The American Dream In Barry Beckham's Runner Mack

Barry Beckham’s novel, Runner Mack, was published in 1972 and became the first baseball novel written by an African American. The novel follows the life of Henry Adams, a young African American male who moves to a northern city in an attempt to initiate his professional baseball career and start a home with his new wife, Beatrice. Beckham invokes Langston Hughes’s poem Harlem in which Hughes asks “What happens to a dream deferred?” to tell a common, yet underrepresented story of the black experience in America. Henry’s undying belief in the American Dream exemplifies the illusion that every person has the chance to achieve their dreams and obtain social mobility by pulling themselves up from their bootstraps. But Henry, like many African Americans,

In Runner Mack, Henry not making the team is essential to displaying the harsh conditions of life for African Americans. Henry views baseball as his path to the American Dream, and has convinced himself that after the great Jackie Robinson paved the way for African Americans in baseball, his ability to play professional baseball revolves solely around his talent rather than his complexion. When Beatrice questions whether The Stars will ever contact him, Henry states that “this is the American pastime, they’ve got to be fair with me…They have to judge me on my ability only. That’s all” (87). Beckham invokes the myth of American exceptionalism and the belief that America is the land of equal opportunity and justice. In reality, even America’s pastime, its most treasured sport, contains the same illusion of color-blind equality that existed across society. Henry’s undying belief that he has an equal opportunity of making The Stars is starkly contrasted with Mack’s unwavering cynicism. After Henry explains how he is waiting for his invitation from The Stars, Mack attempts to show him the flaw in his belief: “Dude, can’t you see they’re bullshittin’ you? Seen it happen a million times. Same ol’ same ol’. It’s our history” (150). Mack’s comment that “it’s our history” references not only the daily injustices that surround African Americans in the present,

But from the very beginning of the novel, Beckham highlights the harsh reality of life in the city. Through the description of the apartment and city, and its effects on the main characters, Beckham visually captures the mental, emotional, and physical effects of the black struggle in America and the result of a dream deferred. The novel begins in an actual nightmare, in which the scalding hot water dripping onto Henry’s face by a dentist is actually brown liquid falling from the apartment roof onto Henry’s face in real life. Rather than providing the warm, quiet sanctuary away from the busy streets that Henry and Beatrice so desperately needed, the apartment proves to be just as unforgiving. In addition to the leaking roof, the apartment consistently stops supplying heat, the walls are paper thin, and the landlord, Alvarez, takes advantage of the couple, often ignoring problems with the apartment and even stealing Henry’s