The Blacker The Berry: Impact of Racism and Hypocrisy on Society

Running head: THE BLACKER THE BERRY
THE BLACKER THE BERRY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
THE BLACKER THE BERRY
Racism is one of the major setbacks of the modern world as a major population
addresses and advocates racism in their lives in some way or the other (Fredrickson). Right
from the Western countries to the African continent, every culture promotes the concept of
fairness and light skin in a major way especially for the female section of the society. The
females are expected to look in a particular manner that will make their appearance attractive
for their male counterparts and this defines the sense of beauty expected in the society. Even
the section of population who have black skin themselves advocate fair skin and their affinity
to get lighter skin to get a hold in the society. The novel The Blacker The Berry by African-
American novelist Wallace Thurman is one of the few pieces written that focusses on the
likeness of white skin among the Africans and also the prejudice of people for black skin
(Thurman). The major themes of the novel traces back to the prejudices and vices of the
society and the projection of colourism and racial discrimination within the black community
in association with the Harlem Renaissance. The following paragraphs highlight the impact
of such discrimination on the minds of the people, the level of hypocrisy that prevails in the
minds of the people and also traces whether such discrimination should be present in the
society in the modern age.
The novel speaks about the story of Emma Lou Morgan, a young woman with niggerish
skin living in Idaho. The whole novel revolves around her life, her college days at USC and her
relocation to Harlem, New York city for work along with her struggle to find her existence during
the time of Harlem Renaissance in front of the discrimination and sidelining faced by her because
of the lighter skin African –American people (Smith). The Harlem Renaissance was a revolution
centralized around intellectual, social and artistic explosion that took place around 1920s and
which included the African-American cultural expressions. The revolution and renaissance gave
the path to the Negros and the Africans living in the country and gave them the right to fight for
their own existence against the cultural hindrance by the light skin Americans.

2
THE BLACKER THE BERRY
The novel was written within the spectrum of Harlem Revolution and deals with the
different aspects of intra and inter racial prejudices that has captured the minds of the people of
the time. Emma Lou Morgan is a dark skinned girl whose ethnicity runs to African-American
origin and raised in the western frontiers of America. She was born to a light-skinned mother and
a dark-skinned father but as she inherited the skin tone of her father, she has always been
ridiculed and looked down upon by her family (Rottenberg). Even her own prejudices and the
culture in which she had been raised made her believe in the fact that she had no place in the
minds and hearts of the people of the society due to her skin colour and ethnic origin. The words
like Ink spitter and the concepts that brown girls are only good for making money by their parents
speak up for the lack of respect that the society has for the brown and black skinned people
(Lamar). The tone and temperament of the conversations that had been spoken about in the
novel clearly indicated the culture and associations prevalent in the times and the background
that led to the outbreak of the African-American war of cultural independence that started in the
late 1960s and 1970s. The derogatory comments and calling the ladies as prostitutes who are
only suitable for the black pimps were some of the bitter realities of the novel that the author had
been writing about.
The novel also dealt with the immense hypocrisy that had been levied within the minds of
the people of the black community as in the case of Emma Lou Morgan. When Emma found a
friend in her university, who irrespective of her origin and ethnicity wanted to be her friend and
share all their lives and ideologies, it was she who did not want to get even closer to her as she
feared the ridicule that would come from the other classmates of her university due to her
unpolished and rogue behaviour (Gasman and Abiola). Hazel Mason, who also belonged to the
same ethnic group as Emma could have shared their lives as well as their insecurities together
as they had to face the same struggles. The two women in their journey in the University of
Southern California always wanted to be friends with the rest of the population but when they
found that they were being sidelined and had only option to find solace in each other, Emma due
to her own racial discrimination made sure to isolate herself from her companion. The hypocrisy
that lies in the minds of the black African-American due to the mindset that has been induced in