Well, you will probably dislike this reply but I'm saying it anyway:
People didn't discuss the concept of privilege on the internet back when the book was published, so there wouldn't have been any backlash against such a statement at the time. Not as many readers were sensitive to it. I'm not saying that nobody noticed it (I don't know) or that it's a good conversation particularly, but identity politics simply weren't a hotbed of discussion back then. As such, Applegate likely didn't think she was writing anything offensive. More authors are probably sensitive to it now.
That aside, even in today's context I can see some kids (who probably have never studied identity politics) having that kind of conversation whether it comes off awful or not, so it's not entirely unrealistic.
Basically I agree with charreed above. My wife is Indian, and it's never been a huge factor in our relationship.
'Course people didn't discuss privilege on the Internet during this time. The Animorphs were probably paying per-minute rates through AOL (excuse me, Web Access America) at the time. (Heh.) But racial and sexual oppression and whatnot isn't a new topic or anything. Civil rights groups have been discussing these issues using this same framework since way before they even GOT civil rights. I guess now that more people are seeing a world of perspectives outside their own, privilege is getting discussed more. I don't think the question of why Applegate didn't get crap for this is really the thrust of the OP's post. This isn't really about whether people have the knowledge and context to discuss identity
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Yes, don't get me wrong here (it's a pretty bizarre passage in the novel), but as a semi-historicist I'm pretty sure the explanation has a lot to do with the era, that or Applegate just wasn't thinking about what she was writing. It's probably especially upsetting to someone who totally grasps the theme of the series at this point, established in #19.
I'm in the middle of a series re-read, and I forget exactly the context of this conversation in Megamorphs 4, but assuming this is in the alternate timeline, Cassie may be concerned from a pre-relationship standpoint that it's not going to work out with Jake for a number of reasons. I think that's a legitimate concern if it's the case, totally reasonable. Plenty of people make absurd judgments about those they are attracted to. Well, I'm still just getting to Megamorphs 3, so I'll get there eventually.
I think you're probably right that Applegate didn't really think about the possible ways the scene could be taken. A white author writing a black character as someone who's insecure about her race (and brings it up, on her own, out of context, as a possible reason Jake might have a problem with her) is a bit problematic, especially if it's followed by a white person trying to reassure her that this guy literally DOESN'T SEE her race. (That sort of oversimplification has always kind of bothered me. Not judging on race? Awesome. Not "seeing" it? Noooo.)
And as I mentioned, it's realistic for Cassie to worry about this if she doesn't know Jake very well. But I don't think it's realistic for her to bring it up the way she did (especially considering no other books suggested she was in any way worried about her race making her an unacceptable dating partner; never seemed to go through her head!).
But do remember this is early book 1/possibly pre-book 1 Cassie, before she really knew Jake as well as she does later because this IS in the beginning of an alternate time line. I think it would have been more OOC if it was a conversation later in the books.
Yes, I know this was supposed to be before she knew Jake well. I wasn't suggesting she already knew him well--I was saying it's realistic to worry about that if you don't know someone well. My problem with it is that she had no reason to think he had a problem with her over *anything*, and it's odd for someone who never showed insecurity over race in any other book to be shown worrying about it as the first thing she brings up. She didn't worry about whether being black made her unattractive to Jake toward the beginning of the series proper either, and none of her POV books made it seem like this makes her insecure.
Well, I think it was more...she didn't know Jake very well, and she was talking to her best friend, his cousin, about him. It's probably something that was somewhere in her mind, even if she wasn't hugely insecure about it....I don't really see it as weird to ask. I also don't think there is any inference that she would be unattractive to Jake because of being black, I think she just was wondering if it would be a problem between them.
As someone pointed out, she was already shopping and effectively focused on her looks - and just about everything else (I'm pretty sure this was the same conversation in which she admits she doesn't know if it's dirt or manure under her nails). She likes a guy, and she doesn't know him - she's going to default on "oh shit oh shit oh shit" because she'd already have a common perception about what guys do/don't like. When Rachael said Jake doesn't see her race, I never took it as her meaning Cassie's race is a flaw that Jake will ignore - I always just took as one piece of her whole argument about how Jake basically doesn't like Cassie for her appearance but for her - Jake doesn't care about her race, what's under her nails, her clothes, none of it. He cares about Cassie.
People didn't discuss the concept of privilege on the internet back when the book was published, so there wouldn't have been any backlash against such a statement at the time. Not as many readers were sensitive to it. I'm not saying that nobody noticed it (I don't know) or that it's a good conversation particularly, but identity politics simply weren't a hotbed of discussion back then. As such, Applegate likely didn't think she was writing anything offensive. More authors are probably sensitive to it now.
That aside, even in today's context I can see some kids (who probably have never studied identity politics) having that kind of conversation whether it comes off awful or not, so it's not entirely unrealistic.
Basically I agree with charreed above. My wife is Indian, and it's never been a huge factor in our relationship.
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I'm in the middle of a series re-read, and I forget exactly the context of this conversation in Megamorphs 4, but assuming this is in the alternate timeline, Cassie may be concerned from a pre-relationship standpoint that it's not going to work out with Jake for a number of reasons. I think that's a legitimate concern if it's the case, totally reasonable. Plenty of people make absurd judgments about those they are attracted to. Well, I'm still just getting to Megamorphs 3, so I'll get there eventually.
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And as I mentioned, it's realistic for Cassie to worry about this if she doesn't know Jake very well. But I don't think it's realistic for her to bring it up the way she did (especially considering no other books suggested she was in any way worried about her race making her an unacceptable dating partner; never seemed to go through her head!).
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