Blog Post # 13 By Ramy Mohamed

In the book Playing in the Dark the author Toni Morrison highlights how Blacks are usually represented through the lens of white perception rather than the other way around.​ The book explains how early American writers sought to define their works in contrast to European writers. That American writers highlighted their freedom by contrasting it with the enslavement of black slaves. Regularly, black presence is used to define whites in literature such as in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.​ It is important to note that though she is an African American that examined white literature, she remain neutral throughout her book and simply highlighted issues rather than giving her own opinion. This book is different than Judith Butler’s book because of how neutral Morrison was compared to Butler. Morrison also focused more on the issues of race rather than gender.