I started reading "The Artificial Nigger" and couldn't wait to do a post on it. I like how the intense racism that brings Mr. Head and Nelson together is only a subplot. Perhaps I watch too many Hitchcock films, but I thought that the reason that Nelson kept saying, "this is where I was born," especially in the black part of the city, was because Nelson's father was black. Obviously I was completely wrong and was completely veering in the wrong direction with the story.
The dynamic between the grandfather and grandson is absolutely beautiful. It is a perfect example of the wise and the ignorant... wait, which one is which? We are given descriptions of the characters as Mr. Head expressing youth in his face and demeanor while Nelson has an ancient look. Nelson tries to rebel against his grandfather constantly, which cause Mr. Head to react by over-compensating wisdom to the point where he blatantly embellishes. Mr. Head also seems to push Nelson into racism as a form of control over him. Not just racism, I guess, but fear altogether. This could just be a form of projection of Mr. Head's own fears, but I think he's taking it one step further and adding control to it.
Back to the mercy theme... The city proves to be overwhelming even for the "experienced" Mr. Head and he is brought down to human form there. The opening paragraph in the story personifies all his things as if he was running some sort of kingdom (as if he was God himself!) and it isn't until he fails in the city that he realizes he really doesn't have control over anything. I think God gave him mercy by letting him get away with abandoning his grandson (and maybe even showed him mercy from trying to act as God) - or at least that is how Mr. Head sees it. Really, it is Nelson that shows him mercy. Nelson has the upper hand in many ways and "forgives" Mr. Head by contributing to their common love of bashing on the "Negroes." It is a very sick thing that ultimately brings them back together, and I don't really know how to feel about it except, well, sick.
I think the readers of the story, and even the background characters (the women that Nelson has a run in with) pity Nelson. He follows, reluctantly at some times, a false hero. Mr. Head believes he is entitled to have Nelson's devotion and hates when he is questioned because every time Nelson questions, it points out all the flaws in Mr. Head's theories. Mr. Head is a hero only in his own mind, and he tries to structure his surroundings accordingly.
Does Mr. Head learn his lesson after he is granted mercy? Maybe. He sees it as a divine mercy, so he really only repents to God, and doesn't even bother to apologize to Nelson. In fact we only see that Nelson has changed in the end, because he makes the statement that he's only been to the city once, and no longer includes his birth. He feels humbled by the experience, and decides to depend on his grandfather for further guidance. This could count as falling under God's mercy of Mr. Head. Everything in the end was restored to its former order, and they get to rid themselves of the experience of the city.
Since I don't think that Mr. Head really changes his ways after he thinks he is granted mercy from God, I'm not sure I buy the fact that mercy was even granted. I think the feeling Mr. Head is having more than anything is intense guilt for what he has done. I'm basing this opinion mainly on the definitions of mercy. "Compassion" is used a lot in the definitions and I'm not sure I see it anywhere, except from maybe the old woman who gets her ankle broken by Nelson, and the "dark" woman who gives them directions to the station. It's a stretch for mercy, but I guess I'll take it!
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I would have to disagree with the concept of God giving Mr. Head Mercy. I link the "mercy" that God shows the grandfather by letting him abandon his grandson without punishment to Ninette the whore returning to her Madame. While we wonder whether Ninette is under the spell of the black cook's mysterious voodoo magic, we have to come to terms with Ninette's reality-- she has no money, she has nowhere to go, she needs medical attention, and she cannot work. While we might speculate her timely return as being connected to the charm, it is extremely probable that Ninette returns out of desperation.
Similarly, why would this little boy abandon his grandfather in a strange place? He has no experience, no money, and no place to go. Throughout the short story, we notice Nelson’s growing awareness of his dependency on his grandfather. From the time his grandfather makes a joke in the dining car of the train until he abandons the child, Nelson notices the necessity of keeping close to Mr. Head. Nelson is hurt by his grandfather just as the whore is hurt by her madam, however these two individuals cannot overlook the fact that they are completely dependent on those who treat them with malice.
