Essay About Gender Stereotypes in Nimona by Noelle

Unfair discrimination has the ability to change the lives of people entirely; most of the time, it has a negative outcome. Such is the case with the graphic novel, Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson, which follows a villain’s sidekick, named Nimona, and the villain, Blackheart. Throughout the story, the two villains face many hardships, with Nimona facing the problem of discrimination and Blackheart facing off against his best friend who betrayed him. The short story “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker, tells the story of a young girl, named Rosaura, as she experiences the world of the wealthy as the daughter of a maid. Since she is still young, her naivety has caused her to not know that she experienced racism many times as she is a lower class and different race than those who live lavishly. Through the motif of discrimination, the works Nimona and “The Stolen Party”, convey the theme of society outcasting people because they are different or special, however, while they differ in how characters are outcasted, though their message still remains the same.

To begin with, both works express the motif of discrimination through their characters. For example, Rosaura expresses how “Señora Ines [arrives] saying shh shh, and [asks] Rosaura if she wouldn't mind helping  serve out the hot-dogs, as she knew the house so much better than the others” (Heker 2). In this piece of text, Señora Ines asks Rosaura to assist her with the party, however, this is contradicting because Rosaura is supposedly a “guest” of the party, or at least, she believes she is. In contrast, she is being treated as a servant at the party and serves the actual guests of the party. Señora Ines sends her on little errands and tasks throughout the party because Rosaura is the daughter of a maid and is the only one to stand out from the guests. She is an entirely different race and skin tone compared to the rest of the guests at the party which may explain why Señora Ines treats her like this. Essentially, the entire reason she is invited to the party is so the hosts could utilize her as they please while Rosaura does not realize due to her naivety and desire to be like the wealthy. Similarly, in Nimona, the Institution’s Director declares, “‘I know an abomination when I see one’” (Stevenson 196). The Institution’s Director describes Nimona an abomination because of her ability to shapeshift as she pleases and has the ability to regenerate all her cells at once. One can see why Nimona would be called an abomination since it is a type of power that not many people have seen, however, it is not right to judge someone before knowing how they actually are. Nimona tries to debunk this claim as she wants to be seen as a normal person and not be prejudiced against. Furthermore, the word “abomination” can be tied back to a translation of Leviticus 18:22 in the bible. This line calls homosexuality an abomination which ties back to Nimona as well since there are LGBTQ+ elements in the story. In addition, another definition of “abomination” is something seen as detestable or wrong, which is what many view Nimona as. Nimona herself embodies many LGBTQ+ elements as she can shapeshift which is a similarity to the LGBTQ+’s non-binary people. The Director’s statement is also hypocritical as the Institution is the reason why Blackheart lost his arm and his future. The Director has no reason to call Nimona an abomination after all the crimes and atrocities she did. In conclusion, both works agree in presenting discrimination and how it can affect a character.

Moreover, while both works express the motif of discrimination, they differ when depicting how it is shown. On one hand, “The Stolen Party” portrays discrimination through racism. The magician in the story exclaimed, "You, with the Spanish eyes,’ said the magician. And everyone saw that he was pointing at her” (Heker 3). The magician is singling her out due to how she looks and her features. The magician looked at her and beckoned her by calling her “‘You, with the Spanish eyes’” (Heker 3), thus furthering how he is judging her by her features. However, this contradicts how Rosaura looks because she most likely has dark skin. The magician is making fun of how she looks and her heritage as she has more indigenous blood than her other lighter Argentinian blood. Furthermore, all eyes went to her as well thus further illustrating how she stands out specifically. Rosaura does not seem to realize that she is experiencing racism yet and is just full of bliss that she is chosen for the magic trick. She begins to help the magician with his trick, assisting him exactly like his monkey assistant. The similarity between the monkey and Rosaura can be drawn from these clues. Moreover, it was as if Rosaura was put on a pedestal like some exotic animal for other people to gawk at. People looked at her like how they looked at the monkey, condescending and pitiful. On the other hand, Nimona portrays discrimination as simply discrimination because of how one looks. Nimona stated in her thoughts, “I was excited to show the village my new dragon’s shape, and how strong I had become! But when I got there, they weren’t exactly glad to see me. The witch had forgotten to show me how to change back, or even how to speak. I had to run away and find a cave in the woods to hide in” (Stevenson 28). Nimona approaches the people of her village with goodwill yet she is treated as if she were a monster. The whole reason she is regarded like this is because she was originally in her dragon form and was not yet speak. This detail is key to how her fellow villagers view her and influences their later actions of outcasting her. Although they do not know Nimona was the dragon, they still treat her terribly. Judging a person’s character before one knows them and treating them unpleasantly can cause major grim effects. The villagers drive her out before Nimona did anything. All she did was approach the village as a helpless child and they decide to throw rocks at her and chase her out.  After Nimona is driven out, grim effects hit the villagers; they are all killed off by barbarians while Nimona is hiding in a cave in the forest, learning about her new unknown abilities. All in all, while the works are different in presenting discrimination, the theme and message still remains the same.

In the end, Noelle Stevenson and Liliana Heker integrate discrimination into their works to convey  how society outcasts people that are different or special. Stevenson and Heker demonstrate how discrimination is a grave problem that can happen to anyone regardless of race, status, or gender. These two works illustrate the problem of discrimination underneath all the other problems presented in their works. In conclusion, “The Stolen Party” depicts discrimination through racism while Nimona depicts it as blatant prejudice where one is outcasted due to being different.