The Pursuit of Personal Liberty in the Human Stain

The Human Stain deals with the consequences of personal liberty in the individual and how others react to that individual. Throughout the novel Coleman Silk lives his life as he sees fit. Others around him react both positively and negatively. In the novel personal liberty is also seen as detrimental because it is a mask of who you really are.

The human stain is a mark carried by animals raised by humans. It is a mark that separates them from the rest of the animals. In humans the stain is the ability to be an individual without being subject to any greater societal designs. The stain is inescapable, it is who you are. People wanting to break free from the conventions of society will be marked as different. The stain becomes debilitating because it marks the person as different from the norm. When marked as different the society backlashes against the individual. Coleman Silk's stain is himself. His life was built by separating himself from everything that he is or has been. The inescapable and debilitating aspect of his stain is the person he really is.

The personal actions of his life will always come back to haunt Coleman Silk. "Now I could tell you that there is no escape, that all your attempts to escape will only lead you back to where you began." (Roth, 140) His escape only leads him closer to the person that he once was. This circular motion comes about because Coleman's escape is through lying. This is not the best means of escape because he will be caught in his lies. But no one ever caught Coleman in his lies he caught himself. Coleman Silk points himself and others to his past. His relationship with Faunia is developed because he wants to feel young again. Not only that but he uses it to mirror his first relationship. For him Faunia is Steena, and he brings himself back to his own youth. He even falls in love with Faunia the way he did with Steena, for him Faunia is his past.

Coleman Silk lives his life the way that he wants to live his life. He will not apologize or give any leeway to others. This is the trouble for Coleman. He tries too hard to be a separate individual from society. Whatever form he is in the eyes of the world he actively fights against it, he needs to be himself. This action against the mainstream and natural makes him too much of a target, it is as if he invites others to look at who he really is. In this way he plays into his own human stain. "It's his secret that's his magnetism. It's something not there that beguiles, and it's what's been drawing me all along, the enigmatic it that he holds apart as his and no one else's." (Roth, 213)

Coleman calls attention to his own stain. This says an individual trying to be independent must still conform to society. If the individual does not conform his or her own human stain marks him or her.

The idea that he is a racist is an idea that goes back to his youth in New Jersey. The very act of separating himself from being black and having such disdain for the rest of black culture is racist. By becoming a jew and educated he feels completely divorced. It is not until the "spooks" incident that this idea comes forward again. It is completely ludicrous to think that he was being racist when he said the word, but there are small instances where the idea begins to take hold of you. With Nelson Primus he slips and calls him lily-white. These words are too loaded with his past to be looked over. Not only are some of the words directly from his past but also the context of his being racist brings up his past again. "If you're a racist, then you've always been a racist." (Roth, 228) Public opinion makes a person a racist for life, and even if others do not know it they are right about Coleman Silk.

Words and actions are not the only thing to bring up the past for Coleman Silk it is in symbols also. The navy tattoo is a big link to his past. It is the reminder of his worst night in the navy. While on a night of debauchery he is found out as a black. This identification by a prostitute is enough to put him into a panic. He thinks that his past is catching up with him and about to pull down his whole future. For Coleman, he is almost caught in his own lie. No matter how much covering up he did he was found out and he believed everyone would find him out. Thus the navy tattoo becomes a physical manifestation of his stain, it is a link to his past.

His own body and genealogy is enough to reveal his secret, he is afraid of his children being born dark-skinned and betraying who he is. Coleman felt he covered his secret over enough by marrying Iris because she had thick coarse hair and use that to explain away any questions about how his children would look.

Coleman's past is inescapable, his human stain is being who he once was. No matter what he does his secret will come to the surface. There are the physical traits that could easily betray him because he cannot subjectively change his looks. Coleman betrays himself more than physically he does it mentally. He subconsciously brings about his own past. He returns to a racist state of mind and even mimics events out of his previous life.