ENGL 4310

After reading a page or two of "The Artificial Nigger," I became keenly aware of a tension which existed between Mr. Head and his grandson. In our class discussion on Thursday, I felt that the class assumed Mr. Head was the authority figure in the relationship, but I never got that impression. It felt like the relationship between the sixty-something old man and the young boy was missing a critical element, and I ultimately came to the conclusion that this missing aspect was the presence of the second generation.
Throughout their journey, Nelson continually attempts to hide his dependence on his grandfather while Mr. Head seems determined to maintain his pride despite his obvious short-comings. Both Nelson and Mr. Head try to hide the inadequacies which come as a result of their age in order to gain the upper hand in the relationship. Nelson does not have the wisdom which comes from experience and as a result he has no other choice than to rely on his grandfather. Mr. Head, on the other hand, seems forgetful and becomes easily lost when he is placed in a new environment, which is likely a result of his advanced age. These circumstances throw their relationship off balance because there is a constant shifting of power and it is never allowed to reach equilibrium.

Another component of this relationship which I found interesting were both the physical and characteristic similarities between Nelson and Mr. Head. This may suggest that Nelson is, in some degree, a personification of Mr. Head as a young man. If this is the case, we never see the middle aged equivalent of Mr. Head; just the young and old versions. The forty-something Mr. Head would undoubtedly be the more authoritative figure because he would be in the prime of his life and contain both a degree of wisdom, which Nelson lacks, and a keenness of mind, which the "old" Mr. Head is beginning to lose.