In America media of communication are pervasive in all their forms - literature, visual arts, and musical arts. The former of the three contribute to categories of identity created in our world. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an excellent example of a work that created a category of identity: the gentle kind pious Christian abolitionist. Her work was a reflection of slavery and its oppressive tendencies, but the chilling manner in which she presented the institution was key to creating that separate identity. Stowe also contributed to an understanding of identity and classification within slave culture itself. Through the use of the terms “mammy” and “Uncle Tommer” she established the idea of various roles that were fulfilled in the slave community. In fact both terms are still used quite often today, as insults, but as terms that possess their own categorical identity.
Literature is able to create these categories of identity through its use of archetypal characters and a lack of knowledge to make impressions upon a large population as well. In Cecily von Ziegesar’s young adult series, Gossip Girl conceptions of elite Upper East Side youth are created. Beyond brash generalizations about the Manhattan youths’ opulent lifestyle, the books also pose the teenagers as cruel, sadistic, and vindictive bullies. The original novel has spun off into another novel series, a highly rated television show, and a series of graphic novels. Why is it so successful? Because it features all the literary archetypes wanting in a plot-driven story: a kind and innocent protagonist, a cruel antagonist, and a well-intentioned love interest. When these archetypes are featured in literature, whether the submissive Uncle Tom or the sadistic Blair Waldorf often readers will allow themselves to accept the categories of identity that are portrayed and created by literature because of their lack of interaction and experience with something.
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