I believe the grandfather’s use/belief of mercy is simply a projection of his helplessness and skewed outlook of reality. He believes that the boy was considering and had the power to leave him. I think Mr. Head has forgotten that his grandson is just a boy. I do believe that Nelson was suspicious of his grandfather, but I do not think he was considering leaving him altogether, or that he was capable of such an act. Perhaps Mr. Head’s false sense of Nelson’s abilities comes from their isolated and distorted ‘family,’ in which one individual does not have distinctly more status than the other. After all, Mr. Head was thrust into a position of caretaker without any choice, and his inability to act with parental authority may be a result of this occurrence.
I agree that Nelson was never planning on leaving his grandfather. I never had that in my mind, rather, Nelson's act of mercy was joining in with his grandfather in the "artificial nigger" joke. He didn't have to reconnect with him like that and by doing so I believe that Nelson showed mercy on his grandfather. Nelson could have made his grandfather suffer from his guilt for the rest of his life (the grandfather was ready to feel terrible and for Nelson to hate him and give him the cold should forever) but he chooses to "let it slide." However, the reason he might have let it slide was BECAUSE he felt that his grandfather still was wiser than he and he could still learn a lot more from him (even though he says he'll never go back to the city).
This could be another stretch... but maybe Mr. Head is taking out some anger of his daughter onto Nelson? It could explain why Nelson forgave him because he might already be used to being treated similarly. Maybe he felt he deserved it on some level? I might just be getting off track now, or starting a whole new idea...
No, I made that connection as well, Meagan. During the story, we learn that the daughter had run away from Mr. Head after his wife died. I find it interesting that this story is so vague. Why did the girl run away? Did she hate her father? Had her father done something to her mother? For some reason, she stayed for her mother, but left when she could no longer continue that relationship. I am sure that O’Conner is trying to keep us in the dark; however, it makes sense that Mr. Head would be insecure about another child leaving him.
Meagan,
I thought the same thing about Nelson! I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one! I was thinking that O'Connor would reveal at the very end that his father had been black or something, hence, Nelson would be "the artificial nigger." There's the quote at the bottom of pg. 221 that I mistook for foreshadowing: "this is where you were born--right here with all these niggers."
My other incorrect guess was that Nelson would not have been born in the city at all and that the story had only been constructed to give him a sense of coming from somewhere important, hence another artificiality.
There just seemed to be something up with where Nelson was from. On pg. 220, when Nelson says this is where he was from, Mr. Head looks "at him with horror." Something seemed to be going on here, but I'm not sure what.
It's interesting how we (well, me at least, I'm not sure about anyone else) try to piece together what the title must mean while reading the story. In this instance, trying to figure out the title before it was revealed lead me to several incorrect conclusions.
Yeah I was thinking about the title the whole time too. I really find it hard to believe that the title SOLELY refers to that statue. I think there has to be more meaning.
Yes, I agree. The title just can't be that simple. I think maybe O'Connor is playing with the concepts of race and what exactly does it mean to be a "nigger." As we saw in Revelation with Mrs. Turpin, there are some African Americans that were not considered as that word at all.
I wonder if O'Connor might be hinting that Mr. Head's actions in betraying Nelson would have lumped him into the classifications of how many people view that term at the time? and since he is white, he would be an "artificial" one?
I'm not sure, but I definitely agree. There is definitely something more to the title.
I also thought that it might turn out that Nelson was half African American, and I am interested that other people thought so to. I think part of why we thought that is because of the way that O'Connor sets up the story. First, we read the title, so we already have that in the back of our minds that there is going to be a character (or something) in this story that falls under that category, and we are trying to think up possible definitions for what this could mean. As I started to read the story, I thought that it was about a rich white man and his slave because I wasn't sure what time period this was set in and because of sentences like, "...the garment some great man had just flung to his servant" (210) and "The only dark spot in the room was Nelson's pallet, underneath the shadow of the window" (210). Also, if Nelson is sleeping in the same room, that indicated to me someone who was at the beck and call of a master (and why is Nelson sleeping by a slop bucket?). Also, in the first two pages, Nelson is referred to as "the boy." So with these things, I was starting to think that Nelson was some sort of servant. So when I read that he was only ten I was shocked, and I was further shocked when I read that Nelson was his grandson on page 212, "They were grandfather and grandson but they looked enough alike..." It is interesting to me that O'Connor would start her story misleading us, instead of coming right out and saying how they are related.
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