Tragic Mulatto: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Autobiography Of An Ex Colored Man]]'' by James Weldon Johnson ([[Literary Agent Hypothesis|actually a novel]]) tells the story of a man (he remains unnamed) who is 1/4 or 1/8 black and can thus pass for white fairly easily. Raised in the North sometime after the Civil War among upper-class blacks and mostly-benevolent whites, he learns and excels at classical piano. He eventually ends up living in Atlanta and then Harlem, where he acclimates easily enough to both upper- and working-class black life, at first teaching and then performing piano. He picks up [[Ragtime]], combines it with his Classical chops, and gets quite a reputation--evenreputation—even touring turn-of-the-century Europe as a black man as part of the entourage of a businessman. And then he has a [[Eureka Moment]] regarding music, goes to the [[Deep South]] to connect to his black roots...and then sees a lynching. He quickly returns to New York, takes a job at an office, and marries and has children with a white woman, never telling wife or children about his heritage, and feeling awful about it. Hence the title.

** The two most common half-races--Halfraces—Half-Elves and Half-Orcs--respectivelyOrcs—respectively play up the positive and negative aspects of being mixed. In general, Half-Elves are seen as beautiful and socially accepted by both sides (if a little condescended by full elves), while Half-Orcs are considered brutes by humans and weaklings by full orcs...and are often products of [[Child by Rape|war atrocities]].

* In ''[[Miss Saigon]]'', one of many reasons Kim is so determine to reunite with Chris and forge a better life for her son is to prevent her son from becoming this--shethis—she knows he will be shunned as the half-Vietnamese, half-white, illegitimate son of an American GI--indeedGI—indeed, her cousin tries to KILL HIM to avoid the shame that will be brought upon the family because of this.