“On which side?” : James Weldon Johnson's autobiography of an ex-colored man

Rei'ista de Estudios Norteamericanos. n.º 8 (2001), pp . 33 - 48 «ON WHICH SIDE?»: JAMES WELDON JOHNSON'S AVTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EX-COLORED MAN MAR GALLEGO Universidad de Huelva Within the contex.t of African American literary production, the desire to search for an appropriate vehicle to portray the reality of African American identity seems to have frequently led to a kind of self-conscious narrative which deals primarily with a specific type of character, the so-called «mulatto» figure. in his/her quest for sel fde1inition. This cha ract er is usually depicted while involved in the act of «passing,» that is, of crossing over the color line to t he «whitc side.» The internal conflict that this charact er undergoes is epitomized in The Autobiography of w1 Ex-Colo red Man by James Weldon Johnson ( 1912). in which the mulatto protagonist recounts his cx.pcriences once he has crossed over. In so doing. Johnson directly recalls two wellcstablished traditions within African American letters from the previous century: t he «tragic m ulatto » tra dition1 and the autobiogra phi c tr end in augurate d by slave narratives.2 Bo th literary tradition s are re-in terpr eted in the novel's «passing» 1. This tradition evotves around a mulatto p ro tagonist whose a tt empts to pass for white cnd up tragically. cithcr in death or, more frequcntly. suicide. As Wcmer Sollors explains: «lt is an American tragedy ... The Mulatto suicide is the cultural givcn in American scttings» (300). The best-known «tragic mulatto» nove Is of the nineteenth-century are William Wclls Brown's Clotel or the Pr eside nt's Daughter (1853). Frank Wchh's The Gar ies ami theír Friends (1857) and Charles Chesnutt's The House Belrind che Cedars (1900) and Tite Marmw ofTmditiml (1901). Among th ese texts. Bro wn·, novel and Chesnutt's Tlze H ou se B eh irul tlze Cedars will be particularly useful as sources for cxamples. 2. This trend is noticeable sincc thc appearance of s la ve narratives. ex-slaves' accounts of their period of bond in g that werc lirst publishcd around 1760. The growing critica! response to this genre has dcvoted a great deal of attcntion to thc clase link hetween autobiography and these narratives; espccially remarkable are thc contrihutions by Stcphen Butterfield in Black Autohiography in Ameriw (1974) and William L. And rew' in To Tell a Fra Story: Tite First Ce nt ury of Afro - American Aurohiography. 1760-1865 (1986 }. lt nccds to he addcd that. due to the impressivc amount of slavc 34 Mar Galle go protagonist. who, caught betwcen thc white and the black worlds, is unable to c ho ose on which side he actually stands. The novel thus embarks on a process of rcvision and actualization of basic th emcs and motifs stemming from thc previ ous twofold tra di tio n to reexa mine thc key issuc of the mulatto's li mina lity.3 This kind of interr elat ion is a good iltustration of what t he critic Stepto has termed the «Call/response» process within thc African American literary framework, that is, a process whereby modern tcxts takc up or «r espond» lo particular subjects or problems that are already present in previous texts. which represen! the tradilion (xvi).~ In this way. the relalionship bctween Jobnson's novel and thc tradition is regarded as a dynamic one encouragcd by Johnson' s own personal vision and re-working on thi s heritage. Johnson 's re -i nterprctation and subvcr sion of traclition in order lo explore Jiminality is 'lructured following conventional tropcs that could be condensed in four main ideas: namdessncss. i mp o11ance of appearancc, movcment or lack of 1f, and attitude toward both family and community. A detailed st ud y of Johnson's u se and adaptal ion of thcsc conventions coming from hoth sources -tragic mulatto novels and slave nmntivesforegrounds a crucial idea in the lext: thc character's impossibility to achicve a satisfying sense of identity and i<lentification wi th either of the two races an<l his ullimate failurc to truly belong to either of them.s In this sensc. Johnson 's character can be <lefinc<l as thc p erf cc t cmbodiment of the liminal entity that pcrmancntly wavers between two worlds, unable to fit in. The first trope lhat is underline<l in the texl from the very outset is namele-;sness. Not only because of the title. which undoubtedly capitaliz es on the notion of a nameless nmrntor, bm also becausc of its dircct conncctions to the two traditions aforementioned. From thc vcry beginning this lrope is emphasized due to narratives. the prescnt study i' rc,trktcd mainly lo antebcllum onc,. 'incc. as Andrcws has convincinly argued in .. 111c Rcprcscnlatiun of Slavery and lhe Rise of Afro-American Literary Rcalism, 1865- 1920» (1993). postbcllum slavc nam1tives cun,titute a group aparl. A guod instance of antcbellum narrativc' i' Frcdcrick Dougla>s · aulobiography that w ill be hcrcaftcr taken as main rcfcrcm:e in this ,¡udy. Snm c critics havc alrcady paid allcntion lo the conncction betwccn Johnson 's novel and slave narrativc convcntion ': Lucinda Mackcthan in her articlc «Rlock Bor a nd ErColored Man: Vcrsi on and lnvcrsinn of thc Slavc Narrator's Quest for Voicc» ( 1988). and Robert Stcpto in Rehind tile Vei/ ( 1979) to which thc anaJy,is bascd un slave narrativ es is especially indcbted. 