41 pages • 1 hour read
George SchuylerBlack No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1931A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Max Disher (Matthew Fisher)
Max is the protagonist of the novel; he is the first black man in America to receive Dr. Crookman’s treatment and become white. After his transformation, he changes his name to Matthew and relocates from Harlem to Atlanta. Through Matthew’s experiences, the reader understands the precarious nature of race relations in America; as a black man, Matthew idealized the lives of white people, but as soon as he becomes white, he realizes that a life of ease and white privilege is not what he thought it would be. To make a living, he joins a white supremacist society called the Knights of Nordica.
Matthew holds most of the characters in the novel at a distance, mainly focused on how he can further his own desires and goals. His best friend, Bunny, is the only exception as Matthew’s confidante and most trusted relationship. The two men fought in World War I together, and this shared military experience as black men forged a close friendship that only grew stronger once they became white.
As Matthew navigates the white world, he uses his wits and his unemotional pragmatism to get his way, suggesting that survival in racist America is possible as long as one has common sense and ambition. Some readers may perceive the character of Matthew as an opportunistic con artist who is keen to capitalize on the weaknesses of others, while other readers may view Matthew simply as resourceful and crafty, a man who knows what it is like to be deprived of rights and becomes guided by a strong sense of self-preservation.
Dr. Junius Crookman
Dr. Crookman is the inventor of the Black-No-More treatment, and under his leadership, over 50 sanitariums have been constructed in America; he becomes a wealthy man as his treatment grows in popularity and black people flock to his treatment centers to become white. Dr. Crookman is from Harlem, and his previous relationship with Max, though unexplored in the novel, gives Max the opportunity to be the first man to experience the power of the Black-No-More transformation.
Though his name suggests he is dishonest, Dr. Crookman is by no means the most villainous of Schuyler’s characters. He may be crooked and greedy, but he is not necessarily evil. One interpretation of Dr. Crookman’s ambitions has a humanitarian angle, after all, as he seeks to relieve black people of the pressures and the pain associated with being black; unfortunately, another interpretation of Dr. Crookman’s business developments has more to do with making money and taking advantage of vulnerable people desperate for a solution to a deeply troubling problem.
Rev. Henry Givens
Rev. Givens, a comical figure in the novel, is Matthew’s employer, father-in-law, and leader of the white supremacist organization, the Knights of Nordica. Thanks to his lack of scruples, Rev. Givens has become a wealthy man having embezzled funds from the Ku Klux Klan, where he previously held a leadership role. Schuyler’s depiction of the reverend’s immorality, as well as his buffoonery and ignorance and his eventual rise as Presidential nominee for the Democratic party, makes a statement about white leaders in America who gain traction with the American public by partaking in racialized thinking. As well, the reverend’s position as a leader of white supremacists and a member of the Christian clergy makes for satirical commentary on the good works of the religious-minded in racist communities.
Helen Fisher, née Givens
Matthew’s wife, Helen, is young, beautiful, and ignorant. She is a superficially presented character, like most of the other characters in the novel, so she changes very little as the events of the novel unfold. At the start of the novel, Helen is cold and harsh, rejecting Max’s request for a dance at the New Year’s Eve party with racist disdain; at this moment, Helen is confident and secure in her knowledge of her own whiteness. When this confidence is rattled by the discovery that her family history is not as pure as she and her parents assume, Helen becomes less judgmental about black people, accepting immediately that she is no better than anyone else.
Bunny Brown
Bunny is Max’s best friend, and his warmth is revealed in the playful imagery of his name. He is an easygoing, quick-thinking young man with few scruples, and after Max gives him money for the Black-No-More treatment, he joins Max, now Matthew, in Atlanta. Bunny is the only person who knows the truth about Max’s identity and past. In Atlanta, Bunny becomes Matthew’s right-hand man at the Knights of Nordica, as he is the only person Matthew can trust with the personal nature of some difficult tasks and with some of his money-making schemes.
Arthur Snobbcraft
Snobbcraft, of Richmond, Virginia, is the President of the Anglo-Saxon Society and a member of the First Families of Virginia. As his name suggests, he holds rigidly exclusive ideas about people, class, and citizenship. Snobbcraft becomes Rev. Givens’ running mate during the election, but his hopes of becoming vice-president are dashed when the genealogical research he requested reveals that he possesses mixed blood, just like most Americans. Snobbcraft and his researcher, the statistician Dr. Buggerie, are violently killed at the end of the novel by a lynch mob in Mississippi who learn from the newspapers that they are not the pure Caucasians they have made themselves out to be.
