Mr. Z

"Mr. Z"
M. Carl Holman

With this poem, I really focused on the last line, which seemed to contradict the entire poem, but really just further revealed Mr. Z's character.  "'One of the most distinguished members of his race'" (Holman).  The entire poem talked about how he had transformed himself from a black man to a whiter black man.  It even discussed how his wife had also lost her identity in favor of the better, perhaps easier, lifestyle when she was born Jewish.  This line, completely ironic, does make perfect sense because Mr. Z wanted to assume the identity of the norm and presumably a white man, but in doing so, he greatly distinguished himself from his true race which was cast down in society at the time.  Irony is also found several times before in the poem, such as in lines 16 and 22.  These all parallel the irony of wanting to be a different race, when race is never able to change.  Although Mr. Z strove throughout his entire life to be like the white race, he apparently struck no "false note" (Holman) in doing so.  The white men probably appreciated him for being proper and assimilating, yet he still died a black man.  I think Holman is satirizing society which had embellished the white race and expected others to fall in line, and he obviously did not approve.