3. Thc notiofü of liminal and liminality are infonncd by the anthropological dcliniliuns of t he tcn n providcd by Arnold Va n Gennep and Víctor Turncr in thcir classic works Rites nf Pas sa¡:e ( 1960) a nd Tlw Rirual Pm<'<! ss (1969). respectively. Specifica ll y the second phasc of any rite of p assagc. liminal or lransitiun al stage. illuminatcs this rc-rcading of John ;on 's nove l. 4. The concepl itsclf corrcspnnd' in many a way to Gates' scnse uf intenextuality or «Signification» descrihcd in Tlze Sig11ifl'ing Monk ey. A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism (1988¡ . .5. These two conccp1' are crucial lo undcrstand thc novel and thc dilfrrentiation bctwcen both thal John Perry offers ¡, quite uscfu l: «ldcnllly i' nut a neccssary condition of identification. l can identi fy w1 1h thc pürlicipant m cvcnts 1 did 1101 do , and wouhl not do , evcn if thcy werc to be done » cXu 266). In the case of JohnMm's prot ago nisl. his need of idcnllfü:ation with one >idc of hi; mixcd hcritage is a constant sourcc of anxicty that he ncv.:r quite sol vc>. evcn in his momcn1' of closest contacr with eithcr a black nr whilc idcntily. "On Which Side .? »:Jame s \Ve/don Jolmson 's Autohiography of an Ex-Coloree/ Man 35 the fact that the protagonist remains unnamed throughout the novel, he is an «Ex. - Colored Man» wilh no othcr identifying tag. But this stratcgic use of namelessness widens its spectrnm to include other aspects of the novel, such as thc narrator's selfimposed silence or what Stepto calls «rhetoric of omission» (105). A good example is located in thc opening pages of the novel when his birthplace is never stated: «I shall not mention the name of the town. because there are people still living there who could be connected with this narrative» (2), or later on, in the last chapter when he affirms: «I have now reached that part of my nairntive where I must be brief and touch only on important facts; therefore the reader must make up his mind to pardon skips and jumps and meager details» (140). This willing silence on the protagonist's part can be interpreted as a reworking of the previous tradition in severa] ways. With respect to slave narratives, it is, firstly. clear proof of the control over the narrative commonly uscd by slave narralors to demonstrate their literate skills and their command over their writings. For example, Douglass makes use of the same strategy in his narrative to show his absolute control: «But before narrating any of the peculiar circumstances. 1 deem it proper to make it known my intention not to state all the facts connected with the transaction» (315). In his case, his silence signifies his freedom to speak or not, metaphorically symbolizing his free status. He is not a slave anymore, so he is free to choose what to tell his readers, displaying thus his authority over the narrated events. Secondly, na melessness is a very productive strategy in slave narrativcs because it is also relatcd to the slaves' lack of a proper name and thus of a real, self-defined identity. As Kimbcrly Bcnston explains, namelessness is essential to the slave narrative tradition where there is a «need to resituate or displace the literal master/father by a literal act of unnaming» (3). Unnaming/Naming is actually highlighted in slave narratives because the pair means a complete subversion of the master's dominance over the slave. Slaves unname the master both in their choice of a different name as soon as they gel free. which is exemplified by Douglass' zeal to find a new name (322), and, very significantly, in their very act of writing their narratives. Hcnce sl aves' writing reverses the powerful master discourse that equates slaves to lcss than human beings because of their lack of literacy. Writing for slaves becomes then not only a certificate for humanity but also their way of naming th emselves into a ncw identity, a new sense of self with an individual voice.6 Thc fact that Johnson's character remains unnamed complete ly upsets this equation n aming-freedom characteristic of slave narratives, bringing to the fore the mulatto's inability to achieve a sa tisfying sense of self. This idea is even clearer because the characte r's namelessness draws direct altention to the na1rntor himse lf , linking him to the second lradition above mentioned, that of the mulatto or «passing» character. As the critic Robert Fleming notes, «[t]he main character is namcless in a figurative sense because he is the bastard son of a wealthy whitc Southerner and a mulatto servan!» ( 120). Righl from the beginning, the protago ni st of thc novel embodies the perfect cxample of the mulatto bo rn out of a 6. For a longer acw unt of thc signi faa ncc of w ri ting for ,; la ve s see Gates · fo urth chapter