Say Yes

“Say Yes” is structured around a complex argument, making it a dialectic. A dialectic piece of work often depicts the conflict of two opposing forces and their ultimate synthesis, reconciliation, or discovery of something new. In “Say Yes,” the tension is whether or not Black Americans and white Americans can ever fully understand one another. Ann believes it’s possible, and her husband does not. However, the story offers no easy answers. Although the husband’s stance may seem flawed and inherently racist, Wolff still offers some complexity to his argument. Black Americans have been racialized and forced into racial categories by white Americans and because of that imposition, the husband is right that there are some experiences white Americans will never fully grasp or understand. Ann seems to be in the right because she has the more egalitarian stance, but Wolff complicates her position, revealing its simplicity. Her husband tells her that she would not be herself if she were born African American. She is forced to agree because of the social forces that shape one’s race in society. In a traditional dialectic structure, both arguments are given equal weight and ultimately merge to form a conclusion. In the end, the husband realizes the artificial quality of race and questions whether he really knows his wife.