Reading Response 8-31-09

[jwolf]

Mr. Ryder’s attitude exhibited in the book is extremely racist. He and
The Blue Veins Society are elitist in all the views. Both the group
and himself want to distance themselves from darker black society even
though they come from the same heritage. The group’s unspoken and
realistic policy is that “no one was eligible for membership who was
not white enough to show blue veins” (696). This means that only light
skin black people are allowed in and that they want to move away from
being associated as being black. Mr. Ryder even said the most racist
statement out of the whole story when he talked about class. He
divided racial class into three categories in which black people were
lowest, lighter blacks were in the middle, and whites were on top. He
and the Blue Veins were in a class amongst themselves. He said the
white class does not want them yet, but if we classified with dark
African Americans, it “would be a backward step” for them (698). Mr.
Ryder shows his racist views for his own race and insecurities as
well. He expresses that white society is the best and he longs to be
apart of it. Later in the story, when he sees his wife form the past,
his first thought was that “she was very black” (699). This is
sickening because this was the love of his life when he was young and
the only thing he noticed about her was the fact that she was dark. He
has gotten to the point where he judges people solely on the color of
their skin.