'We Looked like Salt and Pepper'

Children's Perception of Race in Short Stories by Southern Women Writers

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to explore one of the most controversial issues of American literature, a problem that has been haunting especially the authors of the American South since the days of slavery. The chosen perspective, namely the attitude of children, is doubly rewarding due to the opportunity to investigate different forms of prejudice and their internalisation with an eye to the psychological background, while the keen eye of women writers to victimisation and the children's need to conform to the expectations of the community is foregrounded. The short stories by various African American and white authors highlight diverse aspects of and sometimes the surprising lack of prejudice in a racist environment, and their main interest lies in the realistic representation of the personal dimension of these phenomena, which are incomprehensible for children in their abstract form. Nevertheless, by addressing the consequences of children's sensitivity to social hierarchy and their reaction to its inherent values and practices which come under the term of Foucauldian disciplinary discourses, these stories are part of a larger social reality.