68 pages • 2 hours read
Nathan McCallMakes Me Wanna Holler
Nathan McCallNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1994A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Racism
Racism is a central theme of McCall’s autobiography. Most of the book is set in the recently-desegregated US South and addresses school integration, racial disparities in employment, racial policing issues, racial wealth inequality, racist school curriculum, and racism in the judicial system. McCall’s life was shaped by racism. Racism of whites provided his anger, motivated his criminal activities, and caused a level of racism in himself, which stunted his personal and professional growth. McCall spends most of the book processing this systemic racism.
The White Man’s System
The white man’s system is the economic system most black Americans avoided. Black Americans preferred crime to working in the white man’s system. They saw no hope in the latter, only a future of back-breaking labor with no path to success. McCall and others like him saw their parents toiling for nothing in the white man’s system, so they fled, willing to do anything else and even risk their lives to stay away. McCall’s desire to avoid the system motivated his actions that led to his prison sentence. After being released, he reluctantly entered the white man’s system, and struggled and suffered in it for many years. Crushed under its weight, it was almost impossible for McCall to succeed.
Religion and Philosophy
McCall’s story is partly a religious and philosophical journey. From a young age, McCall consciously processed his circumstances philosophically. When he embarked on his journey of self-improvement, his religious journey and philosophical analysis were major tools he used to become the person he needed to be. His religious and philosophical journey took many stages and developed as McCall developed. In each stage, he discovered more about himself and the world around him, and used the wisdom to guide his next stage of development. The book ends with McCall’s philosophical journey still incomplete.
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