The Role Of The Mammy In Gone With The Wind

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The Mammy
The mammy role can be attributed to Hattie McDaniel’s character in Gone with the Wind (1939) that shares the same name. This role shows a black woman whose only purpose was to “appease the racial sensibilities of whites” (Boyd, pg. 70). She was “the faithful servant to the white family”(Boyd, pg. 71), always willing to service without compliant. It was a direct relation to what was happening in life at the time; not many jobs were available to African American women besides being a nanny or maid. In fact McDaniels once stated, after getting much backlash from the black community over the Mammy roles she constantly took, “Why should I complain about making seven thousand dollars week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making seven …show more content…

This character tends to be the best friend of the white main character, yet the friendship is always one-sided. The character’s whole world seems to revolve around this white character; they never have a life of their own, aspirations, or even family. Their sole purpose is to be a prop to advance the characterization of the white character. The character Bonnie Bennett from CW show The Vampire Dairies exhibits these traits perfectly. In blog’s critique of the lack-luster portrayal of People of Color in the series the writer …show more content…

She is the ultimate token black girl/magical negro. She is always put in a position of servitude and is ultimately a walking-talking plot device. If you watch seasons 1 through 5, Bonnie gets very little screen time, and the little she does get is only to cast spells, not because it is what she wants to do, but because she is asked, or mostly ordered or threatened into by her white friends and enemies. Bonnie is always the loophole: when the plot requires it, she is brought out of the shadows, and just as soon, shoved right back in” (SHANNONJEANNA, The problematic treatment of People of Color on The Vampire Diaries, 2015).
The submissive and sacrificial role, that the only canonical non-white character inhabits, paints a clear picture on how the writers view the role of black female

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