So What Are You, Anyway?

Canadian author Lawrence Hill published his short story “So What Are You, Anyway?” in Voices: Canadian Writers of African Descent in 1992. The story follows a girl with a diverse racial background named Carole on her plane journey from her parents’ home in Toronto, Canada, during which a white couple seated beside her questions her about her race. The story takes place in 1970, and its themes include Loss of Innocence, Race as a Social Construct, and Prejudice as an Attack on Identity and Belonging.

Hill is best known for his 2007 novel The Book of Negroes, published in the US as Someone Knows My Name. The novel won numerous awards, including The Commonwealth Prize and the Rogers/Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Hill co-wrote a miniseries based on the novel, which aired in 2015 and received two NAACP Image Awards in addition to other honors.  Hill has authored 10 books, including the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice (2001), and has written numerous essays.

This guide refers to the version of “So What Are You, Anyway?” that is freely available through the online resource Weebly.

Content Warning: This guide features racially derogatory language that appears in the source text. In the short story, Hill uses controversial and outdated language to describe Black and biracial individuals. This language, quoted only when necessary in this guide, serves the rhetorical purpose of augmenting narrative tension and highlighting the protagonist’s discriminatory, alienating, and dehumanizing experiences.

Written from the third person limited point of view, “So What Are You, Anyway?” traces the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of the main character Carole during her journey from her home in Toronto to her grandparents’ home in an unspecified location. At the beginning, Carole settles into her window seat on the airplane. She situates her doll, opens her purse, and withdraws a mirror. She studies her reflection, searching “for pimples, but finds none” (Paragraph 1). Her “clear complexion” in the glass reminds her of how her father describes her (Paragraph 1).

The man next to Carole lifts up her doll, holds her upside down, and cries out in surprise at the sight of a Black doll. Carole asks for the doll back. She explains that the doll’s name is Amy and again asks for him to return her.

The man’s wife snaps at him, insisting he give Carole back her doll. After Carole situates Amy beside her once more, the man and woman shift into their seats. The man is in the middle seat and the woman is in the aisle. The woman tells Carole not to mind her husband. She introduces herself as Betty Norton and her husband as Henry. Carole notices the man scrutinizing her.

The stewardess passes, “checking seat belts” and ensuring everything is okay (Paragraph 11). When Carole asks to use the bathroom, the stewardess tells her she will have to wait, as they are “about to take off” (Paragraph 13).

As the plane begins to taxi, Carole “looks out the window” and tells Amy to say “goodbye to Mom and Dad” (Paragraph 15). Once the plane lifts off, Carole’s stomach feels empty and her ears feel blocked. However, as the plane ascends, Carole notices that the other side of the clouds, which she describes as “pillows of cotton” (Paragraph 15), are illuminated by sunlight, and she feels awed by the view.

The man interrupts Carole’s thoughts, telling her that she can now use the restroom. Carole does not want to move. The man is surprised Carole is traveling by herself. He asks where she lives, where she was born, and where her parents are from. Feeling anxious, Carole tries to answer his questions. She insists that she is “a big girl” and nods when he asks if she is going to see her grandparents (Paragraph 29).

Soon, Carole falls asleep while holding her doll’s hand. When she wakes up, she overhears the Nortons talking about her. The woman says, “I don’t mind them mixed, but the world isn’t ready for it” (Paragraph 35). Carole does not understand what they are saying.

Carole tells the man she is going to use the bathroom. The man is reluctant to let her out, but Betty insists he let her because Carole is a child. Henry gives Carole her doll, warning her not to fall into the “big hole down by the toilet” (Paragraph 40). Although afraid of the hole, Carole is desperate to prove she is “not a child” and tells Henry she will be fine (Paragraph (39).

Carole asks the stewardess if she can change seats, but the stewardess is busy serving food. She tells Carole to ask again later. When Carole returns to her seat, Henry asks her, “What are you, anyway” (Paragraph 48)? Carole is confused. To clarify his question, he asks what race she is, but she still does not understand. She wishes her parents were there to explain “what ‘race’ meant” (Paragraph 51). Her doll is Black, and Henry insists she must also be Black. He then asks what her father and mother look like. He demands to know what color she would use to color their faces in a coloring book (Paragraph 56). Carole is becoming more and more upset, as Henry is dissatisfied with her answers. Betty questions her too, further upsetting Carole.

Finally, Carole demands that the couple leave her alone. Everyone starts staring after the outburst. When Betty reaches towards Carole, presumably to comfort her, the stewardess tells the woman not to touch her. Carole overhears another passenger exclaim at the couple’s rudeness: “Imagine! Talking to a child like that, and in 1970” (Paragraph 85). Carole dislikes everyone talking about and looking at her. She insists that what the couple wants to know does not matter, and that she does not care about it. The stewardess invites Carole to sit with her instead and promises to make her “a special drink” (Paragraph 91). Relieved, Carole agrees. As she scoots out of her seat with Amy, she hears Betty muttering to her husband about Carole being too sensitive.