Self loathing

Griffin often speaks about the depression, loneliness, and anger that he felt while he was a black man. As his time wears on, he cannot stand the face that stares back at him in the mirror. Because of this skin, he cannot seek advancement. As an educated man who has all the right credentials, he can't even get a job as a bookkeeper. All doors are closed to him. The feeling of sickness and loneliness overwhelms him. As Griffin begins to talk and connect with black leaders, he realizes that this loathing also plays into whites' ability to oppress blacks. This is further emphasized when Griffin is hitchhiking and picked up by a white man who insists that blacks are happy when they can get white blood into their families. By having a connection to the white world, blacks can claim their whiteness instead of their blackness...