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December 9-14, 1959
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Black Like Me, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Appearance, Identity, and Bigotry
Unity, Division, and Communication
Implicit Bias and Systemic Racism
Fear and Violence
Summary
Analysis
Back in Texas, Griffin is overjoyed to be home, though he also can’t banish terrible thoughts of bigotry from his mind, thinking as he hugs his family about how it’s impossible to ignore the world’s injustice now that he has experienced it firsthand.
In the same way that he couldn’t leave behind his emotional turmoil while he was at the Trappist monastery, Griffin now finds it difficult to assimilate back into his own life without thinking of the horrors he experienced while disguised as a black man. In turn, he shows readers how difficult it is to simply ignore injustice, especially after facing it head on.
Themes
