Erasure

Content Warning: The source text discusses racism, violence, sexual violence, anti-Black biases, anti-gay biases, and suicide. It also includes racist and sexist slurs that the guide reproduces only in direct quotations.

Monk is the protagonist and narrator of Erasure, which is written in the form of his personal journal. His name is a combination of the names of the jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, and the African American writer Ralph Ellison. Monk teaches English at a university in Los Angeles, and he defines himself as “a writer of fiction” (1). However, his authorial identity makes him nervous—he does not appreciate stories that have writers as their protagonists, which is why he hesitates to tell the story of his own life. So, he also introduces himself as “a son, a brother, a fisherman, an art lover, a woodworker” (1). In this way, he wants to emphasize that he has many facets to his personality.

Monk is African American, and he is concerned about the ways in which society defines his race, stating that society regulates his identity: “I have dark brown skin, curly hair, a broad nose, some of my ancestors were slaves and I have been detained by pasty white policemen […] and so the society in which I live tells me I am black; that is my race” (1).