Who is the most iconic Black character in literature?

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Reply 60

Threepigs

Chris tucker...

Reply 61

missygeorgia

Original post by a daedalus

Pointless comment, since we were quoting from someone else.

Who I quoted in the comment too.

Reply 62

buyingtheticket

Jesus or god probably.

Reply 63

Roocky

Original post by Anonymous-

No.. he did nothing.

Exactly what i was thinking.

Reply 64

rainbow drops

Othello was my immediate thought. I agree with your lecturer.

Aaron from Titus Andronicus is another black Shakespearean character... ummm, Tom from To Kill a Mockingbird has to be up there as well.

Reply 65

MaxMaxMax

I have some more completely retarded and pointless questions to ask, in a similar style to the OP:

Who is the most iconic white character in literature?

Who is the most iconic yellow character in literature?

Who is the most iconic brown character in literature?

Who is the most iconic red character in literature?

Who is the most iconic green character in literature?

Who is the most iconic blue character in literature?

What the hell difference does it make what colour a literary character is?

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 66

talon1579

Original post by MaxMaxMax

A lot of difference.

Shaft fosho....

Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart maybe?

Reply 69

Helevorn

Othello or Jim from Huckfin

Reply 70

Gabbycat_Almighty

Original post by MaxMaxMax

Considering that the canon of English literature has, up until fairly recently, consisted almost exclusively of white people writing stories about white people for white people to relate to - a fair amount of difference, really. As a consequence of that, a lot of writing by black authors/featuring black characters has some kind of connotations of racial issues, conflicts, etc.

Reply 71

MaxMaxMax

Original post by talon1579

A lot of difference.

You racist :mad:

Reply 72

MaxMaxMax

Original post by Gabbycat_Almighty

WRONG. The canon of English literature has always consisted of people writing stories about people for people to relate to. Why the hell are you bringing skin colour into it you bloody racist?! Martin Luther King had a dream that one day people would be judged by the content of their character, not by the colour of their skin. Now that that day has come, it's completely irrelevant what colour a literary character's skin is, because as hard as it may be for racists like you to believe, someone's character does not depend on their bloody skin colour!

Reply 73

CuteStar*

The only one i can think of is Othello, i remember writting an essay about this.

Reply 74

Colonel.

Original post by MaxMaxMax

Fight the power, man. Down with Thatcher.

Reply 75

evantej

Original post by De Profundis

The narrator of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

This.

The Shakespearean examples flew straight over my head; I did not even consider them remotely serious examples to be fair.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 76

big-boss-91

Original post by Colonel Brusnahan

I was told in a lecture today that Othello was the most iconic Black character in literature. Is this true? I'm sure he's up there, but are there any others?

I don't want any answers like "Oh, he's been played by a black person before." I want explicitly black. I'm just curious after hearing that statement from the lecturer and I'm not that well read. Help me out :awesome:

actually Othello is one of the greatest icons for black people since it was written 500 years ago well before black people got any rights, i love the play when Othello who shouldn't have the rights in the normal society is a highly ranked officer in the Army and everyone except Iigo looked passed his skin colour and saw him as a great leader. There is another book but i doubt she is a good black icon "the Colour Purple".

Reply 77

xelarose

Celie from The Color Purple? Just because she epitomises the struggles of a southern, black, women during the early 1900's. In my opinion, that defines an iconic black character in literature.

I like the "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Othello" ideas too :smile:

Reply 78

paddyman4

When I read the title I instantly thought of Othello. And I don't even like Shakespeare and know pretty much nothing about the play other than that there is a black guy called Othello in it. So I guess it's true.