Under the Skin Literary Elements

Nonfiction

Set in the 21st century in the United States of America

First-person narrative

Enlightening and upbeat

The protagonist is the narrator, and the antagonist is the American Healthcare System, which practices systematic racism against black people.

There is a major conflict between Villarosa and the Healthcare system. The healthcare system in the United States of America uses critical racial theories to deny black people from enjoying contemporary medical technology in the United States of America.

The climax comes when Villarosa tables the necessary reforms to reduce the disparity in the healthcare system to ensure that black people and other minority groups get equal treatment in the healthcare system.

The systematic racism in the health sector is foreshadowed by screwed critical racial theory, which suggests that black people are resistant to pain and diseases.

There is an understatement when American medical students say that a person with black skin does not feel pain when squeezed d by a car door. These medical students intentionally downplay the pain a black man feels when injured.

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The environment in which black Americans live due to zoning is described as filthy and unclean, which exposes black people to diseases and poor health. The imagery shows the intentional neglect by the United States Authorities to push poor black Americans into health complications.

The main paradox is that the whites argue that Africans are disease resistant, but they are the ones with the lowest life expectancy rate. On the contrary, black Americans have a short life span due to inadequate access to health care.

There is a parallelism between Villarosa's research findings and her own experiences when she gives birth to an underweight child.

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The healthcare system is personified as discriminative and unfair to black Americans.