In The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, the narrator presents the story of his life as a black man passing for white, and the different stages through which he progresses in doing so. In his life and in the lives of many black Americans at the time of our narrator's life and into the present day, music plays a vital role in defining identity and culture. The narrator's personal experience with music reflects a larger cultural experience shared by the black American community and is sometimes the central focus of his own life. By understanding the narrator's experience with music, we can connect it to a broader 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 Should Not Be Banned"?Get an original essayIn his early life, the narrator discovers that he has mastered music, playing the piano at home, and joining various very popular groups and ensembles. early. his life (25-27). His musical talent has also allowed him to spend time socially with people he otherwise might not have, starting with his love interest in elementary school. He comments on his youthful love by saying: “Perhaps the reader has already guessed why I was so eager and impatient to play the accompaniment of this violin solo; otherwise, the violinist was a young girl of seventeen or eighteen... and she had moved me to a degree that I can hardly imagine now” (29). As a means of accompanying the girl both musically and physically in person, the narrator's talents and interests in music establish him early on as someone who may have the potential to make connections inaccessible to others, which will prove essential in guiding one's life in due time. Since the narrator's talents are unique enough to set him apart from the rest of the population, he eventually manages to find a place playing piano in establishments that are akin to modern bars. In fact, the narrator has become something of a legend in New York, having earned a reputation as "the best ragtime player in New York" (115). He says: “By mastering ragtime, I obtained the title of professor. I was known as "the professor" for as long as I remained in this world. Then, I also acquired the means to earn a fairly decent living” (115) [emphasis mine). By asserting that he has earned a decent living, as well as the dignified title of "professor", the narrator equates the practice of music – particularly ragtime music – with something sophisticated, intelligent and respectable, for example. opposed to work like making cigars. the experience of music in bars is clearly something positive, considering the title he has won and the respect he is given. Johnson's portrait of the black musician is that of someone in an honorable profession and working to support himself. He contrasts sharply with the nature of the other men in these establishments who seem to do little more than loiter and gamble with money they do not have (94-96). Our narrator has just come out of a gambling binge, spending some time as a full-time craps player. By transitioning to music as his primary mode of income, he not only abandons chance in his pursuit of money, but he also personally channels his talents and interests into something that society can view as respectable. The fact that the music is ragtime – something considered a great form of music tothat era – only elevates it even more and establishes the black musician, or the black ragtime player, as a great man. Ragtime music itself holds great significance, as it departs from old-school classical music and demonstrates a new originality that the black community claims as its own. Thus, its masters are revered, as we have explained, for providing this phenomenon to the community. It is therefore interesting to comment on what happens next in the narrator's life. Following a white millionaire's request to play at a reception, the narrator becomes a sort of personal pianist for him, playing in his own home and at various functions over an extended period of time. He even travels with the millionaire to Europe at one point for several 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 rich white man and end up fleeing the continent (and its music) with him? As Johnson describes in the shooting scene, there's actually little the narrator can do except leave and eventually pass for white. The violence in this moment is indicative of the very 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 him, the narrator makes a conscious decision to abandon his status and lifestyle to reevaluate his own goals, perhaps exploring them again in Europe. of a second major international excursion, is the decision that the narrator makes to return to the United States as an ambassador of his race, that is to say the black race. He says, “But I must admit that I also felt driven by a disinterested desire to express all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions of the American Negro, in the form of classical music” (148). The narrator means that he wishes to perform again, this time as an outspoken representative of his black race. In doing so, he establishes that he will return to the United States to use music as a means of communicating meaningful ideas about black American culture. The millionaire at one point offers him the opportunity to stay in Europe and study under some of the world's greatest teachers (144), which would make more sense if the narrator focused solely on music. Yet this is not the case: it is, and always has been, focused on music as something more than music itself. But in the end, he can't go all the way. When the narrator has a frightening first-hand experience of lynching, he must make the decision to pass as white for the rest of his life, something he later reflects on in the novel's conclusion, saying, "sometimes it seems to me that I have never really been a Negro, I was only a privileged spectator of their interior life; at other times I feel like a coward, a deserter, and I am possessed by a strange desire for my mother’s people” (210). All of these feelings expressed by the 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 deserted New York for Europe in the face of the violent incident, leaving his music (and his position as "professor") behind. He may only feel like a spectator because, while he played in these bars and clubs for the black community, he was never able to really connect with them like the others – he didn't have looked the part nor played the part and grew up “white”, only to have “blackness” and its perils..