"The Artificial Nigger" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often ...

. It was published in 1955 in her short story collection ''

A Good Man Is Hard to Find ''A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''The Artificial Nigger and Other Tales'') is a collection of short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor. The collection was first published in 1955. The ...

''. The title refers to statues popular in the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

-era

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, depicting grotesque minstrelsy characters. Like most of her other works, the story reflects O'Connor's

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

beliefs and acts as a

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

Plot summary

Mr. Head and his orphaned ten-year-old grandson, Nelson, live in the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

countryside. Mr. Head is taking Nelson to visit

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

for the first time since Nelson's birth. Nelson is sure he will enjoy the city, but his grandfather tells him that he is naive, and pokes fun at him during their early-morning train ride into town, when Nelson sees a Black person for the first time. After seeing some impressive buildings and shops, Mr. Head shows Nelson the less-impressive side of the city; Nelson claims that they lead to Hell. They get lost, and walk through a predominantly Black section of town. Not wanting to ask anyone there for directions, Mr. Head finally acquiesces to Nelson's requests and allows the boy to ask a Black woman for directions. She suggests they take the street car back to the train station, but they do not know how to get on it. The situation is embarrassing for both Nelson and his grandfather. They continue walking, but remain lost. Taking a short rest, Nelson falls asleep. When he wakes up, he has lost sight of his grandfather. Panicking, he races down the street and runs into an older woman, knocking her down. When the gathering crowd demands to know who is responsible for the boy, Mr. Head denies knowing him. Nelson feels betrayed and loses respect for the grandfather. Eventually, they end up in a wealthy suburb, which seems strangely deserted. Finally, they encounter a man walking his dogs, who points them to the nearest train station. Along the way there, they pass a plaster cast of a Black figure with a watermelon adorning a lawn fence from which the story gets its title. Mr. Head says "They ain't got enough real ones here. They got to have an artificial one." As they stand together gaping at the "Artificial Nigger," both man and boy experience a redemptive epiphany as they simultaneously recognize in the figurine a symbol of human suffering and the imputed mercy that comes from such suffering. The story ends with them leaving the city and, after getting off the train, standing at their

whistle stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

in a mild state of shock. Mr. Head experiences again this mysterious divine mercy, which "covered his pride like a flame and consumed it", and Nelson says, "I'm glad I've went once, but I'll never go back again!"Flannery O'Connor: an introduction
(Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1991), pg. 173-183

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artificial Nigger Short stories by Flannery O'Connor 1955 short stories