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The Narrator’s Father
The narrator’s schoolmate, who is by far the best student in their school and later becomes a prominent professor. The narrator immediately notices his “black as night” skin and shining features. At their primary school graduation ceremony, “Shiny” passionately delivers Wendell Phillips’ lecture “Toussaint L’Ouverture” to the audience of mostly white parents, stunning them despite his tiny frame and ill-fitting clothes. Much later, he runs into the now “ex-colored” narrator and his girlfriend at the Eden Musée in New York; he seems to understand the narrator’s intent to “pass” and does not reveal the truth. “Shiny” represents the class of black intellectual elites fighting for racial justice—unlike many of the other black elites in this book (like the Washington Physician), who are satisfied enough with their own upward mobility or even blame poorer blacks for their condition.
“Shiny” Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by “Shiny” or refer to “Shiny”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“Tell me, mother, am I a nigger?”
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When the narrator first goes to school in Connecticut, he is repulsed by the “little savages” he meets in his class and quickly aligns himself with the white students, making friends with the ungainly “Red Head” throwing stones at black students he calls “niggers” even though he also recognizes that “Shiny,” whose skin is “black as night,” is the smartest and most motivated student in his class. When the teacher explicitly separates the white and black students, the narrator realizes for the first time that he is “colored” and, when he gets home, he stares at himself in the mirror, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Ex
Chapter 3 Quotes
He made a striking picture, that thin little black boy standing on the platform, dressed in clothes that did not fit him any too well, his eyes burning with excitement, his shrill, musical voice vibrating in tones of appealing defiance, and his black face alight with such great intelligence and earnestness as to be positively handsome. […] I think there must have rushed over him a feeling akin to that of a gladiator tossed into the arena and bade to fight for his life. I think that solitary little black figure standing there felt that for the particular time and place he bore the weight and responsibility of his race; that for him to fail meant general defeat; but he won, and nobly.
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Shiny’s moving speech is the book’s first example of black characters successfully reaching out to whites and making an unapologetic case for political equality. However, the lecture Shiny delivers was originally written by a white man before becoming a common graduation oratory for black students, and it simply recounts the story of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture, suggesting that his incredible accomplishments prove that blacks are not inferior to whites. Even though he seems to be convincing his white audience, Shiny is like “a gladiator tossed into the arena,” fighting to be taken seriously and seen as credible even though he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus po
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“Shiny” Character Timeline in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The timeline below shows where the character “Shiny” appears in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...as night” but a shining face, eyes, and teeth. The narrator took to calling him “Shiny,” and he was the best student in the class in every respect—he learned quickly but...
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Chapter 3
...narrator had developed “a definite aspiration.” The day was extravagant—he played a piano solo, but Shiny stole the show, giving a passionate speech to a nearly all-white audience, as though “for...
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...requesting information brochures from colleges. He agreed with his father’s preferences: Harvard or Yale. Sometimes, Shiny and Red Head would come over for dinner—Shiny was planning to go to Amherst and...
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Chapter 10
...him to his own village and revealed that he studied at the Negro college where Shiny was now teaching—the narrator determined to write him. The man, like “the majority of intelligent...
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Chapter 11
One day, they were visiting the Eden Musée together, and the narrator realized that Shiny was standing next to him. He was paralyzed, unsure what to do, but Shiny turned...
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