The Desire to Fit In.

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The Desire to Fit In

        In the essays, “In the Kitchen” and “Homeboy” by the African American authors,  

Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Malcolm X, the common theme of assimilation is discussed,

while demonstrating contrasting views.  These two stories reflect on the aspects of being

African American in a society that is highly influenced by the superior culture. In their

essays, Gates and Malcolm X discuss some of the changes African Americans did to fit

in to the customs and attitudes of the well-liked and accepted ethnicity, which were the

non-blacks or whites.

        

In “In the Kitchen,” by Henry Louis Gates, emphasizes the social significance

of the hair- straightening process for the blacks; he defines “good hair” and “bad hair”.

It was well known that kinky hair belonged to the blacks, and straight hair pertained to

the whites. Many people from town went to Gate’s home to get their hair straightened.  

Big Mom, Gate’s grandmother, performed miracles from her own home. She

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straightened hair as much as God allowed her to, except the “kitchen”.  The “kitchen”

had a whole different meaning when it came to the black culture.  Gates refers to the

“kitchen” as the “very kinky bit of hair at the back of the head, where our necks meet the

shirt collar ”(Gates 127).  He states “If there ever was one part of our African American

past that resisted assimilation, it was the kitchen ……. The kitchen was permanent,

irredeemable, and invincible kink, unassimilably African”(Gates 127).  Blacks applied

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