in 17ze Sign(fying Monk ev anJ also AnJrcws' To Te ll a Free Story, cspecially chapters onc and si x. 36 Mar Gallego mixed parentage who is unaware of hi s condition and thus identifies with the white race. This is precisely the case of many mulatto characters such as Clotel in Brown 's novel. Clotel represents the epitome of the tragic mulatto figure, since she is raised and educated as white and only discovers her mulatto condition when her father, supposedly presiden! Thomas Jefferson, di es and she is so ld as a slave. The fact that Johnson's character is nameless stresses that mulatto condition even further, si nce to be nameless means not to belong, not to be ack no wledged. Thus Johnson 's protagonist comes to stand for any other mulatto, since he is unnamed, unaccounted for. So what seems to be at stake in the novel is a conception of an unnamed, blurred identity, wavering between two worlds, in search of a single and valid identification with either the black or the white world that is never quite ach ieved. Together with namelessness, the importance of appearance is emphasized over and over again in the narration as proof of his mulatto condition. The character clings to his white identity up to the very «discovery scene» which dramatically foregrounds the final unveiling of his liminal social status. This scene is the more painful because of his deep conviction of being white. Up to this moment he has never questioned this assumption, but when he is told to raise with the colored children: «I sal down dazed. 1 saw or heard nothing. When !he others were asked to rise, 1 did not know it. When school was dismissed, 1 went out in a kind of stupor» ( 11 ). The immediate result of the re velation of his «true» race is to deny it, and this is the reason why he is prompted to look at himself in the mirror. This event is to be found in many «tragic mtliatto» te xts too, in which the mirror is used as undeniable proof of the character's whiteness. Rena in Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedar:; examines herself in front of the mirror to assure herself of her white ne ss (76), and the same does Johnson 's character: I was accustomed to hear remarks about my beauty; but now, for the first time, 1 became conscious of it and recognized it. l noticed the ivory whiteness of my skin, the beauty of my mouth ... I noticed the softness and glossiness of my dark hair that fell in waves over my temples, making my forehead appear whiter than it really was. (11) He unmistakably identifies his beauty with the white canon of ideal beauty which gives primacy to whiteness. Immediately after, his whiteness is contrasted with the description of his mother, who becomes in contrast «tarnished» according to the same code: .¡ could see that her skin was almost brown, that her hair was not so soft as mine, and that she did differ in sorne way from the other ladies who carne to the house» ( 12). The protagonist has internalized the w hi te canon ofbea uty so completely that he does not even realize that his remarks are clearly endowed with a racist ove1tone. What is significan! in this scene is the importance given to appearance by the character, who in this way follows tragic mulatto's notions where white appearance stands for access to the white race. The constant emphasis on white appearance is thus a defining trait of mulatto novels. For instancc. in the case of Clotel her appearance is «On Whic/1 Side ?»:James Weld<m Johnso11 's Autobiography of a11 Ex-Co/ored Man 37 repea t edly defined as t he epitome of white beauty. Especially poignant is her description when she is standing on the auction block about to be sold as a slave: There she stood, with a complexion as white as most ofthose who were wa iting with a wish to become their purchasers; her features as finely defined as any of her sex of pure Anglo-saxon; her long black wavy hair done up in the neatest manner; her form tall and graceful, and her whole appearance indicating one superior to her position. (121) The fact that this white and distinguished lady is there on the verge of being sold as chattel tries to point out the terrible injustice of slavery. However, what actually comes across is the fact that Clotel does not belong with slaves, since her beauty complies with ali the requirements ofthe white canon and her bearing and gracefulness function as proof of her superior education and class. Indeed, Clotel has been raised as the Ex- Colored man in a privileged enviroment being the daughter of a white gentleman. Despite their «white» appearance and evident education, both of them are nevertheless doomed to suffer the consequences of being classified within the black race. For Clotel these are actually quite tragic, since she tums into a slave. For the Ex-Colored man the disclosure of his «social» identity stands completely at odds with the identity he has always believed to possess. Notwithstanding his efforts, with the discovery of his blackness he cannot help but entering the liminal or in-between territory that mulaltoes inhabit. Such realm