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There is Confusion: It
Does Matter if you are Black or White
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“It doesn’t matter if
your Black or White” (
This song
lyric from Michael Jackson’s 1991 music video represents the basic belief of
Joanna, the main character of Jessie Redmon Fauset’s There is Confusion. Joanna begins the story
with the thought of “I’ll be great too” (Fauset
14). Her belief in the equality of the
races, however, is eventually proven to be a falsity. The belief is merely a result of her age and
the fact that she is unable to comprehend the reality that she is an African
American will hinder her strive towards greatness. The hindrance of racism
becomes evident in Jessie Redmon Fauset’s
story when we investigate the themes of Joanna’s drive for independence, the
American melting pot, and the prejudice towards Joanna.
Joanna’s
character embodies more of a male characteristic when contrasted to that of
feminine characteristics. Constance Borab defines the feminine and masculine characteristics in
her essay “Freeing the Female Voice: New Models and Materials for Teaching”. Borab writes, “boys’ identities are formed by
separation from their parents, especially their mothers” (Borab
77). Whereas, Borab counters, “girls continue to
identify with their mothers as they develop their identities, all along being
taught that connection is important and that cooperation and maintenance
relationships are key to their (good) natures” (Borab
77). Constance Borab’s
idea also applies to Joanna’s character.
Joanna rarely, even as a young girl, request advice from her mother on
how to be successful. Instead, she turns
to her father for advice on how to be great.
Her father, in return gives her advice on black female role models who
have similar characteristics. For
example, Joel gives Joanna names of black women such as “Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatly, [and] Sojourner Truth” (Fauset
14). These women won freedom by adopting
the male characteristics by wanting their independence from slavery. This independence, Borab
believes, is part of the “logic of domination” (Borab
78). The aspect of logic of domination
is part of Borab’s further definition of the
masculine character. Borab
writes that the masculine characteristics also encompass the ideas of
value-hierarchical thinking, value dualisms, and logic of domination” (Borab 78).
Joanna’s
character also embodies these masculine characteristics. Joanna’s
value-hierarchical thinking and value dualisms become evident when we contrast
her difference in attitude towards Maggie and Peter. Joanna tends to look down on Maggie because
she considers Maggie to be inferior to herself. Perhaps the best example of
this can be found in the letter that Joanna writes to Maggie regarding the
possible marriage of Maggie to Joanna’s brother Phillip. The value-hierarchical
thinking is exemplified in the letter by this line: “that only people of like
position should marry each other” (Fauset 86). Joanna
continues on in her letter to Maggie to say that she (Joanna) hardly thinks
“that would be true in the case of you [Maggie] and Phillip” (Fauset 86). Therefore, Joanna thinks that Maggie, because
of her family’s low social status, “would only be a hindrance to [Phillip]” (Fauset 87). This
inferiority is easily contrasted to Joanna’s view of Peter. Joanna considers Peter to be an equal to herself. Therefore,
she treats Peter with respect and optimism. Joanna notes that Peter and her both have similar ideas of becoming great. For example, after class Peter and Joanna
tell each other about their own futures. Peter explains to Joanna, that he
wants to be a surgeon. However, he doubts
his plans of becoming a surgeon based on the colour
of his skin. He even mentions to Joanna
that her ideal of being a great singer is flawed because “colored people don’t
get any chance at that kind of thing” (Fauset 45).
Joanna, despite coming into contact with her first sense of prejudice, responds
that African American people can do anything just as well “as anyone else” (Fauset 45). In fact, Joanna counters, that Peter will “be
famous, too…a wonderful doctor” (Fauset 45). This
dual value-hierarchical thinking and value dualism between Maggie and Peter
show Joanna’s masculine characteristics.
Joanna’s
logic of domination is also reflected in her relationship with Maggie. Joanna
dominates Maggie’s attitude towards Phillip by insisting that Maggie is more of
a hindrance for him, and that Phillip is socially to
good for Maggie. This belief is also
transferred to her belief in Joanna’s independence. Joanna’s logic that nothing will stand in her
way in becoming a successful dancer and singer dominates her mind. However, this logic is flawed because Joanna
lives in a society that is riddled with prejudice. This prejudice will eventually force Joanna
to realize that her dream of becoming a dancer is impossible to attain.
The concept
of the American melting pot furthers the prejudice that Joanna encounters on
her flawed journey towards greatness.
Lewis Gannett’s idea of the American melting pot explains the prejudice
in which Joanna finds herself trapped in.
Gannett’s belief that:
Anglo-Saxon
Americans…do not want to be fused with to her races, traditions, and
cultures. If they talk of the
melting-pot they mean by it a process in which the differences of the immigrant
races will be carried away like scum, leaving only the pure ore of their own
traits. (qtd. in Levine
110).
In other words,
Anglo-Saxon white Americans want everyone to conform to the American cultural
traditions and leave their own foreign cultures behind. The white Americans believe that they are the
iron of the
This contrasts to Joanna’s plight because people reject her ability
to perform based on the colour of her skin. An example of this rejection can be found
when Joanna searches for a manager.
