Eric C 1965 answers “Was it just me or was this book racist?”

A Goodreads user asked this question about The Pilgrim's Regress:

Was it just me or was this book racist?

Eric C 1965 I am reading it now, and I will admit, I thought the same thing when I read about the brown girl. It is definitely hard to imagine what he should have…moreI am reading it now, and I will admit, I thought the same thing when I read about the brown girl. It is definitely hard to imagine what he should have used instead that would have been better. I think this is an example of a term being used "out of it's time". That is, like Twain's use of the "N-word" in Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, in today's society, that word is racist and our society enjoys the prideful position of judging our ancestors as racists because it makes us feel better about ourselves. From a CS Lewis website I found this:
"The term “brown girls” may sound racist to our modern ears. However, as Lewis explains in “Early Prose Joy,” the idea for the brown girls came from William Morris’s book The Well at the World’s End, which featured the romantic allure of suntanned country maidens."

Perhaps when we view it more as stumbling onto a nude beach where a women is sunbathing, thus turning tan, it will seem more palatable.(less)

flag