Charming as a Verb

The first chapters of Charming as a Verb establish Henri’s worries such as his attempts to balance work and school and his pending admission to Columbia. The different ways in which Henri tries to manage his stress by wearing different metaphorical masks are brought out in each situation as the novel opens. For example, as a young Black man in New York City, he has experienced society’s racism and combats it by protecting himself with his charm. He has an outgoing personality and disarms people with his personable smile. Henri puts on this smile to purposely present himself to the world with a certain openness and amiability. His smile communicates to others, especially white people, that he is approachable and not a threat. There is notable irony in Henri’s feeling that a smile must be used as a survival tactic. This is only one of many metaphorical masks Henri uses to operate within the world.

Henri knows how to fit himself into different situations and contexts. His need to adjust his demeanor and personality depending on those around him demonstrates the pressures placed on people, especially children of immigrants and people of color, to craft a persona that will make others comfortable with their presence. Henri must often rehearse personas. In his interview with Donielle, for example, he rehearsed a cache of facts, figures, and neatly presentable reasons for wanting to attend Columbia University. Unwittingly, Henri presents himself like a brochure for the school, glossy and cheerful on the outside but without real depth of emotion; his reasons lack authenticity and personal connection. Henri spent so much time rehearsing an outward appearance for the sake of self-protection that he has neglected his own internal truths and identity. This introduces the theme of and associated conflicts with Self-Discovery of One’s Authentic Identity.

The extent to which Henri values appearance versus reality and public perception over self-perception is evident when he encourages Corinne to take on a different persona at Evie’s party. Corinne, being a hard worker, a dedicated student, and a bit of a loner, shows her authentic self to world, unlike Henri. Already pushed beyond her comfort zone when her teacher’s recommendation calls out her lack of well-roundedness, Corinne succumbs to Henri’s advice. Henri believes he is helping Corinne by renaming her Cori as a way to separate Corinne the student from a new confident social persona. Without realizing that encouraging Corinne to be Cori is a way of inhibiting who Corinne truly is, Henri suggests his own mask-wearing strategy, not seeing that the masking of one’s true self is a threat to identity and happiness.

Philippe emphasizes in these early chapters the external influences that forced Henri into developing a false sense of self. Henri’s parents see America as a place where someone who is Black can be as successful as someone who is white. Henri sees a different reality in which he is plagued by both negative and positive implications of his race. Society teaches Henri to see his racial and socio-economic identities as social currency. After all, it is because he is Black and poor (and smart) that he attends FATE Academy on a scholarship. Henri internalizes this idea of identity as social currency and tries to use it in his interview for Columbia University. However, using this social currency does not get Henri as far as he thinks it will.

Henri is intelligent, adaptable, likeable, a hard worker, a loyal friend and son, and has potential beyond status labels. In the interview and Henri’s feelings about it afterward, Philippe foreshadows that until Henri finds—and displays—his more authentic self, he will struggle to let people know who he truly is. This is underscored in that Henri’s best friend hasn’t even seen his apartment. Henri does not believe that he is likeable enough to others to withstand the revelation that his family is financially less secure; Henri does not trust that people will like him for who he truly is. Henri’s feelings about financial status emphasize the theme of Self-Discovery of One’s Authentic Identity and introduce the theme of The Pressures of Young Adulthood.

Pressure from his parents, both overt and subtle, cause Henri to adopt an “obedient son” persona. Henri is first-generation American, and he and his parents have vastly different experiences of being Black in America and different understanding of what poverty is. Henri views his family as poor, but the depth of poverty his father leaves behind in his home country of Haiti makes their small apartment in New York City much more meaningful. Henri’s mother and father work extremely hard and pool their resources into their son. For them, Henri’s future is the most important thing guiding their reasoning for moving to America and their consequent sacrifices. Henri internalizes this as pressure to make his father’s dream of Columbia (for Henri) come true. Henri understands something about race in American culture that his parents might not, as their main priority is not identity but working towards a better future. His parents have subscribed to the American Dream, in which hard work will get anyone far because the system is fair and rewards diligent work. However, their Perceptions of the American Dream are often at odds with Henri’s lived experience.

FATE Academy is another external source of pressure that molds Henri’s personas like his scholar-self and debate-self. He works hard, performs well, excels at debate, and tries to fit in. Henri, however, does not have the privilege that his friends have in making his life centered on school; he must save time and energy for his business each day, so these school day personas aren’t wholly authentic either.

A common element of the young adult novel is the conflict of self-discovery in conjunction with or in opposition to one’s external influences. Philippe’s novel adopts this YA storyline to show how hard Henri works to keep up with other people’s expectations and envisioned identities of him. This emphasizes the themes of Self-Discovery of One’s Authentic Identity and The Pressures of Young Adulthood.