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Analysis Of Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

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Black Like Me is about John Howard Griffin, who is also the author of the book. Griffin was living in Mansfield, Texas in 1959. He was a middle aged white male that wanted to understand how blacks experienced things. He decided to have medical treatment to change the color of his skin to be a black man. Once Griffin completed the first major step to understand what it was like being a black man in a community, he took his next step. He then heads to New Orleans where he begins his medical treatment. His first reaction is that he feels as if he has lost his identify. In the black community Griffin is shocked by the difficulties he faces and the many insults he takes. After visiting many places in the south, he returns home and turns …show more content…

Also his writing style is easy to understand and follow, he does not make things confusing. He also keeps things interesting for the reader by giving many details about the things he went through while traveling through the Deep South disguised as a black male. This book is really an eye opener to how society was before many of the readers were born. People back then were afraid and treated very wrongly because they were black. Many readers may not agree with the danger Griffin put himself in voluntary. Some readers may feel that he was disrespecting his own race by going behind their backs to do this experiment, but others may see Griffin has a hero for being brave enough to follow through with it. This is book is sort of like a journal with Griffin telling the time and date he was at certain places, which it makes it more easy for the reader to keep up with him and his journey. The theme in the book comes from the real experiences that he was faced with, which makes this book simple to follow. The main theme, expressed through the entire book, is the question of ones identify through there races. He stays with the theme very clearly through the book. Some readers may feel that this book gives a good social message, which comes off from the narrative and the great structure of the

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It shows how race and other social factors can have a huge impact on your life. Using a real life example was more beneficial than reading from textbooks. It shows readers that these things do happen and also gives them a chance to visualize it. The only issue I had with his writing and telling of the story was when Hobbs refers to himself as an “honorary black man” (page 130). I found it a bit problematic because he has privilege that black people are not afforded.

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Is about a man John Howard Griffin how decided to "switch" races and walk among the African Americans and bring light to the bad situation as if he was one of them. The quote “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Atticus said to Scout). Works for both stories and is very true for that time period. Both Black like me.

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