Critique of "The Kind of Light that Shines on Texas"

Reginald McKnight’s story “The Kind of Light that Shines on Texas” possesses an excellent example of an untrustworthy narrator in the character Clint. Clint is a sixth grade black student attending a predominantly white elementary school in 1960’s Texas. The reader should be wary of him from the start when he says, “I never liked Marvin Pruitt. Never liked him, never knew him, even though there were only three of us in the class. Three black kids.” At a time when racism was heavily entrenched in society, one would expect the few black children to stand together for protection and familiarity. However, having a narrator who explicitly states that he is embarrassed by one of his fellow blacks immediately alerts the reader that something about him is amiss.

            Clint’s unreliability as a narrator becomes particularly dubious in the line, “You couldn’t expect me to know anything about Texan educational practices in the 1960s… After all, I was just a boy and had transferred into the school around midyear.” Here, Clint discredits himself, directly telling the reader that he does not know important information. Suspicion of his character also increases when he admits to laughing at his teacher’s racist jokes. “I tried to show her that at least one of us was alive and alert, even though her jokes hurt. I sucked ass, too, I suppose. But I wanted her to understand more than anything that I was not like her other nigra children.” This statement echoes the opening lines, and it now becomes clear that Clint is not only ashamed of Marvin, but of his entire race. Thus, if Clint chooses to reject his race, then the reader cannot trust him as an authority figure on his race, which is one of the central themes of the story.

            Finally, Clint proves himself an untrustworthy member of his race at one of the climatic moments. When Oakley, the school bully, threatens Clint in the locker room, Clint tries to deflect Oakley’s racist hatred onto Marvin instead of, like Marvin, bearing the hatred stoically. He asks, “How come you’re after me and not him?” This offering up of another race member shows that Clint is more concerned for himself than his race. Thus, Clint becomes not only an untrustworthy narrator, but also an untrustworthy character with the story itself.