Black Skin, White Masks: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Fanon argues that black men desire white women because, through being loved by a white woman, black men feel recognized by the world as white and closer to the white ideal that racist culture upholds. He will examine René Maran’s seemingly autobiographical novel Un homme pareil aux autres (A Man Like Any Other), about a black Antillean called Jean Veneuse who has lived in Bordeaux, France for many years. In the novel, Jean states that white Europeans do not understand black people. It is possible to describe Jean as an “introvert” or a “sensitive person.” He is talented, but shy and anxious, and is desperate to “prove to… others that he is a man.”

Jean is in love with a white woman named Andrée Marielle, who has in turn written to say that she is in love with him. However, Jean feels that he needs a white man to give him permission to be with her. He seeks the advice of his white friend Coulanges, who tells him that since he left his home country as an infant and is so connected to Bordeaux, he is “really one of us.” Coulanges emphasizes: “You only look like a black… you think like a European. That’s why it’s only normal for you to love like a European.” Fanon notes that although Coulanges has given his permission for Jean to marry Andrée, he does so on the “condition” that Jean renounces his blackness and thinks of himself as a white Frenchman.

Jean cannot accept Coulanges’ demand that he renounce his blackness. He knows that many black men in France desire white women not because they truly love them, but because they wish to have the vengeful “satisfaction of dominating a European woman.” He wonders if his own motivations are really different than these men. Historically, black men who were caught having sex with white women would be castrated. Fanon notes that Antillean men newly-arrived in France tend to be obsessed with the prospect of sleeping with a white woman, and that it is a “ritual of initiation” for them to stop at a brothel at the port in Le Havre before heading to Paris.

Fanon returns to analyze Jean Veneuse using Germaine Guex’s book The Abandonment Neurosis. Guex argues that the abandonment neurosis consists of an anxiety surrounding abandonment, which leads to “aggressivity” and “devaluation of self.” Fanon argues that Jean suffers from this neurosis, which manifests itself as bitterness about the past, low self-esteem, and feeling that no one understands him. His experiences of abandonment as a child make it difficult for him to desire and accept love as an adult. He does not believe he is worthy of love, and is constantly searching for acceptance by white people while believing he is not deserving of it.

Guex writes that as a result of these issues, the person who suffers from abandonment neurosis becomes obsessed with the feeling of being excluded from society. He is permanently in the position of “the Other” (or at least so it seems to him). Fanon adds that the abandonment neurotic can never feel certain of another person’s love, even if that person states it clearly. Although Jean Veneuse has a rich intellectual and creative life, he nonetheless feels ashamed of himself. He is socially paranoid and distrusts the possibility that anyone truly likes him. Fanon emphasizes that Jean’s problems should be understood as a general psychological condition rather than an experience unique to black people. Fanon seeks to show that black people can understand their experiences through the framework of psychoanalysis.

Fanon emphasizes that Jean Veneuse’s feelings about white women are not inherent to the condition of being a black man, but rather are the product of Jean’s own personal alienation. It is vital not to think of race as a “stain,” and not to accept the conditions of alienation that European culture imposes on black people—since the only way forward then is to aspire to become white and seek the approval of white people. Fanon claims that there is an alternative solution, but that it requires “restructuring the world.”