Rhetoric of Stereotype: Seeing Through Racist Ideology and Stereotype
Through the lens of literary criticism, looking at the novel Shimmer by Sarah Schulman, the use of stereotype is used to help the reader to see its misuse and the effects that racist ideology has on minorities: African Americans, Jews, lesbians and women.
Rhetoric of Stereotype: Seeing through Racist Ideology and Stereotype
Sarah Schulman, author and playwright and a lifelong political activist, in her novel Shimmer, written in 1998, Schulman takes the stereotypes of women, Jews, African Americans, and lesbians and persuades the reader of the ludicrousness of stereotypes. Schulman also demonstrates that the stereotypes are only recycled and reused because the necessary changes that need to be made are failing to be made because of the shared stereotypes of the majority. Schulman shows through her characters , Sylvia Golubowsky, a stenographer for a paper in 1948 trying to get show her worth; Tammi Byfield, an African American university student in the 1980’s; and Tammi’s grandfather Cal, a Black playwright working in a hamburger restaurant dreaming of more opportunity for African Americans, that the standing of stereotypes is only upheld and maintained because the biases are allowed to be held into place. Schulman explains that the only way to topple labels is through the rhetoric of racist terminology. people are capable of much more kindness and mercy, humanity just need to be told they are capable of more compassion. The importance of the rhetoric of stereotypes in literature and their effects on the reader.
In the critical analysis of Shimmer, looking through the lens at Sylvia, Tammi, and Cal and their personal and public lives: the gender biases, in regards to Tammi and Sylvia and the racist ideology, in regards to African Americans and Jews with all three characters, Schulman attempts to show and focus on the rhetoric of stereotypes to illustrate the damage labels pose and cause to minorities. The power of the rhetorical methods used in Sarah Schulman’s literature is supported by Frank Chin and Jeffrey Paul Chan, illustrating the ideas behind the formation of ideologies and stereotypes that cause harm to minorities; Friedrich Nietzsche, indicating the purpose for the formation on words and concepts in regards to truth and the words and concepts, like biases, that have power when they are allotted power; and Stephen Mailloux’s writings and theorized proposal, focusing the reader’s attention on the issues of prejudice and stereotyping.
Introducing Stereotype
Stereotype is defined as “a simplified or standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group” (http://dictionary.reference.com). The rhetoric of stereotype is the tectonic plate that moves humanity into wars, acts of violence, displays of hatred, love, freedom, and sometimes, peace. The rhetoric of preconceived notions goes beyond the spoken word and is instilled into the literature of the people to persuade them into action. The rhetoric of prejudice also helps the readers to rethink their own stereotyped statements towards others, perhaps allowing them to see the effects keeping minorities under the thumb of the greater majorities, the dominantly white-male society. Preconceived ideals also maintain that oppression and social rank allotted to minorities because of the color of their skin, their social standing, their ethnic background, their religious background, and their sexual and gender identities.
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