Resisting Yet Restricted: Racism and Ethnocentrism in Paul Beatty’ Slumberland

Abstract

This paper examines the intersection of racism and ethnocentrism in Paul Beatty’s novel Slumberland. In this post-racial world, African Americans face various types of prejudice that can harm their existence. After facing the cruelty of the slave trade, the Black community focus on survival through their skills. However, whites take power on their hands and begin to devalue the African Americans intelligence in the eyes of ethnocentrism and racism, which strongly creates a mental shock. While ethnocentrism represents the belief that one race or culture is superior to others, racism is a colour-based form of discrimination that treats people unequally. Beatty’s novel illustrates how these ideas continue to affect the lives of Black people even today. The characters face racial prejudice in different sectors, yet they resist oppression from the superior force. The research presents marginalised people’s tension between the white-dominated culture and the limitations imposed by systemic bias. It applies Frantz Fanon’s insights that claim racism operates both as an external structure of domination and an internalised condition that produces psychological trauma and identity crisis. By focusing on the experiences of subordinated people, the research deliberately highlight the pain caused by white stereotypes and social injustice.