'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.
The major problem I see with it is that it's a black girl fretting without apparent provocation over whether her race will make her unacceptable to the guy she likes, and the way her pretty, white, blonde friend reacts to it sounds very much like they both know being black is a point against her. Like she needs to be reassured and convinced that Jake will forgive her for this transgression. (Meanwhile you don't see color-blind Jake worrying whether Cassie will overlook his whiteness.)
I don't think race should be ignored in fiction even when it isn't relevant, because it's part of the people in the story, but if you really want Jake to look like the kind of guy who pretty much doesn't even register that Cassie is a "different" race, you write him . . . pretty much the way K.A. Applegate usually does. I don't remember Jake worrying about it or noticing it; that gives realism to the statement that he doesn't seem to notice anything about her physically except that she's attractive to him. It just felt off to see Cassie worrying that her blackness might upset somebody, and to see Rachel pat her on the head and tell her it's okay to be black.
If there'd been any weirdness with their parents objecting or getting crap for it at school or either one of them having mixed feelings about dating someone of another race, I can see her concern seeming much more legitimate.
As a person who married an Indian (and though you didn't say so, I'm assuming you are white because you suggested this is an analogous situation?), I doubt you felt like you had to excuse your wife or "look past/not see" her Indian-ness. I think that's the only real problem with the way this was written--the way both parties seemed to feel that Cassie was seeking reassurance over a deep flaw (both something she perceived in herself and something Rachel acknowledged). It's not unrealistic for her to be worried about how her race figures into Jake's acceptance of her. But I think it IS unrealistic and out of character for Cassie and Rachel to frame this discussion the way they did.
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.
The major problem I see with it is that it's a black girl fretting without apparent provocation over whether her race will make her unacceptable to the guy she likes, and the way her pretty, white, blonde friend reacts to it sounds very much like they both know being black is a point against her. Like she needs to be reassured and convinced that Jake will forgive her for this transgression. (Meanwhile you don't see color-blind Jake worrying whether Cassie will overlook his whiteness.)
I don't think race should be ignored in fiction even when it isn't relevant, because it's part of the people in the story, but if you really want Jake to look like the kind of guy who pretty much doesn't even register that Cassie is a "different" race, you write him . . . pretty much the way K.A. Applegate usually does. I don't remember Jake worrying about it or noticing it; that gives realism to the statement that he doesn't seem to notice anything about her physically except that she's attractive to him. It just felt off to see Cassie worrying that her blackness might upset somebody, and to see Rachel pat her on the head and tell her it's okay to be black.
If there'd been any weirdness with their parents objecting or getting crap for it at school or either one of them having mixed feelings about dating someone of another race, I can see her concern seeming much more legitimate.
As a person who married an Indian (and though you didn't say so, I'm assuming you are white because you suggested this is an analogous situation?), I doubt you felt like you had to excuse your wife or "look past/not see" her Indian-ness. I think that's the only real problem with the way this was written--the way both parties seemed to feel that Cassie was seeking reassurance over a deep flaw (both something she perceived in herself and something Rachel acknowledged). It's not unrealistic for her to be worried about how her race figures into Jake's acceptance of her. But I think it IS unrealistic and out of character for Cassie and Rachel to frame this discussion the way they did.
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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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