The contrast between characters written by Morrison and Black characters that are written by white authors is striking. Morrison’s characters are richly imagined and authentic. They are there to tell their stories, not to serve as surrogates who allow white writers to express their own forbidden feelings and desires while still maintaining white standards for their white characters. After reading both The Bluest Eye and “Playing in the Dark,” I came across a short BookRiot article entitled “7 Casually Racist Things That White Writers Do” (Nunnaly, 2018) that highlighted some issues that still occur in literature and film.
"Non-white characters always have some form of description to make sure their non-whiteness is made clear, usually via a description of skin tone. It becomes problematic, however, when there isn't a comparable descriptor for any of the white characters. The absence of that description (really the absence of race) IS the trigger for the reader to understand that the character is white." (Harleston, 2018)
One thing that I notice frequently appears as item 3 on Nunnaly’s list: “when introducing characters, only the non-white races are mentioned.” This is so common that many people only notice when it is not the case. I have also found that when I do see all characters being introduced with race, or none, the piece is almost always written by a BIPOC writer. White writers rarely feel the need to identify a character as white because white is seen as the “default” in U.S. culture. According to Renee Harleston in “Dismantling the White Default” (2018), ‘“white as default’ is when whiteness is the litmus test for what is considered normal behavior, culture, and appearance.” We can see this “white as default” idea in The Bluest Eye, but Morrison is not writing it as a white writer would. Instead, she is using the idea to raise awareness of it as an issue: white should not be the standard. Not in beauty, or culture, or clothing, or food, or lifestyle.
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| Images of Black Hermione |
We find one modern example of how literature’s “white default” can be turned on its head in the original West End stage production of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Until the production was cast, the character of Hermione Granger had been considered canonically white and had been played by a white actor. However, in the books, Hermione is never specifically described as white. She is described as having brown eyes, “bushy” hair, and large teeth, and after one vacation she comes back looking “very brown.” She is described as having a “white face” only one time, and that is during a description of a moment of fear. When adult Hermione was cast in the play, she was portrayed by black actor Noma Dumezweni. While this caused controversy, it also exposed society’s assumption of white default.
While young women need to see themselves reflected in media, non-white girls need to see depictions of themselves that are not just brown-skinned versions of white characters. They also need to see characters that are not stereotypes or "token characters of color." While white writers need to be aware of and avoid the white default, we can also promote authentic characters by amplifying the non-white writers who create them.
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