White Vs. Non-White Narrator Comparing Essay

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She tells her neighbor, "you have no way of knowing, but you're talking to a person whose life may be more like yours than you could ever imagine" (Wideman 34). This clearly links the non-white and white narrators together in a common bond based on how racism has torn them apart from each other.

However, the white narrator seems more willing to try and rectify the situation that racism has destroyed. Rather than Laurel, this woman seems to want to take smaller steps to rectify the situation, "I don't want to be a stranger" (Wideman 35). This shows how the white narrator here is willing to try to end the racism that created his own strange, defensive thoughts. She says "I'm not that kind of person. I raised my children not to hate" (Wideman 30). Yet, the reader is left unsure as to whether or not they can actually trust her when she says that. She is unreliable, and it is unsure as to whether or not she will even try to break down the walls further. Still, the very fact that she wants to is something unique to the white narrator here.

Michael Charbon's story "Along the Frontage Road" is also from the perspective of a white narrator. There is something familiar and common between whites and African-Americans that are expressed from the white narrator's point-of-view. He talks about seeing a young African-American boy, "not much older than my Nicky" (Chabon 1). He sees that he is waiting for his father, and so feels a connection because he himself is a father to a boy of similar age. Like the non-white narrator, the white narrator is also keenly aware of other's races.

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The narrator here shows this when he reacts to the race of the cashier at the pumpkin patch. He describes him as being "of indeterminate ethnicity -- Arab, Mexican, Israeli, Armenian, Uzbeck" (Chabon 1). This shows how even the white narrator is aware of racial attributes.

Yet, the white narrator here seems to be the one who is limited. There is a fear in his son's eyes as he talks with the African-American man. This shows how even the younger generations are affected by racism, just as Laurel was in "Brownies." The fact that his son is growing up from such a sheltered perspective seems to embarrass him in front of the African-American family who has a more realistic view of life. The white narrator realizes that even the African-American boy tends to be more realistic than his own son. He tends to understand more about the world because he has seen it from a non-sheltered viewpoint, where his own son is sheltered and so cries for no reason when he encounters an African-American. This shows a perspective that it is not the non-white narrator who is limited, but the white narrator.

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