My thoughts on Prospero as an aroace Italian person
This essay is partially inspired by @straightasaaro's essay on race in Nevermore, which I found interesting and thought provoking and recommend to read even if I don't 100% agree with all the points made
I tried to make this as coherent as possible, but my brain is very messy and chaotic and this essay might reflect that, so I apologize in advance
This also contains spoilers for the webcomic Nevermore
As I already said in the title, I am Italian, which means English is not my first language, so please understand any mistakes I might make (but feel free to point them out if you think it's necessary).
I will put more detailed warnings about specific sections of this essay under their respective titles.
Now that that's out of the way, we can start
Hi, I go by Daphne online, and, as I said in the title, I am aroace (aromantic and asexual) and Italian. You might be wondering, why is this relevant? Well, prepare yourself because I have A LOT of things to say today.
Aromantic and asexual characters are still uncommon in media, Italian characters are more common, but often heavily stereotyped. So, I never though I'd find a character that is both, and is also an actually interesting character with a personality and a role in the story, until I found Prospero from the wecomic Nevermore. I have critiques on the comic, part of which I will touch on here, but Prospero is probably one of my favourite characters.
Prospero is a Sicilian immigrant living in what I assume is the US in the early 1900s, and I'm pretty sure he was confirmed to be aromantic by the creators (he's not explicitly defined as aromantic in the comic because all the characters are from historical eras in which this word did not exist yet, but he definitely shows signs). I also think he's likely asexual because I personally struggle to see a man who can't even shake people's hands without gloves as allo.
So, let's talk about the aromanticism first.
Prospero as an aromantic character
[This section mentions trauma and more specifically medical trauma, illness, epidemics and death, reader discretion is advised]
Prospero's very intelligent and knowledgeable, loves reading, tends to focus on work and overwork himself, usually follow rules and has an introverted, usually rational and reserved personality. While he's generally not a bad person (on occasions, he went out of his way and risked his life to help other people, even those he didn't like), he can come off as cold and even cruel at times: he made rats devour and temporarily kill many students to keep his high status at Nevermore Academy, and he was extremely harsh in rejecting Ada, even though his reaction was kind of understandable, since she kept overstepping his boundaries and ignoring his hints that he didn't like her).
These are all personality traits that are common tropes in the few aromantic and asexual characters that exist, the emotionally distant nerd is a common aromantic and asexual stereotype. But Prospero does not fully align with this stereotype and has nuance and complexity as a character, and these traits make sense with his character, being a doctor from a discriminated group, who in life had to follow the rules, repress his feelings, act refined and polite and work even harder than others to survive in an environment that viewed him as lesser. The stakes are even higher in Nevermore because only one person will win the chance at a second life in the end.
As I said, he also wears gloves, because he's extremely touch averse due to a severe fear of illness (which might have something to do with some form of anxiety or ocd, or at least very severe germophobia). He might have already had fears and anxieties related to infection and illness before becoming a doctor, but they're probably at least partially influenced by the fact that he lived and was a doctor during an epidemic of an at the time incurable and extremely deadly disease, which he later likely caught himself and which likely caused him medical trauma. Touch aversion and trauma are also things often associated with asexual people in particular, and while they're not true for every ace person, they make sense for his character.
His character also goes against some misconceptions some people have about aromantic and asexual people, since he's conventionally attractive and has two characters (Ada and an unnamed background character) show romantic interest in him and not be reciprocated (he rejects Ada harshly becsuse of reasons i stated above, but accepts the other girl's letter out of politeness). I also love his friendship with Annabel and how it's clear that their bond is close but strictly platonic, and the way he speaks about how Annabel talks about Lenore in the Christmas special (even if not canon) is funny and kind of relateable. We can also see him show a more emotional and vulnerable side in some occasions in the comic, for example after he is attacked by Ada.
Overall, while he does fit a good amount of common tropes found in aro and ace characters, he goes against aromantic and asexual stereotypes in other ways and his personality makes sense for his character. Not the best aromantic character ever for sure, but not the worst either. I still like him because I feel like he has nuance as a character.
Prospero as an Italian character
[This section mentions illnesses and epidemics, racism and historical atrocities. Reader discretion is advised]
As I said earlier, Prospero is also Italian, Sicilian in particular, and I have to say this is overall handled quite well. I was genuinely impressed until I found out that one of the authors, Kit "Red" Trace, is also Sicilian-American, and everything suddenly made a lot more sense.
