Kevin's Watch

Posted: **Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:32 pm**

MsMary wrote:
matrixman wrote:Nope, never imagined Hile Troy as African American.
Me, neither. Interesting that so many did, though.

Could it be to do with the predominance of skin colors in the community within which an idividual reader lives. ie She/he has an inbuilt 'bias' to constuct an internal landscape that mirrors the one experienced on a daily basis in 'real life'. Or maybe there are subliminal pointers in the description of Troy that collectively (but not individually and therefore not perceptibaly) guide the imagination in this direction.

Posted: **Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:26 pm**

I still think that the Geordi connection explains this phenomenon best.

Posted: **Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:27 pm**

peter wrote:
MsMary wrote:
matrixman wrote:Nope, never imagined Hile Troy as African American.
Me, neither. Interesting that so many did, though.
Could it be to do with the predominance of skin colors in the community within which an idividual reader lives. ie She/he has an inbuilt 'bias' to constuct an internal landscape that mirrors the one experienced on a daily basis in 'real life'. Or maybe there are subliminal pointers in the description of Troy that collectively (but not individually and therefore not perceptibaly) guide the imagination in this direction.

Then why do I see him as a black man? I live in a community where there are hardly any blacks at all and I have no first-hand experience with black people. How should I have developed that bias?

Posted: **Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:59 pm**

Why does everyone keep calling me Troy?

Posted: **Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:11 am**

Heh. I have nothing against Geordi, but TCTC entered my life long before ST:TNG ever existed. So for me, there is no association between Troy and LaForge.

Vader, your "bias" is fascinating. Wish I had an answer for you. Speaking for myself, at the time that I read TCTC, I lived in suburbia, where nearly everyone was white - at least that was my impression in the early 80's. But I really doubt that the skin color of my classmates or neighbors had anything to do with how I perceived the skin color of literary characters I read about. If you wish to "blame" something, it was maybe all the pop culture I absorbed as a kid. Yes, most if not all my childhood heroes (and superheroes) were white. Whether or not that directly determined how I pictured Hile Troy or the Haruchai in my mind is a question I leave to you, and to psychologists. What if SRD had been a black man? An Asian? An Indian woman? I wonder if - and by how much - that would have affected how I saw the skin color of his/her characters. Probably not much, if I had never learned anything about the author or seen any picture of him/her.

Posted: **Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:39 pm**

wayfriend wrote:
Why does everyone keep calling me Troy?

Or even more scary, why does everyone keep calling me Troi?

Posted: **Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:29 am**

I think its the whole "Is he an ur-vile thing" that Foul's army says when they find him after he's been blinded.

Posted: **Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:25 am**

Has anyone mentioned this to SRD in the Gradual Interview?

I'll bet he'd get a kick out of it...

Vader wrote:Then why do I see him as a black man? I live in a community where there are hardly any blacks at all and I have no first-hand experience with black people. How should I have developed that bias?

Not to mention, Hile Troy is the only human character in the chronicles I ever associated as black.

Posted: **Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:43 am**

I thought Troy was black when I first read TIW in '79. That was just a leeeetle bit before STNG, sorry way...

Posted: **Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:09 pm**

I am forced to reject my hypothesis about Geordy.

Posted: **Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:28 pm**

In my mind he was white. cant remember if I have assumed or wether I missed something..........

Posted: **Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:29 am**

My kids were watching WKRP Cincinatti back in the early days and for some strange reason I always saw Hile Troy as looking like Dr Johnny Fever ( Howard Hesseman).

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Posted: **Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:31 am**

My kids were watching WKRP Cincinatti back in the early days and for some strange reason I always saw Hile Troy as looking like Dr Johnny Fever ( Howard Hesseman).

Posted: **Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:55 pm**

I never thought of Hile Troy as black. wot type of African american name is hile troy? I think you are mixing him up with stevey Wonder

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:23 pm**

jackgiantkiller wrote:I never thought of Hile Troy as black. wot type of African american name is hile troy? I think you are mixing him up with stevey Wonder

What sort of name is Hile Troy full stop? I've never come across anyone with the first name of "Hile" and "Troy" is hardly a common surname. I've always wondered where this name came from - seems fitting name for a resident of the Land, but not for someone from our world? I don't see that the name Hile Troy militates against a black ethnicity and indeed the unusualness of the name may point in its favour?

Posted: **Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:31 pm**

Welcome to the Watch, Barnetto. Glad to see you jumping right in. (Why not introduce yourself over in The Summonsing forum?)

I did find this. It doesn't seem that Troy is a very uncommon surname.

The Surname Database wrote:Surname: Troy

This is a very interesting locational surname. It is of French origins. Recorded in several forms including Troy, Troye, Troyes and Troys, it is from the city of Troyes in France. It was probably introduced into England at the time or shortly after the famous Conquest of 1066, although the first recording we have is not until the Hundred Rolls of 1273, two centuries later. This can probably be explained by missing records, although it is also true to say that for at least the first three centuries after the Conquest, there was regular passage of soldiers and merchants in particular, between the countries. This cross border activity was increased regularly because the kings of England, also laid claim to being the kings of France. Some such as the famous King Henry Vth, took considerable time out to prove their point, holding large areas of France under their sovereignty. The first known recording is probably that of Jacobus de Troye who appears in the rolls for the city of London in 1273. He is also recorded as James de Troys, and this is one of the earliest examples of the use of 'James' as a personal name. The surname has always been quite well recorded in the city of London. Examples from the Napoleonic Period include William Troy who married Eleanor Fitzgerald at St Georges Chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, in 1793, and a few years later in 1809, that of John Troy who married Maria Moore at the same church. The name is perhaps more popular in the United States, and particularly so in the city of Boston. [link]

Posted: **Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:24 am**

I had always assumed he was black. I don't know why, and I never stopped to question it. It just seemed to fit for me. Not as a slur or a subtype; Hile Troy, in my head, just looks better as a black man, for some reason.

Posted: **Fri Jan 22, 2010 1:14 am**

I can remember reading something because there was a spot in the book where I made the conclusion that he was black. I accept from all the other comments I have read here that SRD may not have specifically indicated that-cause c'mon, this is Kevin's Watch, and if it was there plainly someone would have found it. On the other hand, for so many of us to have assumed that- there is some nugget back there. Weird. Wonder if it's just the way he speaks? HMMmmmmm. Makes me want to "go back In" to find out for myself.

Posted: **Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:15 am**

I never saw him as being black, but upon finding this thread, I can definitely picture him as being black . . . it seems fitting. It will be interesting to see what happens to my imagination when I pick TIW back up, as I am currently reading it.

To be honest, I always pictured him as Travis Tritt for some reason. But on this read, I did not pick up on any mention of a beard, so I wiped the beard off of Travis Tritt, and now I see the blind guy off of Roadhouse.

Posted: **Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:33 pm**

I always pictured him white. And bald. And fairly short. Not sure if this comes from the text or not. I imagined that Caer-Caveral was really tall though.

Kevin's Watch

Hile Troy as an African American?

Its the Steve wonder thing

Re: Its the Steve wonder thing