Everyday Canvas

Fiction: Characterization as to Racial Identification

Prompt: When writing fiction, is showing the race of a character important especially when it has no bearing on the plot? Why or why not?

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I find the showing the race of a person to be unnecessary unless the author is writing about a racial issue or a historical fact such as the Selma March. After all, saying that character A is purple, character B is blue, character C is green will take away from who these characters really are as to their core values, personalities, and the way they relate to the others and the settings in the story.

On the other hand, I am not putting down those writers who employ such character portrayals as they may have been looking to create more diverse representation; however, when the character’s race is mentioned only when he or she is non-white, this practice may be taken as a referral to the fact that white race is the norm. This is especially damaging to the self-images of the children of any race.

In addition, the readers are cheated out of their own imaginings of what the characters are like. For this very reason, a good number of noted writers do not show the facial and bodily make-up of their characters, unless a certain asset or defect has a direct connection to the plot.

With the specific situation of race relations in the USA, I believe, it is better not to perpetuate unconscious biases by singling out racial elements unnecessarily, and instead, to let the readers imagine the looks of the characters they are reading about, unless identifying the race of a character is important to the plot or the theme.