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Race & Ethnicity

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Dollmaker Context

Ethnicity and race, the lines between the two often being blurred, have a large impact upon the characters in The Dollmaker. Characters in the novel often judge individuals based on ethnic and racial stereotypes. Prejudice, founded on such stereotypes, becomes more evident once the Nevels’s move to Detroit, an area where different ethnic and racial groups come in close contact with one another. A variety of people migrate to Detroit due to an increase in the availability of jobs related to the war effort creating a location where cultures meet. People migrating to the city from Appalachia are, arguably, seen as having a distinct ethnic identity separate from other white peoples. Appalachian, as well as foreign, immigrants and African-Americans face a variety of prevailing stereotypes pigeonholing them into socially prescribed codes of behavior.

Diversity in Kentucky

Prior to Gertie’s move to Detroit, she does not encounter ethnic and racial diversity, the result of her isolation in the ‘holler.’ In fact, it is during her trip to Detroit that she has her first encounter with a black person. “She’d heard Clovis say there were Negroes in Town, but she had so seldom been there she had never seen one” (Arnow 145). Clovis has had some contact with blacks, probably because he is a male whose occupation is driving a coal truck allowing him greater access into town, yet his experiences with diversity are extremely limited and only expand once he moves to Detroit.

The Feared Foreigner

In her efforts to force Gertie to follow Clovis to Detroit, Gertie’s mother expresses her concern about Clovis having to mix with “all kinds of foreigners and sich” (Arnow 135). Clovis expresses disdain for “these foreingers,” who hate everybody different from themselves (Arnow 345). People in Detroit place a great importance on speaking English and often criticize those who do not, describing them as “funny talken” (Arnow, 540). Mrs. Anderson, referring to Joe the Vegetable Man’s Italian apprentice, finds “it odd how he could come over here with the war on” particularity because he lacks English skills. Joe, recognizing the importance placed on language, reprimands his apprentice for not speaking in English (Arnow 213).

Max berates her husband Victor for his Polish culture and religion eventually leaving him for fear of living his culture's lifestyle for the rest of her life. Mrs. Saito, the Japanese woman living in the alley, clearly has a more distant relationship with other alley women then the rest have amongst themselves. Even after the nuclear bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, and the women make a bouquet of Gertie’s flower as a gift of condolence, Mrs. Daly remarks that it “ain’t like them Japs was good white Christians” and they “ is pretty near as bad as them communist Russians” (Arnow 496). Mrs. Daly holding a negative opinion of Japanese people, including her neighbor despite all the help she has received from Mrs. Saito, emphasizes the pervasiveness of ‘othering.’

Catholicism as an Ethnicity

Within the Catholic identity exists a variety of national origins creating tensions among Catholics themselves. These tensions are observed by the interactions between Eastern and Western European immigrants specifically Victor and the Daly’s. Mrs. Daly does not look favorably upon the Polish Catholic traditions, but shows a closer solidarity to Catholics, no matter their national origin, by being relatively silent on the issue. In contrast, Catholics, represented by the Daly’s and the influential Father Moneyhan, are highly intolerant of non-Catholics, foreigners, and blacks. The Daly children chide the public school students in the ally because their schools are full of “niggers and Jews and hillbillies” (Arnow 187). Catholic characters often accuse their victims of prejudice as being communists, almost as if it is the default insult.

The intolerance of Catholics such as the Daly’s earn all Catholics, which can be seen in the novel as a distinct ethnic identity, a reputation of being racist. Mrs. Miller states that Catholics blame Southerners for hating blacks yet “they’re more nigger hatters an Klan lovers up here than ever I did know about back home” (Arnow 541). Furthermore, fear of foreigners, specifically Catholics, is rooted in fear that they come “over here to run th country” and the fact that “them Catholic foreigners owns them factories an runs them unions, an they’re all in cahoots together” (Arnow 540). The nationality differences between Catholics are overlooked in the concern over a larger Catholic group identity.

A Hillbilly Identity

Once in Detroit, the ambiguousness of the term ‘foreigner’ is revealed. A wide array of immigrants live in Merry Hill including: Polish, Italian, Irish, Japanese and Latin American. Appalachian migrants are also often seen as ‘foreign’ as they have different cultural and religious practices in addition to a distinguishable dialect; thus fulfilling the qualifications for a distinct ethnic identity. Even Gertie refers to Detroit as “this country” that is “so diff’ernt frum mine” and asks advice on adjusting from Joe the Vegetable Man figuring “it must ha been worse fer” him (Arnow 215). Perceptions on the ‘foreignness’ of mountain peoples often depends on the length of time the judging individual has resided in Detroit.

