genuinely don't understand how people ignore the rather easy indications that barkovitch was jewish in the book where the setting is a hypothetical nazi-influenced america.
barkovitch (usually spelled barkovich in the real world) is a jewish surname. barkovitch is described to have a large nose, deep olive skin, and dark hair, which are often caricature features used in antisemitic drawings of jewish people. barkovitch mentions having to defend himself with a switchblade he was forced to carry with him. the boys hated barkovitch MUCH BEFORE he said the n word to ewing. garraty mentions germany's air blitz in the air, which references world war ii and re-contextualizes the america the long walk is set in. every single marker for a jewish character experiencing antisemitism is shown in the book and people entirely bypass it.
barkovitch was the victim of systemic and societal antisemitism. barkovitch weaponized racism as a means to fit into his all white peers. this obviously doesn't make what barkovitch said okay by any means, but only baker actually gave a fuck about barkovitch's slur usage because he had personal experience with being the offender when it comes to racism. nobody gave a fuck about that. barkovitch said the n word to appease a racist crowd, and it still backfired. that was the entire point; barkovitch couldn't weaponize racism when he is already on the end of his own.
and before ANYONE STARTS; DON'T fucking give me shit about how i am justifying the n word usage. i'm not. i am black, OBVIOUSLY i am not okay with the fact that barkovitch said the n word. i was rather uncomfortable with it when i first read the book, in fact. this doesn't mean i can't understand why he did it, or empathize with the situation he was in. not everything is as black and white as it seems, as much as you'd all hate to hear that.
