this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2022
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Literature for Liberation

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I've heard some criticism of To Kill a Mockingbird as promoting a "white savior" narrative. I would be interested in hearing what this community's thoughts are on this widely taught novel.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's a good point. But if you look outside the context of the novel itself, Atticus is written almost an archetypal example of a white savior, of a white person doing unquestionable good for the black community. It's like a way of saying, "here, look, not all white people are racist. Many of us are good!" If you decide to take Go Set a Watchman into account, it only gets more problematic. I'm just playing the devils advocate here, I've really liked To Kill a Mockingbird each time I read it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Oh for sure. Obvi we can't veer off too far into the radlib territory of race-essentialism, so it would be worth reading something about what differentiates white saviorism from just good comrades.