Mr. Daly accuses Appalachians of ruining Detroit asserting, “Detroit was a good town till da hillbillies come. An den Detroit went tu hell” (Arnow 310). People in Detroit are often condescending to Appalachians, stereotyping them as: having no shoes, no food, no law, and being ‘nigger-loven,’ heathen and ignorant. These prejudices affect how people from outside the region treat those from Appalachia. Again stressing the importance on language and dialect, Appalachians are teased for their manner of speaking as evidenced when Mr. Daly tells Gertie “in Detroit youse gotta learn to speak English, yu big nigger-loven communist hillbilly” (Arnow 312).

Mrs. Whittle’s condescending attitude and remarks towards Gertie reveal further evidence of a distinct ethnic Appalachian identity. She refers to Reuben and Gertie’s “psychology and story” of the time when Reuben kills a bear as “interesting and revelaing” seeing “no point in carrying [their] discussion farther” (Arnow 333). Mrs. Whittle, Reuben’s teacher, dismisses Gertie’s concerns as a mother whose child is unhappy and not receiving a sufficient amount of attention, explaining: you hill – southerners who come here, don’t you realize before you come that it will be a great change. You bring them up here in time of war to an overcrowded part of the city and it makes for an overcrowded school (Arnow 333). Mrs. Whittle, a teacher, holds the role of an individual that is expected to be both more educated and tolerant than others, yet she shows the same sort of disdain for “hillbillies,” almost letting slip the derogatory term herself. Her only advice to Gertie is that she and her children adjust to their new surroundings by affecting change in themselves (Arnow 333).

Keepin’ the Negroes Out

Segregation is still in effect during the time frame of this novel. In Cincinnati, Gertie sees the separate spaces for blacks that serve as a way to keep them from intermingling with whites (Arnow 145). When she first arrives at Merry Hill, Maggie Daly informs Gertie of her luck because its “the only places in Detroit where they keep u niggers out, really keep um out – sagainsa law.” Maggie reveals further racism, both her own and her family’s, by continuing her explanation that “the niggers got into u last neighborhood where we lived” (Arnow 175). Gertie is one of the few characters in the novel who shows an honest respect for individuals no matter their skin color. During her first encounter with a black person she reveals her own stereotypes by stating, “this woman did not look like the way [I] thought a Negro would – pure black with great thick lips and a mashed-down nose.” Despite this stereotypical image Gertie reveals her tolerance, and her ability to see beauty in the unknown unlike the fear everyone else exhibits, by observing that the woman’s “skin was brown and full of gleams that made Gertie think of the cherry wood,” a wood she finds beautiful (Arnow 145). Gertie recognizes the similarities between people instead of the differences as illustrated when she notices the dirt on a black woman’s shoe and relates it to her own experience farming (Arnow 144). Gertie’s tolerant attitude is unique to characters both in Appalachia and Detroit. Her open-mindedness contrasts to the intolerance of her mother and can in a large part be explained by her “living faith.”

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Course Connections

Cold Mountain

Inman gives us an example of a an Appalachian who does not discriminate along ethnic or racial lines. He seeks out the help of a black blind man; the fact that he is black can be deducted from the description of his hair, “coarse-textured as the bristles to a hemp brush” (Frazier 8). Instead of seeing their differences, Inman, a Confederate solider, sees their similar situation of being injured and seeks the mans advice. He is able to look past race to find a commonality and seek assistance from a man who was considered inferior by his contemporaries. Another example of Inman’s humble tolerance is when he encounters the “yellow man.” This man, a slave, aids Inman by supplying him with shelter, food and directions (Frazier 232-3). Inman expresses only respect and appreciation for the aid of these two black men. Another example of tolerance, as well as legalized racisim, is exhibited in the yellow man’s life. Att this time it was illegal for blacks to become educated but his master is a “crazy man … that law don’t mean a thing to” because he educates his slaves (Frazier 233).

