Theme Of Stereotypes In Them The Pronoun
Throughout Nathan McCall's novel—Them—the pronoun "them" repeatedly presents itself. McCall uses stereotypes, experience, as well as character perspectives to develop the importance of the word "them". McCall's purpose is to draw attention to the integrated urban communities in the Atlanta area to support how racial differences effect a community. There is no specific intended audience for this novel.
Them centers around one main protagonist. Barlowe Reed, a black, 40-year-old male with an unpredictable temper. Barlowe lives in a shabby house located in the Old Fourth Ward, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., known for its main street, Auburn Avenue. He shares the house with his nephew, Tyrone. Barlowe works for a printing company,
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In Chapter 6, readers are introduced to two significant characters. Sean and Sandy Gilmore, a young white couple who moves into one of the fixer-upper houses next door to Barlowe. Upon their move in, old residents of the Old Fourth Ward do not welcome their new neighbors. Barlowe himself describes Sandy as "a silly white girl, lookin for somethin interestin to do" (McCall 208). Sean and Sandy's innocent ignorance towards the blacks keeps them from understanding why they are met with such hostility from their new neighbors. Unluckily, their stay does not get any easier. The Gilmores along with other white residents have had their mailboxes set fire and are constantly looked upon with …show more content…
Both whites and blacks displayed prejudice towards "them". For example, in Chapter 24 during the Civic League meeting, a black homeowner compares the new white homeowners to roaches who just keep coming. "They keep comin back. Not a week don’t go by that one a them cracker, uh, white people--don’t come back knockin" (McCall 169). The homeowner referred to "them" as 'crackers', a racists term to describe white people. Though she stopped herself, it still shows that it is habit. Another example, takes place in Chapter 34. Barlowe reads the neighborhood paper that headlines the Old Fourth Ward as a wasteland. This paper makes Barlowe and people of the Ward question if they are invisible objects if the Ward was just a wasteland before "they"—white people—came. Black neighbors started referring to other black residents as "nigger-trees" (McCall 248). A way to add sarcastic humor to the racial
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