Gypsy Stereotypes in Mortman's The Wild Rose and Martin Cruz's Canto for a Gypsy

Abstract

Stereotypes are generalizations, universal formulations and opinions about certain groups of people, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc. They are usually pejorative, since people tend to ignore differences between individuals. Stereotyping produces preconceptions, generalizations and prejudice. So we are not born with it, but it is an acquired human trait. It is a universal phenomenon, so it exists everywhere in the world. In Hungary, Gypsies constitute a contrasted ethnic group. There are other ethnic groups as well, but they are usually overshadowed by the Gypsies. Doris Mortman’s The Wild Rose provides some prevalent Gypsy stereotypes in Hungary, and they are highlighted throughout the novel. Gypsy characters in the text reflect dominant stereotypes about them in Hungary, a combination of the usual and traditional images. To analyze various representations of Gypsies in American literature, I am comparing Gypsy stereotypes in Doris Mortman’s The Wild Rose and Martin Cruz’s Canto for a Gypsy.