Passing
An excerpt from George S. Schuyler’s novel Black No More is included in the collection. It tells the story of the first Black man to undergo a revolutionary new procedure capable of completely transforming his appearance into that of a white man. A series of incidents ensue, each with their own satirically ironic barbs. It is not until the final paragraph, however, that the specific target of the satire is fully revealed through imagery: “He would go down to the Pennsylvania Station and get a Pullman straight into Atlanta. He would stop there at the best hotel. He wouldn’t hunt up any of his folks. No, that would be too dangerous. He would just play around, enjoy life, and laugh at the white folks up his sleeve. God! What an adventure! What a treat it would be to mingle with white people in places where, as a youth, he had never dared to enter.” This imagery foretelling the future plans of the guinea pig of the procedure is a description of the life of light-skinned Black people “passing” for white. It is this excited look into the man’s plan for his future as a Black man who looks like a white man that is the true target of the story’s satire.
Speculative Satire
Although the title of this collection clearly intends for race to be a central issue, it is important to keep in mind that the words “speculative fiction” also appear on the cover. While much imagery is related to race relations, some of the best utilization of the technique is directed toward presenting a speculative vision of what a future or alternative America might look like. Ishmael Reed’s “Future Christmas” is about race, but it is also very much a portrait of an alternative reality conveyed mostly through imagery: “I saw the President last week. He was signing a bill that Adolf Hitler be given posthumous American citizenship. He looked pretty bad. You wouldn’t believe he was the most famous model of the eighties, his face adorning thousands of billboards. I hear he’s soaking up bourbon like it was water. The skin on his face hangs like a bloodhound’s. His eyes look like two Japanese flags.” Set within the context of a story in which the real name of Santa Claus is Rex Stuart and Jack Frost is found not guilty of murdering his grandmother, this is truly a glimpse into a world of speculation. The imagery above helps to convey the tone that this is an America we recognize, but not one we find familiar.
Dialect
“The Goophered Grapevine” features a story-within-the-story with dual narrators. The framing story is narrated in standard English by a white man from the north in the years following the Civil War. The story told by a former slave named Julius within the story is written in a way that replicates the dialect which Julius uses to tell it. For instance, this is the scene of the actual “goophering” of the grapevine: “She sa’ntered ’roun’ ’mongs’ de vimes, en tuk a leaf fum dis one, en a grape-hull fum dat one, en a grape-seed fum anudder one; en den a little twig fum here, en a little pinch er dirt fum dere—en put it all in a big black bottle, wid a snake’s toof en a speckle’ hen’s gall en some ha’rs fum a black cat’s tail, en den fill’ de bottle wid scuppernon’ wine.” It can be difficult to parse by reading silently, but if one speaks these written words out loud, it become much easier. The imagery here is in the dialect. The point of writing in dialect is directly links Julius' part of the story to the oral tradition of storytelling among slave society and places it in juxtaposition to the language used by the white narrator of the framing story.
Imagery and Imagination
“Black to the Future” by Walter Mosley is a short essay on the subject of Blackness appearing in science fiction. About halfway through, Mosley makes a request of his reader: “Imagine whiteness. White presidents, white soldiers, the whitest teeth on a blond, blue-eyed model. Media images of policemen, artists, and scientists before the mid-’60s were almost all white. Now imagine Blackness. There you will find powerlessness ignorance, servitude, children who have forgotten how to play. Or you will simply not find anything at all—absence.” The story of Blackness appearing in science fiction is the story of absence. The imagery is implicitly suggestive about the effects of this absence on the evolution of Blackness in science fiction. What is not seen is not imitated.
