Reading various books that deal with families of mixed race got me thinking about the increasing prevalence of mixed race families in our society today. Whereas many children in the past were born to parents of the same racial ethnicity, today it is becoming more common to see children of mixed race. What effects could this new trend have in the future?
I believe that the percentages of mixed race vs. single ethnicity are going to flip so that the majority of families will be mixed rather than identify with one shared ethnicity. Unlike in the past, where certain traditions and rituals could be identified with specific races, there will probably be a greater blending of cultures. I can already see this happening in my extended family. My cousin, who is half American, half Indian, is engaged to an African American. Regardless of what religion or racial ethnicity my cousin's children choose to identify with, they will probably celebrate most of the holidays of their different backgrounds.
To me, this increasing mesh of cultures can prove beneficial to our society, because in America specifically, it would portray the true "melting pot" vision that people like to refer to this country as. Today, this classification is sometimes rejected and the "salad bowl" is embraced in an attempt to more accurately describe the concept that people may be open to new ideas and people but ultimately identify with their own kind.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Parents by Jill Cook
Hey guys!
I’m going to talk about the fact the in almost all the books we’ve read the parents are so screwed up! I read the first few pages of “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water” and of course the mom is an alcoholic who randomly goes to the hospital and leaves her fifteen-year-old daughter to take care of her. She then threatens suicide to get back at her husband. Meanwhile the father hasn’t called her daughter in five months. Then there’s birdie in “Caucasia” whose parents never look out for her best interests. She is separated from her one true friend, Cole, and her father. In “Face” Maibelle does not get along with her parents because her mother is very self-centered and her father is extremely closed off and not interested in sharing his experiences in order to help Maibelle.
In all three books the characters have major issues with their mixed race background, be it from not knowing who to identify with to blatant racism from their peers. I am extremely interested in finding a book that shows the life of a mixed race individual whose parents are supportive of their child and help that child deal with the obstacles presented to mixed race people. Unfortunately, there probably isn’t a book like that out there because all the drama of dealing with parents adds to the book and makes it more interesting.
Sorry for the late post!
Jill
I’m going to talk about the fact the in almost all the books we’ve read the parents are so screwed up! I read the first few pages of “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water” and of course the mom is an alcoholic who randomly goes to the hospital and leaves her fifteen-year-old daughter to take care of her. She then threatens suicide to get back at her husband. Meanwhile the father hasn’t called her daughter in five months. Then there’s birdie in “Caucasia” whose parents never look out for her best interests. She is separated from her one true friend, Cole, and her father. In “Face” Maibelle does not get along with her parents because her mother is very self-centered and her father is extremely closed off and not interested in sharing his experiences in order to help Maibelle.
In all three books the characters have major issues with their mixed race background, be it from not knowing who to identify with to blatant racism from their peers. I am extremely interested in finding a book that shows the life of a mixed race individual whose parents are supportive of their child and help that child deal with the obstacles presented to mixed race people. Unfortunately, there probably isn’t a book like that out there because all the drama of dealing with parents adds to the book and makes it more interesting.
Sorry for the late post!
Jill
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Fantasy Novels and Issues of Race: Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter - Michelle Filanovsky
Reading Adulthood Rites has got me thinking about other sci-fi and fantasy novels which deal with issues of race. I have realized that because fantasy novels almost always deal with aliens, strange creatures, or humans with "special powers," metaphors and messages about issues of race are almost inevitable in these types of novels. To illustrate this concept, I am going to discuss how messages about race can be obtained from two of my favorite fantasy novels/movies: Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
In Lord of the Rings, the dark lord Sauron builds armies of Uruk-hai, Orcs, trolls, and various other creatures to fight against the different races of Middle Earth in pursuit of the One Ring -- which will give him ultimate power. As a response, the different races of Middle Earth -- who had, in previous years, fought wars against each other -- are forced to accept their differences and band together to fight Sauron's army. At the center of this alliance is the Fellowship of the Ring, a group of nine individuals which represent all of Middle Earth's races. These individuals, being of different races, have initial qualms with each other. For instance, the dwarf Gimli is initially hostile to the elf Legolas because mind-dwelling dwarves have always hated nature-loving elves in Middle Earth. However, in the end, these two characters become best friends. This idea of banning together against a dark force reminded me of the humans' response to the Oankali in Adulthood Rites: the presence of aliens on earth made humans' racial differences seem relatively insignificant, and caused them to be more accepting of each other. Similarily, the presence of Sauron's evil forces in Lord of the Rings made the differences between the races of Middle Earth seem insignificant and created a greater sense of acceptance between races which had previously hated each other.
Relationships between individuals of different races are also present in Lord of the Rings, the most prominent being the relationship between the human Aragorn and the elf Arwen. This relationship conveys the idea that there must be something "given up" in an interracial relationship: Arwen must give up her evlen immortality by marrying Aragorn (elves can die of only a couple of things, one being a broken heart, and Arwen knows that her heart will be broken once Aragorn, a mortal human, dies).
