A Biopolitical Analysis of Frances Harper's
Iola Leroy
What is this analysis?
Most study guides on the Internet will tell you that Frances Harper’s Iola Leroy is a novel set at the time of the American Civil War and post-war Reconstruction that tells the story of Iola, a young “mulatta, [who] struggles to understand and define her racial identity” in a society where black is unequal to white (SparkNotes Editors).
While these details are true to Harper’s work, it by no means defines the overlaying message or significance of the work as a whole. Rather than simply identify moments concerning ‘race’ in this study guide, I instead argue that it is necessary to breakdown the concept of biopower in relation to Iola Leroy; as a way to understand how the novel’s primary themes of race, religion and education foster Harper’s message for racial uplift.
Why do you need it?
You can use the online SparkNotes guide for Iola Leroy as a means to analyze race and racism in this novel, but --only up to a certain point.-- For instance, SparkNotes rightly acknowledges that, “during the nineteenth century, when Iola Leroy takes place, physical appearance signified intelligence, morality, and power, and these characters’ choices of whether to live as white or black have serious consequences” (SparkNotes Editors). However, SparkNotes, fails to characterize these “consequences” of race as anything beyond “hardships”;
and moreover, fails to analyze why, other than apparent racism, these characters face “hardships” when identifying as black instead of white. Many of the conscious decisions that Harper makes throughout this novel, such as depicting many of her character’s as mixed race so as to present them with the choice of how to identify to society, in addition to each character’s relationship with education or literacy, is glossed over in the SparkNotes analysis—presenting a surface level reading of Harper’s novel.
Haven't read?
This guide won't walk you through the story, just help you to get the most out of Harper's excellent work.
