonging. He writes about racial issues and feels inappropriate when he uses pronouns like “we”. He is not a racist at all as he was brought up that way. His parents were able to conquer the differences. However it cannot be automatically assumed that merging of the identities of two people of two different colors and races would give an identity to the next generation. It is creation of a third identity which needs to be firmly put in place and with solid foundations. Else it could result in identity crisis and as a serious problem of “who am I” or to be more precise “what am I?” in the generations to follow. In case of James McBride, life was not simple too. Being the youngest of the twelve black siblings brought up a white mother was enough to cause stir around. The entire family survived the civil rights movement with each other’s support and love. The title of the book “What Color is Jesus?” is a question James often asked his mother when he was a kid. His mother however answered the question simply, “Jesus is all colors”. He was brought up in extreme poverty where sharing a toothbrush in 5 people was a common thing. His friends often questioned him about his mother. James could never answer satisfactorily. His mother guarded the family carefully, never wanting them to get subjected to racial harassments and to be brought up as normally as was possible. She gave solidarity to the family because of which the family members always stood by each other. She carefully guarded her real identity by stating, “I am light-skinned”. James did not even find out that his mother had any other name other than “mother” till he went to the college. He came to know much later that she was born Jewish and was brought up in Poland. She herself had a disturbing past and was widowed twice. When he was in college his mother was diagnosed for cancer. “ ‘I had a little bump on my face and she made me see this fancy doctor. Now I gotta wear this dumb hat all the time. It makes me look like a rooster.” (McBride, 260). He grew up considerably with this experience. He had always leaned on his mother for support and care and now suddenly the equations changed. All her twelve children went ahead to become achievers. The belief that “God and education came above everything else” helped the children to see dreams and turn the dreams to success. Because he lived in the times of revolution he always felt protective about his mother. No matter his age he was always confident that he could take care of her and protect her. It is not easy to have a bi-racial marriage. As rightly pointed out by Malcolm Gladwell, it is not about the first generation who takes a bold decision of getting married irrespective of different colors, races and cultures. It is always about the children who are products of these marriages. Although all the three authors come from different backgrounds and upbringings the success they have achieved in life remains unmatched. But the turmoil and the trauma they have gone through has a lot of commonality. Parents denying to accept their own identity as was the case with Gregory Williams or accepting human race as sole race as in the case of the rest two, it was not an easy task to swim against the tide and fight their own battles, especially when social prejudices do reflect in the family in some or the other way. To fight against them or to protect your loved ones against them needs courage and strength. We definitely learn a new perspective of courage and bravery while we go through these accounts. 1. Life on the color line – Gregory Howard Williams 2. Lost in the Middle – Malcolm Gladwell 3. What color is Jesus? – James Mcbride Read More