So What Are You, Anyway?

Written from the third person limited point of view, “So What Are You, Anyway?” centralizes the physical and emotional experiences of the main character Carole in order to access the author’s overarching examinations of Loss of Innocence, Race as a Social Construct, and Prejudice as an Attack on Identity and Belonging. The entirety of the short story’s events and conflicts are filtered through the young biracial protagonist’s mind. In this way, the author is compelling his reader to see, experience, and process the socio-political tensions of 1970s American and Canadian cultures from Carole’s vantage point. By allowing the third person narrator to inhabit Carole’s consciousness throughout the story, the author simultaneously grants the reader insight into Carole’s psyche, highlighting her developing awareness of the world and capturing her youthful sense of self.

Carole is a child in the narrative present, and she is unconcerned with issues of race, prejudice, and discrimination. The narrator makes no indication that Carole is aware of the age in which she lives or the socially-imposed significance of her identity in this age. Rather, Carole’s primary concerns include being on a plane by herself, traveling to see her grandparents, and taking care of her doll Amy. The author uses literary devices, such as imagery and foreshadowing, to evoke these facets of Carole’s experience. In the opening paragraph of the story, Carole “settles in Seat 12A,” “snaps open her purse,” and “holds up a mirror” to study her appearance (Paragraph 1). The images of the purse and the mirror are representations of adulthood. The images of Carole opening the purse and looking at herself in the mirror also act as forms of foreshadowing. Although a little girl, Carole will soon defend her age in an attempt to prove herself more mature and capable than others perceive her. In the context of the mirror, Carole’s reflection is proof of how her father endearingly sees her: “milk milk milk milk chocolate” (Paragraph 1). These images establish the author’s interest in exploring notions of innocence and identity. As a child, Carole regards herself in a simplified, logical, and uninhibited manner; she does not read other political, racial, or prejudicial meaning into the color of her skin. However, the images of her face, the references to her complexion, and Carole’s attempts to adopt adult-like body language foreshadow the racialized conflicts that will come to define her flight in the following pages.

The examinations of race and prejudice that dictate the majority of the narrative tension gradually fracture Carole’s innocence. In particular, Carole’s interactions with the characters Mrs. Betty Norton and Mr. Henry Norton ultimately change how she perceives herself. Throughout the opening sequences, the narrator depicts Carole in a childlike manner, from the way she interacts with the doll—putting it “on a vacant seat” (Paragraph 1) and “waving the doll’s hand” (Paragraph 15)—to the way she responds to and is treated by others, such as when she tells Henry that she is “a big girl” when he questions her ability to travel alone (Paragraph 29). Images of this ilk begin to dissipate, however, the longer Carole is in conversation with the Nortons.

The couple’s prejudiced treatment of Carole conjures questions about Carole’s youth and innocence, and therefore her responsibility for her background and identity. Betty reminds her husband that Carole is “only a child” when he resists letting Carole out of her seat to use the restroom (Paragraph 37). Although Carole wants to believe that she “is a young lady” and “definitely not a child” (Paragraph 38), Carole’s demeanor and mannerisms point to her youthful age, emphasizing her undeveloped awareness of the cultural implications of her identity. This latter concern becomes particularly pertinent when the Nortons demand to know more about Carole’s racial identity. Carole does not understand what the Nortons mean because she is innocent. By the end of the story, however, the Nortons’ bigoted regard for her has begun to make Carole feel guilty and ashamed of who she is and where she comes from. She insists that she does not care about such things. However, their demands have forced Carole into a social, cultural, and racial awareness her character was not yet prepared to confront. At the start of the story, such political notions have no place in Carole’s mind and therefore no bearing on who she is or where she belongs. Hill is therefore indicating that the Loss of Innocence is often forced upon Black and biracial children. Carole has no agency over how she is coming into this awareness of herself, her family, or her culture. Rather, it is socially imposed upon her.

Hill uses an unconventional approach to structure and form in order to enact his thematic notions concerning both racism and prejudice. Instead of allowing the narrative action to elapse on the page via a series of detailed narrative descriptions, Hill presents the majority of “So What Are You, Anyway?” in the form of dialogue. The dialogue is primarily comprised of Carole’s, Betty’s, and Henry’s voices. The third person narrator’s voice only intermittently comments upon this ongoing exchange between Carole and the couple. Without the narrator’s caveats or interruptions, Carole is left to navigate the complexities of her interaction with the Nortons on her own. In a story that is just six pages long, only 13 paragraphs appear in the form of traditional narration. These paragraphs most often span no more than three sentences in length.

This subversive narrative form captures and conveys the claustrophobia that Carole feels as a result of the Norton couple’s offensive and affronting behavior. The couple is not merely seated next to Carole on the plane. Their physical presences are thus not the only intimidating facets of their characters. Rather, it is their inability to “Leave [Carole] alone” that proves to be the ultimate form of oppression (Paragraph 80). The relentless nature of the dialogue—its formatting, presentation, and content—thus immerses the reader in the same suffocating persecution that Carole suffers over the course of her flight. If Hill had allowed a more balanced exchange between the dialogue and the narration, he would not have been able to capture the same texture, atmosphere, and mood of his protagonist's experience.

On its surface, “So What Are You, Anyway?” is a simple and accessible short story. Without flashbacks, it is limited to a single, insular setting with a slim cast of characters. By eliminating detailed narrative elements, Hill has distilled Carole’s experience to its essence, compelling the reader not only into the psychological atmosphere of Carole’s innocence and youth, but into her forceful socio-political awakening. Carole’s narrative world and her story are thus deceptively simple. Harkening the foreboding narrative impetus of a story like the Grimm Brothers’ “Little Red Riding Hood,” “So What Are You, Anyway?” begins with Carole’s exciting journey away from home to see her grandparents. As in the Brothers Grimm tale, Carole’s lively adventure quickly devolves into a forceful coming of age tale that asks who BIPOC individuals are allowed to be in a world that predetermines their very existence. Carole is forced to adopt a distorted interpretation of herself, her origins, and her world—and this interpretation promises to define her life for years to come.