Joanna is given an opportunity to showcase her skills for a prospective
manager. However, the manager cancels
the audition by leaving a note saying that she is “expecting an old friend of
mine and must keep the evening free. I
shall try to arrange to have you call, just the same, not this month I’m
afraid, but certainly in February” (Fauset 163). Joanna takes this cancellation as yet another
swipe at her because of the colour of her skin. This is because the note can be translated
into being a nice way of the manager saying to Joanna that she may be a good
dancer, but because of her skin colour, the manager
couldn’t accept her. The translation of
the note from the manager is supported by Fauset when
she writes, “it is true that [Joanna] had seen her own people hindered, checked
in account of color, but hardly any of the things she had greatly wanted had affected
her cause” (Fauset 163). Joanna, for the first time, had been hindered
by the fact that she was black, yet she was surprised to see the racism despite
the fact that other people of the African American race had been hindered in
their progress towards greatness.
Joanna’s independence and logic domination are aspects of her
masculine characteristics had never before let her “know how to envisage
disappointment” (Fauset 164). Joanna’s logic
domination only allowed her to see the positive aspects of the prejudice being levelled against her.
Instead of viewing her separate dance class with Bertully
as being as a result of her being black, Joanna viewed them as being due to the
fact that “she would become a dancer on the stage” (Fauset
164). The sense of
disappointment that Joanna felt in not being able to attract a manager because
of her skin colour wouldn’t be her first. Joanna would continue to come up against
hurdles that would constrict Joanna’s efforts in becoming a great dancer.
The prejudice against Joanna is based on the belief that the iron
ore and the scum of American society should live separately. The segregation exists in order to ensure
that scum does not contaminate the purity of the iron ore of the society. The
concept of segregation is best described in Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg’s essay,
“The Way We Do the Things We Do: Enunciation and Effect in the Multicultural
Classroom.” Goldberg describes
segregation as forming walls that limit the “spaces marked Your and Me, They
and We, and never the twain shall meet” (Goldberg 157). In other words, segregation is the creation
of walls that divide the American scum in order to protect the iron ore.
In Joanna’s case, the walls of segregation have forced her to learn
how to dance in a separate class with Bertully, and
forcing her to dance with independent shows and not for the large production
agencies. The contamination of the iron
ore is supported in Fauset’s story by Snyder’s
attitude towards Joanna. Snyder, after
rejecting Bertully’s offer to manage Joanna, says to Bertully “You’ll ruin your trade teachin’
niggers, Bertully” (Fauset
149). Snyder is telling Bertully to give up teaching
African Americans hoping to be dancers because the ‘scum’ of society will
contaminate Bertully’s image as a dance instructor.
At the end of Fauset’s novel, Joanna has
decided to adopt the expectations that the American society has of her. Joanna’s role, according to American society,
is to not interfere in the superior white culture and assume the role of a female. These expectations forced Joanna’s career
aspirations to the sidelines. Joanna’s
role in marriage as a feminine character forced her to assume the role as a
maintainer of her relationship to Peter. This new role also says that Joanna
must support her companion Peter in his striving for greatness in his endeavours. Joanna’s creed of greatness has evolved to fit
her evolving role from independence and masculinity to companionship and
feminine characteristics. Joanna’s new creed “calls for nothing but happiness (Fauset 297). This
evolution from greatness to happiness evolved out of the Joanna’s realization
that the forces of prejudice prevented her from achieving her goal of
greatness. Joanna’s new creed of
happiness will help her to ensure that both Peter and her children will have
the support to attain their goals of greatness where Joanna failed. Joanna realizes that she will never achieve
her goal of greatness as a dancer in a large production company, however, this
should not hinder Peter’s goal of becoming a surgeon.
The prejudice of Joanna’s time is still evident today. The media portrays the African Americans as
being the scum of society. An example of
this, as Jane Skelton writes, in her essay “Multiple Voices, Multiple
Identities: Teaching African American Literature”, is “most of the black people
[we]…see and hear about through the mainstream media are the subjects of
insidious ‘real-life’ crime shows, the products of broken homes, or
single-parent families” (Skelton 55).
Accordingly, our children, perhaps, will carry forth the prejudice that
African American people are not equal to whites socially. Therefore, Michael Jackson was wrong because
it does seem that it does matter if you are black or white.
Works Cited
Borab, Constance. “Freeing the Female Voice: New
Models and Materials for Teaching.” Teaching
African American Literature. Ed. Maryemma Graham, Sharon Pineault-Burke,
and Marianna White
Fauset, Jesse. There is Confusion.
Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1989.
Goldburg, Elizabeth Swanson. “The Way We Do the Things We
Do: Enunciation and Effect in the Multicultural Classroom.” Teaching
African American Literature. Ed. Maryemma Graham, Sharon Pineault-Burke,
and Marianna White
Jackson,
Michael. Black or White, Sony
Music, 1991.
Levine,
Lawrence W. The Opening of the American Mind. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
Skelton,
Jane. “Multiple Voices, Multiple Identities: Teaching African American
Literature.” Teaching African American Literature.
Ed. Maryemma Graham, Sharon Pineault-Burke, and Marianna White