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James Mastroni
The African American Novel
31 May 2015
African American Masculinity in Colson Whiteheads John Henry Days
Colson Whiteheads novel John Henry Days is a comment on
black masculinity versus the ideals of consumerism and the market of
the 20th and early 21st century. The papers by Aza Nedhari, Peter
Collins, and Eva Tettenborn will be examined and used to further
understand Colsons novel. This information will lend itself to a deeper
understanding of the novel, the new African American masculine
identity, and the novels ambiguous ending.
Although there are several different accounts of the John Henry
folktale, it can be agreed that John Henry was a working class, strong
African American, 19th century freed-slave. He is presented in stark
contrast with J. Sutter, a freelance journalist from New York who prides
himself on his ability to hold out for a free meal (13). J. frequently
commits fraud with discarded receipts that he finds. While John Henry
drives steel for a living, J. Sutter is driven to steal for his living
(Tettenborn). Whitehead presents a change in the ideals of African
American masculinity since the days of John Henry.
John Henry represents a strong, honest, hardworking African
American male, whose concern is being able to provide for his wife. In
contrast, J. Sutter is a fraudulent journalist, who prefers to have

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everything provided for him instead of providing for others. Some
argue that this change of the ideal African American male occurred
when blacks began to realize the harsh reality that the Emancipation
Proclamation would not provide the equality it had promised.
In order to read John Henry Days as a novel about African
American masculinity, one must first understand the ideals of the
African American male identity. Aza Nedharis paper In Search of
Manhood: The Black Males Struggle for Identity and Power focuses on
the historical accounts of social discrimination and its influence on the
identity of black males. Reading the text as a comment on the new
African American Masculinity, helps the reader to understand the
ambiguous ending of the novel.
Nedhari cites the fact that chattel slavery in America was
intended to be a permanent condition for African Americans, a
condition that would lay the historical framework for structural and
institutional racism that resulted in a conflicted formation of identity
within black males leading to perpetual servitude (Nedhari 1). She
goes on to suggest that although the Emancipation Proclamation
liberated the slaves in the South, it disillusioned the blacks with what
they were promised and the realities that they faced.
Nedhari even goes on to say that both the Proclamation and the
13th amendment failed to liberate blacks and integrate them into
society, but instead laid a foundation to maintain a refined version of

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slavery that manifested itself in the form of socioeconomic and
psychological servitude (Nedhari). Nedhari claims that the whites
began to fear losing control over the black males. This lead to
corporate slavery, oppressing many black men over the years.
After her analysis, Nedhari notes that black males are conscious
of the oppression that is heaped upon them by the society in which
they live. Nedhari has found that denial is one of the main
psychological coping mechanisms that African American males use to
compensate with their feelings of powerlessness. She asserts that this
has lead to a redefining of black masculinity, one that emphasizes
sexual promiscuity, toughness, thrill seeking, and the use of violence
in interpersonal interactions. Observable mannerisms characteristic of
this set of alternative masculine behaviors include physical posture,
style of clothing, content and rhythm of speech, walking style,
standing, form of greeting, and overall demeanor(Nedhari 2).
In John Henry Days, the theme of whites oppressing the ideals of
black masculinity is strongly represented throughout the novel.
Nedhari states that this feeling of oppression is often associated with
an idea of castration. This typically manifests itself through sexual
promiscuity. In the novel, this is evident in Js relationship with Monica.
J. is unable to carry on any kind of relation with her other than one of a
sexual nature. They have an unspoken arrangement where they sleep
together every several weeks, but it never progresses beyond anything

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more than that: The train Monica took to work was the same one that
provided J. with the most direct route home, but they wanted to be free
of each other as soon as possible, so J. caught a train on the platform
below that forced him to transfer two times before he reached his
station (222). This passage indicates that J. and Monica want as little
to do with one another outside of the bedroom as possible. Nedhari
would argue that J.s failure to maintain a healthy relationship with
Monica is a symptom of the new African American masculinity.
J. exhibits both conscious and subconscious signs of dealing with
racial oppression in the novel. In his subconscious, he is unable to
maintain a healthy relationship with a woman. Consciously he displays
these feelings in his conversation with the cab driver, awkwardly
responding, maybe my ancestors were owned down here at some
point (21). It is also evident in his repeating thought that the South
will kill you (50). J. cannot shake his identity of being an oppressed
man in the South.
Although much of Nedharis paper is focused on the violent
aspect of African American masculine identity, Whitehead makes few
references to this throughout his novel. In fact it is a white man who
commits the crime at the culmination of the festival. However,
Whitehead does depict sexual promiscuity as being apart of J.s
masculinity. Similarly, both Nedharis paper and the novel focus on the

