Black LIke Me – John Howard Griffin
Posted by: soulistic in Books, tags: Black LIke Me, book, review
1. John used the book title Black Like Me from a quote by Langston Huges. The quote is “Rest at pale evening…A tall slim tree…Night come tenderly, Black like me. The title describes the meaning of the book perfectly, in a way that serves a deeper meaning than what you see. Mr. Griffin makes his appearance black but acts the same way as he did as a white man. Only after spending time in the life of an African American does he understand what it means to be a different color treated in the Deep South and how we can relate to both sides of racism.
2. The theme of the book is autobiographical and it is a non-fiction book so the author is trying to tell his real-life story of a social issue that faced every American back in the 1950’s. He is trying to show how people are treated by just their skin color by experiencing the problem as a white man then a black man. The main issue is racism though John himself is not prejudiced against colored people, but instead what’s to understand what they are going through.
4. The cover of the book has a black silhouette of a man with white space in front of his face. There are words that look similar to the front of a typewriter. The title, Black Like Me, has the word ‘Black’ in black letters on the white side of the cover and the words ‘Like Me’ are on the silhouette in white letters. The same goes for the author’s name. It is an appropriate design because it shows the change in John when he goes from a white man to a black man. It almost foreshadows what will happen to John and that he will be publishing the journals that he writes about his journey.
6. One aspect that I loved about the novel is that it’s a true story. I love ready non-fiction books and especially when they are dealing with controversial issue such as racism. It also provides a real life perspective on the situation and it makes the novel more interesting to read.
7. I didn’t like how the novel was so short. The author put the book in a journal type format which made the pages shorter. I only disliked that because the book was an amazing read though was too short. It would have been excellent to keep writing about what happened in all the different states he visit.
8. My first quote from my book is on page 10, paragraph 6: “In the flood of light against the white tile, the face and shoulders of a stranger-a fierce, bald, very dark Negro-glared at me from the glass. He in no way resembled me.” I choose this because John realized how different he looked and his first reaction to himself as a Negro. He also had to mentally overcome the challenge in the coming weeks.
My second quote is on page 90, paragraph 2: “I told myself that I was tired, that I must not judge these men who picked me up and for the price of a ride submitted me to the swamps of their fantasy lives. They showed me something that all men have but seldom bring to the surface, since must men seek health.” At this time, John was picking up rides from white males off of the highway. They asked him various question regarding his sex life and asking stereotypical question about a Negro’s sexual activity. John had to realize that these men would never ask him such questions in the day, but only in the private time in those cars. John realized as well that every white man was different from the inside than what his actions showed on the outside.
Sorry this post is majorly late. I’ve been busy-sick-and sick of being not busy enough.
So I saw New Moon on Friday. December 4th 2009. I must say! It was absolutely amazing – better than the first of course. I’m so happy with director Wentz. I wasn’t thrilled with the last director. Also seeing how much profit Twilight is making… I hoped that the movies would get better.
Luv, 
fin
Soulistic
t-k/ 
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