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Sohn, Nagyung. “Guinea and James Wait's Blackness as Allegory.” Studies in English Language & Literature 42.2 (2016): 59-79. This article is to investigate the blackness of Guinea and James Wait, the black characters of The Confidence-man: His Masquerade and The Nigger of the "Narcissus". These two novels share prominent similarities in regard to the blackness of Guinea and Wait. Guinea and Wait are the lone black men surrounded by the white in both narratives. Even though their presence is confined to a small portion of the entire tale, Guinea and Wait disrupt and test order among the white characters. Their blackness, or their black bodies, are not only a physical feature, but also a symbol of the ambivalent features of the darkness: the weak and humble black appearance and black contagious potency concealed behind its weak appearance. The dark power that these characters signify is able to dissolve the people’s morals and the white seamen’s solidarity. However, Guinea and Wait play different roles in each narrative; that is, Guinea opens the door for the passengers to get into the world of trickery, but the crew of the Narcissus successfully upholds its solidarity against Wait’s darkness. (Keimyung University)