Whistling Vivaldi : How Stereotypes Affect People

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

Although Racial Stereotype is something we experience daily, people should not be quick to judge or make conclusions based solely on skin color. Not every stereotype is true. Staples introduces himself by using the words “first Victim” by doing so he sets a picture in the mind of the reader that when he came up behind the lady on the street, something was going to do happen to her. He is faced with different stereotypes that he experiences daily from different races. Throughout the essay Staples makes the argument that racial stereotype is wrong .Staples explains his thesis through narratives of incidents in his life. He gives details of numerous accounts of people mistaking him for a thief or mugger.

Cofer’s autobiographical essay delves into the harassment of women in society, and how men perceive race as an invitation. She uses examples of times where she was publicly humiliated when white men would break out into song, attempting to be funny by using racist remarks. Staples’s essay is similar in that it describes society’s vision of black men, but it is not about harassment. Rather, he uses instances where he felt embarrassed by the way society viewed him, such as being mistaken for a rapist in the opening paragraph.

The narrator of The Autobiography grows up his whole life thinking that he is white. It is not until one fateful day in school where a teacher indirectly tells him that he is black that he finds out. This revelation, which he himself describes as “a sword-thrust” (Johnson 13), suggests a transformation, a great change, a development in the Ex-Colored Man’s racial consciousness in the future. However, as M. Giulia Fabi says, “[The ECM’s] proclaimed loyalty to his ‘mother’s people’ is continuously undercut by his admiration for and identification with mainstream white America” (375). She also indicates how when contrasted with previous passers, “the Ex-Colored Man’s oft-noted cowardice,

The hidden message between “How to Slowly Kill yourselves and others in America” and “Black Men and Public Spaces” is eventually the best way to deal with racism and hardship is to take a peaceful approach and think about that actions or words you are going to say. Even though in the beginning Laymon was very aggressive and fought back without a second thought, he later goes on to tell you that truly doesn’t know all the right and wrong answers in life and that if he could go back in life and change a couple things he would but he still leave you hanging to make your own decisions of whether you think violence is helpful and resolves situations or if it just makes them worse. Staples goes through his whole essay being very peaceful and not causing trouble with anyone and

He counters his entire intent to inform his audience of uninvited and undeserved discrimination in one line by saying, “The danger that they perceive is not a hallucination. Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence” (Staples, 395). In this instance, he is subtly making a call to action as well as countering his argument. His goal of putting that line in the story is to insight anger within his own race, to target them and convey to the idea that in order for them to collectively not be viewed as dangerous, they need to wholly reduce the violence.

The book I chose to read was Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele. In the book he discusses the different types of stereotype threats that different gender, race, and different age groups experience. The book is mainly on his research to show that because of this stereotypes and identity contingencies, people experience stigmatism so strongly that it dramatically affects their academic abilities and other aspects of their lives. In his book he conducts different experiments to prove that theory.

This appeals to the white public by showing how little effort they have put forward in order to help battle discrimination. He is dispirited by the bystanders who are not directly affected by the issues at

Public space can easily be changed if you belong to certain minority groups that are stereotyped and devalued, such as being a person of color. Brent Staples describes his “ability to alter public space in ugly ways” in his essay “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” (239). Racial profiling is still a discernible issue in America and Staples’ essay is a perfect example of the damaging effects racial profiling has on people of color. He recounts the event that caused him to become aware of the change his presence creates in public and the steps he took to help people not fear him during the walks he took at night to help battle his insomnia.

In his writing, he is trying to get people to understand him, being a tall, black man, and how he is continuously treated poorly. An example of him using pathos is, “My first victim was a woman- white,well dressed, probably in her early twenties”(542). Staples is using such strong diction when he says “victim”. Victim is often expressed when someone physically hurts someone else. Staples uses strong diction in order to get his point across that he feels being who he is makes people feel physically attacked. The girl in which he is calling his victim ran away from him because she saw him as an evil person, instead of actually seeing a person. Staples feels like a target because everyone automatically notices him as being an evil, tall, black person, and they feel is necessary to flee the scene as fast as they can whenever he is near. In another example Staples says, “Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes of being ever the suspect, against being set apart, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact”(543). Staples feels completely alienated by being who he is, because of the way people act around him. People become immediately scared and nervous when he is around them. Staples experiences such prejudice merely being present in the public

What would it feel like to walk into a room and be mistaken for a criminal based solely on race? This is a normal occurrence for Brent Staples, an African American author and journalist who has experienced various forms of prejudice throughout his life. In the essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space,” Staples’s diction, irony, and examples help him to explain that, although he is an innocent man, racial stereotypes make people think differently about who he really is. Staples’s powerful diction helps him to explain how much of an impact his race has on his life. As a “youngish black man” with a “beard and billowing hair,” Staples has the ability to “alter space in ugly ways.”

In the article “Just Walk On By”, Brent Staples describes his experience when he was young and was discriminatory treated because he is not “white”. His first shock experience that is at one late night, a white woman ran away from him when she saw him walking close to her. That woman’s reaction created a serious fear and deep anxious on him about his race from then on. Then, he shows several essays whose arguments fight against black people, and he asserts that black people are always be thought as the prime suspects in criminal cases. Due to his race, he used to be mistaken for burglar during his work and be checked by a dog when he came to a jewelry store. After that, he developed some strategies to make him less threatening.

Stereotypes are assumptions made about a group and its member but stereotypes sometimes have a slight truth in it. Stereotypes are not just produced out of the blue and Staples’ understands that. People have their opinions about others; those opinions come from somewhere, either an experience or something they heard before, than these opinions lead to stereotyping. Appearances have a lot to do with assumptions that are made about people. Therefore towards the end of his essay, Staples’ states, “I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers. Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime destinations seem to relax and occasionally they even join in the time” (2). His actions allow people to assume the opposite of what they would assume if he was not singing classical composers. People assume only educated people would know about classical songs, therefore Staples’ found a way to make fewer people if not all, to stop stereotyping him as someone he is not. If he did not use this approach, he would remain to be stereotyped as most black males are. This is persuasive because although he changed and began singing melodies, he shows everyone that he is better than what they would have assumed about him if he was not singing those melodies. Staples’ reminds us to be receptive because people do judge based on appearances as well as actions. If someone wants another person to stop profiling

This is an example of how African Americans were unwelcomed and brought fear and anger to White Americans, which was also an issue in the story “Champions of the World.” Staples in the story doesn’t bring up any long-term solutions to change the discrimination against African Americans, but he does bring up a tactic that he uses to come across less threating. He whistles popular classical composers and mentions that people will ease up because they don’t think a harmful man would be whistling melodies. Staples talks about his life step by step and his different but same altercations with discrimination, and how he coped/dealt with these

Music is an important part of life. Its role as a form of art and entertainment is a significant one but more important is that it serves to reflect and reinforce societal norms and values. It is not only used to entertain but also serves as a form of social commentary (Baran, 2009). For instance, the emergence of Rhythm and Blues (R&B) in America after the Second World War was a means of advancing the black race and it helped blur the line between white and black as more young white people became aware of the distinctions that existed in the society. The Hip-hop and rap of the 1980s and 1990s had almost the same effect, awakening in Black Americans a sense of