In The Blacker the Berry, Wallace Thurman makes a critical analysis of the racially divided American society of the 1920's through the self-inflicted color prejudices of a young black woman. The novel traces Emma Lou's life from city to city as she searches for a group of "the right sort of people" who will accept her although "she is black, too black" (109). As Emma Lou faces multiple hardships on her search for happiness, her inner spirit begins to break and her self-hatred stands as a barrier between her and the world that isolates her. Through this character, Thurman is expressing his ideas that the position of the outsider is created by the surrounding society and constructed within the mind of the individual, so that only by putting an end to the discriminations within one's self will others do the same and happiness be found.
Thurman explains Emma Lou's segregation from society as a result of the prejudices caused by her own family. She grows up being told that a black girl will only know sorrow and disappointment in life (4), and this idea is drilled into her mind as she becomes increasingly aware and concerned with the color of her skin. She is constantly reminded that her father deserves no respect because of the deep black color of his skin, and Emma Lou's stepfather's "only satisfaction in life was the pleasure he derived from insulting and ignoring the real blacks" (16). As founder and leader of the blue veins, her grandmother teaches Emma Lou that she was not a part of the superior class, and her mother sees Emma Lou's birth as a tragic mistake she would never escape. These prejudices and values are passed from her family into her definition of self, and Emma Lou comes to believe that only by association with "the right sort of people" will she ever fit in and decides to seek out a college with intelligent, yet diverse social circles away from home. .
Emma Lou's prejudice is a reflection on false ideals of the society in which she was raised.