About Tragic Mulatto

The tragic mulatto is one of stereotypical terms used to describe someone with mixed racial Identity (halfback and half white). It has been shown In American literature during the 19th and 20th centuries, from the 1 8405. Often In many literary works, these light skinned Individuals who are characterized as “tragic mulatto” are assumed to be remorseful and distressed. Due t o their such complexity, they fail to fit in the “white world” or the “black world”. As such. He “tragic c mulatto” is depicted as the victim of the society in society divided by race, where there is no place e for one who is neither completely “black” nor “white”. The word “mulatto” is originated from the Portuguese and Spanish word mulatto, deer Veda from the word, mull (from Old Spanish, from Latin mјlulls meaning mule, a hybrid o offspring off horse and a donkey. Many Europeans suspected the offspring between a White Euro paean and a Black African would live very long. Thus the main reasoning behind the derivation oft his term is that al such offspring would be born sterile and incapable of reproducing themselves.

In literature, mulattoes were often unaware of their black heritage. Upon discovering their African ancestry, tragedy comes because such characters find themselves barred fro m white society and, thus, the privileges available to whites. Distraught at their fate as people of color, tragic mulattoes In literature often turned to seclude. In other Instances, they pass for white, abandon cut off part of their black heritage. In Dalton, such characters were frequently portrayed as salacious or troubled because of their mixed blood.