'Black Skin, White Masks' General Overview

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Topic: ‘Black Skin, White Masks’ General Overview

Course No.11: The Postcolonial Literature

Roll No. : 28

Enrollment no.: PG14101019

Email-Id: jasoliyavaishali@gmail.com

Prepared by: Vaishali Hareshbhai Jasoliya

Submitted to: MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Introduction :

                                 

           Frantz Fanon was born in Martinique in 1925 and received a conventional colonial education. Out of his experiences of racism came his first book "Black Skin, White Masks" (1952), originally titled as "an essay for the Disalienation of Blacks." Fanon, in this book, defined the colonial relationship as the psychological non-recognition of subjectivity of the colonized. (contributors)

                "Black Skin, White Masks" is a book about the mindset or psychology of racism. The book looks at what goes through the minds of blacks and whites under the conditions of white rule and the strange affects that, especially on black people. The book started out as his doctoral thesis that be wrote to get his degree in psychiatry. This book is worth reading since Fanon's understanding of white French racism in early 1950 and it can also helps to understand white American racism in the 2010.

               The book is divided in 8 chapters. In these eight chapters, Fanon talks about psychology of white colonizers and black people's desire to be like white men. He talks about issue of language, marriage between white and black and psychology behind it, White mindset of ruling, black’s inequality and struggle for human existence.

               In the first chapter, "The Black Man and Language", Fanon shows that how language can present colonialism, how it can show mindset of black and white people. He says,

" The Negro will become whiter-become more human-as he masters the white man's language"

              He explains it with example that, in Martinique, where Fanon grew, people communicate with dialect Creole. But people saw French better than Creole. They started feeling shame with their dialect. It is not because of scholarly opinion but because of being under French rule.

               He noticed that people came back educated from France, they act as if they no longer knew Creole and speak perfect French. He noticed that, it is not because they want to be white (because French is white's language) or they think that white people are better or something but to prove they are equal. But even if they speak perfect French, racism does not stop, because white people do not take it normally as other white person. They will say, "Here is a 'Black' man who handles the French language unlike any white man today.” As it is surprise for them and even their identity of ‘Black’ cannot be forgettable with their education and knowledge of white's language.

As Fanon believes that, ‘To speak a language is appropriate its world and culture’. As language is also part of culture, through learning to speak perfect French, they have unwittingly become culturally whiter.

The second chapter is about the psychology behind the marriage between white men and black women’ “The woman of colour and the White Man”. In this chapter Fanon talks about internalize racism. According to Fanon, the acts of love and admiration are directly tied to who and what we value. And he gave reasons that why women of colour go after white men, putting down men of their own colour!

Fanon says,

 “Authentic Love….entails the mobilization of psychic drives basically freed of Unconscious conflicts.”

In other words, he cannot seek to love unless he has rid himself, in this case of his inferiority complex. Fanon explains that, nor do these women truly love these white men: they just love their colour. They go with them not out of love but to deal with their own hang-ups about race. And it is because the black woman feels inferior.

Secretly she wants to be white and Marrying white is black girl’s way of this. Their racism is so profound that it blinds them to good black men. With marring white person, black woman wants to enter in white world. Mulatto or half girls don’t ever want to marry blacks again. Fanon explains this psychology of black women and their desire to marry whites with real examples in this chapter.

The third chapter, “The Man of Colour and the White Woman.” is about black man’s psychology after being colonized by whites. Fanon argues that, the nature of the relationship is also rooted in the latent desire to become white. He writes,

 “By loving me she [white woman] proves to me that I am worthy of a love. I am a white man.”

The common Mulatto and Black man have only one thought on their mind as soon as they set foot in Europe: to gratify their appetite for white women. They started denying their culture and woman and marry white girl, less for love than satisfying their ego and inferiority.

Fanon explains, this desire with examples of Jean Veneuse, the hero of an autobiographical novel by Rene Maran, “Un homme pareil aux autres” (1947). He is black, but like other Europeans, he grows up French and falls in love with a white woman. He wants to marry white woman.

The chapter Four, “The so-called dependency complex of the colonized” speaks about projected dependency complex of coloured by whites. This chapter encompasses Fanon’s thoughts surrounding the work of one of his contemporaries, Mannoni, himself colonial, he wrote book about it, “The Psychology of Colonization” (1950). Fanon is primarily concerned with the lack of subjectivity displayed by Mannoni which he believes is responsible for the Scholar’s assumption that inferiority complexes are somehow inherent to “primitive” or uncivilized peoples.

Fanon criticize Mannoni that blacks want to be white because white men discriminate them and they turn them into colonized subject, so because of inferiority complex blacks wants to be white but not because of dependency complex as Mannoni says. Fanon, many ways, counter argues Mannoni. At the end, he rephrasing his point: that inferiority complex in people of colour is the result of the white man’s arrival and that,

“Mannoni lacks the slightest basis in which to ground any conclusion applicable to the situation, the problems of the Africans in the present time.”

  

“The lived experience of the black man”, chapter five about experiences of racial description of black men. The chapter is about injustice, inequality and struggle for their existence as a human being. Fanon talks about his experiences and the reasons of their desire to be white. They are suffering because of their skin colour. And it is so powerful that their education, achievements, morality do not effect much. Fanon talks about projected mentality that, “sin is black as virtue is white” without any reasons, black people becomes victim of whites hatred. It’s about struggle for their human existence.

Fanon says,

“A feeling of inferiority? No, a feeling of not existing…All those white man, fingering their guns, can’t be wrong. I am guilty. I don’t know what of, but I know I’m a wretch.”

The title of the chapter six is “The Black man and psychology.” In this chapter Fanon talks about white man’s mentality and their views about black people. Fanon discusses some points that why white people afraid of black man.

 He argues that, because they have as assumption that black men are less moral. They think that as they comes from the colour black, they are bad, immoral, dark, evil and dirty and white is a colour of pure, innocence and clean. Black men are seen as little more than animal. Black man suffers a lot, even they are morally better than white people. Thus, in this chapter, Fanon talks about constructed identity of black men.

Fanon describes his last point in chapter seven, “The black man and recognition”. In this chapter Fanon presents mentality of black people of putting their own people down to feel good. The reason of their mentality is an inferiority complex. The fault is not of black people but it comes from white rule, which forces blacks to live in a world where their human worth is questioned. Blacks are not in a position to put down white people, so, they prove their worth by putting down each other. Like Mulatto girl does not want to marry with black or Mulattoes feel superior and prove blacks inferior.

The last chapter of this book “By way of conclusion” is, as the title suggests, a conclusion. In this chapter he talks about some solution which can try to remove this inequality and injustice between blacks and whites. Fanon suggests forgetting past which leads them to superiority and inferiority complexes. White people may feel guilty for their inhuman ancestors and blacks may feel inferior than whites because of their past as a slave. And it also raises hatred to whites. Thus, Fanon rightly says, not to be prisoners of past, ‘let the dead bury the dead’.

Conclusion:

        Fanon, in the whole book tries to be analytical without attachment. He talks about black men’s desires to be white with psychological reasons. He never become insulting for blacks and also doesn’t present hatred for white people. But he fairly well describes their psychology of superiority mindset/complex.

Recent example which can prove Fanon’s psychology is great dancer Michael Jackson who tries to become white throughout his life.

Works Cited (contributors)

contributors, Wikipedia. Black Skin, White Masks. 20 May 2015. 20 May 2015 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Skin,_White_Masks>.

Fanon, Frantz. "Black Skin, White Masks." Parmar, Hitesh. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove press,1925-191, 2014.

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