While Roye thinks that Morrison aims to depict (usually black) girlhood, neglecting black boy/manhood or only depicting is as an influence in black girl/womanhood, The Bluest Eye is ripe with diverse and inquisitive explorations of what it means to be a black man. Characters like Cholly are prime examples of this. While Cholly’s actions (particularly towards the end of the novel when he rapes Pecola) are inexcusable, Morrison succeeds in creating a complete and complex human being. Her exploration of his feelings may not always be as obvious as it is with the feelings of characters like Claudia who do a lot more self-reflection, however, it is clear to see how incidents like his aunt’s death or his father’s rejection of him shaped the character we meet later on. For instance, the “coon-hunters” ’s intrusion on his intimate moment in the bushes is not something that the readers see Cholly reflect on very much after it happens, however, Morrison infuses this scene with so much emotion and power that it is almost impossible for readers to walk away without an approximation of what these feelings must be. Furthermore, I think that it would be a mistake to say that just because the male characters do not do as much self-reflection that their experiences are not also central to Morrison’s work. Without sounding too gender-essentialist, I do think it is a fair assertion to say that men are socialized to be less in-tune with their emotions, so it seemed natural to me that men like Cholly or Soaphead might not search too deeply into their feelings or might seek to rationalize their feelings by displacing their hurt and frustration onto the women around them. While, from Morrison’s writing and her own words, we can conclude that writing about the experiences of black women is a main goal of hers, I do think that taking a reductive view of the role of men and exploration of men’s experiences play in Morrison’s work leads one to miss out on messages about the complex and intersectional facets of oppression. Just as her work in A Mercy highlights the ways that race and sex overlap to intensify or lessen the effects of oppression, Morrison’s exploration of black manhood serves to show men as victims but also to illustrate how they can (and often do) simultaneously contribute to the oppression of the women around them.

As we approach the end of The Invisible Man, reading Blair’s Ellison, photography, and the origins of invisibility has shifted my perspective by pointing out new and important lenses through which to view Ellison and his work. Although it seems obvious after reading her essay, I never would have thought to look into Ellison’s past as a photographer to inform my reading of this novel. As she points out, this mode of vision is inexplicably linked to the theme of vision and visibility that repeats itself throughout the novel. What I found most interesting, however, was that Blair talks about photography both as a tool of empowerment that enables the stories of marginalized groups to be told while also positing that photography takes away agency on some level since the subject of the photographs cannot control exactly how they are portrayed. Some subjects push back against and reject the subjecthood and disempowerment element of being photographed. By posing with this camera, for instance, Ellison removes some layer of subjecthood and posit himself as a creator. However, it is interesting to think that, despite the fact that most people view photography as a very objective form of art with little room for the artist’s opinion or influence, a skilled photographer has a lot more control of the image than one might expect (as evidenced by Ellison’s photograph of the woman lying down in the Invisible Man folder). Subjects of photography may more accurately be seen as objects, as they can only control so much of their story once the photograph is taken. I think that Tod Clifton, while he is not the subject of a photo, captures this tension between objecthood and subjecthood that Blair discusses very clearly. As he sells Sambo dolls on the street, he is seen as a traitor by the narrator and the brotherhood, whereas the white audience on the street finds him funny and does not think twice about him since he does not challenge their underlying conceptions of blackness. The perception changes with different perspective and exposure. Furthermore, in the funeral scene, the narrator is able to completely change how the neighborhood views Tod by changing the context and the tone of what is happening. The facts of the case do not change, but the context and perspective of the narrator, who in this case is the author of Tod’s story and creates the lens through which we and many characters in the novel see Tod, decides how he is portrayed.

Antoine, Katja. “’Pushing the Edge’ of Race and Gender Hegemonies through Stand-up Comedy: Performing Slavery as Anti-Racist Critique.” Etnofoor, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 35–54. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43823941.

• Talks about how stand-up comedians address race and other topics in an attempt to push social boundaries. This account details two jokes, one by Leslie Jones and the other by Chris Rock, that use slavery to discuss modern racism and analyzes differences in their receptions. This source will be helpful for talking about how humor can enable conversations about racial issues.

Burma, John H. “Humor as a Technique in Race Conflict.” American Sociological Review, vol. 11, no. 6, 1946, pp. 710–715. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2087066.

• Older source exploring how race comes up in different types of jokes in the 1940s. I may use this to establish some timeline and for the specific examples of jokes that it brings up to show how the discourse around race and humor has changed.

Davidson, Chandler. “Ethnic Jokes: An Introduction to Race and Nationality.” Teaching Sociology, vol. 15, no. 3, 1987, pp. 296–302. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1318345.

• A professor’s account of fieldwork and conversations conducted by his sociology students surrounding ethnically based jokes. Includes discussion of the perceived and actual intentions of these jokes, biases in self-reporting, and what makes a joke racist. I think the points he brings up about what makes a joke racist could be quite useful for the purposes of exploring the effects of racial humor today, both on the stage (stand-up, television) and in private conversation.

