What do these texts have in common?
Both of these two readings that I just read had similar meanings to them. They both talked about the way people regarded you due to your skin color. In “Racial Identity in Adulthood”, the contexts talked about how black people are automatically put in a certain category and how they are inferior. It also talked about how black people would usually sit with their own type in cafeterias and so forth and how they are always extra careful working at predominantly white factories because they feel that whatever they do are being very well observed. The author verbalized about the hardships that come to being black. It is not unproblematic being Black. This reading was similar to “Complexion”. Because the author was dark, he was considered inferior. He was not beautiful because of his complexion, even his family talked about how being light was sexy and how they wished their families would turn out with a lighter complexion. These two readings tally along very well because it talks about the importance of being Black and how one has to go through with it day by day.
Looking at them individually
Whiles reading “Racial Identity in Adulthood”, the author states that just being black makes it hard, because people look at you like you are not as good as they are, like you are a second class citizen or something like that on pg. 85. In “Complexion”, the author also stated on pg. 113 how his mother would talk angrily about his complexion because he was dark. These extracts from the readings are comparable. Because being black is hard, the author in “Complexion” mother did not want her son to go through it so she would be very upset when talking to him about his color because she does want his son to be labeled inferior because of his color and treated unfairly.
