Everett's novel is not just a story about some black people. It is a revelation of racial dynamics that underpin daily life for the black community, and for communities at large. The problem is shown to be one of prejudice, but not in the bitter racist kind that readers might be used to discussing. This prejudice is more subtle and more insidious. Instead of treating Monk's artwork as true human art, it is often labeled "black" art, and immediately the audience changes from universal to particular.
The novelist suggests that this character is truly an inspired genius. He is educated, but more importantly, he understands the connection between mythology and truth. His agent encourages him to stop writing genius stories about Greek mythology and to start writing about "black" life and the difficulties of "black life," like issues in the street or in the neighborhood. Instead, he writes "My Pafology," a diagnosis of all the societal expectations that shape the depiction of black people in popular art. His work is nearly satire, because it exposes the racist genre expectations of his agent. He considers it so profane he renames it "Fuck."
The issue of identity is clearly at play throughout this story. For instance, many of the names point to the protagonist's feelings of true artistic genius. His name is literally "Thelonious Monk," a reference to the famous pianist of staggering musical intelligence, and "Ellison," a reference to Ralph Ellison who wrote the genius book, Invisible Man. In the story known as "My Pathology/Fuck," he names his character Van Go, a satirical play on Van Gogh. By ending the novel "hypotheses non fingo," Percival Everett reveals he has no agenda or political interests. Rather, he intends the novel as a depiction of real life, such that perhaps the novel is best categorized as a roman a cléf.
