Victoria Merlino’s “Dancing Around Objectification” is an essay describing how the main character in “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and a party entertainer from Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man” both depict woman in a matter that to some might be taken as not a person whatsoever, but instead an object of lust and desire. Merlino really goes into depth with just how much freedom each woman seems to have, while none seems to be expressed as a woman at all. “The Harlem Dancer” describes its main character as someone everyone can admire, but the entertainer in Ellison’s novel has a bit of an advantage, as she can choose who she may fend off the men who try to touch and admire her. With this comes another argument, which is one of racial contrast. It almost seems like Merlino is Joe trying to argue that in the objectification of women back in the early 20th century, white women were given more freedom to choose than the black women. Albeit plausible, this may not be as practical, since first of all, these are two different novels, and could be completely unrelated when it comes to setting, and timeline. Second of all, both Claude Mckay and Ralph Ellison are black, which limits the amount of perspective that is given for these situations. If Merlino gave an example of a white author who wrote about the objectification of a woman, there would be more evidence to point to race playing a part in objectified women.
And with that, I ask if there are such examples of white authors objectifying women of all races. I’m sure there are, but to what extent, what is the perspective given, how does the narrator react to it ( or what does he think of it), and how much freedom is the woman given to choose?