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The Narrator’s Father
The narrator’s schoolmate, who is by far the best student in their school and later becomes a prominent professor. The narrator immediately notices his “black as night” skin and shining features. At their primary school graduation ceremony, “Shiny” passionately delivers Wendell Phillips’ lecture “Toussaint L’Ouverture” to the audience of mostly white parents, stunning them despite his tiny frame and ill-fitting clothes. Much later, he runs into the now “ex-colored” narrator and his girlfriend at the Eden Musée in New York; he seems to understand the narrator’s intent to “pass” and does not reveal the truth. “Shiny” represents the class of black intellectual elites fighting for racial justice—unlike many of the other black elites in this book (like the Washington Physician), who are satisfied enough with their own upward mobility or even blame poorer blacks for their condition.
“Shiny” Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by “Shiny” or refer to “Shiny”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“Tell me, mother, am I a nigger?”
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Chapter 3
Quotes
He made a striking picture, that thin little black boy standing on the platform, dressed in clothes that did not fit him any too well, his eyes burning with excitement, his shrill, musical voice vibrating in tones of appealing defiance, and his black face alight with such great intelligence and earnestness as to be positively handsome. […] I think there must have rushed over him a feeling akin to that of a gladiator tossed into the arena and bade to fight for his life. I think that solitary little black figure standing there felt that for the particular time and place he bore the weight and responsibility of his race; that for him to fail meant general defeat; but he won, and nobly.
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“Shiny” Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by “Shiny” or refer to “Shiny”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“Tell me, mother, am I a nigger?”
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3
Quotes
He made a striking picture, that thin little black boy standing on the platform, dressed in clothes that did not fit him any too well, his eyes burning with excitement, his shrill, musical voice vibrating in tones of appealing defiance, and his black face alight with such great intelligence and earnestness as to be positively handsome. […] I think there must have rushed over him a feeling akin to that of a gladiator tossed into the arena and bade to fight for his life. I think that solitary little black figure standing there felt that for the particular time and place he bore the weight and responsibility of his race; that for him to fail meant general defeat; but he won, and nobly.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
