Currently, I’m reading Recently, I finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I’ve been on a nonfiction kick lately and I wanted to read what many believe is the first “nonfiction novel.” Anyway, as I read, the “character” Perry refers to a black man as a nigger and continues to use the word in various areas of the book. There was this one passage where he said the word maybe three or four times in a row, or within the same paragraph, and I was pissed off. And offended for sure. I haven’t picked up the book since Took me a while, but I finished it.
Now I’m reasonable and I can very well say, “It’s nonfiction. The passage was quoted and documented verbatim. Also, this was written in the 1950s.” Maybe I think I make enough concessions when watching Scorsese or Tarantino films, because when it comes to books, I’m not in the mood for reason, for logic. Hearing the word in a movie is a come-and-go affair; maybe while digging in the tub of popcorn, you miss the word altogether.
In a book, however, the word sits there. I don’t know. It conjures a different type of anger within me. A sickening feeling; it destroys the alchemy in my head, the melding of an author’s words with my imagination, and the illusion is gone. I’m back in the real world or, worst, in the real world my parents and grandparents endured, a vastly different Earth than my own. Anyway, it comes down to context. I’ll probably dive back into In Cold Blood because its an otherwise good read and, most likely, Perry was a racist or, at least, thought the word was both commonplace and acceptable (I suppose he would’ve been right). Too bad he was hanged for killing four people, but that’s neither here nor there (angryblackmanpowers…activate!)
Anyway, let me know what you think about the word, or any form of racist speech, in literature, past or present. Meanwhile, I’m going to throw back this glass of Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon. Peace.
