The newly educated black man speaks French to mark rupture from his past

Evidence

After all that has just been said, it will be understood that the first impulse of the black man is to say no to those who attempt to build a definition of him. It is understandable that the first action of the black man is a reaction, and, since the Negro is appraised in terms of the extent of his assimilation, it is also understandable why the newcomer expresses himself only in French. It is because he wants to emphasize the rupture that has now occurred. He is incarnating a new type of man that he imposes on his associates and his family. And so his old mother can no longer understand him when he talks to her about his duds, the family’s crummy joint, the dump … all of it, of course, tricked out with the appropriate accent. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 139

Categorization

• XREF: Directly addresses the reader’s question about the contrast between locally and externally educated subjects, and the family rupture. — connects to: The colonial seeks French refinement to prove he has measured up; The Antillean journey to France to become white reveals his real black face — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 986

Related

• The colonial seeks French refinement to prove he has measured up (similarity 0.85)
• The Antillean journey to France to become white reveals his real black face (similarity 0.82)
• “He talks like a white man” is Martinique’s highest praise for mastering French. (similarity 0.82)
• Mastering French makes the Antilles Negro whiter, earning honorary white status (similarity 0.81)
• Arriving in France transforms the colonized black man because France represents civilization itself. (similarity 0.80)
• Antilleans pursue French refinement to prove cultural adequacy to themselves (similarity 0.79)
• The Antillean is made white by unconscious processes while lacking white skin (similarity 0.79)
• For the Antillean Negro, mastery of French proportionally increases perceived whiteness and humanity. (similarity 0.79)
• A few French phrases in Martinican education shape the young Antillean’s entire worldview (similarity 0.79)
• Language mastery determines how human a colonized black man is considered (similarity 0.78)
• External education lets whites accept the black man as culturally white (similarity 0.78)
• Antilleans going to France to confirm whiteness instead encounter their blackness. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The Antillean journey to France to become white reveals his real black face #expands (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 986