Page 157 - BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK

118 BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS

manifestation, every affective erethism in an Antillean is the
product of his cultural situation. In other words, there is a
constellation of postulates, a series of propositions that slowly
and subtly—with the help of books, newspapers, schools and
their texts, advertisements, fi lms, radio—work their way into
one’s mind and shape one’s view of the world of the group to
15
which one belongs. In the Antilles that view of the world is
white because no black voice exists. The folklore of Martinique
is meager, and few children in Fort-de-France know the stories of
“Compè Lapin,” twin brother of the Br’er Rabbit of Louisiana’s
Uncle Remus. A European familiar with the current trends of
Negro poetry, for example, would be amazed to learn that as
late as 1940 no Antillean found it possible to think of himself as
a Negro. It was only with the appearance of Aimé Césaire that
the acceptance of negritude and the statement of its claims began
to be perceptible. The most concrete proof of this, furthermore,
is that feeling which pervades each new generation of students
arriving in Paris: It takes them several weeks to recognize that
contact with Europe compels them to face a certain number of
problems that until their arrival had never touched them. And
yet these problems were by no means invisible. 16
Whenever I had a discussion with my professors or talked with
European patients, I became aware of the differences that might
prevail between the two worlds. Talking recently to a physician

15. I recommend the following experiment to those who are unconvinced: Attend
showings of a Tarzan fi lm in the Antilles and in Europe. In the Antilles, the
young Negro identifi es himself de facto with Tarzan against the Negroes. This is
much more diffi cult for him in a European theater, for the rest of the audience,
which is white, automatically identifi es him with the savages on the screen. It is a
conclusive experience. The Negro learns that one is not black without problems. A
documentary fi lm on Africa produces similar reactions when it is shown in a French
city and in Fort-de-France. I will go farther and say that Bushmen and Zulus arouse
even more laughter among the young Antilleans. It would be interesting to show
how in this instance the reactional exaggeration betrays a hint of recognition. In
France a Negro who sees this documentary is virtually petrifi ed. There he has no
more hope of fl ight: He is at once Antillean, Bushman, and Zulu.
16. More especially, they become aware that the line of self-esteem that they had
chosen should be inverted. We have seen in fact that the Antillean who goes to
France pictures this journey as the fi nal stage of his personality. Quite literally I
can say without any risk of error that the Antillean who goes to France in order
to convince himself that he is white will fi nd his real face there.

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