Lord of the Rings also presents characters who acheive feats which are thought to be impossible due to their race. For instance, Frodo, a short, peace-loving hobbit, is the one who must destroy the One Ring. Frodo receives much doubt throughout the story because others do not believe that a hobbit could acheive such a huge task. However, Frodo succeeds and destroys the Ring. By citing this example, it can be seen that Lord of the Rings conveys the idea that racial stereotypes are often false.
While it can be argued that Lord of the Rings advocates the acceptance of those who are different and the breaking-down of racial stereotypes, Lord of the Rings also contains aspects which can be considered racist. For instance, Sauron's evil forces are portrayed as black, while the "good" character in the novel are portrayed as being white. This idea is especially prominent in the Lord of the Rings movies. In the final battle of the Return of the King, many of the "evil" characters have darker skin, as well as clothing and tribal markings similar to those associated with those of Africans. Some even have head and face coverings extremely similar to those worn by many Muslims.
In the Harry Potter series, ideas of race are conveyed through the existance of magical people (wizards and witches) and muggles (non-magical people). Mixed race ideas are also prevalent throughout the novels thorugh half-blood characters, wizards who have at least one muggle grandparent -- a classification which is very similar to the "one-drop" rule. The existance of muggle-born wizards and witches adds to mixed race individuals of the Harry Potter world. Lastly, there are the pure-bloods, individuals who claim to have no muggles in their linneage. Pure-bloods look down upon half-bloods and especially muggle-borns, who they call "mudbloods." Some pure-bloods, however, such as the Weasley family, accept half-bloods and muggle-borns; these wizards and witches are called "blood-tratiors" by prejudiced pure-bloods. All these terms used in the Harry Potter series echo the belief held by some people in our world that miscegenation causes the depurification of linneages.
In the Harry Potter world, there are only a few pure-blood families left and many of those who claim to be pure-blood acutally aren't; some "pure-blood" families, such as the Black family, erase muggles from their family trees. Even Voldemort himself is actually half-blood. This idea of falsely claiming a "pure" linneage is similar to the situation in our world, where it has been proven that most, if not all, people who consider themselves to be white actually have some non-white ancestry.
In Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort's followers -- the evil "death eaters" -- are portrayed as being highly prejudiced against half-bloods and muggle-borns. In the Harry Potter movies, death eaters' outfits even consist of the cone-shaped hats which are eerily similar to the ones worn by the KKK. The height of the death eaters' prejudice occurs when all half-bloods, muggle-borns, and blood-traitors are literally being hunted down in the concluding book of the series; students of "non-pure" linneage are not allowed to attend Hogwarts. These events are very similar to events of racism against blacks in the history of our world and country. Conversely, the "good" characters, such as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, are accepting of half-bloods and muggle-borns; in fact, Hermione herself is actually a muggle-born.
I found an interesting article about Harry Potter in which the author claims that, beause of the way in which Rowling portrays the good characters as accepting of all those who are different and evil characters as prejudice, she teaches her young readers about tolerance and acceptance of others (the article can be found here: http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1256). While I believe this to be true when pertaining to matters within the wizarding comunity (pure-bloods, muggle-borns, and half-bloods), I don't believe this is true when looking at all wizards' and witches' attitudes toward muggles. While many wizards and witches are not portrayed as being prejudice against muggles, they are portrayed as looking down upon them and viewing them as inferior due to their inability to do magic. Wizards and witches are portrayed as having ultimate power over muggles -- they can dumbfound them, make them forget things, cast spells on them. Muggles, as a result, are often portrayed as being stupid and incapable, and wizards and witches -- whether consciously or subconsciuosly -- look down upon in them in a condescending manner. Because of this, I believe Harry Potter sends two very contradictory messages.
By examining the ideas of race in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I have discovered that they both convey acceptance of those who are different, but also have elements in them which can be interpreted as prejudice; thus, the two books both convey conflicting messages about race. These are just two of the many fantasy books/movies which deal with the ideas of mixed race and interracial relations.
In Lord of the Rings, the dark lord Sauron builds armies of Uruk-hai, Orcs, trolls, and various other creatures to fight against the different races of Middle Earth in pursuit of the One Ring -- which will give him ultimate power. As a response, the different races of Middle Earth -- who had, in previous years, fought wars against each other -- are forced to accept their differences and band together to fight Sauron's army. At the center of this alliance is the Fellowship of the Ring, a group of nine individuals which represent all of Middle Earth's races. These individuals, being of different races, have initial qualms with each other. For instance, the dwarf Gimli is initially hostile to the elf Legolas because mind-dwelling dwarves have always hated nature-loving elves in Middle Earth. However, in the end, these two characters become best friends. This idea of banning together against a dark force reminded me of the humans' response to the Oankali in Adulthood Rites: the presence of aliens on earth made humans' racial differences seem relatively insignificant, and caused them to be more accepting of each other. Similarily, the presence of Sauron's evil forces in Lord of the Rings made the differences between the races of Middle Earth seem insignificant and created a greater sense of acceptance between races which had previously hated each other.
