Identity and Acceptance in Danzy Senna’s CaucasiaPosted in Articles, Book/Video Reviews, Media Archive, Passing, United States on 2015-09-25 02:53Z by Steven |
Identity and Acceptance in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia
Uncovered Classics
2015-09-16
“Race is a complete illusion, make-believe,” observes a central character in Danzy Senna’s debut novel Caucasia. “It’s a costume. We all wear one.”
Or, many. Over the course of our lives, those costumes change as we add and subtract details in reaction to other people’s gaze. To see the idea of race through sugar-coated Coke bottle glasses, racial and cultural differences are to be explored and celebrated. But one can just as accurately say that illusion of race creates unnecessary absurdity in our lives. It challenges our sense of acceptance.
Senna’s Caucasia doesn’t quite blast apart the fallacy of race, but it does use our culture’s obsession with it to highlight the ways in which a person creates and morphs her identity…
Read the entire review here.