The Pedagogical Journey of the Heads in “The Artificial Nigger”

Abstract

"The Artificial Nigger" is a story of a pedagogical journey, during which a grandfather plans to teach his grandson the lesson of wisdom and humility. The lesson may be summed up as following: "You ain't as smart as you think you are." The two main characters whose name happens to be Head, reflecting their over-blown head, undergo most excruciating ordeals during the one-day excursion into the city. The purpose of this essay is to determine the outcome of the two Heads' pedagogical journey and to answer the question: what after all have the Heads learned at the end of the journey?My answer is that the pedagogical journey is a total failure. "A character's changing," which O'Connor considered the essential for "all good stories," does not happen here, even though it does not mean that the story is not a good one. All three encounters of the Heads with the Negro do not change their smug self-pride and superior attitude toward the other race. As Mr. Head willfully shuts his eye that has seen his own abject self reflected in the miserably chipped figure of the Artificial Nigger, he denies his common bond with the fallen and suffering humanity. As the journey comes to a full circle, the moon is "restored, to its full splendor." The homecoming of the two Heads is a return to the inviolate sanctuary of self-deception aided by the "dignifying" lunar magic. The story concludes with the younger Head as a voluntary prisoner in his grandfather's narcissistic and reclusive world and the elder Head at all-time high of his pride. The two are reunited with each other in ignorance of their true selves and "true depravity." The pedagogical journey taught them nothing.