Psychological Scapegoating In Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to explore psychological scapegoating in Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (2016) in the light of Frantz Fanon’s theorization of racial complex where blacks and whites come in contact with one another. This study extrapolates Fanon’s theory to the American context regarding history of slavery in the United States. Euphoria of racial equality in the United States in the backdrop of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency vaporized into the air with the passage of time and the term ‘post-racial’ seemed ironic. Contemporary American novel reverberates with this enigma. Fanon’s concept of psychological scapegoating finds ample portrayal in white characters as depicted in The Underground Railroad by Whitehead. Psychological scapegoating is a main cause of continuation of effects of slavery and segregation which instills superiority complex in whites and inferiority complex in blacks. With this strategy, Whitehead seems to contest the notion of post-raciality, to revisit the past, and to fill gaps in the historical record.