White Resistance to Somewhere in the Darkness

White Resistance to Somewhere in the Darkness

I feel compelled to revisit the one novel we have read that created the most resistance in me and would quite possibly do so in a significant population of white readers: Walter Dean Myers' Somewhere in the Darkness. That the book is well written or valuable to readers is irrelevant here -- I enthusiastically grant both. Of greater concern in this discussion is the notion of resistance to the book that could easily be encountered with a particular population of suburban, white readers, namely those who would seem to have the most in common with Jimmy and who, paradoxically, would most likely resist the book.

The readers who comprise this group have much in common with Jimmy. They are largely lower-middle class and come from either fatherless homes, what might easily be considered dysfunctional two-parent homes, and/or live with extended families in lieu of their natural parents. In any case, the parent(s) are possibly absent from the home a great deal of the time, involved in a variety of dating practices and sexual promiscuity, caught up in illegal activity and often incarcerated or have been, oppressed by substance abuse of some type, and/or often living in an environment of either subtle or overt racism. I have made no effort to quantitatively justify the particulars of this description though such a study would undoubtedly prove enlightening. Rather, I assert this general description based on 12 years of experience of living in a white, lower middle-class suburb. In some ways, we could easily view these readers as insiders in that they share with Jimmy some elements of a common familial experience, but it is the cultural differences between white and ...

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...ility: there is no hope for me or my kind.

A white reader's resistance to Walter Dean Myers' novel, Somewhere in the Darkness, is inevitable, particularly when that white reader has more in common with the protagonist than not. It seems the closer in circumstance the white reader is to Jimmy, the more he/she might resist to his cultural differences because those underlying cultural differences cause Jimmy to act in ways that seem unlikely to a white reader. The key is to be aware of those differences and be willing to see what Jimmy sees -- from his point of view. If we are willing to do that, then Myers' work is a wonderful and effective way to learn not only about Jimmy and his culture but also about ourselves and the hopes we have for our lives.

Works Cited:

Myers, W. D. Somewhere in the darkness. New York: Scholastic Book Services.1992.