Identity in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man James Baldwin’s “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” is a novel about bi-racial man who is light enough to “pass” as a white man. The main characters decisions in life are influenced by his passion for ragtime music and the disgust he feels for the treatment of black people. His love for music drives him to dilemma whether to pass as a white man to find more success in his career or to embrace being a colored man. Ultimately, he choses to pass a white man and lives the rest of his life in secret as well as concealing the racial identity of his children. As the story begins, the ex colored mans identity is shaped by his mother which contributes with his struggles with his racial identity as a child. As a young boy he and his mother live together in a “little cottage which …show more content…
He is introduced to his white father and he is gifted with a grand piano. He is maturing at this point and is curious of his “mother and his position”(807) in life. He starts reading books on the Civil War and the periods of slavery remarking that “it is a marvel how children ever learn any history out of books of that sort.”(807) At this age, he understands that the books of history are written to appeal to the white reader but upon reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” he is finally feels like he is learning something about race which begins his interest in moving to the South. This is an important for the narrator because he is now able to speak about race easily. He is realizing what it means to be black in America is continually reminded or the hardships and struggles of this. But he knows that he can pass as a white man because he has before and this Soon after the narrator’s mother’s health soon deteriorates and dies and he is forced sell off some of his things and goes to live with his music teacher, who allows him to