Quote:
Originally Posted by Ea
I think she aimed at writing a 'light', entertaining, and sale-able book. Not too serious, but I'm not sure whether she would be so much less prejudiced in the book than in real life. At the time it was published, would people have noticed? And maybe I'm going to sound cluless, but how prejudiced is she actually? Compared to the current level then? Compared to today? I find it difficult to gauge.
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I also thought it was a book written for the general population, but still toned down.
According to my grandmother and mother, prejudice wasn't so "politically incorrect" back then. They just didn't like "them" people or thought "poorly" of "them" people. It wasn't until I was in my preteens and teens that it became embarrassing to be with my grandmother around others. When we tried to explain why she couldn't refer to people that way, she just thought it was a "load of ****". She never could understand why all of a sudden it was wrong.
I don't feel that Betty was any more or less prejudiced than people today. I just think that we have been made more aware of the fact that it is (possible lawsuits) and have learned to be careful of what we say and how we say it. I think what people of today see as prejudice in the book was (like you mentioned) probably not even noticed then. (Today, I cringe when I think about some of the terms my grandmother used to describe people.)
Both books made me very aware of how lucky I am to be living in this era with all the conveniences we have to make everyday living so easy.
