The novel by Caryl Phillips titled Dancing in the Dark re-imagines and tells the story of little-known Bert William. Bert William was a black entertainer who rose from abject poverty to the highest levels of fortune and fame. Two years after his family settled In California from the Bahamas, Williams set out to learn the role society has reserved for him (Phillips). At the tender age of 22 years, he adorned a black face mask and set out to impersonate a “negro” (Phillips). This character brought him fame and fortune but also exposed the contradictions between his personal life and the character he was playing. Asked to describe him, one of his friends disclosed that William was one of the happiest and saddest people he ever knew. It is these contradictions about Willliam’s life that Caryl Phillips’ novel illuminates. Thus, Dancing in the Dark explores the themes of race, racial identity, and the dangers of self-invention that characterize American culture today.
The telling of Bert William’s story in the novel shows the invisible lines that separated Black people from White Americans in the 20th Century. Long after slavery was banned throughout the United States, William’s experience and story show the invisible distinctions that existed. William also noted how ingrained the difference between color and race was which matches Phillip’s claim that racial identity and self-identity are generally fluid (Phillips).
Phillips portrays William as a sad, confined, and entrapped entertainer whose one role that makes him money is also degrading, saddening, and a travesty considering that he was Black and had to put on a mask to play a Black character on stage. The story also shows the kind of barriers Black entertainers at the time had to overcome to click with the audience and for studios to take them seriously. William believed that theatrical performances would help him breach the invisible line that separated Black people from White people. However, his experience in that role only reinforced a belief that despite the banning of slavery several decades earlier, America’s obsession with race, color, and racial identities was still deeply ingrained in many people’s minds.
Caryl Phillip’s novel also brings to the fore the dangers of self-invention. By immigrating to the United States from Bahama, William’s parents hoped that he would have a better life and chances there. However, despite his fame and fortune, his reinvention caused him great sorrow. He was a living contradiction that wore a black mask to play a black character despite him being naturally Black. His theatrical experience was a recocking of the kind of society America was during the early 20th century.
By assuming a false identity and his character confirming some of the prejudices that White people held against black people, the author tries to show the dangers of self-invention. William Bern in effect gets lost between his public and private lives. Thus, despite fictionalizing some aspects of William’s life, Phillip manages to bring out the contradiction of self-invention that characterized his real life.
Dancing in the Dark by Phillip Caryl is a thought-provoking account of the life of Black entertainer Bern William. Despite fictionalizing some of his experiences, the author manages to bring to the fore debate about race, racial identity, and re-invention which are relevant today. In the 20th century, America was still divided along racial lines despite slavery being abolished more than a century ago. William would learn this lesson the hard way as his public persona and his personal life collided into one giant performance that left him happy and sad at the same time.
Work Cited
Phillips, Caryl. Dancing in the Dark. Vintage Digital, 2010.