River of Earth

In River of Earth, the notion is presented that a foreigner is someone who is not from your own part of Appalachia. The narrator and Euly see a man who they believe might be “a furriner” because he does not “got our look-like.” Their narrow concept of ‘foreign’ is evidenced in Euly’s statement, “I bet he was born afar yonder in West Virginia,” showing that section of Appalachia to be a place distinctly different from their own (Still 187). Even within the Appalachian region itself there are distinct identities and someone from outside your own holler can have noticeably different physical features and be considered a foreigner.

Storming Heaven

Joe Kracj and Rosa Angelelli, a Catholic Italian, are both European immigrants living in Appalachia. We do not see either facing severe discrimination because they are foreign although they are regarded as being different. Rondal’s father does not let his foreign born partner, Joe Kracj, yell out the warnings when they are blasting in the mines because “hit just dont sound right when ole Joe does it” due to his accent (Giardina 23). Like the war industries in Detroit attract workers along all ethnic and racial boundaries so do the coal mines in Storming Heaven. It is the prevalence of such labor-demanding industries that explains the presence of diversity in these two books in comparison with other course texts.

A more prevailing example of diversity in the novel deals with African Americans. Doc Booker is a black, socialist, educated, doctor living in Appalachia. He has a close friendship with CJ Marcum, a white man, with whom he starts a socialist group and newspaper. Doc Booker does receive a high amount of respect from society but this is only in comparison to other blacks. Doc is considered an exception, even Rondal comments on how people treat him like a “dressed-up nigger.” CJ Marcum’s close friendship with Doc is an example of a racially tolerant individual living in Appalachia, after Rondal’s comment CJ reprimands him for using such language, even if he is using other’s terms to make a point (Giardina 71). The Socialist group that CJ and Doc form does not use ethnic and racial discriminatory practices in forming its membership illustrating that racially diverse reference groups do exist in Appalachia (Giardina 125).

The character of Johnson, the United Mineworkers representative that was sent to organize a union in Annadel, presents a variety of issues related to race. He tells the interested miners that the “union is for white and Negro alike. Union is for foreign, Union is for Catholic. Anybody want to be a free man and fight for it, union is for him” (Giardina 80). This tolerant image of the union contradicts with information he later gives Rondal of the union's perception that Annadel is “too dangerous, so let’s send a colored man” (Giardina 81). When the gun thugs find out about Rondal and Johnson’s efforts to form a union they force Rondal into exile and kill Johnson, who’d they rather kill because he is a “a nigger. It’s more fun,” (Giardina 82).

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Outside Connections

According to the US Census Bureau the percentage of foreign born persons in Detroit in 1940 was 19.9 percent. In Louisville, Ky, probably the closet major Urban center to the Nevels’s home in Kentucky, only 2 percent of its population was foreign born in 1940 (Gibson). Despite the huge gap between the percentage of foreign born population in Detroit and Louisville, Heather Bean contends that Appalachians have a history of racial cooperation in comparison to the urban areas the migrated to. Instead of division over race, conflicts arose over class and outside, non-Appalachian, influences (Bean 65). Bean’s findings offer a different Appalachian experience than that of Gertie or Alpha in River of Earth. Neither Gerite or Alpha have exposure to diversity while living in their Kentuckian hometowns. It is interesting to note the variety of experiences with diversity within the Appalachian region. Previous exposure to diversity in Appalachia would certainly affect a person’s approach to diversity in the urban area.

Fear of foreigners was widespread throughout the United States during World War II, certainly not unique to Detroit or Appalachia. In times of war such fear often permeates into society and during World War II, particularly after Japanese entrance into the war and especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this fright was directed towards Japanese living in the US. While fear of foreigners increased over time, it was not until 1942 that this intolerance culminated in the internment of Japanese-Americans. The establishment of these “concentration camps” illustrates the fanatically intolerant attitude in the United States during the time The Dollmaker takes place.

Fear of racial integration was also prevalent during this time. Paralleling concerns of characters in The Dollmaker over integration of the housing communities echoes contemporary concerns. In February 1942 the federal government decided to allow blacks to live in the, exclusively white, Sojourner Truth Homes in Detroit, Michigan. Violence erupted as the result of this decision and it was after two months, with the police and state militia standing guard, that the first black family was finally able to move in. President Roosevelt, commenting on race relations during World War II, stated it was "more as a problem of efficient industrial mobilization than as a fundamental moral problem" (Crawford).

1. Merriam-Webster defines “ethnic” as “sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.” “Ethinic.” Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. Deluxe Edition, 1996.

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-Sarah Mahin

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