I have not been very impressed with Macon up until this point in the novel. Although unconsciously, he still takes advantage of his white privilege and does things that might seem like justice (ie. robbing white people) but end up looking no better than the violence perpetrated on black people. I'l first talk about his unconscious white privilege. He has a job. Although it's not a great job, it's probably easier to get hired as a cab driver if you're white (especially now that black cabbies have been framed for the robberies) than if he was black. Macon also seems to have this confidence that he can mess around and be fine--and he probably will be fine since he is white. Instead of being sentenced to some ridiculously long jail time, if Macon is found out to be behind the cab robberies, he will probably lose his job and have to pay a fine for owning an unlicensed firearm. He probably wouldn't spend more than a month in jail. Macon's not-too-shabby financial background is also probably going to keep him afloat when he trips up, something that few black people in NYC could say during that time.
I'm also disgusted by Macon's idea that robbing ordinary white people will make up for all of the damage done to black people over the past two centuries. This is exactly what he shouldn't be doing. One, because when he is found out, it will probably bring more scrutiny onto the black community. And two, because this is essentially identical to the injustices faced by black people in the 19th and 18th centuries. Anyone who has a basic understanding of history knows that two wrongs don't make a right.
I agree with you in that Macon is going about his revenge for the blacks in the wrong way. He shouldn't be trying to get revenge at all. Instead he should be trying to make the black community look more respectable, the way that the great leaders of the civil rights movement did. He is militant and angry and needs to chill
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate because I like Macon's ideas and beliefs but I detest the way he's going about and trying to express his ideas and beliefs. I agree with you, I don't understand how Macon could think that robbing people will make things better. I think his arrogance is getting in the way and he's not clearly thinking about what he's doing, and making things worse. I hope he starts making better decisions, what he has been doing doesn't make me think of him a hero at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Macon robbing people was a terrible way to obtain justice for black people. Of all the things he could do to express his hatred for white privileged, why did he think robbing people would be a good idea. If I wanted someone to be the front runner of my cause I wouldn't want it to be some crazy guy who thinks robbing people is a good way to do it.
ReplyDeleteMacon is definitely privileged. He attends Columbia and gets away with a bunch of pretty shady stuff like robbing and threatening people. Macon is also very arrogant and it bothers me that he strongly believes that he is in a position to make up for all the wrongdoings against black people throughout history. Who does he think he is?
ReplyDeleteMacon's robberies definitely present him as an anti-hero. I don't like the way he goes about the "revenge" because it would just make things worse. It seems to me that he is trying to do too many things about this matter and in the end, it won't work out. His arrogance and violence will eventually lead to his destruction as a character and overall figure, in my prediction.
ReplyDeleteI am not defending nor advocating Macon's armed robberies, but it does seem clear that his intention (to the extent that he's intending anything here, and not just acting impulsively--it's somewhere between, an impulsive act underwritten by a pretty well-worked-out ideology and analysis) isn't to "make up for all of the damage done to black people" but to jolt these complacent Wall Street guys out of their comfort zone, to "regret the color of their skin" for the first time in their lives (or even just to be aware of it for the first time).
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