Throughout all
of Angry Black White Boy I have been struggling to form a concrete opinion on
Macon. His brain moves so fast and chaotically that it’s often hard for me to
keep up and process the motives for and implications of the things he says and
does. In class in recent days we have been discussing whether or not we can
view Macon as a hero, and whether or not we agree with him.
I have some respect for Macon in some ways. He is bravely and openly confronting the topic
of his whiteness, which is a pretty rare occurrence. He realizes that he has
unfair privileges because of the way our country’s system works and instead of
silently accepting those privileges he raises his voice about it (but,
significantly, still accepts the privileges). As Nique says, at least Macon is
making an effort and that should count for something.
Macon says that
his goal is to shake people up and get white people talking and thinking about
race, which he definitely achieves. However, I’m not sure I can support the
methods he uses to achieve this. Macon is a total wild card and we see him
resisting any formal leadership role or responsibility leading up to the Day of
Apology, which ends up being, in my opinion, a disaster. Very few or even none
of the apologies throughout the day go productively, and then the day descends
into wild violence that ends up with innocent people being killed. Not that any
of this was Macon’s fault directly, but maybe some of it could have been
prevented if the event was more thought through or structured.
*SPOILER ALERT
FOR END OF BOOK*. In the last few chapters when Macon and Leo are being held
hostage by the three store clerks, we see Macon abandon his morals and hit Leo
in an effort to save himself, although he clearly feels terrible about it. I
think this sums up my opinion of Macon overall. His morals are in the right
place and he is trying, but at the end of the day he is not able to fully commit
himself to the cause.
What do you
guys think? I’m curious to hear other people’s perceptions of Macon.
I think that Macon's shortcoming is that he has a single-minded idea of how things should happen, and is surprised when things go wrong. He is unable to cope with quick changes in his plans, and crumbles under stress. I think he's trying hard to commit himself, but in the end keeps "running back to his island of whiteness" as he puts it, to avoid danger.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt Macon's motive to fight for social equality but my opinions on him aren't very high. As you've mentioned he is not a good leader. When his friends and followers needed Macon, he bailed on them. I also think that Macon is a hypocrite. He criticizes everyone and treats them as if they're incompetent but he never reflects on himself. For example, he criticizes Kim (the TV interviewer) for unconsciously thinking of the n-word, but he himself has used the n-word a lot. When compared to other heroic characters that we've read about, Macon is definitely on the bottom of the list for me.
ReplyDeleteMacon seems like the type of guy who lives by the phrase "the ends justify the means." He doesn't really consider the fact that what he is doing could be wrong or not well planned. The Day of Apology that you talked about is a good example. Macon randomly decided on a talk show, why not do this Day of Apology thing? He didn't think it out thoroughly at all, and consequently the day went disastrously. Macon is willing to do almost anything to enforce his arguments and beliefs, and he thinks that they will work the way he wants, but he doesn't consider the consequences that his methods will have.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of hard to have complete respect for Macon, especially as he backs out and accepts his privilege. It's also clear that the author doesn't seem to want us to have respect for him, yet he does in that he obviously has many of the same goals as Macon, so I really can't tell what I do think of him, nor what I'm, supposed to think of him. He clearly fails as a hero, though.
ReplyDeleteI don't even think Adam Mansbach wants us to completely commit to Maconism, although I personally like him more than the average Hero's Journey student. I think a lot of what he says is really smart and insightful, but then he doesn't necessarily follow up on his words. In the end, he retreats to his shell of whiteness, and although I can't really blame him, it's kind of disappointing. Overall, I think Macon is a really good character, but not a really good person.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Macon is such a confusing hero because I can't decide if the things that he's doing are good or if he is being rude and disrespectful. Definitely I agree that I can respect him for the effort he is putting in, his open acknowledgment of white privilege, his speaking out. But also he tends to speak over black people and he acts like his opinion is the one that matters most, and that he knows everything. I'm not sure how much I can get behind that part.
ReplyDeleteHe is a really confusing character, and hero as well. I think, by the end of the book, I really don't like him at all. I think his story is kind of sad, because I think he just wants approval and ends up going about it in the wrong way, but I also feel like he got what was coming from him.
ReplyDeleteArgh! Macon is just so confusing to me...
ReplyDeleteI agree (but do I?) that he deserves some respect for TRYING, and acknowledging white people's privelige in being able to not think about race. He's thinking about it, confronting it, which is honestly a breath of fresh air - but maybe not the breath that we want. I really don't like how he seems to think himself almost BETTER than some black people. That scene with the BSU (and of course the whole Day of Apology) just really irks me. He also fully steps into his white privelige at the end and loses any sense of morality, as he has no shield of ignorance between his emotions and his actions - but is this also STILL a twisted way of recognizing white privelige? I just don't know.
privilege* computer is going crazy
Delete