Percival Everett’s “The Appropriation of Cultures” is a short story about a young African American man, Daniel Barkley, who seemed to waste his life and inherited wealth for inessential things. The term used in the title means the inappropriate acquisition of one cultural element or artifact without permission (Howard 69). The protagonist lives in the house and drives the car left to him by his mother (Everett 1). Daniel received a significant amount of money from his late aunt, who had no children (Everett 1). Since Barkley’s financial situation appears to be good, he does not have a job, spending time playing the guitar, singing songs, and reading books. One day, after dreaming at night about taking the Confederate flag from Pickett’s men, Daniel decided to purchase a truck from a white family to make the scenario from his dream a reality. His only motivation for this deal was that this vehicle had the Confederate flag on the back window. This situation could be viewed as the appropriation of cultures since a black person willingly and consciously acquired property that symbolized slavery and racism from white people.
Although purchasing the truck is considered the final act of Daniel’s conversion to become a southerner, the fact that he sings “Dixie” in public places may be viewed as an appropriation of cultures. As we learned in our course, this song was primarily used to satirize enslaved people. Therefore, Daniel’s decision to agree to sing this song was inappropriate. If he refused, the crowd could make just fun of him, and he would never be able to perform for these people again. The main character “used the slide to squeeze out the melody of the song he had grown up hating” (“The Appropriation of Cultures – Percival Everett” 00:02:30-00:02:43). It means that Daniel knew the racist connotation of the song since he grew up in the South; still, he decided that he would utilize all these symbols to represent the pride in his origin. When I listened to this story, I noticed that Barkley lacked the African American accent that Sarah and some other characters had. He was a college-educated man of color who seemed to direct all his energy to ridicule the Confederate by appropriating its historical elements.
Although the story described in “The Appropriation of Cultures” occurred 23 years ago, it is still possible in 2022. Young college-educated individuals may inherit property and money from their parents or other relatives and be unemployed. Even though America is believed to be the country of ambition, the human brain may be susceptible to the state of laziness when a person does not have financial difficulties. Considering the increased awareness about racial discrimination after the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, many may engage in similar behavior as the narrative’s main character to satirize racial discrimination. The only difference, in 2022, is that one’s reaction to racial discrimination will likely be instantly uploaded to one of the social media platforms.
I listened to the audio version of the story and read it to compare my perception of the characters’ actions. When I first skimmed “The Appropriation of Cultures,” I did not think about various accents and emotions that people may have. When I listened to the story, it became apparent to me that Daniel’s attempt to transform into a southerner after living in the northern states during his college years had a unique motivation. I understood it once I heard the sarcastic tone in the protagonist’s voice when he talked about these symbols and sang “Dixie” with a sense of pride and ownership. Daniel’s education and the fact that he was fond of reading books allowed him to learn American history well. In fact, his dreams were associated with the Civil war rather than his daily routine. The protagonist might be obsessed with this topic; thus, he decided to engage in his transformation journey. He strived to show that the Confederate flag and the song are part of the shared history of people from the South and not tools for racial discrimination.
Works Cited
Everett, Percival. The Appropriation of Cultures. Graywolf Press, 2015. Web.
Howard, Karen. “Equity in Music Education: Cultural Appropriation Versus Cultural Appreciation—Understanding the Difference.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 106, no. 3, 2020, pp. 68-70.
“The Appropriation of Cultures – Percival Everett.” YouTube, uploaded by Neil Cronk, 2013. Web.