More Than Appearances: The Depth of Griffin's Change Anonymous 11th Grade

John Howard Griffin’s memoir Black Like Me attempts to examine the exclusively physical transformation of a man from white to black. Griffin seeks to more wholly understand racial issues in the 1950s by altering his skin color and “nothing else”. His original white identity enjoys a strong sense of self, demonstrated by consistent personal pronouns, and a distinct separation of races, demonstrated by simplifying articles. The moment Griffin looks in the mirror and sees a black man, he changes not just physically, but his own identity experiences shocking confusion. His pronoun usage becomes often depersonalized in the third person as his identity becomes similarly depersonalized as he loses his comfortable white identity. However, he eventually becomes at peace with his new black identity and his pronouns begin to once again become personal, as they relate to both his black and white self. As Griffin sets out to solely change his outward experience, he inevitably changes his identity, revealed by an increasing fluidity of pronoun usage, and ultimately invalidating his argument as he changes much more than his physical appearance.

Griffin’s original, unchanged self, employs intentional vagueness and separation from both the...