American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880-1995 (review)
realistic characters. She is not optimistic, however, that the character mold will be broken any time soon. It is not out of an inability for the pattern to be changed, but rather an unwillingness to make that change on the part of contemporary fiction writers. Harris explains, "And what, exactly, do [African-American writers] give to the literature? They suggest that the worlds—fictional and historical—in which black women live and operate do not ultimately subdue them. The bodies that were contained by slavery, segregation, popular media, and public opinion cannot finally be contained by black squiggles on white pages." While they may be problematic, even negative, as Harris suggests, they are preferable to the likes of Morrison's Pecola Breedlove, who cannot survive the challenges placed upon her. The critiques offered by Harris in this work will challenge the ways in which we think about works that we consider classic African-American texts, and the characterizations and representations of black women. They may also encourage an expanding, reformulating, or redevelopment of black women in future literature.