"Mr. Z" by M. Carol Holman

M. Carol Holman's Mr. Z is yet another poem about racism, prejudices, and stereotypes. The second question at the end of this poem asks what motivations and strategies Mr. Z uses to achieve his goal. First, I established he was black when he was, "Taught early that his mother's skin was the sign of error" (Holman, line 1). This seams to be very vague considering any race could be implied, but the poem later states he was trying to gain, "Whatever ground was Anglo-Saxonized" (Holman, line 8). The fact that Mr. Z is trying to act more "Anglo-Saxonized", in other words white, shows that his mother's skin must have been black. Now that I know Mr. Z is black, I see that his motivation throughout the poem is to conform with the white society in order to be accepted. Mr. Z rejects his music and foods in order to be accepted and avoid being judged. His goal is not to achieve happiness with who he truly is, but to achieve a lifestyle that avoids hardship. Mr. Z uses the strategy of concealing his true identity and masking it by distinguishing himself as having more merit than other blacks. Furthermore, Mr. Z lies to himself and never allows himself to reach his full, happy potential in order to reach his "goal."