Essay --

The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a â€Å"colored† mother and white father. This combination of his identity led him to encounter many internal and external challenges. Physically he appeared white, so he experienced being able to â€Å"pass† as both â€Å"colored† or white whenever he wished. Being able do such a thing, the narrator struggled with racial boundaries. He embodied almost every permutation, intentional or unintentional, of the experience when encountering various racial (white and â€Å"colored†) communities, eventually deciding to pass as white at the end of the novel. Due to cowardice, instead of representing his race, he suppressed the African-American part of his identity and destroyed his chances of achieving true contentedness and self-awareness. â€Å"Passing† was a common theme seen in many novels that came to relevance during the Harlem Renaissance. This phenomenon dealt with the impermeability of racial boundaries when a person with any amount of African-American blood was considered â€Å"colored†Ã¢â‚¬ . The narrator dealt with this complicated aspect of his life through innumerable experiences while being a part of white and â€Å"colored† communities. Although his mother was â€Å"colored†, his father, who was absent during his childhood, was a white man. In spite of of his â€Å"colored† roots, the narrator had the advantage of outwardly appearing white, thus being able to pass as a white man whenever he desired. He often considered his meaningful African-American origin, but typically resorted to associating with the white race: eventually suppressing the â€Å"colored† element of his identity completely. The narrator was unaware of his â€Å"colored† origin early on in his life. He was observant of his surroundings, but never... ...ith the â€Å"colored† people: he chose to disassociate. The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man decided not to fight for racial equality in America for his fellow African-American, or even for himself, but rather conformed with the white majority thus selecting the uncomplicated path: the path that would lead him to security and safety in the years to come. After struggling with his identity in the white and African-American community as a â€Å"colored† man who could pass as white, he decided to discard his â€Å"colored† roots and stick with his white origin. By doing such a thing, he was able to live a simple, respectful, and safe life, but he abandoned a very significant part of his identity. He felt slight remorse towards the end of the novel, but self-interest held more importance to him than embracing the cultural heritage of the African-American community.