Playing by the rules and losing: The merit myth in selected African American fiction

The purpose of this research is to challenge the notion that individual merit---at least for African Americans---is the key factor in achieving the American dream of economic security, social mobility, and personal happiness. The belief that each person largely determines human destiny through hard work, perseverance, good manners, and sober living does not square with the historical role race has played in all areas of American life. In effect, race, a legal designation that groups people somewhat on biology but more so on a shared cultural heritage, short circuits the ideals associated with American democracy; it effectively negates many of the positive achievements of African Americans. The black person who plays by the rules---for example, stays out of trouble, minds his business, goes to school, studies hard, chooses a vocation or career, is willing to start at the bottom, and works hard to achieve promotion and rank---is inevitably hampered in the quest to achieve the fruits of democracy because skin color and social designation, not merit, become the most important criteria in determining success.; My research is not a polemic on a hackneyed idea: African Americans, though victims of past discrimination, use "race" as a catchall for their faults and failures and for their lack of economic, political, and social parity with whites and other ethnic groups. It is not a trite rehashing of old arguments about race, a diatribe against white people, or a sociological discussion on the state of race relations in America. My study, instead, depicts six African American literary characters---William Miller in Charles Waddell Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition, Kenneth R. Harper in Walter Francis White's The Fire in the Flint, Lutie Johnson in Ann Petry's The Street, and the invisible narrator, the unnamed doctor, and A. Herbert Bledsoe in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man---who accept both the premise that America is the land of opportunity and the cultural myth---I use the term "myth" to mean a lie, a fiction, a falsehood, or a fallacy commonly accepted---that advancement favors those with merit. They do not use "race" as an excuse to perform poorly in their chosen fields. If anything, they give their last measure of devotion to become positive contributors to society. Despite their best efforts, however, these characters learn that racial classification often nullifies the idea of individual merit. None of the attributes commonly used to define merit---education, natural talent and ability, culture, civility, diplomacy, perseverance, and physical labor---can overcome the baggage that comes with being black in America. The problem here is not merit itself, instead, it is the dominant culture's refusal to affirm black merit and its simultaneous acknowledgment and reward of white effort that is often less than meritorious. So merit becomes a myth for African Americans because playing by the rules white society made neither rewards them nor ameliorates America's institutional racism.