1. They were Negroes and we were also Negroes. I just didn’t see
Negroes hating each other so much.
This remark sums up Anne’s feelings in Chapter 4. “They” are Raymond’s
family, especially his mother, Miss Pearl. As lighter-skinned African
Americans, they look down on Anne’s family members, who have darker skin. It
is implied, though not actually stated, that they would prefer Raymond marry
a woman with lighter skin. Before the civil rights movement, many
lighter-skinned blacks aspired to a higher social status, though they were
not given any special legal treatment. Lighter-skinned blacks were called by
names like “yellow,” “mulatto,” and “high yellow,” and their skin tones
reflected the predominance of white ancestry. In some cases, blacks’
appearance was indistinguishable from that of whites. In Coming of
Age, the degree of intermixing among whites and blacks helps
establish the absurdity of racial distinctions. The fact that blacks make
such distinctions despite sharing common mistreatment by whites underscores
this, and also highlights the need for unity among blacks.
After her mother is so coldly treated by Raymond’s family, Anne
becomes suspicious of lighter-skinned blacks. In fact, she almost
does not go to Tougaloo College because she fears the students are
mostly lighter-skinned and will look down on her. She
eventually becomes so suspicious of the potential prejudice of
lighter-skinned blacks that she is herself prejudiced, furthering the theme
of the evil of prejudice.