[thanks to straightasaaro for providing this screenshot]
It makes sense that she managed to portray the experience of Sicilian immigrants in the US quite well if it's in her own family history.
But what exactly did the authors do right in writing Prospero?
As stated above, Italian characters in non Italian media are often stereotyped and it's not super common to find Italian characters that are actually interesting and have a personality (that's part of the reason why I loved Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson books in high school), sometimes it really feels like Italian characters in non Italian media can only be chefs or criminals (yeah, mafia stories are not my thing at all).
It's so bad that when I showed a Sicilian friend of mine the beginning of Prospero's flashback episode, the first thing she asked, after being surprised by the use of Sicilian, was: "Is he a mafioso?". She was happy to hear he was actually a doctor. I actually can't think of any other Italian character (from non Italian media) that's a doctor or some other profession that requires a high level of education, so Prospero is an uncommon character on that front (this is probably due to the fact that in the early 20th century the majority of Italians, including Italian immigrants, was poor and struggled to access education. My own nonna was born in 1931 in a farming family and had to start working before she could finish elementary school, many people from my grandparents' generation stopped studying after elementary or middle school, and this was after primary education became compulsory).
Another thing the authors did right when writing Prospero was that he's not just Italian, he is Sicilian. I feel like Italian characters in media are often just generically Italian, which is fine, but the Italian peninsula was divided in different states for most of its history, which means that there's a lot of regional differences in Italy, and many Italians take pride in their region and sometimes their city (I'm curious about which part of Sicily Prospero's family is from specifically) as well as their nationality, so giving your Italian character a specific region of origin shows some extra attention to detail.
On the same note: the use of Sicilian dialect. Prospero and his family speak a few words in Sicilian in the flashback episode. The authors could have taken the easier route and just have them speak standard Italian, but instead they chose the much more accurate and harder to research option of making them speak in Sicilian dialect, which I would find impressive for non Italian authors, but since Red has Sicilian origins she might have had an easier time researching Sicilian dialect and might even speak some of it at home (even if people with Italian ancestry who were born and raised in another country tend to not speak Italian due to cultural assimilation).
Dialects are a part of the aforementioned regional differences in Italy, and they can be so different that, before speaking standard Italian became common, Italians speaking different dialects struggled to understand eachother (which might also be part of why gestures are an important mean of communication in Italian culture). Since Prospero lived before speaking standard Italian became common for most Italians (this process was influenced by schooling becoming more common and events like the two world wars and the economic boom and rise of mainstream television in the 50s and 60s, all of which brought people from all over Italy together and gave them common experiences, language and culture), the use of Sicilian instead of Italian is extremely accurate. Since I'm not Sicilian, I can't confirm if the dialect used in the comic is 100% accurate, but I appreciate the effort.
The authors hint as his heritage not just by occasionally making him speak a few words in Sicilian, but also through what he eats and his spectre design: in the meal scene in the comic, he has espresso and cannoli (they look a bit different from the Sicilian cannoli i've seen but still). Maybe not the most creative choice (even though it's maybe a bit unexpected for a character like him) but at least it's not pasta or pizza and it's typical Sicilian food, other characters also don't have the most unique food choices.
I also LOVE his spectre design, I really like plague doctor masks and costumes in character designs and I love seeing them at Carnevale, because yes, the medico della peste costume began to be worn at carnivals centuries ago to exorcise the fear of death and the plague and it's still a popular costume nowadays. This costume is especially popular in Venice (which, being a trade centre, historically saw a lot of epidemics) but the plague doctor was a known figure in many parts of Italy. It also makes sense for his character.
His personality, while having many traits common in aromantic and asexual characters, makes him pretty distant from most Italian stereotypes. However, I notice he falls into a trend of many Italian characters (usually by non Italian authors) having a very deep tan, darker that the natural skin tone of most Italians (some of us only get that tan if they stay in a very sunny place for a long time, for example when staying outside during the summer, some like me can't get that tan at all).
I have seen other Italians who have a similar skin tone to Prospero all year long though, and they might be more common in south Italy than in north Italy where I'm from. Also, there's varied skin tones in Prospero's family, which is accurate because Italians come in different shades, I only find this a bit strange if the only Italian character or every Italian character in a story has a deep tan, which is not the case here. There's nothing wrong with describing your Italian character as having "olive skin", I just think it's a bit overdone (Nico and Bianca's first descriptions in the Percy Jackson books are also guilty of this, and I still like them because they have a lot of interest as characters regardless of their physical description).
