Piper Chapman Character Analysis

Television shows are very pivotal to help understand the different factors that create society. For my analysis, I chose the television show Orange is the New Black. Orange is the New Black chronicles the life of Piper Chapman who is incarcerated in a women’s prison for being a drug trafficker. The show focusing on the themes such as race, sexuality, and gender represent how diverse women in are in society; and gives a deeper understanding to their deviant behaviors.
Piper Chapman is a woman in her early thirties that is sent to Litchfield Penitentiary for her role in a drug trafficking ring. Chapman does not fit the stereotype of a criminal. She is a white female from an upper-class family that is college educated. Piper being incarcerated

with her background is an example of control theory. She is an individual that rejects “societal norms to look rebellious in the eyes of others”. Piper becoming involved in legal activity is her desire to not conform to the norms that she was taught in her life. While in prison she struggles with relating to the three women because of her naivety, and the social inequalities. This is evident when the prison guards showing Piper favoritism because of her race which causes her to receive backlash from minorities. Her race is an advantage to her in time in the facility, but a disadvantage to all the minorities around her. Piper’s experience in the prison shows the social inequalities that women face in a prison, and how race can a person unfairly advance in society.
While Piper’s experience in prion gives her privilege, and shields her from injustice, the minorities are shown the opposite.

The prison spates the women in different dorms based on their race. The dorms are given names, like “Spanish Harlem”, and “The Ghetto”. All the minorities have their own small communities in the prison, and are basically living in segregation. Race is a large component in the series to understanding each woman’s story and how they are viewed by authority figures. The minorities in prison are stereotyped by the guards. They are called racial slurs by correctional officers and talked down to them in condescending tones. Their concerns for their communities are ignored, while the Caucasian inmates are treated fairly. An example of this treatment can be seen in the series when the Hispanic bathroom floods with feces due to pipe issues. Instead of the prison officials fixing the bathroom they order the Hispanics to use the African American dorm’s bathroom. This causes a large problem in the prison because the black inmates feel like the Hispanic inmates are taking over. The series giving instances of prejudice emphasize how harsh the conditions are, and that people in society still have stereotypical mindsets when it involves interacting with

minorities.
The women in the prison are not only different in socioeconomic background, race but also their sexuality. Sexuality being displayed in show not only portrays women as diverse and expressive creatures but helps explore the struggles that people in the LGBT community. The series represents how multifaceted a person’s sexuality can be , and highlights the way people handle things they don’t consider as norms. In the show Piper is in heterosexual relationship with her fiancé, but later reignites her homosexual relationship with her drug partner Alex Vause. There are other characters in the show such as Carey Black who is a affectionately nicknamed Boo who is a proud lesbian. Some of the female inmates are revealed to monogamous relationships with men like a prison cook named Red. She is married with a devoted husband and two adult sons. The series also has a transgender inmate named Sophia Bursett. Sophia Bursett is a transgender woman that is married with a teenage son . Bursett is incarcerated for using fraudulent credit cards to pay for her gender reassignment surgery. While in prison Bursett struggles with acceptance from her fellow inmates and correctional officers. An example of her treatment can be seen when she is need of estrogen pills to keep her testosterone levels down. The prison counselor does not listen to her request, and the doctor informs her the prion will not cover the hormones. She also faces vulgar comments by inmates and correctional officers about her sexuality and at one point is beaten viciously by some transphobic inmates .
In society, sexuality is considered a taboo that people shy away from discussing. As a woman, my sexuality is supposed to be a secret and I am expected to be in heterosexual relationship, because it is acceptable in society. Orange is the New Black character’s identifying themselves with different sexual orientations gives a modern view to female sexuality. Instead of making all the women in the prison heterosexual the series fouses on showing multiple sexual orientation ,in order to show the sexual freedom women have and defy gender roles.