{"id":875,"date":"2023-03-26T23:02:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T03:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/?p=875"},"modified":"2023-03-26T23:02:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T03:02:34","slug":"whiteness-in-claude-mckays-banjo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/2023\/03\/26\/whiteness-in-claude-mckays-banjo\/","title":{"rendered":"Whiteness in Claude McKay’s Banjo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The project of defining whiteness has proved difficult over the course of our class. Similarly, defining what it means to be black is elusive\u2014mostly because race is a fiction. Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay poke fun at the idea of essentializing a group of people based on their race. In Banjo<\/em>, McKay highlights the diversity of the Black population of Marseilles. In a room full of dancers, he identifies the Senegalese in blue overalls, the Madagascan soldiers, a Congo boxer, a Martiniquan, and Banjo, our protagonist (49). The inhabitants of Marseilles come from all over the globe\u2014their common race does not diminish that fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while the diversity of blackness is foregrounded, McKay\u2019s characters offer different opinions on white people. One barkeeper, who is described as a \u201cfervid apostle of Americanism\u201d defines whiteness for his audience: \u201cThey are all the same white and prejudiced against black skin\u201d (73). The Senegalese at the bar disagree with him, but the barkeeper insists that \u201cwhite people, no matter of what nation, did not want to see colored people prosper\u201d (74). This barkeeper defines whiteness, essentially, as being prejudiced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this clear definition, McKay provides several competing perceptions of whiteness. Banjo, for one, seems to disagree with this barkeep on all fronts\u2014his ideal life is one of music and pleasure, rather than one that seeks to \u201clift the race higher\u201d (77). It follows that his definition of whiteness is not so essentializing, though McKay doesn\u2019t offer Banjo\u2019s direct perspective. Ray, on the other hand, \u201calways prefer[s] to listen\u201d (77). He chastises Banjo for his rudeness toward the barkeeper, but insists that \u201cthere’s nothing in the world so interesting to me as Banjo and his orchestra\u201d (92). Ray, for all his tranquility, seems to align himself with Banjo and Banjo\u2019s worldview. This begs the question if McKay also aligns himself with Banjo\u2019s worldview and Banjo\u2019s repudiation of the barkeeper\u2019s narrow definition of whiteness. Race is not easily definable in Marseilles, and through Banjo\u2019s interactions with the barkeeper and his descriptions of the diversity of blackness, McKay makes that clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The project of defining whiteness has proved difficult over the course of our class. Similarly, defining what it means to be black is elusive\u2014mostly because race is a fiction. Zora Neale Hurston and Claude McKay poke fun at the idea of essentializing a group of people based on their race. In Banjo, McKay highlights the … <\/p>\n

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