"Mr. Z"

"Mr. Z"
M. Carl Holman

Seeming to be written as a narrative of the life of one black man overcoming diversity to live a stereotypically "white" life, "Mr. Z" is a story that can be very relatable for many people who share in the same ethnic background. That is why the title of this poem is so very ambiguous. Failing to provide any information as to the identification of its subject, the poem allows readers to imagine themselves in the shoes of Mr. Z himself.
But greater than the title's ambiguity is its choice of the letter Z, the last letter of the alphabet. When he left the title so open for interpretation, Holman must have had a reason behind the selection of the letter. It could actually represent a Mr. Zimmerman or Mr. Zachford, or it might represent the view of minorities as a whole in the time period of the poem. Z, being the last letter of the alphabet, is representative of the lowest and last part of a series; this offers a connection to the position of minorities within society. They feel as if they are the lowest, and they are often treated as so by the majority. However, one is not limited to the bottom of the totem pole. Just as Mr. Z, himself, "climbed, unclogged by ethnic weights," so too can every other person (Holman).

The grammatical structure of this poem also lends itself to the idea that Mr. Z did somewhat succeed in his quest for equality. It is written in a very formal and well organized manner similar to that of a well educated white male of the time. Although it does rhyme, it does not detract from the overall scholarly nature of the piece.