LITR 4332 American Minority Literature Model Assignments Research Project Submissions 2013 research post 2

Jennifer Longoria

White Author, Black Character

          During the course of this semester I have put much thought into what defined minority literature. Minority can basically be defined as anyone who is not a white, male in this country. However, Dr. White typically defines minority literature as the historical experience of different ethnic groups. It is easy to identify minority literature when the text you are reading is a bibliography or a history of a particular person or event. For example, Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass can easily be classified as minority literature. However, once we move on to the realm of fiction. I feel that this classification can become a little less clear. There are many great works of fiction available featuring strong and engaging minority characters written by minority authors. There is an even greater amount of fiction that is available featuring strong and engaging minority characters that are NOT written by minority authors. This fact made me start to wonder whether or not minority literature is only considered as such if the author is in the minority as well or is this classification based on the content of the text instead. As I moved further into my research one question kept popping up in each article I read: Is it possible for a white author to be able to accurately depict a black character and history? Do these types of literature hinder minority literature in any way?

          My first step into my research was to find out how many well-known African American literary characters were actually written by white authors. In Earl Young’s article for Writing While, he states that some of the most popular known African American characters today, such as Alex Cross, are written by white authors. Other popular white authors such as Janet Evanovich and John Grisham have also written about an African American character as their lead. Now we have to wonder how well these characters were written. In the same article, an agent for the Literary Group states that many of these authors feature a black lead characters because black characters are popular nowadays. However, many believe that as well written or likeable some of these characters may be, they are missing that minority authenticity and therefore, play on the many stereotypes our country still keeps alive today. Is literature based on stereotypes the type of reading we want our students to absorb?

          As I continued my research I found that it is not only white authors who seem to rely on black stereotypes in regards to their characterization. Many critics claim that Tyler Perry, one of the most famous African American writers and directors of our generation, relies heavily on black stereotypes when creating his characters. In Charing Ball’s article “Do Tyler Perry and His Stereotypes have Crossover Appeal,” our author claims that she has never seen a character Tyler Perry has created, whether they were black or white, that was not born of stereotypes. I have thought the same way regarding his movies before as well. As many as I have seen, the stories and the characterization in his writing seems to be recycling itself over and over again. The same range of characters pop up in every single one of his movies. According to this article, a recent announcement that Perry has written a screenplay that will be adapted into a movie featuring a predominantly white cast has created some controversy with his loyal fans. If a white author can be criticized for trying to write from an African American point of view, should the same not be criticized of a African American writing from a white point of view?

Many critics feel that even though the black characters in some of these white works of fiction are not authentic, they praise the fact that these writers are able to shed light on social issues such as race. In Chris Witherspoon’s article “From ‘Uncle Tom’ to ‘The Help’: Can white writers tell black stories” we are told that Kathryn Stockett, author of the bestselling novel The Help, is being sued by a woman who says that one of the main characters in the novel was based on her own likeness. The woman, Ableen Cooper, actually “criticizes Stockett’s depiction of black maids of the 1960s south.” However, this novel has sold 2.2 million copies since its release and our author wonders if it is not enough that Stockett at least brings race and class controversies to the forefront of her story regardless of how accurate the characters were depicted. After all, she is just writing a story.

After all of my research I still do not have an answer to my question regarding whether or not a white writer can write a black character and even if they should. I understand that the writing and the characterization may not be authentic but does that completely eliminate the text from being classified as a minority literature? Are we limited to only write for the race that we were born into? As a Mexican-American, am I only allowed to write from a Mexican American point of view and if not, does the second I write a novel with a complete white cast then remove my title as a minority literature author? There are many more questions I have and even less answers. I do not think my topic was too broad, but rather, I do not see a clear right or wrong answer. I feel that I would have to research this topic much more in order to get a more clear answer, though I do not feel that the answer will ever be clear enough.

I will end this research with a quote from another white author amidst controversy for attempting to write a black character in Tanner Colby’s article “Can a White Author Write Black Characters?” Though Michael Chabon has received much backlash regarding writing a black character, he response to this backlash is to say “Artistically, I don’t understand it at all. Because if I can’t write from the point of view of a black woman nurse-midwife, then I can’t write from anybody’s point of view. That’s why I do this.” I feel the same way. I should not be limited in the different point of view that I write. Just because I am not a police officer does not mean that I cannot write a novel with a cop as the main character. It may not be successfully written, but we should be allowed to write in all perspectives and not only the ones that deal with our race.