I'm not going to get too holier-than-thou here, but I am going to say this trip has served as a reminder to me both personally and as a writer. Maybe a needed reminder.
Something that clangs at me in books is stereotyping.Waitresses aren't always high school dropouts on the make for handsome customers while they ignore the beautiful, educated women with them. Athletes aren't all "dumb jocks." Oops marriages between 18-year-olds aren't all failures--actually, they're not all oopses, either. Mothers-in-law, stepmothers, and former wives aren't all bitches. Not all CEOs are greedy and--departing from my usual Pollyanna persona for a second here--not all nurses, teachers, and grandmothers have hearts of gold. (Although I remain convinced that most of them do.) It's possible to be both literate and--yes, really--intelligent even if the person in question never went to college. It's possible to grow up in poverty and never commit the first larcenous act.
When we travel to the south, I expect to see stereotypes here and there, and this trip was no different. A man threw a fit in an Academy sporting goods store because he couldn't buy more rounds of ammunition. Someone in a Walmart bakery hesitated to put a black baseball player on a cake ordered by my white sister-in-law for her grandson's Little League team. Both things made me want to roll my eyes and say something particularly rude. I didn't, because I've been down here often enough to know lack of courtesy is a stereotype applied to Yankees by many southerners. I also know that red necks are not confined to the south--they run pretty rampant north of the Mason-Dixon line, too; only the accents are different.
It's been a good trip, just like books with the occasional stereotypical character are often good books. But I wish the Academy and Walmart things hadn't happened. And I hope most of us avoid pigeonholing our people, too--it's what both they and the readers deserve.
(My apologies if there are typos or "huh?" grammar errors in this post. I'm hurrying!)
Good reminder! We need to watch that in our writing. Thanks.
ReplyDeletegreat reminder, Liz! Have a great rest-of-your-trip!
ReplyDeleteGood reminder that there are stereotypes everywhere. As individuals we should avoid being stereotypes also. Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteGood post, Liz. And so, so true.
ReplyDeleteSo sad, isn't it? Maybe one day we'll finally move past all this. Thanks for sharing your heart, Liz!
ReplyDelete@ Carolyn, you are so right. I catch myself BEing one much more often than I care to admit!
ReplyDelete@ Right, Dora, it's very sad.
@ Hi, girlies! Thanks for coming by!
Too true, Liz. I'd like to add that there are many California stereotypes that are grating to my own sensibilities as a transplant of 33 years now. Not all Californians are tree-huggers, nor do we all live near the beach.
ReplyDeleteWe're not all anti-guns, don't all speak Spanish and most of us have never even seen a celebrity.
lol. Exactly, Maria. I live in the country--don't let's get me started on those! Thanks for coming by!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I was once married to a northern man. When I went to Michigan to meet his family I was afraid of what their preconceived notions would be of me. What I discovered was that they were more racist and red-neck than anyone I knew in the south. That's the way they were raised. Most people there were very nice though. Thank goodness my ex had risen above his upbringing.
ReplyDeleteRight, Sandra. But we have this perception thing going on, don't we--that rednecks are southern, racists are white, narrow-minded folks are midwestern, etc., and the truth is that there's plenty of fault to go around and the other truth is that, as you said, most people ARE very nice.
ReplyDelete