I'm not sure if this is the case for Nevermore, since Red seemingly has Sicilian origins herself, but I think this trend comes from foreign authors thinking of Italy as this sunny place where it's warm all year long (not true, our climate is warmer than others but we still have winter). And also possibly from foreigners, especially US Americans, viewing Italians as not white or "less white" than other groups during certain historical periods, which still has its consequences nowadays. I also feel like parts of the Nevermore fandom view Prospero specifically as not white, but, while he would not have been considered as white as the anglos in early 1900s US, he would probably be considered white today.
Of course we're not the Anglo-Saxon protestant kind of white, but I'd consider most Italians, including myself, to be white (unless they're mixed, adopted or from an immigrant family). And here's the main reason why:
Italy also emulated other European countries in their colonialism and imperialism, with wars in modern day Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia from the late 19th century until after the end of WWII. Italian colonialism is just less known because the rise of fascism overshadowed it while also continuing it. "Bringing back the Roman empire" was a common sentiment during fascism but also before it, at least among middle and upper class Italians (which were the minority at the time, but had much more power than the many poor people living in Italy). Racism was HUGE in Italy in the early 20th century and it never disappeared, just ask some Italians how they feel about immigrants (ironic, considering the history of emigration of the Italian people) or even just ask some north Italians how they feel about south Italians (during the economic boom of the 50s and 60s, many south Italians moved to the more industrialized north to look for a job, and north italians have been discriminating against them since then, and even before)
So yes, racism definitely exists in Italy too, and even imperialism has existed here at some point. Even the discrimination Italian immigrants faced abroad was used to justify Italian colonialism (the reasoning was "if we have more land we can send people there so they don't have to emigrate". Of course it was deeply flawed), as shown in texts like Pascoli's "La grande proletaria si è mossa".
Because yes, Italian immigrants abroad faced a lot of discrimination, especially in the US. Immigrants of the first wave (from the late 19th to early 20th century), who came to the US because of the many, not all positive changes brought by the unification of Italy, might have been the most discriminated group of Italian immigrants.
Many Italian immigrants in the US in the late 19th and early 20th century were discriminated, usually overworked and underpaid in demanding jobs others were not willing to take, struggled to access education, were subject to epidemics and poor healthcare and were seen as dangerous because Americans associated them with organized crime.
As straightasaaro said in their essay on race in Nevermore, "Italian immigrants to the United States were faced with scorn and discrimination. Between the 1880s and 1920s, the peaks of their immigration, there were lynchings, unfair trails, and federal legislation written to keep them out". I'm citing this essay because in a few simple words it gives an idea of the conditions of Italian immigrants in the US, but if you want to learn more about this, the Wikipedia page on the Italian diaspora and the one on Italian-Americans specifically can be a place to start.
Prospero's flashback does a good job of showing these conditions: Prospero is called a slur despite being polite, his relatives can't access education (I actually wonder how Prospero became the exception in his family) and work in the mines, they're dying to an incurable disease and resent Prospero for treating rich strangers instead of his own family and distancing himself from his relatives and heritage, they're convinced he thinks he's better than them, while he's trying to assimilate to protect himself from discrimination.
I can also bring more details about this because I actually have relatives who emigrated. My relatives emigrated much later than Prospero, around the 60s, and to Australia, so their situation was very different, but the way Prospero's relatives mixed English, Italian and dialect in their speech made me think of them (even though realistically they would probably have less English in their dialogue if they emigrated as adults, but I understand why the authors didn't go in that direction), and Prospero refusing to speak in Sicilian reminded my of my relatives' kids, who were born in Australia and can understand Italian and dialect but don't speak it because of the environment they grew up in (Prospero also strikes me as a second generation immigrant or someone who emigrated at a very young age).
What I'm trying to say is, again, that the authors did a pretty good job in depicting the experience of Italian immigrants, which makes sense, since Red is Italian-American herself.
But did they do the same in portraying the issues the actual characters of color in the cast would have faced? Not really. This was supposed to be about Prospero, but straightasaaro's essay inspired me so I'll also say something about how other characters are treated in comparison later. But first, let's talk about how these two aspects of Prospero's identity interact.
