Caucasia: Deck Contradicting Himself Essay

Caucasia

In America in the 1970s, racial imbalance was a serious problem that created turbulence for many families. In the story Caucasia by Danzy Senna, Birdies father Deck expressed extremely strong feelings for the subject of race. But he didnt always have the same belief about it throughout the story, and what he believed in the beginning of the story changed drastically by the end. Deck went from being strongly sided with the Black Pride movement to later believing that race is all an illusion and that skin color should really mean nothing. Though Deck was very wise with his words, he often contradicts himself and changes his beliefs.

At the beginning of Caucasia, Deck was a very race-oriented individual who cared deeply about style and he had a monstrous amount of pride for who he was (especially amongst his friends). In the beginning of the story Birdie said My father always spoke differently around Ronnie. He would switch into slang, peppering his sentences with words like cat and man and cool (10). This is showing that he was trying to make himself into something he never had been, just to do what he thought was cool at the time. Just afterwards Birdie claimed that In the past year, he had discovered Black Pride (just a few years later than everyone else), and my mother said he was trying to purge himself of his honkified past (10). In other words, apparently Deck wasnt always so sophisticated and slick, and Birdies mothers comment sort of hints at Decks past. It may have been a past that Deck was not very proud of. Therefore, Deck is now engulfed in an obsession for the Black Pride movement. This was made very clear when Deck said Birdie, Cole, do your papa a favor, he said. yell Ngawa, Ngawa, Black, Black Powah! at those two cats on the corner (10). This truly shows Decks beliefs radically changed in his life for he began to speak to his daughters in a way in which was very unlike his normal

self. In the beginning of this story, Deck was a very strong believer in Black Pride, and was a very different person with different beliefs than earlier in his life.

As the story progresses however, Decks beliefs begin to change. At the beginning of the book he thought of himself as cool and he expressed endless support for the whole Black Pride movement, but later on when Deck gets the opportunity to do something for Black Pride and fight the power of racist police officers, he instead bows down to them and lets them have their way. This was shown initially when an officer said All right, brotherman, the younger one said to my father with a smirk. Whos the little girl?(60) Apparently it bothered Deck a great deal because when he went to drop off Birdie she said Usually he kissed me on the top of my head before he said good-bye, but this time he just touched my forehead with the back of his hand, as if he were checking for a fever. His own hand was cold, and he pulled it away quickly, as if the touch had burned him. (61) Deck truly is all for the Black Pride movement, and not only does he get teased there for having a white daughter but he also now was being teased by the authorities. Clearly this all was really starting to hit home for Deck and it even may be acceptable to say that Deck was growing a sort of disgust for his own child. For Deck to be able to go from loving a child to neglecting it over something such as race is just plain ridiculous. If he was able to lose interest in her that easily he definitely doesnt understand the aspects of being a father anyways.

Near the end of the book, Deck comes back into the story and he is a very different man than the one that had left Birdie and his ex wife behind many years before. He wasnt any more sympathetic about the whole situation, but all of his beliefs regarding racial powers had flip flopped and he now instead believed that race was all just a big illusion. He said Race is a

complete illusion, make-believe. Its a costume. We all wear one. You just switched yours at some point. Thats the absurdity of the whole race game. (391) It is obvious now that Deck is beginning to develop a much different, yet wiser outlook on the topic of racial tendencies. Hes beginning to develop a level of understanding as to how ridiculous of a thing it is to be arguing over races. This was expressed when Deck said These overeducated pompous Negro fools in the academy have everything, and still want to feel like victims. Theyre addicted to racism, because once you got money and the approval of the white academy, you need something to remind you that youre not a total sellout. (396) Deck was basically showing how irrational he was previously in his logic on race (an overeducated pompous Negro fool in the academy describes him shockingly well), and he almost sort of ashamed for feeling that way, and this is kind of his way of expressing that. He knows it wasnt very smart at all to have once lived like this, and Deck actually is getting wiser with age, which is a very positive thing because he certainly needs to work on a thing or two as far as being a decent father goes.

Deck completely reversed his ideas and beliefs on his race and he also kind of did it on his daughter. He once told her he loved her and meant it, but soon let the idea of her go with ease when she was forced to run away. He didnt even make an effort to contact his own daughter. It must also be remembered that his love for Birdie was all impacted in a single moment when the authorities wrongly accused him of something he didnt do. He constantly feels the need to over think every single thought that enters his head. He does it to a point in which is unhealthy. Deck may be able to speak very wisely, but he lived his whole life contradicting himself to those who he said he loved.