is signalled in the text by other clues such as his feeling of Ioneliness and of isolation from what he considered to be his previous identification with the white community. This notion of self-estrangement calls to mind another kind of conflict which usually accompanies the mulatto's discovery of his/her blackness, self-hatred. This notion is described by Flerning in the following terms: «Black self-hatred is another important theme employed by Johnson. Constantly told that he is a member of an inferior race, the black man may come to believe or fear that he really is inferior» (122). This is the reason why the narrator feels a strong dislike towards the mere idea of being categorized with the other black people and of Iosing the rights that his white skin bestows upon him. This is also the case of many tragic mulattoes who attempt to fight against the socially imposed definition of their identities as black, holding onto their whiteness, and thus refusing to acknowledge theirliminal selves. Another idea that is constantly hinted at in both slave narratives and tragic mulatto novels is movement or rather the absence of it and its connection with liminality. In the novel this notion is essentially depicted in two phases: the first part of the narration, that concemed with the protagonist's childhood, is linked to a refusal to move; whereas the second part, after his mother's death, is basically characterized by his constant trips which make him travel not only around the country, from North to South and then back up, but also abroad, to Europe. In the first period of his life, when he is a child, the lack of movement is mainly associated with two images of stability and permanence: the garden and the house. Dealing fistly with the garden, this element is emphasized when set in opposition with 38 Mar Gallego the «interiority» that the narrator favors remaining most of the ti me inside the house. But again wh at is significan! here is the fact that John so n is reversing this image pr ese nt in slave narratives. While thc garden in The Autohiography is de scribed asan «cndless territory» (2), in slave narratives the image of the garden is usually the opposite: the source of problem and conflict on the plantation. In Douglass' nanative, the garden stands explicitly for prohibition and even taboo for th e slaves. marked as such by tar: « The slaves beca me as fearful of tar as of the lash. They realize the impossibility of touching lar without being defilcd» (264). This is. then, a clear instance of Johnson 's reworking on a legacy for a complete ly different purpose, because his garden is positively linked to African roots and it is the realm of a pos sible idcntification with the African American community (Stepto 100-1). In fact, there are sorne bottles buricd in thc gar den that Stcpto has rightly interpreted as an «African survival» ( 100).7 The character's lack of awareness of this rcality is made painful!y obvious when he tries to dig up the bottles and. consequently, is sevcrely punished by hi s mother. This moment reveals how est range<l he is from his black roots. but what is rcally relcvant in this scene is Johnson 's revision of thc image of the garden to imply th e idea of freedom and the possibility of community. The fact that after the episode of the bottles the narrat or is reluctant to explore the garden anymore indicatcs his unwillingncss to fine! out more about his black identity. Indeed . from this scene onwards the rest of the character's childhood is spcnt indoors. inside the house which represcnts thc charactcr's voluntary lack of mobilit y. The image of the house, therefore. insists upon the notion of inmobilit y, cspccially in the descript ion of the «little cottage» in Connccticut almost as an aristocratic mansion from which the charactcr is not willing to move: My moth er ami J lived together in a littlc cottage which seemed to me to be fitted up almost luxuriously ... My mothcr dressed me very neatly and I devclopcd that pridc which well-dressed boys generally have. She was careful about my associates. and J myse lf was very particular. As I look back now I can see that I was a perfect little aristocrat. (4) Thc scnse of his being encapsulated in this sort of cushioned world. in which he can be whatever he pleases, even a «little aristocrat» with no connection with the outside realit y. is clearly envisioned here. He seems to live in a protected bubble, holding onto his middlc-class status, with no nced to make choices or idcntify with any particular group. It is quite telling that Rena 's situation is describ ed in very similar tcrms: «Currer [Rena's mother] early resolved to bring her daughters up as Jadies, as she termed it, and th erefore. imposed little orno work upon th em ... she a nd her daughters 7. The work of severa! contcmporary «Vis ionary» arlists likc William Edmonson and Lesl ie Payne attest to lhis fac t. since they make use of this clcmcnt in thcir gurden «decorations.» See Regenia Pcrry's What 11 Is: Bfack Amerirnn Folk /\rt ( 1982). "On Whicl1 Side? ~: .lames Weldo11 Johns on ·s Autohio¡¡mphv of cm E.