Aromanticism, asexuality, touch aversion, Italian culture and stereotypes
Italians are often stereotyped as being sexy and romantic, so an Italian character that is aro an possibly ace is quite unique and goes against stereotypes, and I appreciate Prospero's character for that.
I will be talking about touch aversion, even if of course it's not a characteristic of every aromantic and asexual person, because I think it's connected with Prospero being aromantic and possibly asexual.
Being an aroace and touch averse person (even though my touch aversion is much more mild than his, since I don't have his same issues) growing up in Italian culture makes me think of what issues Prospero would have faced.
Italian culture gives a lot of importance to sex and romance, like many other cultures, but there's also another aspect. In Italian culture, physical forms of affection like hugs and kisses are common and expected even among family members and close friends. I'm sure you can easily tell why this is a problem if those things make you uncomfortable.
The scene in the flashback episode where Prospero's cousin tried to pressure Prospero into taking off his glove and shaking his hand to "prove" that he didn't look down on his family, and later spit in his face when Prospero couldn't bring himself to do it, reminded me of relatives and family friends who made comments when I refused to kiss them on the cheek (which in Italy is a common way to greet relatives and close friends or...the kids of your friends for some reason). Of course my experience is not nearly as bad as his, and there's other factors present in Prospero's case (the resentment some of his relatives feel towards him for distancing himself from them, and these same relatives dismissing Prospero's issues) but I still managed to connect with this character because of it.
Of course, this would be more of a problem for someone who is misunderstood and scared of being seen as "insane", and feels different from other people because he doesen't know asexuality and aromanticism exist. I'm glad that I live in a time in which there's words for what I am and I can know that I'm not the only one.
Now, allow me to change the topic and go back to the comparison between the writing of Prospero and the actual characters of color in Nevermore
What about the actual poc?
As myself and others have said before, the authors of Nevermore do a good job at depicting the conditions of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century in Prospero's flashback, but lack in showing what the actual people of color in the cast (Duke, a Black French man probably from the 1910s, Berenice, an African-American woman from the 1920s, and Eulalie, a Japanese-American woman from the 1940s or 50s) faced in their respective historical periods. Of course I don't think that historical characters of color should be shown suffering every second they're on screen, but it makes no sense for Nevermore, a comic that constantly speaks about misogyny and classism, to completely ignore racism except for Prospero's flashback.
At first I was perplexed by the fact that the authors only showed the discrimination faced by Prospero and not other characters and even spelt out a slur in Prospero's flashback. I initially thought they were more comfortable with showing racism with Prospero because Italians are now considered white even in the US, but it still confused me because I thought it was still a group they were not a part of and had to research about, so why couldn't they do the same for other characters? Learning that Red is Italian-American herself made everything make a lot more sense.
It is telling that Nevermore deals with sexism, classism and possibly ableism, but only hints at racism in relation to Prospero, a character that would be considered white by modern standards, and that is part of a group that one of the authors is part of herself.
I understand being wary of portraying racism you didn't experience yourself, I also have similar concerns as a white creator, but completely ignoring historical racism means prioritizing your own comfort over credibility. I'm sure the authors didn't mean it that way, but only showing discrimination with a character that shares experiences with their ancestors can come across as "Only the suffering of MY ancestors matters, I can ignore the suffering of other people's ancestors". You can't deny the impact racism would have on your characters if you want to write a realistic and believeable story, especially if those characters are from a specific historical context.
However, I also understand why many poc don't like the idea of white creators writing about the suffering of non white characters. Maybe, if the authors of Nevermore involved non white people in their writing process, it could help them handle the writing of their characters of color better, and accurately and respectfully portray the struggles of poc who faced similar (and possibly worse) discrimination compared to Italian immigrants like Prospero, and who deserve to have their stories told through characters like Berenice, Duke and Eulalie.
It is not my place to say how people should write their characters of color, and I'll leave it to poc to decide what they think would be the best course of action for white authors to handle their non white characters, but I hope these authors can listen to readers of color and manage to write their characters respectfully.
After all, the comic is still in progress, so we can't know what future episode will bring, including from the point of view of learning more about these characters, their past and how it affects their behaviour in Nevermore
I have mixed feelings about Nevermore, its writing of Prospero and how it handles its characters (especially its characters of color), but I'm overall still interested in this comic (even if not as much as I used to) while aknowledging its flaws, and am curious about its future. And I wish other people can take this as a leaning experience, as creators and as humans, to treat other with kindness and respect.
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