Angry Black White Boy's Ambiguous Ending and Its Effect on Our View of Macon

Throughout Adam Mansbach's Angry Black White Boy, Macon Detornay appears to become more and more committed to his act of renouncing his whiteness by involving himself so heavily in black culture. At the beginning of the novel, Macon shows his commitment by simply placing himself into awkward situations regarding race that force the other characters in the novel to question his legitimacy, therefore providing him with an opportunity to prove that he is the real deal. As the novel progresses, and Macon gains publicity as such a unique character with his tendency to act black when he is white, Macon sticks with his identity, proclaiming the evil of whiteness of various television talks shows, never afraid to speak emphatically to the media about any matters regarding his race and the concept of race in general. This image of Macon holds fairly firmly up until the last scene of the novel, when the racist white supremacist Burleigh holds up a gun to Macon and claims that he will "die for his cause" (335). Rather than accept that this moment is his way to show his true commitment and legitimacy, Macon surprisingly seems to reject this idea, leading us to surmise that Macon believes his death will ultimately not count for his fight for black people. In a situation where the outcome of death was certain regardless of his actions, Macon still chooses to deny that his death was "for the cause," causing the ending of the novel to seem very ambiguous and contradictory regarding Macon's initial intentions and final thoughts before death.

The pivotal scene that throws the novel into confusion occurs on the very last few pages, when Burleigh holds a gun up to Macon and explains how he will die:

“Burleigh cocked the gun. His voice was low and even.

“He’s gonna die for his cause.”

Macon heard the words and opened his eyes. The world poured in. He squeezed them shut and shook his head.

“No.”

Burleigh pulled the trigger, and Macon joined his ancestors” (334-335).

Macon finally has a chance to prove his legitimacy permanently, cementing his legacy as the "downest white boy in history." Even under such duress knowing that death is imminent, finally being provided with such an opportunity to solidify his identity, Macon falters at the last second. By shaking his head and saying "no", Macon essentially renounces his entire image and all the commitment to the black race he had built up throughout the entire novel. The fact that Macon rejects this opportunity provided to him is puzzling, especially when we consider what Macon's goal has been from the beginning of the novel. Macon constantly places himself in these awkward situations regarding race with the hope that it will provide him with an opportunity to prove to others and confirm to himself that he is committed to his actions and the persona he has created. Faced with an opportunity to prove to the world his legitimacy by literally dying for the cause, Macon abandons his identity up to this point, causing us to wonder whether all his actions up to this point were in vain, as it's possible that Macon was never fully committed in the first place and simply embraced the publicity. It’s particularly interesting to consider how outside forces like the media will interpret Macon’s death. Since they would not know of Macon’s repudiation of his previous identity at the end of the novel, it is likely that the media would make Macon into a martyr, therefore solidifying his place as someone who was legitimate and willing to pay the biggest sacrifice to show it. However, with this one work and simple action in the last scene, we are thrown into confused and left to consider the purpose, or perhaps rather the meaninglessness and inevitability of Macon’s actions, depending on how we decide to interpret his evolution as a character.

A particularly unsettling aspect of the final scene in the novel is the very last line of the novel. After Macon renounces his commitment to the cause and the legitimacy of his persona, Mansbach describes Burleigh shooting and killing Macon in one brief sentence: “Burleigh pulled the trigger, and Macon joined his ancestors” (335). A lot of the initial impetus behind Macon’s strong desire to identify so heavily with black culture came from the notion that Macon didn’t want to be like his ancestor Cap Anson, the racist baseball player who constantly insulted the black Fleet Walker. We have seen Macon obsessively reading Fleet Walker’s book at several points in the novel, and we come to learn very early on that the sole reason Macon requested Andre as his roommate is because Andre is a descendant of Fleet Walker. It seems that Macon has this lingering feeling that he must absolve himself of his ancestor’s crimes by renouncing his whiteness and aligning so heavily with black culture. Thus, we see Macon sway farther and farther away from a Cap Anson figure as the novel progresses, with Macon advocating heavily for the notion that white people are evil and must apologize for their egregious crimes of the past. With this very last line of the novel, however, we are thrown into confusion regarding with whom Macon is actually aligned with. In the last chapter, Macon appears much more like a Red Donner figure by refusing to shoot Leo, just as Red Donner refused to let his teammate Fleet Walker get caught by the mob, but we can observe very evident ties to Cap Anson when Macon renounces his persona, retreating to whiteness and therefore “joining his ancestors” (335). We are forced to question at the end of the novel whether Macon even deserves any credit for what he did and the passion he incited in people regarding the injustices that have been done to black people for centuries, or rather was more of a poser who took the easy way out by aligning with whiteness and couldn’t ever fully commit to the cause, in which case it would be appropriate to align him with his ancestor.