\-Colored Man 39 lived in comparativc luxury» (120). Again the idea of living in a sort of protected and luxurious envirornent is detected here as a haven from the pressures to define coming from American society. Therefore, it is logical that Johnson 's charact er shows his reluctance to effect any kind of jou rney at this stage, preferríng to stay home. apparently very content in his situation. He voices his desire not to move by means of the mention of the epi•mde of the «tubs»: Th esc tubs we re the earlies t aversion of my life. for regu larly on certain evenings I was plunged into one of them and scrubbed until my skin ac hed. [ can remember to this day the pain caused by the strong. rank soap's getting into my eyes. (2) This scenc recalls the ritualistic act of washing as a compu lsory pr eparation for a ncw step in Tites of passage. The painfulness attributed to this act of washing emphasizes the rejection tha t thc narrator as a child w ould feel towar ds the tuhs. a nd . co nscq uenlly , towards leaving the place he is in and heginmng his search. This «aversion» towards the tubs and the link with th e idea of liminali ty that thcy represent. show his origin al rcfusal -without his knowledge or cvcn awarene ss- to undertakc the quest to face a <lefinite identification w it h a mulatto or «black» id en tity. This aversion also challenges the previous tradition of tragic mulatto no vels, since mulatto characters in general are quite wi ll i ng to move. For instance. Rena is easily convinced to «pass» by her hrother Warwick who is airead y «pa ss ing» dueto «thc comp arison of this free and noble life with the sur did existencc of those around her» (28). Rcna shows her eagcrness to leave her pre se nt statc to embrace that other l if e as so on as her hroth er makes the proposal. Besides. this episode constitutes a reworking uf slave nmT atives too. since slave narrators sec in the idea of movement itse lf a positive thing, which stands for freedom. For this reason Douglass is very happy to partícipate in the ritualistic washing prior to leavc Colonel Ll oyd's plantation (271 ). These are his revealing words ahout leaving: 1 look upon my departurc fr om Co lon el Lloy<l's plantation as one of the most intcresting events in my l if e. lt is possible, and even quite probable. that but the mere circumstances of being removed from t hat plantation to Baltimorc. 1 should have to-day. instead of heing here seated by my ow n table. in the cnjoyment of frc e<l om and the bappiness of home, writing t bi s NaIT a tiv e, been confined in the ga ll ing chains oí slave ry . Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gatewa y, to a li my subsequent prosperity. (273) Clearly Douglass is quite aware of the possibilities that this journey may entail for him as the me ans to attain freedom, and which wi ll also provc in strumental in the writing of his narrative. Therefor e Dou gl ass equates here freedom to mo vc with liherati on from his oppressive slave status and from his illiteratc state. Quite the 40 Mar Gallego contrar y, in Johnson's protagonist, his refusal of free movement, of bis possibility of mobility becomes an «interior transformation,» as it were, the character-narrator tends to confine bimself to closed, limited spaces, as the novel progres ses.R Despite the reference to all kinds of settings -fro m the South tbrough the «freer» North into the open possibilities of Europe-, the effcct becomes the opposite: the more inclu sive the pic tu re is, the more limited the character becomes in terms of spatial movement. On bis journey South, the sense of disappointment is actually stressed by an overall sense of failure, which foretells that his need to ide nt ify with Southem black people is bound to fa il. In fact, the first feeling he expe riences when seeing the legendary Sou th is that of disillusionmen t: «The farther I go t below Washington, the more disappointed I becamc in the appearance of the country. I peer ed through the car windows, looking in vain for the luxuriant semitropical scenery whicb l had pi ct ur ed in my mind» (37). Morcover, there are other episodes that predict the fr ustration of hi s plan. Fir st of ali, the «suffocatiog mule» that appears a page later, which is a clear symbol of the «suffering Negro ,» antecedent of the lynching episode (Stepto 116 ). His disappointment increases due to the sense of betrayal that he feels when he discovers that he has been robbed of all his college money by a fellowman. In a sense, it is as if the black community itself were rejecting h im as a rightful part of it. So the character seems to be exactly where he was at the beginning of his trip, that is, outside the communily and back to his liminal status. At this po in t it is interesting to notice that the trope of the closet is used by the narrator in connection with his journcy. Since he has no money left, he is offered a ride in a closet: «l thanked him again, not kuowing then what it was to travel in a Pullman's porter's closet» (46). Once more