Henderson, Felicia D. “The Culture Behind Closed Doors: Issues of Gender and Race in the Writers’ Room.” Cinema Journal, vol. 50, no. 2, 2011, pp. 145–152. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41240701.

• Talks about how a homogenous (white) culture is reinforced in writing rooms for television shows and movies, effectively silencing and marginalizing people of color and women. I hope to use this to establish the importance of creating space for these voices in entertainment.

Nielson, Erik. “White Surveillance of the Black Arts.” African American Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 161–177., www.jstor.org/stable/24589802.

• Primarily focuses on the Black Arts Movement of the 60s and 70s and how it was shaped by white influence (funders, FBI, audience/critics). I want to use this source to draw connections between how the expression of Black artists/comedians/public figures is still affected, albeit differently, by these forces. I also want to connect it to the idea from “Pushing the Edge…” that comedians (especially comedians of color) are challenged to play off the specific boundaries of their audiences/the balance that they must strike when talking about race.

“Race and the No-Spin Zone: The Thin Line between Trolling and Corporate Punditry.” This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture, by Whitney Phillips, MIT Press, 2015, pp. 95–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17kk8k7.11.

• Focuses in on racist memes during Obama’s run for presidency in 2008 and how they were proliferated by both internet trolls and mainstream media. Explores the similarities between the news coverage and internet conversations. This book chapter is useful because it points out some important definitions (overt and inferential racism) and explains how people often try to rationalize that they and/or their words/actions are not and could not be racist.

Roberts, Rosemarie A., et al. “Flipping the Script: Analyzing Youth Talk about Race and Racism.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, 2008, pp. 334–354. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25166672.

• Discusses the ways that Black youth (and people of color historically) talk about race and challenge white supremacy through humor and storytelling. Follows a story-telling curriculum implemented in a particular school in NYC to collect data about these children and their discussions/perceptions about race and discrimination. I want to explore this source’s discussion of “African American humor as resistance” and to see how this is developing in a more modern context.

Additional Sources/Leads

The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by George Lipsitz

• I’m hoping that I might be able to draw a connection from this text between discussions of race in comedy (by white comedians) and the “private prejudice” used to “insure that whites wind up on top of the social hierarchy.”

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

• I need to read more of this but I wonder if the conversations around the erasure of individual identity in favor of generalized groups would be helpful in explaining the harmful impact of some jokes. There is also mention of how jokes are one way that white people reinforce white supremacy.

Adams-Bass, Valerie N., et al. “Measuring the Meaning of Black Media Stereotypes and Their Relationship to the Racial Identity, Black History Knowledge, and Racial Socialization of African American Youth.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 45, no. 5, 2014, pp. 367–395., www.jstor.org/stable/24573089.

Antoine, Katja. “’Pushing the Edge’ of Race and Gender Hegemonies through Stand-up Comedy: Performing Slavery as Anti-Racist Critique.” Etnofoor, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 35–54. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43823941.

Burma, John H. “Humor as a Technique in Race Conflict.” American Sociological Review, vol. 11, no. 6, 1946, pp. 710–715. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2087066.

Davidson, Chandler. “Ethnic Jokes: An Introduction to Race and Nationality.” Teaching Sociology, vol. 15, no. 3, 1987, pp. 296–302. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1318345.

Henderson, Felicia D. “The Culture Behind Closed Doors: Issues of Gender and Race in the Writers’ Room.” Cinema Journal, vol. 50, no. 2, 2011, pp. 145–152. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41240701.

Nielson, Erik. “White Surveillance of the Black Arts.” African American Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 161–177., www.jstor.org/stable/24589802.

“Race and the No-Spin Zone: The Thin Line between Trolling and Corporate Punditry.” This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture, by Whitney Phillips, MIT Press, 2015, pp. 95–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17kk8k7.11.

Roberts, Rosemarie A., et al. “Flipping the Script: Analyzing Youth Talk about Race and Racism.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, 2008, pp. 334–354. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25166672.

“Toward a Method/Ology.” This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture, by Whitney Phillips, MIT Press, 2015, pp. 37–48. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17kk8k7.7.

I started off my research by going to the Gale Literary Sources Database and searching the terms “minstrel shows”, “minstrelsy”, and “blackface minstrel shows”. I was hoping to find an article outlining the history of these shows and perhaps linking them to a trend of racial imagery in literature; however, most of the results I found seemed to be focused in on the writings of specific authors or were too short to establish a real background. I moved over to JSTOR, where I searched “minstrel show” and found a number of sources that seemed more relevant. After choosing a few articles about the effect of stereotypes in popular media on black youth and attempts by Black artists in the 1960s and ’70s to establish a Black aesthetic separate from whiteness. Looking through the tags on different results that popped up, I realized that I could choose a tag (“jokes”) and search for a term within that tag (“race”), which helped me to find sources that felt much more relevant and targetted towards my topic (humor as a vehicle in discussions about race). I have also looked at some of the sources cited in the articles I chose and am trying to get access to them through Hunter’s Library.

How does humor (or the absence of humor) function in Citizen, The Bluest Eye, and Citizen? How does social context (specifically surrounding race) contribute to discrepancies in what people find funny?