The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was...

The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a â€Å"colored† mother and white father. This combination of his identity led him to encounter many internal and external challenges. Physically he appeared white, so he experienced being able to â€Å"pass† as both â€Å"colored† or white whenever he wished. Being able do such a thing, the narrator struggled with racial boundaries. He embodied almost every permutation, intentional or unintentional, of the experience when encountering various racial (white and â€Å"colored†) communities, eventually deciding to pass as white at the end of the novel. Due to cowardice, instead of representing his race, he suppressed the African-American part of his identity and destroyed his chances of†¦show more content†¦11). Due to his recent revelation to the reality of his identity, he encountered a series of plateaus during which he contemplated whether he should associate with the â€Å"colo red† race or with the white race. He was now aware of his true identity: partially African-American and partially white. From this point onward, he endeavored to understand whether he is black or white. He did not know where he belonged in society. He contemplated his responsibility to his race versus his responsibility to himself. He tried to embrace life as a â€Å"â€Å"colored†Ã¢â‚¬  man at times, and other times he chose to pass as white. His life was full of contradictions and he could not decide which racial community to assimilate in. He eventually realized that his personal identity did not align with the pre-established racial boundaries. A lack of self-awareness tended the narrator’s life to seem frustrating and compelling to the reader. This lack often led him to offer generalizations about â€Å"â€Å"colored† people† without seeing them as human beings. He would often forget his own â€Å"colored† roots when doing so. He vacillated between intelligence and naivete, weak and strong will, identification with other African-Americans and a complete disavowal of them. He had a very difficult time making a decision for his life without hesitating and wondering if it would be the right one. As theShow MoreRelatedThe Autobiography Of An Former Colored Man By James Weldon Johnson Essay2267 Words   |  10 PagesThe Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was first published in 1912. This novel is one of the highly celebrated works during the Harlem Renaissance although it was published prior in 1912. Johnson graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1894. He was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as United States consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He also was highly involved in the Harlem Renaissance with hisRead MoreIdentity, Double Consciousness, And Gender1811 Words   |  8 PagesMartaya Hopkins Professor Willie Toliver English 325 21 November 2014 Identity, Double-Consciousness, and Gender: Passing, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and The Blacker the Berry According to W. E. B. Du Bois, activist and author of The Souls of Black Folks, â€Å"†¦ the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, —a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world