to avoid the black race. He states that he "regrets holding himself back." He may have been implying that if he had, he embraced the Negro community and let the community embrace him, that he could have made a difference. The Ex-Colored Man was one of the few people who was not held back by being black. He had a strong education, smart wits, and light skin. The masses all assumed he was white. However, his talent was in black music. Because of his fear of being a Negro, he threw away his talent as a musician to "become" a white man. This is one portrayal of the social strains due to racial discrimination; he felt that society forced him to choose between his love of African-American music and the safety and convenience of being white with the majority. The white gentleman fully accepted the Ex-Colored Man for who he was, but he feared that others would not. He decided to protect his mixed-race children by having them grow up "white." He wanted to give them every advantage he could. Themes Race, Passing, and the Tragic mulatto The narrator in some ways reflects the trope of the Tragic mulatto, however, rather than suffering a catastrophic downfall; as a result, the narrator's tragedy is much more subversive. The "Ex-colored Man" is compelled by fear, not only for himself but for his children's sake (so they can grow up "white"), to exist in degraded mediocrity, despite his apparent potential and lofty goals of advancing the African-American race. In this way, his boyhood friend, "Shiny," and his symbolic name, act as a foil for the narrator. The narrator has admired since childhood, his inability to "pass" forces him to accomplish, rather than merely aspire as the narrator does. At the end of the novel, Shiny has risen to refinement and prestige while embracing his racial heritage and contributing to the community, while the narrator is relegated to mediocrity and obscurity, unable to risk revealing his racial background. A major shift in the plot occurs during a performance of "Faust" in Paris, when the narrator sees his wealthy white father and his legitimate family, including his biological half-sister. Throughout the novel, the narrator is locked in a continual cycle of bargaining. The final bargain is trading his aspirations and talents for mediocrity to "pass" and allow his children to pass, raising the question as