Da Emurikan Dreem

Ellison is Leigh. Leigh is Ellison. Ellison is a struggling novelist and a college professor. Leigh is a New York Times best selling author with money, talk show appearances, and a movie deal. Thelonious “Monk” Ellison created the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh to publish a novel in which he thought would parody the “black experience” work titled We’s Lives in Da Ghetto. The idea strikes Ellison when he is in a local Border’s Bookstore and he notices one of his novels is in the African American Studies section, when the novel itself has nothing to do with African American culture other than the fact that he, the author, is African American. In this section he finds the aforementioned title and cannot believe that this is a best selling book. In an effort to thwart his depression over viewing this book, Ellison writes a parody titled My Pafology under the name Stagg R. Leigh, and meets with great unwanted success. Ellison spends the remainder of the novel trying to clean up the mess he has created. In the novel Erasure by Percival Everett, Monk should embrace his alter-ego Stagg R. Leigh, in pursuit of the American Dream.

In this modern world of instant success and instant gratification, Ellison finds these American qualities in his alter-ego, Stagg R. Leigh. Ellison maintains that he wants to perpetuate the truth and denounce the stereotypes that he has so eloquently written about, but instead he perpetuates lies and does not maintain his artistic integrity. It is obvious that as much as Ellison says he detests his alter-ego, he also feels some sort of comfort in the fame that Leigh has found. However, this is not a shot at the morals and values of Monk. It is part of the American Dream, whether one is black or white, to obtain wealth and fame, so why should Ellison or Leigh feel any different?

According to wikipedia.com, “The American Dream is the belief that in the United States of America, hard work and determination can lead to a better life, usually through the earnings of money.” This is the basis of what our great country was founded upon whether a man or woman is white, black, brown, yellow, blue, green or everything in between. Subconsciously, this is what Thelonious Ellison wants for his own life. At first, he wants to maintain his art and stay true to what he believes in. However, this is not what Monk will eventually come to realize is better for him and his career. The fact the Stagg agreed to do the interview is proof that Ellison truly wanted to be Stagg. He could not tell the world that Stagg was really Ellison, so he hid behind a screen and answered the interview questions in that manner. However, Ellison barely even said a word on the talk show. He refused to discuss the novel, and the talk show host simply excused this behavior by saying that Stagg R. Leigh was a very shy man. I believe, however, that this is exactly the way Ellison wanted this interview to run. By not saying anything, he simply added to the mystique of the novel and the story in general. This could only bring more people to purchase his masterpiece.

The culmination of Ellison’s realization that he was living the American Dream is when he is getting dressed to go to the book awards. He says, “I dressed and as I did I hummed. I had not hummed in a very long time; music had left me.” (262) Music had left Ellison because he was confused about what he was doing with his life.