The race of the writer does matter when the narrative deals with issues of race. It matters both in the sense that they must be careful with how they say things depending on what race they are, and to know what perspective their writing is coming from. Knowing that the story “Desiree’s Baby” was written by a white person puts the story into perspective. I would say that nothing in this story was in bad taste, and only reflects the thoughts that were common during the times where racism was simply a social norm. Although the story expresses through the characters that having black blood was something to be upset about, the author somehow does so without being extremely offensive, which could have been done by going into more detail about how much black people were seen as lesser than. Also, a white person writing about the experience of a black person during those times is a very risky thing to try, since no relation is really there between the character in the story and the author, which is another reason why race matters when an author is writing on a narrative concerning race.
4 thoughts on “Discussion Post Topic 2”
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It is clear that the author is harsh on the characters, and the author reflects on how the whites treated the blacks. I agree that the author’s race matters in that the author, who had no connections with the characters, clearly understood how the whites saw blacks. I concur that it was risky addressing racism in a society where so much racism and the author’s race could have defended the author from being judged since the author was white.
Hi, I agree with “they must be careful with how they said depend on what race they are”. It just like sometimes someone want to help other people, but they way of their expression is wrong. It turns out that other people think the person is trying to hurt them.
Hi Branden! I agree with “they must be careful with how they said to depend on what race they are” and “a white person writing about the experience of a black person during those times is a very risky thing to try since no relation is really there between the character in the story and the author”. However, I believe that if a white writer is willing to research and obtain information about the black experience from credible sources in order to reach an audience, it is acceptable. As you mentioned, these writers have not been personally affected and thus cannot speak from personal experience. But isn’t it nice to see people of all ethnicities using their voices to combat racial inequity?
I agree that the race of the writer does matter when it comes to writing when the narrative deals with issues about another race. I don’t think they will be able to fully understand the experience unless they a lot of research, and talk to people who have experienced that situation personally.