The figure of the "tragic octoroon" was a stock character of abolitionist literature: a mixed-race woman raised as if a white woman in her white father's household, until his bankruptcy or death has her reduced to a menial position She may even be unaware of her status before being reduced to victimization. The first character of this type was the heroine of Lydia Maria Child's "The Quadroons" (1842), a short story. This character allowed abolitionists to draw attention to the sexual exploitation in slavery and, unlike portrayals of the suffering of the field hands, did not allow slaveholders to retort that the sufferings of Northern mill hands were no easier. The Northern mill owner would not sell his own children into slavery. COUNT 5
QSN1 What stock character lived with her white father until he left the picture? ANS1 "tragic octoroon" QSN2 Who was the first to use the tragic octoroon? ANS2 Lydia Maria Child QSN3 What story was written by Child in 1842? ANS3 "The Quadroons" QSN4 What does the tragic octoroon point out? ANS4 sexual exploitation in slavery QSN5 Who used the figure of the tragic octoroon? ANS5 abolitionists