Article Critique on “Black Hair” Essay

This story discussed the life of a sixteen year old man who wanted to become independent in his life but does not know how to start. The protagonist of the story was the narrator. He showed his life in a blurred path where he could not able how to distinguish the facts and fictions of life. It means that he is still incapable of being a productive individual in his society because he himself could not understand how his life works in the general perspective of human nature. Though he knows how things work, he could not manage these things in normal and proper way. Because of this, the protagonist still need to learn from what is true, right, and wrong from everything that is beyond his reach so that there would be greater knowledge and self-esteem that would grow in his identity. Based on my reading in the whole story, I can say that the whole setup of the story tackles the issues and personal identity of the persona. He pitied himself because he did not know what he is doing in his surroundings. He does not know how to look for a right job, right home, and right place to go in his everyday living. This became the conflict of the story. Everything was focused in his ways and perspectives as neophyte in his journey of life. At the end of the story, he remained clueless with those things that he encountered even the coke machine where he could not find one when he is thirsty. The implication of the story is that the author showed the angst of a young man who seeks independence in the world of real life. When we are with our family, we could not feel the pressure of having a life. We always think of the better things that we could manage but through this story, we tend to realize how things work when we are already alone. It shows that life is always a cycle and a chosen ground. When we choose to ignore the things that we encounter during our early days, it would not give us the privilege to know what true life is because we are incapable of living – to understand and to learn things around us. Reference Soto, G. Black Hair pp. 296-302