Richard Dyer, in his study of whiteness in visual texts [The Color of Virtue: Lillian Gish, Whiteness, and Femininity, 1993], delineates the role of light in producing the glow of white women, a class- and race-specific image of femininity that manifests when idealized white women are bathed in and permeated by light.. . . He establishes the historical connections between light, blondness, and spirituality, noting how the properties of light (and fair coloring) have meshed, in traditional Western iconography, with the enlightenment privileged in Christian discourse. Religious art thus portays sanctified white people enlightened by the glow of haloes . . . and the figure of the woman as angel, enlightened and enlightening. . . . These descriptions apply to Nancy Drew. . . . Not only does her blue-eyed, blonde-haired prettiness make her appear angelic, her behavior epitomizes the traditional functions of angels: protecting, avenging, and ministering. . . .

When Nancy attends a college ball with her boyfriend [in Quest of the Missing Map by Carolyn Keene, 1942] we see . . . Nancys wardrobe: Nancys new white dress made on simple lines accentuated her attractiveness. Eschewing frippery and bright colors, Nancy Drew exemplifies the properly conservative white woman.

—Ilana Nash, from American Sweethearts: Teenage Girls in Twentieth-Century Popular Culture, 2006.