In The Kitchen

3 Pages 625 Words

In “In the Kitchen,” Henry Louis Gates Jr. illustrates how social acceptance changed his appearance a as young Afro-American, while in “On Being Black and Middle Class,” Shelby Steele contests that social status and race cannot be related. Although these essays cover somewhat different topics, they both come to the same conclusions about society’s ideals, and how they effect people and they way in which they identify themselves. To survive in the world people have to conform to society and society also has to conform to the individual. There is an extent to the how much an individual has to undergo in order to be accepted by society.
Gates feels that because of society’s high standards, he, along with many other Afro-Americans, changed their appearance in order to conform to society and have more of a Caucasian look. Blacks during the 50’s and 60’s felt that if they had straight hair like that of Caucasian’s, they would be more readily accepted by society. Gates described the various processes developed by many blacks in great detail. He included the processes used by well, known celebrities that were developed in order to conform to the idea that whites were superior. When Gates was growing up, it was thought that straight hair gave people a cleaner appearance. Therefore, most blacks went to great lengths to achieve that clean, sleek look. Because all they wanted was to be socially acceptable, blacks gave up their own identities to achieve this goal, which is too much of a sacrifice. In actuality, a society is not defined by race, gender, religious, or sexual preferences, but rather it is based on the unification of a community on the basis of economic and social status. Therefore, people should not feel the need to change their appearance as a means to conform to society.
Steele also concluded that society effects the way people identify themselves, but in a slightly different way than Gates. She rea...