John Wideman

John Wideman is the narrator of the book. He is an educated black man. He grew up in the Homewood Avenue section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is the ghetto. He decided to get out of the ghetto through education. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a successful writer and professor living in Laramie, Wyoming. Even though he is two thousand miles away from Pittsburgh, he feels connected to his family there, and especially, his brother Robby, who serves a life sentence at the penitentiary.

John moved to Laramie to escape the ghetto. Laramie is a safe town with white people. He is a novelty because he is black. He married Judy, who is white. John understands how to get along in the world of white people, but he loses his identity a bit along the way. He is in an identity crisis to be...