Racial Discrimination in Malcolm Hansen’s They Come in All Colors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.0234/mps.v7i3.52481Keywords:
individual discrimination, institutional discrimination, self-acceptanceAbstract
This study aims to analyze the portrayal of racial discrimination and how the main character responds to it in Malcolm Hansen’s novel They Come in All Colors (2018). The analysis is grounded in Pincus’s (1996) theory of racial discrimination, which distinguishes between individual and institutional forms. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, the research examines data in the form of characters’ dialogues and narrative descriptions within the novel. The findings reveal that the protagonist, Huey, experiences both individual and institutional discrimination. In response, he adopts coping strategies such as self-acceptance and seeking guidance from his parents. These strategies illustrate the psychological and emotional resilience required to navigate a racially discriminatory environment.
References
Abizadeh, A. (2005). Ethnicity, race, and a possible humanity. World Order, 33(1), 23–34. https://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/330TAbizadehEthnicityRace.pdf
Abrams, M. H., & Harpham, G. (2008). A glossary of literary terms (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Abrams, M. H. (1999). A glossary of literary terms (7th ed.). Earl McPeek.
Allport, G. W. (1979). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley.
Brooks, C., & Warren, R. P. (1979). Understanding fiction. Prentice-Hall.
Chatterjee, A. (2023). Understanding gender discrimination and biasness in the workplace: Voice from women segment. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Understanding-gender-discrimination-and-biasness-in-Chatterjee-Shenoy/c4a85c0504477c370898d53e9231e78120a9289f
Cuddon, J. A. (2013). A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (5th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
De Benoist, A. (1999). What is racism? http://www.alaindebenoist.com/pdf/what_is_racism.pdf
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. Sage Publications.
Fredrickson, G. M. (2001). Racism: A short history. Princeton University Press.
Gandhi, L. (1998). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction. Columbia University Press.
Gill, R. (1995). Mastering English literature. Macmillan.
Hansen, M. (2018). They come in all colors: A novel. Atria Books.
Hill, E., Tiefenthäler, A., Triebert, C., Jordan, D., Willis, H., & Stein, R. (2024, January 28). How George Floyd was killed in police custody. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html
Hughes, M., & Kroehler, C. J. (2010). Sociology: The core (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Hunter, M. (2016). Colorism in the classroom: How skin tone stratifies African American and Latina/o students. Theory Into Practice, 55(1), 54–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2016.1119019
Idris, M. M., Mas’ulah, M. D., & Sari, A. S. (2014). An analysis of racial discrimination suffered by Edgar Allan in John Neufeld’s Edgar Allan. TELL Journal, 10(1), 69–80.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (1995). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama. Addison-Wesley.
Klarer, M. (2004). An introduction to literary studies. Routledge.
Lukens, R. J. (1999). A critical handbook of children's literature (6th ed.). Addison-Wesley.
Mazzaroni, G. (2017). Theory of the novel. Harvard University Press.
Mitchell, A. (Ed.). (1994). Within the circle: An anthology of African American literary criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1134fjj
Parrillo, V. N. (2012). Understanding race and ethnic relations (4th ed.). Pearson.
Peck, J., & Coyle, M. (1993). Literary terms and criticism. Palgrave Macmillan.
Perrine, L. (1983). Literature: Structure, sound, and sense. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Pincus, F. L. (1996). Discrimination comes in many forms: Individual, institutional, and structural. American Behavioral Scientist, 40(2), 186–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764296040002009
Ponterotto, J. G., Utsey, S. O., & Pedersen, P. B. (2006). Preventing prejudice: A guide for counselors, educators, and parents. SAGE Publications.
Quinn, E. (2006). A dictionary of literary and thematic terms. Facts on File.
Ritma, R., & Marlina, L. (2022). Racial discrimination in We Cast a Shadow (2019) by Maurice Carlos Ruffin. English Language and Literature, 10(1), 69–78. https://doi.org/10.24036/ell.v10i1.115208
Rozzelle, R. (2005). Write great fiction: Description and setting. Writer’s Digest Books.
Smith, N. M. (2016). Basic equality and discrimination. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315568768
Wellek, R., & Warren, A. (1956). Theory of literature (3rd ed.). Harcourt, Brace & World.
Yunitri, N. W., Rajeg, I. M., & Isnu Maharani, S. A. (2019). Racism in The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Humanis, 23(2), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.24843/jh.2019.v23.i02.p01
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Al Ferry Rizky Eriawan, Diyah Iis Andriani
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
