The Color of Our Skin

Paper Summary:

The paper focuses on the issue of racial identity in the compelling novel "Rule of the Bone." The paper discusses how the character, Bone, develops from a troubled teen who views everything around him in terms of racial identities to a young man who is confident in himself and his ideals. The paper shows that when he stops looking at people as "black" or "white" and begins to see them as they really are, simply human just like himself, he begins to develop his own personality and identity. The paper explains that this helps him mature into a strong, independent young man. The paper emphasizes Bone's realization throughout the novel that race and color are not important values in life.

From the Paper:

"Bone's development as a character is closely tied to his evolving understanding of race and "whiteness." By the end of the book, he totally understands it is his race that has saved him from I-Man's fate, whether he likes it or not. After I-Man's death, he thinks to himself, "That was the other thing that had me all twisted up. Whiteness. Even more than being Doc's son it was my white skin that'd saved me from being blown away like Prince Shabba and I-Man" (Banks 342). Thus, Bone understands his whiteness sets him apart from some of the people he admires most in life."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995.

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