Author: Griffin, John Howard
Title: Black Like Me
Plot Summary::John Griffin reads in a report that the suicide rate for blacks in the South has risen. Griffin wonders why this can be, and decides that the only way to truly know is to become a black man. He talks to a dermatologist, and receives a prescription for skin-darkening medication. John Griffin visits the city of New Orleans, and scopes it out as a white man. He stayed at a friend's house while taking the medication, and used a sun lamp to speed up the process. He entered the black community on November 7, 1959, and began his research. He visited places in Louisiana and Mississippi, and wrote about his experiences as a black man.
Review: The conflict felt by John during his experiment engages the reader. The internal conflict that John's white heritage has with his black skin color showed how deep his own racist beliefs went. On page 15, he writes that the negro he sees in the mirror is so foreign to him that he felt "trapped in the body of a stranger". The positive quality that John showed was his willingness to put his life on the line to learn the truth about how bad racism was in the South. This bravery is a quality that makes a person admire John for what he did. The negative quality was the loneliness he experienced as a black man. This loneliness was caused by the fact that he felt he'd lost the white John, and this made him feel apart from the world. This conflict and his bravery add to the quality of the story, and make it like you were with John as he underwent this project.
This book gives an insight into how bad racism was in the South. On page 53, John enters a bus station to buy a ticket to Hattiesburg, and the woman at the ticket booth gives him a glare full of hatred. When John paid with a ten dollar bill, she refused to make change for his bill. After a little persuasion, she took the bill, and hurled the ticket and change back at him. This display of overt hatred for someone because they are a different race proves how deeply engrained racist beliefs can go. John did nothing wrong, but she still acted like he'd given her an obscene gesture. Also, this book shows insights into individuals, because on pages 94 and 95, John gets a ride with a man he labels as colorblind, because the man doesn't seem to notice John's color. The man offers to get a hamburger for John. John experienced kindness and polite behavior with this man, and they talked about their families until he dropped John off. This lack of prejudice towards John shows that although many Southerners are prejudiced, not all of them are bad.
The only criticism that can be made about the book is in its plot and style. Although non-fiction books can have boring parts, this book was more boring than most. The plot dragged in far too many sections, so the book was very easy to put down. The style of this book leaned more towards a documentary, so it was more descriptive than other non-fiction books. This led to the slow plot and a boring read.
Genre: Miscellaneous
Quality: 3Q Popularity: 2P
(On a scale of one to five with five being the best.)
Reviewed by: Jeff
Grade: 9
Date Reviewed: 9/22/02
School: Littleton High School
City, State, Country: Littleton MA, U.S.A