1975. Although literary critics have tended to praise the unique in literary characterizations, many authors have employed the stereotyped character successfully. Select one work of acknowledged literary merit and in a well-written essay, show how the conventional or stereotyped character or characters function to achieve the author’s purpose.
In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Walker uses African American stereotypes like the Mammy and the Jezebel archetypes to foil each other in the story. The foiling of the characters and their stereotypical roles is used to explain the misfortune of the characters and how they prevailed through their hardship.
Celie, the main character is that of the Mammy stereotype due to her servile behavior and supine nature. This can be seen throughout the story such as when Celie was expected to care for her siblings due to her mother’s death and her fathers abusive and old fashioned nature. Or when celie’s husband abuses her and she simply takes it and does what she is told- but throughout the whole thing she remains kind and shares that kindness with those who accept it. Celie’s character is the Mammy stereotype because of her servile attitude towards her “superiors” and how she remains kind and love to those who deserve it, in spite of her miserable circumstances. Shug, on the other hand, is the jezabel. The impact that Shug makes is due to her headstrong and openly sexual behavior. This type of impact can be seen when Shug is initially introduced into the story as the mistress, and not as the singer that we was. Secondarily, it was Shug that confronted and stopped the abuse that Mr._____ inflicted upon Celie.
The foiling of Shug and Celie was shown slowly throughout the story. When the characters first interacted with one another it was not present due to their glaring differences. One one hand there is passive and servile Celie and on the other there is aggressive and promiscuous Shug. From the get-go of the story the reader knows that these characters’ purposes are to evolve each other, due to their polar vantage points on life. Through the contrast and growth that the character show throughout the story, Walker was able to show how the separate stereotypes were able to play off each other and help each other.
Through the base of stereotypes, Walker was able to foil Celie and Shug and have them act off of one another in the pursuit of freedom from oppression. The strong African American stereotypes provided a good platform for contrast to be shown throughout the story. Walker through stereotypes was able to show the true depth of the character and not just their offensive and stereotyped outsides.
