Our examination of stereotypes will consist of looking at the topic of bias, prejudice and inate stereotyping in four novels:
(See also: Korte)
Each work addresses a specific kind of stereotyping and prejudice, however all are based on ethnicity – Native American, African American, East Indian and Chinese American. All expressed dismay at being the “other,” being seen as an outsider through no fault of their own, being feared by mainstream white Americans, yet no matter what, not being able to become what they saw as the “ideal,” that really doesn’t exist. Furthermore, each work shows in some way that the dominant culture has institutional reasons for keeping other ethnicities “outside.” In fact, it is this theme of belonging that each work shares, and each main character seems to pine for – yet it is illusive in that it is an impossible dream since there really is no coherent consensus as to what it really means to be White – that all depends on the location, time, place, and any number of variables that are ill-defined even for the dominant culture. Thus, “when we observe that many different people have similar stereotypes of the same group…..we find the effect of coincidental processes operating on individual minds” with two key characteristics: 1) a common environment causes stereotypes to exist in both directions, and 2) a shared cultural pool of knowledge, over time, uses stereotypes to avoid lengthy explanations about groups or cultures. This then becomes a marker of cultural movement – from the subdominant culture, usually ethnic, to the dominant culture (Mcarty, Yzerbyt and Spears, 5-8).
Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man deals with the manner in which African-Americans were perceived by Whites during the first part of the 20th century. The theme, as suggested by the title, is that the narrator feels “invisible” because of his race, although finally coming to terms and embracing it as an integral part of his own identity. There are numerous symbols and allusions to Homeric themes, to the language of music, and even the idea of blindness being more than physical. But it is not just color that defines stereotyping in America during this time, and indeed, it seems as if Ellison uses the extreme personality (the stereotype), we are able to see the damage that such rigid thinking engenders. Dr. Bledsoe, for instance, is the stereotypical submissive Black Man, shown when he ends his letter to Mr. Emerson with “I am your humble servant” (Ellison 191). Ras is the stereotypical black supremacist, violence is the answer and that casting off oppression by violence destroys the white man’s ability to control. Women, too, are stereotyped in that white women have more in common with black men in the eyes of society – as virtually underdeveloped and invisible – the idea said again and again, “but you’ve got to know your place” (31). The continued contradiction between white and black is summed up in Chapter 10 when Lucius makes a boast to the narrator, “our white is so white you can paint a chunka coal and you’d have to crack it open with a sledge hammer to prove it wasn’t white clear through” (217).
Ceremony is a novel that combines prose and poetry to tell the individual story of Tayo, a Laguna Pueblo Native American who returns to the reservation from World War II with serious mental anguish, albeit to find the American Dream. The story is a dual tale of Tayo’s search to find his cure and the collective story of this Native American tribe. There is also an underlying theme of balance – between the white man’s medicine and that of traditional Native American spirituality. There is also irony in the stereotype of the “Indian,” especially when one has returned from war scarred from battle and quite heroic. Stereotypes abound in this story – continually between the contact between Native American and White Culture – schools, jobs, economic opportunities – all lumped into the White view that “they know better and must care for the Natives.” In particular, the White idea that permeates is the “drunken Indian” scenario and, once back in America, they can never escape that view. “They were drunk…. Cousins and relatives of mine who returned from the war and stayed drunk the rest of their lives.” However, “they never thought to blame the white people for any of it; they wanted white people for their friends. They never saw that it was the white people who gave them that feeling (blame) and it was the white people who took it away” (Silko).
The story of Jasmine is based on an earlier short story that mixes the East and West through the story of a 17-year old Hindi woman who flees to the United States after her husband’s murder in a religious attach. Through a series of trials and tribulations, Jasmine, who changes her name several times, including to Jane, reforms her identity. In fact, rebirth is the major theme of this work, especially as it relates to stereotypes. Indeed, for the traditional culture, finding a husband is the only thing a woman needs to do: “What happened? My sisters shrieked….. ‘Now your face is scared for life! How will the family ever find you a husband?” (5). As Jasmine goes through her various incarnations of Jyoti to Jasmine to Jazzy to Jassy to Jase to Jane; and the geographic movement from Hanspur to Punjab to Fowlers Key, Florida, to Flushing, New York, to Manhattan, and finally to Iowa and California. Too, Jasmine herself becomes a victim of the external stereotypes placed upon her yet through change – whether it is technological, social, or sexual, she comes to terms with becoming whole again. Stigmatized, too, Jasmine’s many faces become difficult to manage. Witness the chiding she receives when she pours out her emotions: “Save it for me moves…I’ll send for you quickly, you’ll see.” (91). In a way, Jasmine is also seeking the American dream, but hers is from a different viewpoint; one based on far different cultural rules than that for American Indians. Still, even though she tries to become Americanized, she is continually faced with the stereotype of Indian food, spice, and the Indian language…… “I was hoping you’d come up with a prettier name. Something in Indian….. You mean in Hindi, not Indian, there’s no such thing as Indian,” but he’ll be crushed and won’t say anything for the rest of the night. He comes from a place where the language you speak is what you are” (Mukherjee, 10-11).
Finally, in Radiant Silouette, we again mix poetry and prose to tell the story of what it felt like to be part of the tug-of-war between American and Chinese culture. Radiant Silouette is autobiographical, and deals with John Yau’s coming of age during the turbulent 1960s. Yet it is also poetic in its template of pictures and setting:
He married his first carriage into the mountains,
Where she would turn his boast to ashes every
Morning. And tonight, during the late night lovies,
He heard the gush coming from the hate (101).
Settling in Boston after emigrating from China in 1949, his family never really fit in – they were Chinese living in America. His father, in fact, was a stereotypical Chinese man – earnest, scholarly (accountant) and hard working. In fact, it is the conflict between stereotypes that really unleashes the power of words – many of the symbols are Chinese, yet the prose is American, all fighting for dominance and belonging: “dear matted squirrel tongue – tendrils rise above our village – men bray at the prospect of – another coal hard dusk” (Yau, 222). Continued pining for identity, we find that “I am the younger sister – you never noticed – until rain washed away – the last traces of lipstick” (Yau, 185).
In these four works we see different ways that the process of stereotyping caused a move for the protagonists in their own definition of self in society. Race is a predominant theme – but more than race, it is being outside the major cultural group, and wondering, continually wondering, about fitting in. The other has been part of literature since the Ancient Greeks. Even the rhetoric of the “other” conjurs up alienation and bias (Winterowd). However, it is through this introspective process of defining their own individuality that each character comes to terms with their own unique heritage and actually begins to understand and celebrate their “otherness.”
Works Cited
Ellison, R. The Invisible Man. New York: Vintage, 1995. Print.
Jones, J. Prejudice and Racism. New York: McGraw Hill, 1997. Print.
Kleg, M. Hate Prejudice and Racism. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1993. Print.
Korte, B. Portraying the Other: Stereotypes and Alterity in Literature. Norderstedt, Germany: Druck und Bindung, 2007. Print.
Mcarty, C., V. yzerbyt and R. Spears, Stereotypes as Explanations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
McGarty, C., V. Yzerbyt and V. Spears, Stereotypes as Explanations. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Meyer, J. "What is Literature?" March 2004. University of North Dakota. Web. December 2011. <http://www.und.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997Meyer.PDF>.
Mukherjee, B. Jasmine. New York: Grove, 1989. Print.
Myers, D. Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005. Print.
Silko, L. Ceremony. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Winterowd, W.R. The Rhetoric of the 'other' literature. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. Print.
Yau, J. Radiant Silhouette: New and Selected Works, 1974-1988. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1989. Print.
