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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Erasure, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Familial Obligation vs. Personal Needs
Artistic Integrity vs. Commercial Success
Authenticity
Summary
Analysis
Monk worries about the implications of his refusal to accept his own “complicity in the marginalization of ‘black’ writers.” He realizes the irony of his situation: “I was a victim of racism by virtue of my failing to acknowledge racial difference and by failing to have my art be defined as an exercise in racial self-expression.” To make a living and elevate himself, he will have to write a book from the perspective of the type of Black writer the world expects him to be. At any rate, as he prepares for his meeting with Wiley Morgenstein, he realizes that he’s starting to enjoy the “game” he’s playing. Plus, the money is nice.
Monk realizes that regardless of how he conceptualizes race and racial identity, he is marginalized and discriminated against, nevertheless. His need to support himself requires his “complicity in the marginalization of ‘black writers.’” On the other hand, had he never written My Pafology in the first place and refused to let his work be defined by racial identity, no publisher would be interested in his work, and he wouldn’t be able to support himself as a writer. In this way, then, Erasure emphasizes how social forces overpower personal will.
Themes
Bill doesn’t come home that night. When he returns the following morning, Monk confronts him and asks if he’s high on something. He explains that he’s on his way out to see Mother now but can wait longer for Bill if Bill wants to come with. They argue and Bill accuses Monk of being angry at him for being out all night. He angrily tells Monk to go on without him.
Bill’s guess as to why Monk is truly angry with him seems spot on. Monk isn’t actually upset that Bill is high—he’s bitter that Bill was out all night and enjoying himself, an indication of Bill’s newfound comfort with his true, authentic self.
Themes
At the care facility later, Monk browses the contents of a bookshelf behind the doctor’s desk and notes the many Tom Clancy- and John Grisham-type books. Though they’re not serious literature, they don’t inspire the visceral disgust Monk feels toward We’s Lives In Da Ghetto, and he considers why this is. He concludes that the books are well written enough and aren’t presented as being “a representation of [the author’s] race.” And if a person doesn’t like how Tom Clancy writes white people, they can just read about other white people.
Monk finesses some of his ire with We’s Lives In Da Ghetto and books like it, and he concludes that it’s not exactly the book itself that he has an issue with but the industry that supports it, and the underlying foundation of systemic racism that informs the publishing industry’s decisions. He takes issue with the fact that white writers like Clancy and Grisham can write mediocre-but-inoffensive books without society seeing those books as defining the singular white experience.
Themes
Later, the doctor tells Monk that they had to sedate Mother, but that perhaps tomorrow will be better. Monk suddenly imagines that the doctor is Lisa, who urges Monk to take comfort in the fact that at least Mother isn’t suffering. Lisa also urges Monk not to let Bill bother him too much—he’s trying to find himself and “can’t help it if he’s not likeable.” When Monk returns later, Bill is gone. He’s left behind a note that says simply, “FUCK YOU!”
Monk’s daydreaming signals his overwhelm—the stress of Mother’s worsening health combined with Monk’s ongoing identity crisis is becoming too much for him to bear, and he struggles to remain alert and engaged in the present moment. The detail of Lisa urging him to have compassion for Bill reaffirms how heavily Bill’s self-reinvention weighs on Monk, who seems to envy Bill’s courage to know himself and present that authentic self to the world.
Themes
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Wiley Morgenstein flies out to D.C. to meet with Stagg R. Leigh. Monk dons a pair of dark glasses and wonders who he’s “trying to fool.” At lunch, “Stagg” meets Morgenstein and his attractive “assistant,” Cynthia. Morgenstein gushes over Stagg’s book. When Stagg orders a Gibson to drink, Morgenstein is caught off guard. Stagg asks him if it’s because Morgenstein pictured him as more “Black,” and Morgenstein uncomfortably confirms that this is the case. Stagg, when asked, insinuates that he was in prison for murder. Monk leaves the lunch satisfied with his performance—and confused at his satisfaction.
Monk’s disguise as Stagg R. Leigh contrasts sharply with Bill’s new, authentic self. Both brothers boast a new physical appearance, but whereas Bill’s lays bare his authentic self, Monk’s obscures his true identity. Meanwhile, Monk’s satisfaction at his successful performance as Stagg in his meeting with Morgenstein calls into question who Monk’s authentic self really is in the first place, as well as the role performance plays in identity.
Themes
