Inheriting the vices of both the black and white race, traditionally tragic mulatto characters have been comfortably depicted in much abolitionist literature as individuals in complex and intractable conflict; miserable and raceless “adoring the whites and despised by them… despising and despised by the negroes”. Mulatta's characters, Cassie and Iola, fundamentally challenge stereotypical notions of self-hatred and denial. For if both characters display to a certain extent an ability to be analyzed through the tragic literary prism of Mulatta, both, to a higher degree, dramatize the eradication of the rampart that is self-hatred and denial which results, paving the way for self-actualization and subsequent liberation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay The stereotypical Mulatta, who wants nothing more than to find a white lover and then go dark, accompanied by slow and anguished music, towards a tragic end, is challenged, in the literal sense, by Iola Leroy. Raised white, Iola cultivated a pro-slavery attitude. A story that is quickly turned on its head by the brutal and sudden way in which the truth about his legacy is exposed. Immediately after being thrown into slavery, the complicated relationship between notions of biology and culture surfaces, Iola comes to not only accept and embrace her black heritage, but, more importantly (or rather more provocatively), manifests this kissing when getting married, not with white. Dr. Gresham, but rather the mulatto Latimer. In one instance where the “tragic” nature of the traditionally tragic Mulatta should have surfaced, we find the character of Iola Leroy anything but homogenized. For, although later in the novel she is hesitant to reveal her black identity to her employers, not only does she reveal it later, but she truly identifies as black and does not want to live in the shadow of concealment , “which I completely hate as if the blood in my veins were an undetected crime of my soul. This illustrates the very things that help directly refute feelings of hatred and self-loathing. For while the traditionally portrayed literary Mulatta would have illustrated to her audience the many quite contrary elements of things like fear, rejection, elitism, blame and shame that swarm deep within her, Iola does not doesn't do it. His conviction is palpable; she publicly identified as black and dedicated her life to empowering the black community through education and subsequent political activism. Iola's role as teacher completes the illustration of the challenge of traditional depictions of tragic mulattoes. It is this role that proves to be an integral part of black resistance as well as an integral complement reifying Iola's black identity. Education encouraged a better class of blacks and challenged racial stereotypes. And yet, a problem emerged. Because, "if the insistence of a 'better class of blacks' called into question racial stereotypes, it also helped to promote them by characterizing the masses as degenerates whose salvation depended on the most privileged", i.e. -saying a person from a particularly privileged background like Iola. The mulatto teacher characters illustrate the cultural conflict between middle-class black leaders and the black masses. Mulattoes dramatized, because of their resemblance to whites, the possibility of abandoning black social causes and “passing” for white. Iola doesn't do that. Iola does not “pass” for white. Iola, 2004.