the sense of pain and disturbance is associated wi th the idea of travelling and with the consequent transition. What is also remarkable about this particul ar instance is that the trope of the closet is used in motion, that is, Jobnson 's confincment is employed to upset the traditional trope in slave narratives, where the closet usually represents the confinement sla ves suffer from in their period of bondin g, as Douglass repeatedly hides in the closet when terrible scencs of punishmenl are inílicted onto other slaves (259). On the oth er hand, many slave characters make use of the trope of the closet as a means of escaping. The most outstanding example can be found in Harriet Ja cobs' narrative, in which she spends seven ycars in a garrett in order to escape her maste r 's sexu al attraction towards her, metaphorically standing for both the racist and sex is t enclosure that black women bore during slavery times. In th e end, Jacobs achieves her aim aud she is finally free from the burden of slavery. But the trope movement/confinement is consistently deploy ed by Johnson throughout the rest of the novel, especially in hi s depic ti on of th e character's stay in NewYork: 8. Slepto mak es a simil ar observation when he argues thal «the Ex -Co lored man grows distrustful of open spaces ... he is confidenl of himsclf and his abilities only in strictly defined interiors» ( 1O1 ). «Ün Which Side:>,,: James We/don Johnson's Autobiography ofcm Ex-Co/ored Man 41 My New York was limited to ten blocks; the boundaries were Sixth Avenue from Twcnty-third to Thirty-third Streets, with the cross streets one block to the west. Central Park was a distant forest, and the lower part of the city a foreign land. (82-83) This confined space, more than any other befare, clearly represents the liminal world in which the character lives depicted as the «Underground.»9 In this case, the trape of the undcrworld seems to echo the «underground railroad» that took slaves to freedom. However, Johnson reverses this trope to emphasize liminality identifying the underground world with a hellish place. Despite his success as the «best ragtimeplayer» (84) of Ncw York, the image of this place as hell is reinforced by his relief to leave it: «l felt like one fleeing from a horrible nightmare» (90) . His feeling of relief recalls, in a way, the slaves' feeling of liberation, once they have escaped their slave condition. lt is, neverthelesss, quite ironic due to the protagonist's almost integration into the life of the black community there. Once more Johnson is deconstructing a conventional trope in order to achieve the opposite effect, since in this case the protagonist feels free when he leaves behind his black identity. The same scheme is operative in the rest of bis trips througbout Europe and the Soutb. The fom1b and last aspect that is related to the idea of liminality in the novel is the character's relation to his white family and to the African American community. As regards his family, his relationship with bis fatber is almost non-existent. In fact, this cbaracter only appears twice in the narration. Thc first one is placed right after the discovery scene, and the protagonist is unable to rise to the occasion rejecting his father abruptly: 1 can now understand that she [his mother] could expect nothing else but that at the name 'father' I should throw myself into his arms. But I could not rise to this dramatic, or, better, melodramalic, climax. Somehow I could not arouse any considerable feeling of need for a father. (23) In this passage Johnson is punning again on the «tragic mulatto» tradition, in which there is a consta n! uncontrollable desire on the mulatto's part to be acknowledged by the white sidc of the family, as it is the case of Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition, which ends up in a total destruction of the family and rupture of any possible hmmony. The conflictive nature of the relationship with the white side of the family reappears again when he is in Europe, supposedly perfectly content in his situation until he meets his father and sister at the Opera. The old feelings of loneliness and frustration re-appear: «Slowly the desolate loneliness of my position became clear to 9. The «underworld» th cmc has been widely retaken wit hin African American literary production. Th e classical exponent is !nl'isible Man by Ralph Ellison, where the underground is used as the me ans to find the lost identi ty ( 1972). 48 Mar Gallego Sollors, Werner. « "Nev er Was Born ": The Mulatto, an American Tragedy?.» The Massachusetts Review 27.2 ( 1968): 293-316. Turner, Víctor. The Ritual Process. 1969. Ithaca: Co rnell University Press, 1977. Van Gennep. Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960. Webb, Frank. The Garies and the ir Friends. 1857. NewYork: Amo and The New York Time, 1969. Xu, Ben. «Memory and thc Ethnic Self: Reading Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club.» Memory, Narrative, & ldentity. Eds. Amritjit Singh et al. Boston: Northeas tern University Press, 1994. 261-77.