What Is The Relationship Between Coleman Silk And African American

Coleman Silk held different power with each relationship. During the 1950’s, white privilege was the norm among races. This enabled white individuals to gain extra privileges, causing other races such as African Americans to feel inferior. Coleman Silk used his skin color as a means to become a white man in his own mind. Silk may have been African American physically but he felt being white was empowering. This gave him the notion of having to have different types of relationships with the people he engaged with during his life.
In Philip Roth’s novel, The Human Stain, Coleman Silk sought to fit into an everchanging society. Coleman’s secret hobby growing up was competitive boxing. This was something Silk enjoyed and Doc Chizner, his coach,

supported him. He never told his parents about his boxing and once they found out his father—especially was not pleased. Coleman was not in it for the money. This was just a hobby he enjoyed and did exceptionally well at. Doc Chizner always told him to never bring up the topic of race. This gave him more strength to excel. Unfortunately, his father was a controlling and superior man. He wanted Coleman to go to Howard University. This was an all African American college. Coleman tried this college out, but dropped out. After his father’s death, he felt free. This gave Silk an opportunity to go to NYU, the college of his dreams. He then met someone who was beyond his wildest desires, Steena.
Steena’s relationship with Coleman was easy and mellow. They would get together with each other for sex. This white woman made everything feel so free for Silk. They did everything together and Coleman wanted her to meet his family. Steena and Silk went down to East Orange to see his family. Mrs. Silk was nothing but kind to Steena. After the get together Steena claims, “I can’t do it!” (Roth 125). She could not deal with being an interracial couple, a very difficult thing to be in the 1950’s. This saddened Coleman since his life may have been different if things would have eventually worked out with Steena.
Silk worked for Athena College most of his adult life.

Nathan, the narrator states, “Coleman had by then been at Athena almost all his academic life, an outgoing, sharp-witted, forcefully smooth big-city charmer, something of a warrior, something of an operator, hardly the prototypical pedantic professor of Latin and Greek” (4). Silk felt as though he was an untouchable being. In addition, he was one of the few Jews to work at Athena. However, his perfect life would soon come crumbing down. During a lecture as Silk was taking attendance, Nathan claims, “there were still two names that failed to elicit a response by the fifth week into the semester, Coleman, in the sixth week, opened the session by asking, “ʻDoes anyone know these people? Do they exist or are they spooks?’’’ (6). Silk was then called into the Dean’s office because someone reported his racial spook comment. Coleman brought this on himself. He was forced to resign, a devastating blow, on the same day he discovers Iris, his wife, had passed away. Silk felt as though Athena College murdered his wife, Iris. Iris was his equal and she had been good for Coleman. She gave him children, Jeff, Michael and the twins Lisa and Mark. Coleman grieved and was devastated until a person named Faunia Farley came

along.
Faunia Farley was no ordinary woman. Coleman states, ‘“The woman has nothing. Faunia Farley. That’s her name. Faunia has absolutely nothing’’’ (28). Silk knew that Faunia was the perfect sexual partner for him. She was a so called “illiterate” woman who Coleman, not the most intelligent person, could dominate. Faunia was in fact a literate person but chose to keep this a secret from Silk. She allowed Coleman to have power over her and she did not care. Coleman felt as though he was Zeus. Viagra kept him alive and powerful. Nathan states, “The contaminant of sex, the redeeming corruption that de-idealizes the species and keeps us everlastingly mindful of the matter we are” (34). Nathan feels as though sex is the power we all have. Coleman may have been old but the desire was still within him to keep being with Faunia. Nelson Primus, his lawyer, warned him. He felt as though staying with Faunia, a woman half his age would lead to exposure and scandal. Coleman ignored his warnings and continued to see Faunia. He then finds himself in conflict with Lester Farley.
Lester Farley, Faunia’s former husband, was inferior to Coleman. Silk treated Faunia with the respect that she never received from Farley. Nathan claims, “[…] her former husband beat her and did not save their children” (28). When the fire that took their children’s lives started, Faunia was out having sex with another man. Lester always felt it was her fault that the children died, which led him to continue to abuse her. Lester Farley suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD which contributed to his stalking and harassment of Faunia. He could not control himself. This mental illness caused him fear and resentment toward the government for what it supposedly had done to him. Even though he was treated for his illness at Veterans Affairs. Lester truly never did recover. He still felt the fear he always had as a result of his service in the Vietnam War. Delphine Roux was the next relationship Coleman encountered.
Delphine Roux’s relationship with Coleman was deceitful. Coleman Silk hired Delphine to work at Athena College. He always knew Roux could do better. The looks Silk gave her gave Delphine the notion of being admired by him. Coleman never saw her as a person who he would become infatuated with. He was more disappointed that she would have chosen to work at a college like this. Delphine was a feminist and she envied Coleman’s superiority. Feeling spurred by Silk, Roux decides to destroy Coleman’s reputation. She found out about his scandal and it took her awhile to finally send out the unanimous letter stating, “Everyone knows you’re sexually exploiting an abused, illiterate women half your age” (38). He then had the letter examined by a professional to then confirm it was in fact Delphine’s handwriting. Interestingly, she then wrote an advertisement about how much she admires Coleman Silk. She presses the send key instead of the backspace key and it is leaked to the whole campus. Delphine receives a phone call that Coleman Silk had died. This was her perfect opportunity to get back at Coleman one last time. She then trashes her own office and stages it as a break in. Once the news came out about Coleman doing this, people did not know what to believe. Roux was an inferior woman who Coleman had superiority over. Delphine never really did gain as much power as Silk had.
Coleman’s relationship between his children, Lisa, Mark, Jeffrey, and Michael was an unsteady rollercoaster.

Lisa, was Coleman’s favorable child. He admired her willingness to teach illiterate children how to read. This was a difficult job, yet he always tried to encourage her. One day Lisa was not picking up his calls and he was wondering what was going on. She then calls her father and asks if he is okay. Silk was confused, Lisa then goes on to ask him about Faunia and the attempted suicide because of an unborn child. This was a rumor started by Delphine to make Coleman look bad once again. Silk realized that this was all a lie. He never had heard about this and it made him upset to think that his favorite daughter was ignoring him due to this. Mark, his other child told him to go away. They never had a healthy relationship with each other. During Coleman’s funeral Mark was weeping and praying, since he felt so ashamed about the pain he caused his father. Silk’s death caused all his children deep regret about their unsteady relationships with

him.
Coleman Silk held different power with each relationship. Coleman may have been a superior man yet his relationships weren’t always the best. Silk’s persona to be a white raced person gained him superiority during his time at Athena College. Coleman’s actions illustrated
the need to be powerful and do what is right for himself, sometimes at the expense of others.