Prepared by: Patricia Johnson
Posted on: Sun, 17 Jun 2001
Reposted on: Sun, 7 Jul 2002
Reposted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2003
Reposted on: Sat, 24 Apr 2005
(based on an idea by Florence Cardinal)
People naturally categorize people,
places, things and events in
their
minds. This is helpful in organizing, remembering and associating
memories and information. We all need rules to help us react to
situations in a timely fashion. A flashing red light might mean danger
- and if I stop to consider all the alternative meanings, I might not
react quickly enough to the danger.
However, when applied to people,
categorizing can lead to
stereotyping.
Stereotyping involves the labeling of people into broad categories
where
individuality is replaced with fixed ideas and generalizations.
Stereotyping can be seen in our level of trust in a situation, a person
or a thing. Most stereotypes are negative; they lead to assumptions and
misconceptions that are unfair or simply inaccurate. A good example of
a stereotype is Boo Radley in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Both
Scout and her brother have built up an unfair idea of him from
appearances and gossip they have heard. His true nature is revealed
when he rescues Scout and becomes a family friend and quiet hero. There
are many more great examples in literature.
Exercise: In 300 words or less, write a
story where a character is
presented in a stereotypical way. As the story unfolds have the
stereotype turn out to be inaccurate by revealing to the reader the
character's individualism and true nature. This will allow the reader
to make necessary critical judgments to understand the story.
Patricia Johnson's wrap-up
Posted on: Sun, 24 Jun 2001
Thank you all for a successful exercise.
The submission numbers were
high, and of great quality. The submissions fulfilled the exercise
criteria in almost every case. I find it easier to write character
traits than to work on abstract concepts; maybe others did also. At any
rate, it was a great week, good work.
It was interesting to note that the
characters in the stories
revealed
both flaws as well as altruistic traits. Some of the character types
were real surprises. There were telemarketers, Harley gang types,
military figures, lovers, and psychologists to name just a few. These
characters dealt with sensitive issues like race, sexual-preference and
vanity. This is just a sample, the submissions were varied, and handled
sensitive subject matter respectfully.
There was some discussion about length of
entries. It seems easy to
get
wordy with character studies. The quality of the submissions naturally
left one wanting more information and to read more. Editing to word
count is tricky when addressing character development. It forces us to
become adept at showing characters succinctly. It seems this exercise
forced us to practice our editing skills as well as character
development.
Good work and now on to the next week's
exercise,
Patricia Johnson
Patricia Johnson's wrap-up
Posted on: July 15, 2002
Thanks to everyone who submitted and
critiqued the True to Type
exercise
this time. Many of you thought of new angles, new types of human
behavior to
bring out of the shadows of stereotypes. It was interesting to see
characters change from a preconceived idea into a believable person
with
unique qualities.
Many of the submissions this time had more
than one of the main
characters
come out of a stereotype and reveal unique qualities. That was an
interesting development.
I hope everyone enjoyed the exercise and
will have time to
participate in
this week's exercise, a free-for-all.
Patricia
Patricia Johnson's wrap-up
Posted on: July 2, 2003
Last week's repeat of the True to Type
exercise revealed a varied
array
of characters which included a macho man, a rock star, a country woman,
a young officer, a violin player, a homeless man and more than one
African American stereotype.
Many devices came into play to make a
character's stereotype
believable.
Character's actions were one of the factors that aided in the initial
stereotype and became an effective way to reverse the stereotype later
in the story line. Sometimes the darker side of a character seemed more
believable than the opposite in the stories. Well-crafted dialogue made
characters believable. Surprise endings were present in many
submissions. A second character with a second stereotype appeared along
with the main character/stereotype in some stories.
Two other observations were that it took
more than just character
details to develop a believable stereotype, and that the character's
differences had to be established early enough to allow for a reversal.
A word count of 300 words may be too
restrictive. In order to have
the
character develop a stereotype and have a reversal of that stereotype,
it may help to add a longer word count the next time we use the True to
Type exercise.
Thanks to all of the practice-w members
for making this a successful
exercise.
Patricia L. Johnson
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Rhéal Nadeau and
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Modified by Gayle Surrette.