Summary Of The Novel 'A Rose For Charlie'

Throughout this essay I`ll be: define and giving background information on Allport`s Scale, interpreting how these types prejudices are present in the story A Rose for Charlie and my reaction to the story, I`ll also be writing about how this scale applies to my actions and other`s I`ve observed as well.

First off, Allport`s Scale was created by psychologist Gordon Allport in the year 1954. This scale is a measurement of the manifestation of prejudice in a society. It consists of five stages of prejudice, they`re ranked by the increasing harm in which they produce.

The five stages are Stage 1- Antilocution, Stage 2- Avoidance, Stage 3- Discrimination Stage 3B (later added)-Subtle aggression, Stage 4- Physical attacks, and Stage 5- Extermination. Antilocution means speaking against; hate, derogatory speech, and hate speech. This stage of prejudice is perceived as harmless; however, these actions can endanger self-esteem and sabotage a particular group`s self-image. Avoidance is when people avoid someone one something; isolation and exclusion are some synonyms. Exclusion can occur in various forms; this is where xenophobia comes into play. Xenophobia is defined as the fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange. The third stage is discrimination. This means being denied equal access to opportunities, goods, and services. This act`s motive is to incapacitate a group by preventing it from achieving goals, getting education or jobs, and so on. The sub-section to discrimination is subtle aggression, merely an assumption of hierarchy, particularly a hierarchy of power. This is an assumption that somebody has acquired less knowledge because of certain characteristics; such as: age, gender, race,etc. The next...

... middle of paper ...

... rose into the water. Marching on to the main police station, they stood silently in the street. Hecklers from the crowd of spectators shouted obscene names. A week later someone spray painted: “Faggots Jump Here”

Examples from the story are in abundance. On the other hand, I`ll just list one for each stage. The examples from the story are :( in chronological order)when people taunted Charlie, when his personality separated him from most boys in his town, when jobs would be even harder to find because of his sexual orientation, when he was shoved and called a “fag.”, when he was eventually murdered “unintentionally.”

As far as my actions go, I`ve only portrayed through stage four on Allport`s Scale.

In conclusion, I`ve learned quite a bit about discrimination and prejudices. I`ve also learned that the only stage I haven`t encountered is Stage 5: Extermination.