Stereotypes & Prejudice

[Rizki Pradana]

In my opinion, in this book, there are prejudices against biracial families because Maureen's family doesn't want to acknowledge Maureen after she married a black man.

[Oyedele Tomijane]

Kalayla suffered greatly in school as a result of stereotyping, as she had no friends and was subjected to numerous racially insensitive comments. Another example of stereotyping is when Maureen's father brought Keiran to learn martial arts because he assumed, based on appearance and stature, he would be a softie, a pushover. It depicted Maureen's parents as being in the business of stereotyping.

[Akangbe Opeyemi]

I saw a prejudice concerning the biracial couple. This prevented Mauren from getting the family support she really needed when she lost her husband and it prevented her families from forming a bond that is needed among families.

[Chinazo Anozie]

This book deals with many important and relevant subjects; motherhood, race, friendships, found families, sexuality, abuse, grief, regret, interracial marriage, guilt. Stereotypes, however, can influence our attitudes and behavior in ways that we are unconscious of. We see it in all of these three families. Stereotypes can cause deep harm even if nobody actively “intends” that harm. In order to expose stereotypes and to explore how they shape our interactions with others despite our best intentions, we first have to acknowledge their existence. There is also the idea of implicit bias; stereotypes or biases against groups of people that may be in our heads even though we do not want them to be.

What are some of the stereotypes or prejustice that you noticed within those subjects in this book? How do you think author dealt with them?

I think the major stereotype was in the issue of racism. The fact that Maureen's parents didn't even try to get to know Jamal as a person, but instead made their judgements of him based on his skin colour was one. Also, the landlords who refused to rent houses Jamal and Maureen again just because of Jamal's skin colour were major examples of such stereotypes.

[Manas Ranjan Mishra]

In the book, I witnessed the common prejudice and stereotyping based on colour. In some instances, Kalayla has also stereotyped Lena by calling her old woman many times, but Lena never minded it. With time, these elements are neutralizing, yet exists.

[jimmy02]

The most glaring prejudice I noticed was the blatantly racist mindset of Maureen's family. They disowned and caused mental trauma to their own daughter for simply marrying her love, who happened to be of a different race. The author has subtly highlighted how this issue is still prevalent in the 21st century.

[Bridgette C 2]

The stereotypes I noticed was race where black people were being discriminated by the white ones. There was a scene in the book where such race discrimination divides lovers, friends, and family. It's a beautiful book that discusses acceptance of whatever race one originated. I've read this book and it's a very good one.

[Samuel Mamo]

You listed all the stereotypes listed. The stereotyping characters are here in this book that was great of the author set the reality, regarding this.

[Shillah Andeso]

I think by Maureen's parents being racist, they missed the chance of being with their daughter and granddaughter. Kalayla would have brought a lot of joy to their lives. Although she did this in the end.

[fire_spice]

This book deals with many important and relevant subjects; motherhood, race, friendships, found families, sexuality, abuse, grief, regret, interracial marriage, guilt. Stereotypes, however, can influence our attitudes and behavior in ways that we are unconscious of. We see it in all of these three families. Stereotypes can cause deep harm even if nobody actively “intends” that harm. In order to expose stereotypes and to explore how they shape our interactions with others despite our best intentions, we first have to acknowledge their existence. There is also the idea of implicit bias; stereotypes or biases against groups of people that may be in our heads even though we do not want them to be.

What are some of the stereotypes or prejustice that you noticed within those subjects in this book? How do you think author dealt with them?

The stereotype that interracial marriages are not natural and should not be encouraged. The stereotype that African people are not human (the kids who traumatized Clarence treated him like something less than a human being) the stereotype that family is strictly blood related. Lena who shares no blood relation to Kalayla and Maureen becomes family to them.

[Moneybag]

To my mind, portraying stereotypes and social stigmas is a very difficult task and it could get a lot of backlash. People tend to get offended when being calle out on certain patterns of behaviours that stem from prejudice or stigmas. I think that if the author managed to portray stereotypes and somehow expose them it deserves a lot of credit because it is not something easy to do.

A good example that shows how Jeannie reveals prejudice is the moment where Kalayla, an 11-year-old girl, is paid a few dollars to watch over laundry at the Clean Duds Laundromat. She's too young for the job but poor enough to qualify. I'd categorize it as a form of Social class stereotyping.

very excellent observation. I agree with you on this one.

[Glorious Jack]

There are a lot of examples of stereotyping and prejudice in Kalayla. For instance, the opposition against Maureen and jamals marriage. The author did a wonderful job highlighting alot of others.

[julietmumbua23]

I noticed stereotypes against biracial marriage as was the case with Jamal's and Miriam's marriage.

[Emilia Kvatchadze]

racism was a big topic in Kalayla, and I believe that the author portrayed it very stereotypically. I myself have seen and heard a lot about marriage between two races back in the days, was very wrong (ofc, it is not anymore). Here the author portrayed the same problem very well, and in a way that was very stereotypical.

[Donald Trust]

Racism which was the main stereotyping in this book could extend to reality. Those who are guilty of it should desist.