Racism & Sexism in Novels of Black Women Writers

Racism and sexism are pervasive, oppressive, and dehumanizing. In the following works of fiction, black women authors bear witness of their struggle for emancipation. The evidence they give is uncensored; it will not be found in any history books because it shames those elements of society who seek to marginalize evidence of social inequality.

 Celie, the main character in The Color Purple by Alice Walker, is subjected to considerable abuse because she is a woman. The unwritten code of the South where Celie lives is that women are subordinate to men. When women try to assert themselves they get beaten: "domestic violence is often triggered by a woman failing to meet a man's expectations about 'his' woman's responsibility to provide sexual and caring services" (Bowlby, Gregory, and McKie 345). But through the strong women role models in her life, Celie learns her own self-worth, is able to leave an abusive relationship, and find inner peace

. . .
y mouth hung open and they taken off down the river on foot . . . They feets was gonna take 'em wherever they was going that day" (Marshall 39). Throughout her adulthood, Avey remembers her aunt. The younger woman at one time had believed the aunt told her the story of the Ibos for a purpose: "in instilling the story of the Ibos in her child's mind, the old woman had entrusted her with a mission she couldn't even name yet had felt duty-bound to fulfill" (Marshall 42). However, by middle-age, Avey had rid herself of feeling obligated to this mission. In fact, she rarely thinks about her aunt at all. Not until Avey takes a cruise to the Caribbean with two female friends does the image of her aunt reappear. Only a couple of days into the cruise, Avey has a dream in which she sees her aunt standing on the other side of a river beckoning her. Avey, dressed stylishly middle-class, refuses to heed her aunt's call. When Avey turns to leave, her aunt crosses the river and the two women brawl: "which Avey Johnson saw to her horror, glancing around, had brought her neighbors in North White Plains out on their lawns" (Marshall 45). Avey is able to shrug off this dream, but a related incident at dinner compounds the experience.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Mutt Thomas, Color Purple, Nevertheless Clare, Avey Johnson's, Carriacou Excursion, Parvay Joseph's, Tambu's Nhamo, Ursa Corregidora, Boy Savage, Caribbean Prior, black women, black woman, color purple, avey johnson, avey feels, walker 1982, female burden, cab driver, tambu's mother, aunt cuney, sliver pink marshall, menacing sliver pink, financially secure black, afraid getting hurt, bare menacing sliver,
Approximate Word count = 11025
Approximate Pages = 44 (250 words per page)