Jay/Jerome Johnson: the Figure of Alterity in the Representation of Black Masculinity in African American Novels

Through the character Jay/Jerome Johnson, Praisesong for the Window (1983) conveys a view of Black masculinity different from the usual picture of blackness associated with manhood. Mostly typified as the embodiment of all vices in the African American community, Marshall’s distinct approach to Black manhood imparts the limits of the systemic racism in America. In the latter structure’s aim to reinforce White Supremacy, the figure of the patriarch in the Black community is reduced to nothingness. Thus, in representing Jay/ Jerome through facets contradictory to that of the specimen, Marshall highlights how that same structure did not come up to shape a common lot for Black males. That failure is personified through how Jay/Jerome did not cope with stereotypes and wage oppression to better his living conditions.