The Tartt Problem

When everyone said The Goldfinch reads like a classic, I didn't think it would be because of all the racism

To make it abundantly clear: I am not saying that Donna Tartt is racist. If your favourite novel is The Goldfinch, I am not saying that you are racist. I really, really don't think that. All I'm suggesting is that heavily stereotyped caricatures that exist without substantial reason should be questioned. That's it.

If you've spent even a modicum of time in any online book communities within the past couple of years, you have heard of Donna Tartt. Literary icon, elegant as she is, mysteriously emerges from the ether every 10 years to publish a masterpiece of a novel, and then disappears. The list of accolades following her name is hefty. Beyond that, she's achieved what so few writers have—perhaps a greater feat than any award—social media fame. Seriously, BookTok will not shut up about The Secret History.

When Donna Tartt really resurged in popularity a few years ago, I was unbelievably excited to get my hands on one of her novels. I went out of my way to purchase a physical copy of The Goldfinch despite usually sticking to library books. That's how sure I was that I'd love it. And, for the first few chapters, I did. The whirlwind of beautiful descriptions were written so masterfully, so effortlessly. I was hooked. And then, I got to this scene, in chapter three, when the main character and his mother get in a taxi:

It smelled like someone had been changing dirty diapers back there or maybe even taken an actual shit, and then tried to cover it up with a bunch of coconut air freshener that smelled like suntan lotion. The seats were greasy, and patched with duct tape, and the shocks were nearly gone. Whenever we struck a bump, my teeth rattled, and so did the religious claptrap dangling from the rear view mirror: medallions, a curved sword in miniature dancing on a plastic chain, and a turbaned, bearded guru who gazed into the back seat with piercing eyes, palm raised in benediction.

— The Goldfinch

This offhanded description snapped me out of the novel immediately. More than anything, I was confused. Immediately, I Googled, “Sikh cab driver the goldfinch,” convinced that I was missing something, that there was some reason for the presence of this comedically racist caricature. Maybe he comes back later? Has some justifiable arc in the story as a side character? I mean, everyone online loves this book. Surely people aren't just skimming over this, right?

My frantic Googling confirmed that people were, in fact, just skimming over this. Skimming over quite a few parts of the novel, actually. Frequent mentions of Asian culture, but only in relation things like meat from Chinatown that had gone bad, a Korean social worker with breath that smelled like garlic, and a dead, Asian man described as looking small and "pathetic in his tan windbreaker". Incredibly one-dimensional portrayals of working class POC as doormen and housekeepers. The abundant use of slurs. Hell, even Boris' character is steeped in stereotypes.

Certainly I didn’t miss him much, and my mother didn’t seem to miss him either, though it was sad when she had to let our housekeeper, Cinzia, go because we couldn’t afford to pay her (Cinzia had cried, and offered to stay and work for free; but my mother had found her a part time job in the building, working for a couple with a baby; once a week or so, she stopped in to visit my mother for a cup of coffee, still in the smock she wore over her clothes when she cleaned.)

— The Goldfinch

It stunned me that, amidst all the praise online, nobody had mentioned any of this. I re-read that paragraph describing the cab driver about 20 times. I mean, “religious claptrap”? I had to verify that the meaning of the word hadn’t changed, that it was, in fact, still defined as “pretentious nonsense, trash”. It’s almost like Tartt was trying to fit as many South Asian stereotypes as possible into one character. She may as well have thrown in that he works part-time at a gas station.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I'm not sure if a piece of media has ever made you feel like you don't belong, but I can only liken it to a strange sense of betrayal. A sinking realization of: Oh. I was not the intended audience for this. A bit dramatic? Yes, obviously. But I was 18. I was excited. Give me a break.

When concerns about Tartt's writing do get brought up, they're often shut down by the argument that "a character's beliefs does not represent an author's". With this, I couldn't agree more. I do not, in any way, think that racism in literature is a determining factor of whether or not an author is actually racist. Nor does every novel need to have entirely non-confrontational themes. I mean, Tartt’s main characters are two, white 13 year-olds in New York City, so having them hold immaturely stereotypical views is, arguably, kind of realistic.

Up close he smelled unwashed and raunchy, with a strong, dusty import-shop odor like the inside of a Chinese box.

— The Goldfinch

However—and this is big—I don’t think that Tartt’s use of these stereotypes always, or even regularly, do anything to serve the characterization of Boris and Theo. To justify all of the novel’s caricatures, seemingly random and pointless as they often are, simply as poorly conveyed character building would be disingenuous and, honestly, a discredit to Tartt’s skill as a writer. And please don’t try to tell me that The Goldfinch is a product of its time. It was published in 2013. We’re talking about a post-One Direction world here.

In my opinion, a novel that holds so many questionable points, while being revered as it is, needs to at least be talked about. No matter how much one might love an author’s writing, it would be a disservice to them and their readers not to approach their work without bias. It’s perfectly fair, if not crucial, to question whether the setting that Donna Tartt created, filled with these ethnic stereotypes, is actually important to the development of her plot or characters.

Let's take that paragraph about the cab driver as an example. The description of the car’s greasy plexiglass, its Bollywood music, and its smell of shit were all entirely physical, laying these stereotypes out as a simple fact and leaving little room for them to be interpreted as Theo’s own, distorted thought process. How did that, in any substantial way, serve the story? Remember, these are made-up traits for made-up people that were consciously chosen and written by the author.

“Tell me,” said my mother—fingertips at her temple—“was it just me, or was that cab unbelievably—”

“Nasty? Hawaiian Tropic and baby poo?”

— The Goldfinch

To those of you who love Tartt’s writing, please know that this is not an attack on your beliefs or morals. I think the reason those stereotypes are rarely mentioned is because they’re so covert, so casual, that they might be easy to skip over if you’re not aware of them. However, I implore you to consider this with an open mind. You’re perfectly within your right to completely disagree and, if you do, I’d love to hear your thoughts on why. Ultimately, my opinion is that Tartt’s representation of POC is unsettling at best and directly harmful at worst. It begs the question, at what point do we stop ignoring racial caricatures for the sake of academic aesthetics and gorgeous prose?

Thanks for reading Trina Keeps Trying! You can find my past essays here, and you can read my poetry here. Subscribe for free to receive written works, made with love, straight to your mailbox every Tuesday.