Aspects of Identity
Throughout this unit, there are numerous opportunities for students to become aware of their own identity through analyzing and identifying with the characters of the detectives. Vernacular as a category of expression in each novel will be studied. Students will dissect the term blackground,9 references to music/dance, language, and food interlaced in the detective text. In terms of language, the language of the African-American community is extremely important to the Black detective fiction tradition. Students will note characters' use of dialogue - dialect or King's English.
Students will be guided to read with easier comprehension when identifying common language traits of the Black community: marking, loud-talking, testifying, calling out, rapping, playing the dozens, etc. Students will begin to note how important tone is to speech and its patterns. Students will not "get it" maybe from the printed text, but will grasp the idea of tone in hearing the written word read aloud. They will also understand the inclusion of hand and eye motions as described by the authors within their work. Voice reflects identity; the authors included in this unit consciously choose a linguistic persona for their protagonist that aligns him or her with the language of their upbringing. This establishes verbal loyalty to that cultural background. This is not to say that the protagonist has no education, it only shows the care the authors took in making the character continuous with the world in which he/she moves.
Food and music are also essential functions in establishing the Black community's identity. In all nine of the novels, students will have to digest and analyze the descriptive accompaniments of food (Mosley and Neely) and music (Mosley and Himes). This is also a part of the hard-boiled tradition, with an African-American flavor added.
Most importantly in considering cultural nuances, students will delve into infraracial prejudice—conflict within the Black community based on shades of skin color. This portion of the study will audaciously throw out some of the baggage that is given to African-American children at birth. Students will confront personal beliefs about being a light-skinned African-American or a dark-skinned African-American. They will be exposed to historical accounts of using skin-lightening creams to alter skin color. Also, they will have explained to them and discuss the paper bag test and what the driving force behind it was. In addition, female students will have to reconsider the value of hair straitening products and hairstyles as a cultural marker in at least one of the authors' work. Students will do a search to compare and contrast discriminatory practices in and outside of the Black community in advertisements and other printed materials.
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