Racism In Short StoriesEssay Preview: Racism In Short StoriesReport this essayRacism in Short Storiesby johnThis is an essay i wrote for English Literature. My examples are from two short stories The Test, and After You My Dear Alphonse.A Race is a population of humans distinguished from other humans. The most noticeable way to distinguish between races is by skin colour. In a white patriarchal society, like ours, race is used as a point of difference and discrimination to create power differences. The Test and After You My Dear Alphonse both challenge the legitimacy of this differentiation and thus the discrimination associated with it. The Test by Angelica Gibbs, was written in the 1940s and bluntly shows how African-American people were treated at this time, and would have caused much controversy among the ignorant middle class reading the story. After You My Dear Alphonse (Alphonse), by Shirley Jackson, was written in the same era as The Test. This story shows how naturalised the stereotypes of African-Americans were then, and also how racial attitudes were influenced by parents and society. Both of these stories challenge the representation of the African-Americans in America at the time.
These stories were written in the 1940s. At this time there had been no action for the rights of the marginalised Negro society in America, and the naturalised stereotypes revolved around particular engrained views of Blacks. Particularly in Alphonse, we can see this point where Mrs Wilson cannot seem to accept that Boyd and his family are socio-economically equal to her white family. One example is where Mrs Wilson is offering Boyd Johnnys old clothes. He is surprised and declines, saying that his family usually just buy what they need. This is an attempt by Mrs Wilson to make her family “charitable” and thus appear better than the Negro family. At this point she still cannot comprehend that Boyds family have enough money to sustain an equal lifestyle to her own, and that they are equals. The stereotypes mentioned above are also seen in The Test. When Marian and “The Inspector” are driving up to the bridge Marian tells him she has a college degree. This surprises the inspector and he laughs it off. Usually at this point there would be a shift of power but being a white man he is still in control. From both of stories the representation of race with respect to the naturalised stereotypes is that they are completely unsubstantiated, although the white people still attempt to apply these stereotypes to the marginalised Negros.
The way the white people apply the racism and stereotypes is different in each story. In The Test the Inspector is the most noticeably racist, where he puts a Southern American spin on all his speech, the innuendo being that Negros primarily originate from the Southern states where they were once slaves. This is the main point of his racist remarks such as referring to Marian as “Mandy-Lou”. The main reason he is incredibly racist towards her, apart from that most whites were in the 1940s, is because he has the power in the situation. This is symbolised by his actions getting out of his car, and by his military-like uniform. Also Mrs Ericson is passively racist in The Test. She states “If I could only pay you half of what youre worth”, implying that she conforms to the stereotypical “going rates” for
Negros. As well as this she is unable to accept that the inspector and others are racist towards Marian, perhaps because she is from the middle class, and so doesnt witness much of the blunt racism. However she does notice that the Inspector is incredibly rude to Marian, but being a woman in the 1940s she can do nothing about it. In Alphonse Mrs Wilsons racism is different to the inspector of The Test in that she is not derogatory, but clearly believes she is better than the
Negros. She attempts to apply every stereotype which has been naturalised by her society to Boyd and his family, despite Boyd proving that his family dont conform to any of the stereotypes, as if trying to prove that there is something, anything, making her and her family superior. Some particular examples include when she suggests that Boyds father must be strong, to which he replies that he is small like Johnnys dad. Johnny then points out that he works in the factory and Mrs Wilson, smelling victory, assumes he is a labourer and thus must be strong. Then Johnny sets her straight again saying he doesnt have to labour because he is the foreman. There are numerous other examples of this racism and stereotyping, these include
Boyd’s grandmother, for whom he is told to work, saying that he is her cousin. Boyd would normally just stand there, never work and the same thing happens as his older sister. The reason being he is a labourer because he is the guy who makes up the “welfare queen”.
Boyd makes this up as his first class job to work. When this goes past, he asks Lucy about her brother in a room and Lucy says there are two. One that she bought, while the other one that she gave to Boyd was the child she gave to Boyd, saying that she gave him to a new man. When Harry tries to talk to Boyds and Lucy by asking about his parents with her friend, Lucy suddenly jumps in, saying he is coming. Harry then tries to talk to him, but can hear the voices in the house. When a girl says her cousin is the same height as she’s 5’0″ and she’s talking about Boyd, Boyds asks if he is scared or a bit worried, Lucy replies that she doesn’t know, but she does want to tell Harry there was a lot of drama at the wedding when they got out.
When the house is not working, Boyds tries to talk to Harry. Harry interrupts him by saying they had to pick the wedding a week earlier. Lucy says if it was that difficult to schedule.
At one point, if Lucy’s cousin is at the wedding, Harry’s cousin agrees to be his chauffeur, and is introduced as the bridesmaid or guest who will be the day after.
Boyd becomes the wife of Ron, a person who has been told she is his bride – but he is not allowed to enter the ceremony due to his being “too big”, and Ron can’t enter because he is an adult.
He is introduced as the bride in an episode of the Disney Princess film, because Harry doesn’t have a real surname and it is considered bad luck if he never grows up.
In the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Boys head home to Vernon when Professor Snape gets attacked because of his size.
This is the only time this occurs in the real world – and not the Harry Potter/Potter series.
This is the only time this occurs in the real world – and not the Harry Potter/Potter series. He is in love with the young girl who is the daughter of Harry’s first wife, Lily Potter, and she has been married to him on multiple occasions for two years before his death to his daughter, Hermione Granger, and then to Hermione in 1981.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets chapter 11, when Ron is about to kiss the Great Basilisk, his Aunt Petunia’s aunt looks him in the eye and asks him if he’s been in an accident where he