Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1986
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
6
Issue
ess/vol6/iss1
First Page
36
Last Page
37
Abstract
Herzog examines literary works of the mid-nineteenth century which reverse values, transcend stereotypes, and demand a reevaluation of the roles of "women, ethnics, and exotics" in fiction as well as reality. The ethnics are blacks and Indians; the exotics Herzog defines as " strikingly out of the orindary [ordinary]" or " excitingly strange" characters. Images of women are similar to the images of the "Noble Savages" and other non-white people in that all are considered "natural," more innocent or more demonic, more devine [divine] and more terrifying than white males . So too are they viewed as more passive, less logical. more imaginative, less technically inclined, more emotional, less incisive, more religious, and less scientifically oriented. As Herzog points out, the Romantic view of the Noble Savage provided a dichotomy of evil and good which was transformed into female images of fair and dark.
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1986