{"id":208,"date":"2022-10-28T15:52:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T19:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/?p=208"},"modified":"2022-10-28T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T19:52:40","slug":"origins-in-trick-baby%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/2022\/10\/28\/origins-in-trick-baby%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins in Trick Baby\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trick Baby<\/em> by Iceberg Slim is similar to the other examples of the noir genre that we have read this semester but also has contrasting elements in terms of what establishes these characters on the margins of society. It is similar in its portrayal of darkness, especially in reference to black characters. Like the character of Bob in If He Hollers Let Him Go, <\/em>these characters exist in a world of darkness in which they are struggling to get out of the darkness; however, for these characters and black men in general it is inescapable. In Trick Baby <\/em>we see the character of White Folks trying to escape his past and his origin, which is what establishes him on the margins of society and this seems like it may lead him further into the inescapable darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White Folks is multiracial in that his mother is black and his father is white, which already establishes him on the margins of society. Similar to the character of Alice in If He Hollers Let Him Go, White Folks is unable to escape this as a part of his identity, as it has been brought up several times thus far in the book. White Folk wants to be accepted and wants to be a part of the same world as Blue: \u201cBlue, I owe you my life. I can\u2019t forget how you stood by me when the Goddess put me into that crazy drunken tailspin. Nothing can change that or the sincere affection I feel for you\u201d (26). However, it is evident that no matter how much White Folks attempts to throw himself into the same world as Blue, the fact that he is white-passing and that he is possibly a \u201ctrick baby\u201d will always set him to the margins, even in the darkness. Two prominent examples in the book so far are communicated to White Folks by Blue and Mr. Murray.\u00a0 In a conversation, Blue explains to White Folks that, \u201cSome blacks have hated you because they believed you were really white\u2026as a white child born of a brown mother, they had to hate you\u201d (27). White Folks will always be separate from Blue and this world that it seems he is dedicated to, but his racial identity and origin will always keep him separate. When meeting with Mr. Murray, White Folks had to strongly declare that he was not a \u201ctrick baby,\u201d but even after this declaration, Mr. Murray said he would not believe him until he saw proof on an official document of his mother\u2019s marriage to a white man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trick Baby <\/em>shows us a very different character on the borders that we have not yet seen in the other works of Noir that we read this semester. In The Expendable Man, we saw the characters on the margins of society dealing more with class relations, and in If He Hollers Let Him Go, we saw the characters on the margins pertaining more to race. In Trick Baby, it is quite different as this has to do with race, but also with someone\u2019s origins, their background, which doesn\u2019t necessarily pertain just to race. As we are being introduced to new examples of Black Noir and Noir in general, one thing that has become clear is that anyone can exist or be pushed to the margin and be on the bounds of society for really any reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trick Baby by Iceberg Slim is similar to the other examples of the noir genre that we have read this semester but also has contrasting elements in terms of what establishes these characters on the margins of society. It is similar in its portrayal of darkness, especially in reference to black characters. Like the character … Continue reading “Origins in Trick Baby\ufffc”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4364,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}