Ralph Ellison's I Yam What I Am

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Sweet but bitter, Ralph Ellison’s short story “I Yam What I Am” follows a conflicted man as discovers the meaning of freedom while walking down the street. Ellison suggests that the contrast between the warm yam and the frost bitten yam reveals that when trying to overcome the stereotypes and the harsh views of others, it can be hard and confusing but pushing through is the only way to get through it. The narrator is eating the yams only to find out that one of the yams was frostbitten and instead of being upset he simply throws the yam away. The narrator goes through a variety of emotions including embarrassment for the things he can't change while at the same time, overcoming the social norms that are expected of him. While walking down the street the narrator sees a sign endorsing skin whitening products proclaiming that if you use this product you will be “truly beautiful.” Everywhere the narrator looks, he is reminded that the color of one’s skin …show more content…

His inability to continue to look at the signs shows his insecurity, anger and even his embarrassment of the things he can't change. Acceptance is a big part of human growth, however if you never feel accepted, you try to change the way you act or behave in order to feel accepted and this is the feeling that causes the narrator to be embarrassed of who he is. As the narrator continues to walk, he buys a yam from the vender and when he bites into the warm sweet yam, he shows acknowledgement of who he is by saying, “I yam what I am.” He feels free and is therefore relishing in something that he would never have been allowed to do before, which is eat in public. In that moment he is accepting of having to pay

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