64 pages • 2 hours read
Kim JohnsonThe Color of a Lie
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Expectations and Reality of the American Dream in the Post-War Period
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of racism.
The “American dream” is the name given to the national ethos in the United States that states that every citizen has the freedom to succeed, become upwardly mobile, and attain success equally. The American dream expects that achieving success is contingent upon individual attributes, like hard work and dedication, making it universally achievable. The reality is that systemic factors make certain demographics of people more or less likely to have access to things like wealth, educational and economic opportunities, and upwardly mobile jobs.
Calvin’s father is a Black veteran of World War II. He thought that by putting his life on the line to fight fascism and prejudice in Europe alongside both Black and white compatriots, he was simultaneously proving his equality and fighting these things at home. He says that he “fought for [their] place in the American Dream” (125). This expectation is tempered by his observations of the reality:
We’re caught in a scam that has the bottom half bamboozled, believing that the American dream is achievable by those who deserve it. Work hard enough. Then they justify burning up our justice. Our access. Our dream. The very thing this country was created to uphold. But this country only knows how to rule in terror and by blood (125).
Calvin’s father is venting his frustrations about how the idea that hard work will allow one to achieve the dream keeps some people locked into believing a “scam.” He points out the hypocrisy that a nation like the United States, founded on principles of liberty and justice for all, not only does not provide this in practice but also actively endangers Black lives with racial violence. This shows how this theme relates to the theme of Racial and Social Inequality in Midcentury America.
Calvin’s first impression of the “perfectly carved-out” suburban blocks in Levittown is that, while some people see the town as “the American Dream,” he sees it as “a delusion” (5). This is an early hint that the expectations and the reality of the American dream do not align. When Calvin starts working at Vernon Realty, he observes glossy brochures selling the American dream to Black and white families. When he looks closer, he finds out that homes for white families in Levittown cost $10,000 and are granted VA loans, while homes outside town designated for Black families “[a]re at least fourteen thousand. No VA loan guaranteed” (21). This example shows how the expectations that anyone can achieve the American dream if they work hard do not hold for people equally.
Even among the white residents of Levittown, the idea of the American dream becomes a restrictive aesthetic that limits their individuality. At school, they’re shown a film about how “[y]ou can start a new life. An American dream,” if only they follow “rules this generation must abide by” (35). The film suggests that wives and daughters should dress up nicely to welcome husbands and fathers home from work, that people should be “seen and not heard” (35), and that they should avoid supposedly dangerous cultural material like comic books. In this version of the American dream, Calvin doesn’t see freedom but a message about conformity. This shows how the “scam” that Calvin’s father identifies affects all people.
Racial and Social Inequality in Midcentury America
As Calvin grows to understand the social systems underwriting Levittown, he sees the depth of the racial and social inequality that animates the schools, town, and housing systems. As soon as Calvin’s family moves into their house, they’re confronted with how restrictive and hierarchical the town is. Levittown has a list of rules that all its residents must follow to preserve their image as a perfect postwar suburb—this relates to the Expectations and Reality of the American Dream in the Post-War Period. Vernon tells them to “keep up their lawn […] Colored help is fine as long as they leave town before sundown” (8). They’re immediately reminded of the area’s racial segregation. Black people are only allowed in town as domestic workers, and they are subject to the rules of a “sundown town.” These rules create a tense atmosphere that contributes to the book’s rising action.
Though Calvin struggles with The Psychological Impact of Passing, he can’t help but notice and be excited about some material benefits of passing as white. For instance, he is “irritated that [he] c[an] feel [his] heart flutter at having a yard for the first time” (7), which he didn’t have while living close to other families in Chicago. At school, he gets a stack of fresh books, which becomes his “new prized possession” (31). He notes that at his school in Chicago, “books were used copies discarded by white schools. Pages would be ripped out, notes scribbled in the margins, things already underlined” (31). This is one example of how “separate” facilities were inherently unequal, which led to the victory in Brown v. Board. While Calvin is excited by his books and yard, these resources point out the extremity of racial and social inequality in midcentury America.
The most extreme example of racial inequality that Calvin discovers in the novel revolves around the secrets that Vernon Realty is keeping about their housing practices. Calvin discovers a note to Vernon from the National Association of Real Estate Boards that says they have a “professional obligation to never show a property to a member of a race or nationality whose presence will be detrimental to property values” (146). Instead, they have a “map of redline districts” to keep housing racially segregated (147). This is how they excuse not selling Black families homes in Levittown.
Calvin finds a letter from Vernon to the school board about how to “dissuade colored students from entering our schools” (147), including getting grown men to “be present round the clock at the homes of potential students as intimidation (148). While the documents do not direct people to lead with violence, they make it clear that violence will be used if necessary to prevent integration. Finding these documents shows Calvin how the housing companies, banks, and school districts all work together at a local level to perpetuate racial and social inequality, even after laws mandating integration have been passed.
The Psychological Impact of Passing
Calvin’s biggest internal struggle is with the guilt and shame he feels over passing. The stress of passing also takes a negative toll on his parents, though he does not fully realize this until the end of the novel. Calvin feels like “playing white” comes at the expense of “selling [their] souls” (9, 11). Even before attending Heritage High tests Calvin’s “passing,” the preparation that his father puts him through makes him feel like he is betraying his soul and identity. He has to change his voice, clothes, and interests; these things are important for identity formation in youth, and Calvin is abruptly forced to reject them all.
This rejection has a tangible negative effect on Calvin’s day-to-day life. He tries to tell Robert how “passing ma[kes] [him] feel like [he] [i]s falling apart, tearing at the seams. The fear of being discovered haunt[s] [his] every moment, every breath [he] t[akes]” (49). Calvin is beset by ever-present stress that he cannot escape from. Feeling like he has to reject his Black identity or else invite great danger into his life makes him feel like his sense of identity is breaking. The biggest bonds that Calvin forms with other characters are forged when he feels like he can talk to them about “[n]ot knowing what’s real” (198). Eugene, Harry, and Lily all become outlets where Calvin can vent about the toll that passing takes on his perception of reality. They also all provide safe spaces where Calvin can embody his true identity, helping to keep him grounded.
Calvin notices his mother being negatively affected by his passing. After they go to church as a family, she “lock[s] herself in the bathroom crying behind the sound of running water” (13). Like Calvin, she struggles with the stress of passing and is wary of their white neighbors. For Calvin’s mother, passing means being isolated in the house. The version of the American dream that Levittown sells emphasizes women’s domestic role, so she doesn’t have a job like she did in Chicago. Calvin notices her “waiting by the window” for him every day, relieved to see him not only because he is “home safe, but [also because] she [i]sn’t alone anymore” (146). The types of behaviors they must do to pass leave them feeling isolated and afraid. Other women in the neighborhood are also isolated in their homes, which increases the tension in the novel. Calvin’s mother tells him the neighborhood is “too quiet. Too many people watching who’s coming and going” (99). This quietness thus contributes to their feelings of fear and isolation, as they know they are always being watched.
Only at the end of the novel does Calvin realize that even his father felt the psychological toll of passing. When Lily’s family shelters with him, his family is reunited with Robert, and they all become more vibrant and happier due to their interactions. He notices his father watching his mother’s happiness with “stariness” and realizes that his father must have missed him and his mother’s happiness and was perhaps “just as unhappy” about moving and having to pass as Calvin was (302). This understanding humanizes Calvin’s father and brings the family closer together.
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