So What Are You, Anyway?

Canadian author Lawrence Hill published his short story “So What Are You, Anyway?” in Voices: Canadian Writers of African Descent in 1992. The story follows a girl with a diverse racial background named Carole on her plane journey from her parents’ home in Toronto, Canada, during which a white couple seated beside her questions her about her race. The story takes place in 1970, and its themes include Loss of Innocence, Race as a Social Construct, and Prejudice as an Attack on Identity and Belonging.

Hill is best known for his 2007 novel The Book of Negroes, published in the US as Someone Knows My Name. The novel won numerous awards, including The Commonwealth Prize and the Rogers/Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Hill co-wrote a miniseries based on the novel, which aired in 2015 and received two NAACP Image Awards in addition to other honors. Hill has authored 10 books, including the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice (2001), and has written numerous essays.

This guide refers to the version of “So What Are You, Anyway?” that is freely available through the online resource Weebly.