James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and the Rhetorics of Black Male Subjectivity, Oforlea Aaron Ngozi

Oforleas book offers new analyses of the character dynamics in Baldwins Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tell Me How Long the Trains Been Gone, and If Beale Street Could Talkand Morrisons Beloved, Song of Solomon, and Tar Baby. The black male characters in these novels encounter the discursive divide, or a cultural dissonance, when they encounter dominant representations of black male identities. They use these opportunities to construct a counter-discourse about black male subjectivity. Ultimately, Oforlea argues, these characters are strategic about when and how they want to appropriate and subvert dominant ideologies. Their awareness that post-racial discourses perpetuate racial inequality serves as a gateway toward participation in collective struggles for racial justice.