In The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, the narrator presents the story of his life as a passing black man for white, and the different stages through which it progresses as it does so. In both his life and the lives of many Black Americans during our narrator's lifetime, and to the present day, music plays a vital role in defining identity and culture. The narrator's personal experience with music reflects a broader cultural experience shared by the black American community, and is sometimes central to his own life. By understanding the narrator's experience with music, we can connect it to a larger experience of culture and status that Johnson comments on through the narrator. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Early in his life, the narrator discovers that he has a musical talent, plays the piano in his home, and joins various groups and ensembles early in his life (25-27). His musical ability also allowed him to spend time socially with people he otherwise wouldn't have, starting with his elementary school love interest. He comments on his youthful love, saying: “Perhaps the reader has already guessed why I was so willing and eager to play the accompaniment to this violin solo; if not – the violinist was a girl of seventeen or eighteen... and who had brought me to a level which I can now hardly believe possible” (29). As a means of accompanying the girl both musically and physically in person, the narrator's talents and interests in music soon establish him as someone who may have the potential to make connections unavailable to others, which will prove instrumental in guiding his life in due time. .Since the narrator's talent is unique enough to distinguish him from the rest of the general population, he eventually manages to find a place to play the piano in establishments that are considered similar to modern bars. Indeed, the narrator is hailed as something of a legend in New York City, having earned a reputation as "the best rag-time player in New York" (115). He says: “By mastering rag-time I obtained the title of professor. As long as I remained in that world I was known as "the professor". Then I also gained the means to earn a pretty fair living” (115) [italics mine]. In saying that he has earned a decent living, in addition to the dignified title of "professor," the narrator identifies playing music - particularly ragtime music - as something sophisticated, intelligent, and respectable, as opposed to a job like making cigars. the experience of playing in bars is clearly a positive one, given the title he has earned and the respect paid to him. Johnson's portrait of the black musician is that of someone who holds an honorable profession and works to support himself. He contrasts this sharply with the nature of the other men in these establishments who seem to do little more than hang around and gamble with money they don't have (94-96). Our narrator has just come off a gambling binge, spending some time as a full-time craps player. By turning to music as his main mode of income, he not only abandons the case in his pursuit of money, but also personally channels his talents and interests towards something that society can consider respectable. The fact that the music is ragtime – something seen as a great form of music in this period – only elevates it furtherand establish the black musician, or the black ragtime player, as a great man. Ragtime music itself has great importance, as it departs from old-school classical music and demonstrates a newfound originality that the black community claims as its own. Therefore, its masters are revered, as explained, for providing this phenomenon to the community. It is interesting, therefore, to comment on what happens next in the narrator's life. Following a white millionaire's request to play at a function, the narrator becomes a sort of personal pianist for him, playing at his home and at various functions over an extended period of time. At one point he even travels with the millionaire to Europe for many months. This raises a question: If the narrator is so respected in his own racial community for playing so well, why does he choose to play privately for a wealthy white man and ultimately flee the continent (and its music) with him? As Johnson describes in the shooting scene, there is actually little the narrator can do except walk away and, ultimately, pass for white. The violence in that moment is indicative of the lifestyle our narrator is not involved in: he is not a violent, sexually charged, or otherwise indecent man. These events manifest as a “horrible nightmare” (124) for the narrator. Leaving New York and his public music career behind, the narrator makes a conscious decision to abandon his status and lifestyle to reevaluate his goals, perhaps investigating them again in Europe. What happens in the end, after months in Europe and moments away? from a second major international excursion, is the decision the narrator makes to return to the United States as an ambassador for his race, i.e. the black race. He says, "But I must admit that I also felt stimulated by a disinterested desire to give voice to all the joys and sorrows, hopes and ambitions of the American Negro, in the form of classical music" (148). The narrator means that he wishes to play again, this time as an avowed representative of his black race. In doing so he establishes that he will return to the United States to use music as a means to communicate meaningful ideas about black American culture. The millionaire at one point offers him the opportunity to stay in Europe and study with some of the greatest teachers in the world (144), which would make more sense if the narrator focused solely on music. Yet it isn't: it is, and has been, focused on music as more than just the music itself. Ultimately, however, he fails to accomplish this goal. When the narrator has a chilling first-hand experience with lynching, he must make the decision to pass for white for the rest of his life, which he later reflects on in the novel's conclusion, saying "sometimes I feel like I'm not I have never really been a black man, I have only been a privileged spectator of their interior life; other times I feel like a coward, a deserter, and I am possessed by a strange nostalgia for my mother's people” (210). narrator can be directly linked to an experience he had with music earlier in his life He may feel like a deserter for having literally abandoned New York for Europe in the face of the violent incident, leaving his music (and his) behind. position of “professor”). He may feel like just a spectator because while he is in these bars and clubs, playing for the black community, he has never been able to truly connect with it like the others – he didn't look the part or act the part. and grew up “white,” only to have the “darkness” and its dangers seemingly forced upon him. Throughout his life, music functioned as a.