WhatsApp Join Us as a Reviewer Track Your Paper ISSN: 2583-3812
    Impact Factor: 6.78 Journal Quality Score (JQS): 85.34
    Email Id: chiefeditor.ijeel@gmail.com
    Impact Factor: 6.78 Journal Quality Score (JQS): 85.34
    Email Id: chiefeditor.ijeel@gmail.com

    The Racial Distribution of Guilt: Blacks’ Betrayal of Blackness in Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage (1990) and Edward Paul Jones’ The Known World (2003)

    For Authors
    Journal Article
    Author(s)
    Dr Kotchafolo Soro, Dr Ouana Alassane Sekongo
    Keywords
    Blackness, enslavement, betrayal, responsibility
    Abstract
    This paper examines the system of enslavement and exploitation of man by man based on skin color in Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage and Edward Paul Jones’ The Known World. It lingers on the intra-racial and inter-racial relationships of oppression. The study proceeds with an “against the grain” reading of Middle Passage and a “with the grain” reading of The Known World in order to bring to light blacks’ responsibilities in the wretchedness of their race. Drawing on a deconstructive framework and socio-criticism, the study posits that the black man is a wolf to his fellow black man, objecting thus the assumption that the white man is the main oppressor. Deconstruction, viewed from Michael Payne’s standpoint paraphrasing Derrida, is nothing, not a method, not a technique, not even an act. It is a reading process aiming at spotlighting “a deconstructive process already existing in the text” (Payne qtd in Rolfe, 2004, p. 274). This study analyzes the authors’ attempt to unsettle the traditional views of the black-white relationships and draw people’s attention on blacks’ responsibilities in their own predicament. The article specifically discusses blacks’ betrayal of blackness during the era of slavery and also in contemporary international relationships.
    References

    ASTUTININGSIH Irana, PUJIATI Hat & MAHARANI Zamrudia, 2017. “The Construction of Racism in Edward P. Jones’s The Known World: A Genetic Structuralism Analysis”, Metahumaniora, Vol. 7, N. 1, pp32-41

    BAILEY Thomas and KENNEDY David, 1984. The American Spirit. Vol. I, Lexington, Mass.

    CEVIK Yildiray, 2016. “Identity Through Cultural Multiplicity as Reflected in Middle Passage”, Culture, Vol.14, n.n, pp85-90

    CHOTINER Isaac, 2023. “The Real Story Behind Patrice Lumumba’s Assassination”, The New Yorker, available online via www.newyorker.com. Accessed: April 17, 2025

    CROS Edmond, 2011, “Towards a Sociocritical Theory of the Text”, Sociocriticism, vol.XXVI, n.1, pp. 31-47. Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es . accessed: 31 May 2026

    JOHNSON Charles, 1990. Middle Passage, New York, Penguin Group.

    JONES Edward Paul, 2003. The Known World, New York, HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

    KAMBOU Sia, 2022. “Life Sentence for Burkinabe Ex-leader Compaoré for Sankara Murder”, Aljazeera, available online via www.aljazeera.com. Accessed: April 17, 2025

    KENNEDY Randal, 2001. “Racial Passing”, Ohio State Law Journal, vol.62, n.1145, pp1145-1196

    MANNIX Pratt Daniel & COWLEY Malcolm, 1962. Black Cargoes: History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1518-1565. New-York, Viking Press.  

    MIRAMONTI Angelo, 2024. “Thomas Sankara: The Unburied Memory of an Anticolonial Leader”, Studies in Social Justice, vol.18, n.1, pp180-189

    MUTTER Sarah Mahurin, 2011. “Such a Poor Word for a Wandrous Thing: Thingness and the Recovery of the Human in The Known World”, The Southern Literary Journal, Vol.43, N.2, pp125-146          

    ROLFE Gary, 2004. “Deconstruction in a nutshell”, Nursing Philosophy, vol.5, n.n, pp274-276

    ZIMA Vaclav Peter, 2002. Deconstruction and Critical Theory, Trans. by Rainer Emig, London, Continuum (Online).

    How to Cite
    Loading APA citation...
    Article Details
    Published 03 Jun 2026
    DOI 10.22161/ijeel.5.3.6
    Pages 43-51
    Views 65
    Downloads 8
    Full Text Access
    Copyright @ 2026 International Journal of English Language, Education and Literature Studies (IJEEL)