The Role Of Stereotypes In Literature

The danger of a single story is that they let the powerful downgrade the weaker because they create stereotypes, they can hurt the people, and no one gets represented from the culture.

A large portion of the world’s older generation possesses the mindset that smartphones are decreasing our intelligence. This view has been held for years and is understandable, but Daniel T. Willingham presents a different idea in his article “Smartphones Don’t Make Us Dump”. Daniel T. Willingham is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and is the author of Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do. He gears his article towards the parents of the future generations; correcting their misconceptions and inserting a proper one using logos.

Stereotypes run rampant in the literary world today. It is much easier to write a stereotypical character because of the reader expects them to act or respond a certain way and does not require an explanation of their motivation. But much like Chimamanda Adichie warns, “Show a people as only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become” (Adichie 00:09:25-00:09:37). But this issue is often addressed in reference to the protagonist. The hero is always white; the hero is always attractive. The hero never disserves to suffer. Single stories do not just refer to the physical characteristics of the character, though in can and often does. The heroes all tend to look the same so we associate goodness with that specific physical description, but motivations can be just as misleading. All the heroes do good things because they lived the same experiences, so these experiences make someone good. Also society remains so focused on the single story surrounding the protagonist, it often forgets the other main component of a story, the antagonist. But by dissecting the possible motivations for the villains, as my adaption does, I hope to explore the different avenues to villainy and in turn disrupt their single story.

With the roadblocks in Callie's adoption it's been a long couple of months, but she was finally getting adopted tomorrow. The whole family couldn't wait for her to officially be a Adams-Foster.

Lux stands there motionless. Mallory and Anastasia run over embracing her. Walking her over to the couch to sit down.

A young girl walks through the halls of her high school, clutching a book to her stomach as if it were a shield, her hair falling in her face blocking most of her vision except what was in front of her. She kept her head down. She climbs the stairs one by one, the world turns into a blur as she sees her tormentor standing at the top of the staircase. It’s already too late to turn around and go back, they’ve already seen her. Hands grab at her book, and she is pulled away from the swarm of students. Without warning she is shoved, tumbling backwards. Her head meets a metal bar, her wrist gets caught in the railing, the weight of her body tugging on it until it snaps out of place. She slides down the rest of the steps, pain erupting her. Something skids

“Elders, this is a scan of Katherine Ayla Regan’s brain when she arrived here yesterday. I’d like you to note the unusual activity in the parietal lobe. She tapped the screen, and the parietal lobe became greater. Kat looked at the screen confused. A weird pink light was pulsing across the lobe.

Minorities are some of the most targeted and mistreated people in the world because of a misconceptions we are given. Many people already have this image or idea of a person before getting to know them because of what they have heard or read. Cultural representation of people and how they are portray in literature affect how people are viewed and treated.

2006: A group of smiling faces greeted back at me, like the pretty, welcoming American Girls at New York I dragged my mom to see with me. “Yes!, did you see that? I got sweet, one point for me!” I exclaimed with my tiny fist pumping up and down and my butt wiggling from the excitement I could not contain inside of me. As the condensation from the fresh rain beaded up on the surface of my water, forming lopsided smiles droopy eyes, I blew hard and long; I consumed the biggest puff I could huff and puff, enough to blow down the three little pigs’ brick house. I slashed one tick mark and smiled proudly when there were no tick marks on the other side. The seven-year old me cackled softly as I sneakily slashed one more tick mark. A single sweet

It was a hot, Texas summer afternoon. All of the family was sitting together, enjoying each others company. We were watching TV. We joked and laughed with each other. When my grandpa arrives from work, he rushes upstairs to get ready for guitar classes, and says he will be back for dinner. For us, it was a normal Wednesday. Afterward, my grandpa comes down, and sits at the table. He was dressed casually, and is ready to eat. He gets settled and tells me he has something exciting to tell me. We are eating at the table, each of us are enjoying the meal. While we are eating, I notice my grandpa getting in a position as if he were going to say something. He looks at me, along with my mother. He says,"Karmin, would you like to go to guitar classes?"

In today’s society there are many different stereotypes, many of which can be applied to every single ethnic group. At one point in any person’s life, they would have experienced some form of stereotyping. Every individual, whether young or old, is labelled with either a negative or positive stereotype. For example, it is often typically said that lawyers are deceitful, females tend to be less aggressive than males, all African Americans are extremely virtuous at basketball, and the list is simply endless. Stereotypes are often heard every day and everywhere, at any given moment. They are usually very widespread and used so frequently that they have seemed to become a natural behavior for human beings; and it is a part of our everyday life. At times we can find ourselves in situations where we make stereotypes and or assumptions for a large group of individuals. Stereotyping is a way in which people categorize and group one another. Stereotypes can affect people’s social lives, along with their emotions, and also how people interact within a particular environment as well. Stereotyping is a form of prejudgment that is as customary in today’s society as it was many years ago. It is a social attitude which has stood the test of time and attracted much attention from social physiologists alongside philosophers. Many approaches to, and theories of stereotyping have consequently been raised.

I wonder if other people from here also encountered such a...peculiar thing like I have. She wondered to herself in front of the mirror. Rachel was busy flicking her orange hair to another side of her face away from her eye that was bothering her once she woke up. Her red egg was nested by her in the bathroom. She’d look like she wasn’t paying no mind to it but she couldn’t help but to shoot her eyes at strange egg every so often as she was getting ready for the day. She likes to prepare herself in the morning before dawn even if it wasn’t a school day. Her daily routine consisted of doing school assignments the day she gets it, spending time outside for jogs then coming home looking at prehistoric documentaries (even some that she had already

I find this video to be particularly powerful because of the personal insight that it presents to me. Previously, I struggled to completely understand and thus clearly articulate the reasons behind my strong preference for male protagonists over female ones in both books and films. These misguided explanations would often include how I dislike the two common ways of depicting a female hero. She is consistently portrayed as either pure and dependent or very unique, only as a result of her special powers. Such characterizations are similar to the excuses in which men from the Renaissance attempt to explain away the existence and therefore, significance of female artists by emphasizing their physical appearance or that they are exceptions to nature.

From the time we are born we are submerged in our own norms with little understanding of those that are different from us, where most look at other differences with their own judgemental opinions, never taking the time to understand where others actions are stemming form. By acknowledging other beliefs through literature, education, and in the workforce, we eliminate fear of the unknown, which promotes equality of those whom may be different from ourselves. By including social justice issues in all attributes of life, from a young age into adulthood, will promote inclusion, equality and a just society for all.

My name is Ms. Young Blood , and I am a two-year teacher at Fast Track Elementary. As a new teacher I have observed how gender affects writing in a negative way for both boys and girls inside the classrooms. Ways that many teachers can fix this issue is simply by taking into account implementing new teaching techniques, correcting gender stereotypes, and address the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). By having attended my credential school I have kept studies that I have done for my degree, and know the sources I will present to administration will help many teachers understand how gender affects writing inside the classroom. Three of the sources that I will be presenting to administration are: Elementary Classroom Teachers as Movement