Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...
Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...
Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...
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<strong>of</strong> social motherhood developed as women tended the graves <strong>of</strong> strangers and cared for<br />
the widows and extended families <strong>of</strong> the community. 41<br />
<strong>The</strong> Southern Belle’s common trait is the ability to adapt to social upheaval with a<br />
gracious smile and impeccable manners. Sociology pr<strong>of</strong>essor Sarah Brabant summarized<br />
the tripartite code <strong>of</strong> the Southern Belle, exemplified in her own upbringing, as survival<br />
at all costs, survival with dignity (“for fear <strong>of</strong> being ‘tacky’”), and responsibility for<br />
others, especially one’s own <strong>of</strong>fspring. 42 And yet, the stereotype <strong>of</strong> the fragile, dependent<br />
Southern Belle lives on, perpetuated by coquettish behavior with a shorthand <strong>of</strong> legend-<br />
ary “Belle-speak” that seems to belittle the speaker. 43 In Show Boat, Magnolia Hawkes is<br />
introduced as this stereotype with the characteristics <strong>of</strong> the coquette, and as a survivor<br />
with dignity and responsibility.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Ethnic Other<br />
<strong>The</strong> Ethnic woman stereotype <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century is typically described in<br />
the dual context <strong>of</strong> slavery and sexuality. 44 She is classified as Other in gender, race, and<br />
class. She has always had to work both outside and within the home as factory worker,<br />
plantation hand, or middle class domestic. Ethnic women attempted to adopt the philos-<br />
ophy <strong>of</strong> “separate spheres” in family life after emancipation from slavery, but racial (and<br />
41 Kleinberg, 177-78.<br />
42 Brabant, “Socialization for Change: the Cultural Heritage <strong>of</strong> the Southern Woman,”<br />
Sociological Spectrum 6/1 (1986): 51-61.<br />
43 See Wolfe, 18. <strong>The</strong> ultimate character representative <strong>of</strong> this stereotype is, <strong>of</strong> course, Margaret<br />
Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind.<br />
44 <strong>The</strong> Ethnic woman <strong>of</strong> this period may refer to either the southern African-American or the New<br />
England immigrant Jew. As a parallel to Show Boat, I am limiting the stereotype to the African-American<br />
woman.<br />
49