Stereotypes In The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

The objectification and tokenism of South Asian characters in Western media perpetuates harmful stereotypes and marginalizes their representation. It gets in the way of authentic and unique interpretations, which further others South Asian characters from the white characters in media. Majority of the South Asian characters in Western media are rooted in ignorance or Western perception of South Asian culture. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is no exception, with the characters Ray and Ruana Singh both reinforcing common stereotypes for brown characters in Western media that are rooted in ignorance.

Over the years, the portrayal of Ray Singh has been criticized for the marginalization and exoticization of his character. Ray is depicted as

Susie describes him before he even appears in the book, saying “He had an accent and was dark. I wasn’t supposed to like him. Clarissa called his large eyes, with their half-closed lids, ‘fread-a-delic’” (Sebold 13). This portrayal exoticizes Ray and already sets him up as a character that’s presented as different from the other characters. It pinpoints aspects of his appearance and depicts them as inherently negative. Furthermore, Ray is made to stand in direct contrast to the white characters in the book. An example of this is when the police find Ray’s love note to Susie and he becomes the first suspect for her murder. Susie says that “They were fueled by the guilt they read into Ray’s dark, by the rage they felt at his manner” (26). One of the reasons that Ray is the first suspect is because he is a dark skinned Indian boy in a predominantly white town. His existence in the town was unusual and he is punished for that. This further reinforces the idea that South Asian characters are foreign and different from the mainstream culture. To add on further, Ray’s character reinforces the South Asian nerd stereotype that depicts South Asian youth as nerdy and