Elegies for Paradise Valley

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Kamaria Swan December 30, 2011 Defying Definitions In reality, people use their professions, clothing, beliefs, and other choices to reflect how they want to be viewed by society. The same holds true for fictional characters, like those in Robert Hayden’s “Elegies for Paradise Valley.” The character, Madam Artelia, chooses her profession, clothing, beliefs, and other things in order to represent how she would like to be viewed by society. Because she makes multiple choices that are often contradictory, it can be concluded that she has decided not to live up to any set definition people may have for her. Madam Artelia’s wide array of choices represents the fact that she is trying to defy preconceived definitions of herself made by the dominant culture. As is the case for most of Hayden’s main characters, Madam Artelia has automatically been thrown into the dominated group, before her personal choices have even been considered. Dominant cultures often classify people by race, a characteristic that can’t be changed. In order to be a part of the dominant culture, she would have to be of a specific, pure race. But Madam Artelia is not. She is described by the narrator as “AfroIndian,” a mix of African and Indian, two separate nationalities (Hayden, 437). Both of those nationalities are probably looked down upon by the dominant culture alone, and even more so when joined together. This, of course, will automatically cast Madam Artelia into the dominated group. From birth, she has naturally defied the race requirement that would be necessary for her to be considered a part of the dominant culture. As a part of this dominated group, Madam Artelia will be stereotyped, along with the other members. One of the most prominent characteristics of domination is that members of the Swan, 2 dominated group are all totalized and perceived to be the same. All of the

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