Guard: "And what are you? A spic? A gypsy?" "Not that I know of, sir. Maybe." "Maybe you got n*** blood in you. You got n** blood in you, Shadow?" "Could be, sir."
And ahh, this gets the secret to make sense to me. He seems to be unsure of his own racial background, but he's perceived as 'not white.' So it kind of (deliberately) supports any conclusion that you want to make and OP is saying that readers who choose to perceive, "Oh, he's probably just a dark-skinned white guy" are actively working on not perceiving the protagonist as POC. Well, that's totally a fair conclusion then, and I see where OP is coming from.*
*Completely not sarcastic, since I know in a forum like this that can be unclear.
OK, I actually opened the book
"Not that I know of, sir. Maybe."
"Maybe you got n*** blood in you. You got n** blood in you, Shadow?"
"Could be, sir."
And ahh, this gets the secret to make sense to me. He seems to be unsure of his own racial background, but he's perceived as 'not white.' So it kind of (deliberately) supports any conclusion that you want to make and OP is saying that readers who choose to perceive, "Oh, he's probably just a dark-skinned white guy" are actively working on not perceiving the protagonist as POC. Well, that's totally a fair conclusion then, and I see where OP is coming from.*
*Completely not sarcastic, since I know in a forum like this that can be unclear.