The Baker

             It is depressing to proclaim that racial prejudice is a common scenario in many places. In every country I go, I always encountered reading stories about racism. The proof that stereotypes exists even in modern times will be evident in different forms of writing. For instance, a good example was the essay "The Baker's Story" by Naipaul which clearly depicted stereotypes and racial prejudice. Although the essay is about racism, in this essay, the writer has chosen to write his essay in a humorous way.
             First, I find it funny in the beginning paragraph of the essay. The main character of the story was one of the richest men in port-of-Spain. Yet, in a funny way, people always mistake him as a shop assistant every time his in a shop. For this reason, the main character said that if this goes on, one day he is going to sell somebody something just for spite. .
             When the main character reminisces about his past, I find myself laughing a second time when he narrates his first experiences opening a new shop of his own in Grenada. He said nobody wants to buy his bread and that the only person he is selling to is the man from the government farm, buying stale cakes and bread for the cows and pigs or whatever animals. Due to the reason that money is tight, he went out to visit his debtor. On his way to see his debtor, he saw a fellow selling coconut in the road. I keep on giggling in the part where he himself said that it was a damn funny thing to see, the coconut man is a black fellow.
             In the end, the main character found a solution to his problems. He decided to put a Chinese man in front of the bakery to serve the customers and him to bake the bread. As a result, money starts coming in. He was making so much money that he was able to open a branch in Arima and then another in Port-of-Spain.
             Although this essay was written in a humorous manner by Naipaul, we cannot deny the fact that the main character of this story went through a lot of hardships because of the prejudices he experienced for being black.