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white populations need to oppress the African Americans in order to
maintain their feeling of white superiority.
The novel and ballad of John Henry present an idea of African
American masculinity in a world that seeks to control this masculinity.
In his paper The Ghosts of Economics Past, Peter Collins contends that
this attempt to undermine and control African American masculinity
presents itself in the John Henry Days Festival.
Collins observes the focus on consumerism that is readily present
at the festival. The games and cute mini figurines of John Henry that
are sold at the fair diminish John Henrys masculinity in the eyes of the
fairs consumers. John Henry is converted from a heroic figure for
working class, African American laborers into a mere trinket and
collectors item.
Even John Henrys strength is transformed into a carnival game.
Although this game serves to compare Js masculine strength to that of
John HenrysJ. is scored as having the strength of a water boyit also
underscores John Henrys own strength and the supposed contest the
real John Henry participated in by calling the festival game the John
henry Contest (Whitehead 315).
John C. Davis writes that the consumer revolution had a
significant impact on the development of racial identities and
stereotypes. He asserts that consumerism depended on the American
Society promoting white supremacist thinking: The development of

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racial identities and communities did not occur in isolation from the
consumer revolution. To the contrary . . . they were bound up
intimately with one another, not by mere accident of simultaneity or
the machinations of powerful individuals but by an articulation of
discoursesa process in which the struggle for hegemonic power
requires the performance of ideological work on multiple fronts at once
and thus generates reciprocity and tension among them. The
emergence of consumer society relied on the concept of race and the
persistence of white-supremacist thinking (Collins).
In Eva Tettenborns paper, A Mountain Full of Ghosts: Mourning
African American Masculinities in Colson Whiteheads John Henry Days,
Tettenborn focuses on the John Henry Days festivals obliteration of
any sincere attempt to properly and appropriately commemorate the
black folk hero as a representative of black men (Tettenborn).
Tettenborn believes that the creation of a new African American
male identity calls for a mourning of the past and an understanding of
a shared identity. This is something that both the John Henry Days
festival and J. Sutter fail to do. The festival focuses on boosting the
economies of Talcott and Hinton by turning the remembrance of John
Henrys feat into a contest between two white men.
Just as the Postal Service fails at mourning the legend of John
Henry and African American Masculinity, so too does J. fail at mourning
his old teacher Toure Nkumreh: Youre upset that you dont care that

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the guy is dead. That you should be feeling something that good
people feel when someone dies (334). J. cannot make the connection
of having a shared experience with Nkumreh and is therefore unable to
mourn him properly. J. understands that he does not feel the same way
about this outdated black masculinity; he is rooted in his new ways.
Reading the text as a comment on the identity of African
American males, helps piece together the ending of the novel.
Throughout the novel, Whitehead provides several clues about J.s fate
at the end of the novel: the repetition of the phrase the South will kill
you, J. embodiment of the new African American male identityhis
drive to live on handouts from the events he attendsand especially
his inability to maintain a healthy relationship with a woman. This leads
the reader to believe that J. does not follow Pamela to begin a normal
relationship, he continues in his desire for free handouts, and he
attends the press event and is shot. Whitehead provides J. with a
chance to mourn for Pamelas father and the workers who died building
the C&O Railroad, but J. is still unable to make the identity connection
to those of the past and still fails to mourn these men: He tried to
think of what the modern equivalent would be for his story, his
martyrdom. But he lived in different times and he could not think of it
(378). This leaves the reader to believe that J. does not leave early with
Pamela to begin a normal relationship; but instead continues to the

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press event and is one of the unfortunate casualties of the days tragic
scene.
Reading the novel in conjunction with the papers of Nedhari,
Collins, and Tettenborn, provides a deeper understanding of Colsons
story. Viewing this as a story about African American masculinity allows
the reader to untangle the ambiguous ending and decipher the clues
the Whitehead has provided as to the fate of J. Sutter.

Bibliography
Collins, Peter. "The Ghosts of Economics Past: John Henry Days and the
Production

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of History." African American Review:. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May
2015.

Nedhari, Aza. "In Search of Manhood: The Black Male's Struggle for
Identity and
Power." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.

Tettenborn, Eva. "A Mountain Full of Ghosts: Mourning African American


Masculinities in Colson Whiteheads John Henry Days." African
American
Review:. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.

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