Relationships between individuals of different races are also present in Lord of the Rings, the most prominent being the relationship between the human Aragorn and the elf Arwen. This relationship conveys the idea that there must be something "given up" in an interracial relationship: Arwen must give up her evlen immortality by marrying Aragorn (elves can die of only a couple of things, one being a broken heart, and Arwen knows that her heart will be broken once Aragorn, a mortal human, dies).
Lord of the Rings also presents characters who acheive feats which are thought to be impossible due to their race. For instance, Frodo, a short, peace-loving hobbit, is the one who must destroy the One Ring. Frodo receives much doubt throughout the story because others do not believe that a hobbit could acheive such a huge task. However, Frodo succeeds and destroys the Ring. By citing this example, it can be seen that Lord of the Rings conveys the idea that racial stereotypes are often false.
While it can be argued that Lord of the Rings advocates the acceptance of those who are different and the breaking-down of racial stereotypes, Lord of the Rings also contains aspects which can be considered racist. For instance, Sauron's evil forces are portrayed as black, while the "good" character in the novel are portrayed as being white. This idea is especially prominent in the Lord of the Rings movies. In the final battle of the Return of the King, many of the "evil" characters have darker skin, as well as clothing and tribal markings similar to those associated with those of Africans. Some even have head and face coverings extremely similar to those worn by many Muslims.
In the Harry Potter series, ideas of race are conveyed through the existance of magical people (wizards and witches) and muggles (non-magical people). Mixed race ideas are also prevalent throughout the novels thorugh half-blood characters, wizards who have at least one muggle grandparent -- a classification which is very similar to the "one-drop" rule. The existance of muggle-born wizards and witches adds to mixed race individuals of the Harry Potter world. Lastly, there are the pure-bloods, individuals who claim to have no muggles in their linneage. Pure-bloods look down upon half-bloods and especially muggle-borns, who they call "mudbloods." Some pure-bloods, however, such as the Weasley family, accept half-bloods and muggle-borns; these wizards and witches are called "blood-tratiors" by prejudiced pure-bloods. All these terms used in the Harry Potter series echo the belief held by some people in our world that miscegenation causes the depurification of linneages.
In the Harry Potter world, there are only a few pure-blood families left and many of those who claim to be pure-blood acutally aren't; some "pure-blood" families, such as the Black family, erase muggles from their family trees. Even Voldemort himself is actually half-blood. This idea of falsely claiming a "pure" linneage is similar to the situation in our world, where it has been proven that most, if not all, people who consider themselves to be white actually have some non-white ancestry.
In Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort's followers -- the evil "death eaters" -- are portrayed as being highly prejudiced against half-bloods and muggle-borns. In the Harry Potter movies, death eaters' outfits even consist of the cone-shaped hats which are eerily similar to the ones worn by the KKK. The height of the death eaters' prejudice occurs when all half-bloods, muggle-borns, and blood-traitors are literally being hunted down in the concluding book of the series; students of "non-pure" linneage are not allowed to attend Hogwarts. These events are very similar to events of racism against blacks in the history of our world and country. Conversely, the "good" characters, such as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, are accepting of half-bloods and muggle-borns; in fact, Hermione herself is actually a muggle-born.
I found an interesting article about Harry Potter in which the author claims that, beause of the way in which Rowling portrays the good characters as accepting of all those who are different and evil characters as prejudice, she teaches her young readers about tolerance and acceptance of others (the article can be found here: http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1256). While I believe this to be true when pertaining to matters within the wizarding comunity (pure-bloods, muggle-borns, and half-bloods), I don't believe this is true when looking at all wizards' and witches' attitudes toward muggles. While many wizards and witches are not portrayed as being prejudice against muggles, they are portrayed as looking down upon them and viewing them as inferior due to their inability to do magic. Wizards and witches are portrayed as having ultimate power over muggles -- they can dumbfound them, make them forget things, cast spells on them. Muggles, as a result, are often portrayed as being stupid and incapable, and wizards and witches -- whether consciously or subconsciuosly -- look down upon in them in a condescending manner. Because of this, I believe Harry Potter sends two very contradictory messages.
By examining the ideas of race in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I have discovered that they both convey acceptance of those who are different, but also have elements in them which can be interpreted as prejudice; thus, the two books both convey conflicting messages about race. These are just two of the many fantasy books/movies which deal with the ideas of mixed race and interracial relations.
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