Over the course of our country's history, social constructs have been dismantled to become less obtrusive to the groups they conflict and aim to negatively portray. However, this has not always been a truth of time, and although there exists less stereotyping and predispositions to minorities now than in in the past, the day in which we are free of it is not manifest. In Langston Hughes’ “Red Silk Stockings”, the portrayal of black women comes with a seemingly degrading essence, attached through the eyes of white males who are in a position of power and authority. Hughes paints an image of black women who use their bodies, specifically through prostitution, to further their social standing by allowing objectification by the atypical dominant …show more content…
This theme is evident in the doubling of stockings with the girl’s natural black legs. The red stockings, which represent sexual, material desires, are contrasted with the natural, elegant beauty of the legs of the black girl. The stockings highlight only the legs, separating them from the girl as a whole and allowing for easier objectification, specifically by young white males. However, the girl knows this, as she has put the stockings on and is being told so by the narrator, who represents the black community. The narrator also clearly recognizes the girl’s beauty, and her beauty is further highlighted in the fact that she is clothed in silk, which relates to royalty and comfortability. Knowing she is beautiful, the girl possesses the choice to engage in prostitution, and in allowing herself to be objectified she is able to gain economic, and therefore social capital. Overall, the doubling serves to highlight and forward the girls choice of economic and social capital over what is socially acceptable, simultaneously recognizing prostitution as wrong while condoning it for the greater good of upward social …show more content…
However, what is important to realize is the irony of the situation. Specifically, that the greatest good one can achieve is in fact becoming white, which is a goal entirely unattainable for blacks within the confines of current thought. The ‘one drop rule’ still permeates everyone’s thought and will continue to do so as long as any sort of observable biological divisions among races exist. Even if everyone were to have a drop of ‘black blood’ in them, a new (just as arbitrary) division would be established immediately. In the poem, the girl runs into just this dilemma, and the line “An’ tomorrow’s chile’ll Be a high yaller,” perfectly exemplifies it. The girl’s descendants (presumably of mixed anscestry) are classified as black by the one drop rule (definition of a high yaller) and therefore destined to be arbitrarily segregated and grouped in with blacks by whites but cast out by blacks because they looked white. As opposed to Hughes’ era of strict division and rejection of people of mixed ancestry (such as Hughes himself), in today’s society the mixed group seems to be both ostracized and simultaneously accepted by whites and blacks alike, in some ways giving them the ability to have even greater social value or control in their own fate. The girl in the poem is conflicted because she wants
Hughes says, “They hung my black young lover / To a cross roads tree.” (3-4). One can see that the narrator, this young girl has just loss her lover. Her lover got lynched and this causes our reader to have a broken heart. One can see that due to society and racism
The sex industry contains negative labels which target the lives of each individual involved in these perceived sinful acts. In the article, “The Stigma of Sex Work”, Maria Ma illustrates that “part of the stigmatization of sex work includes the notion that sex workers are trafficking victims, or maybe just victims in general, as women who are able to make their own decisions would and could not possibly choose to be a sex worker.” The negative perception that all sex workers are victims is proven wrong in the film, Pretty Woman in several scenes. This is portrayed when Vivian discusses how she willingly became a sex worker to reach financial autonomy and support herself. She does so without working under control of a pimp which clearly emphasizes Vivian’s independence and freedom over her own life decisions as a sex worker.
When presented with a strange story with uncertain reasoning behind several actions of the characters, and in this story, it is revealed through the symbolism of their attire. Understanding that clothing symbolizes a false identity and an open heart and open love is the taking off of clothes gives a second story behind her reasoning for this story. Although clothing might not be a common symbol for fake identities versus true beings, almost all love stories have a symbolism to represent the open trustful
The detail given in the passage helps the reader see and understand the character. To describe her appearance, she says, “the way I knew my skin was the color of a nut rubbed repeatedly with a soft cloth”(32-33). The audience now knows she is an African American. Race plays a big role in identity, giving people culture, history, and pride. Due to the fact she has just moved, her new environment holds a different culture that she must find where she fits in. While dressing, she puts on “a gay dress made out of madras cloth”(24) the same
Women during this Jazz era were freer about their sexuality, but due to this freeness, an article called “Negro Womanhood’s Greatest Need” criticized the sexuality of Black women. In this article, the writers criticized Black women of the Jazz era; one part stated “.“speed and disgust” of the Jazz Age which created women “less discreet and less cautious than their sisters in the years gone by”. These “new” women, she continued, rebelling against the laws of God and man” (p.368). Women expressing their sexuality is not only an act against God, but also against men. In Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” Twyla’s mother Marry had no problem expressing her sexuality because she was a stripper, who danced all night, she wore a fur jack and green slacks to a chapel to meet her daughter Twyla.
due to Hughes, as a modern figure, writing about his own personal experiences; his bitter sadness is bound up with the bright side of love and positivity that has come in the wake of their relationship. ‘Pink Wool Knitted Dress’ references this happiness, as he recalls Sylvia “you sobbed with joy”. The use of the word ‘pink’ in the title is deliberate, denoting femininity, innocence, and happiness, things that are all destroyed eventually. There is contrasting motivation to write this text compared to the other two, as this appears to be Hughes way of dealing with his feelings of sadness following Plath’s suicide. The journey through their relationship from the happiness of their marriage in ‘Pink Wool Knitted Dress’ starkly contrasts some of the later poems. For example the poem ‘Epiphany’, with the title meaning sudden moment of realization, shows the deterioration of their relationship, as Hughes epiphany is that “our marriage had failed”. The use of the word ‘had’ shows the certainty that the marriage was finished, and they were no longer right for each other.
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is a distressing tale of human struggle as it relates to women. The story commences with a hardworking black washwoman named Delia contently and peacefully folds laundry in her quiet home. Her placidity doesn’t last long when her abusive husband, Sykes, emerges just in time to put her back in her ill-treated place. Delia has been taken by this abuse for some fifteen years. She has lived with relentless beatings, adultery, even six-foot long venomous snakes put in places she requires to get to. Her husband’s vindictive acts of torment and the way he has selfishly utilized her can only be defined as malignant. In the end of this leaves the hardworking woman no choice but to make the most arduous decision of her life. That is, to either stand up for herself and let her husband expire or to continue to serve as a victim. "Sweat,” reflects the plight of women during the 1920s through 30s, as the African American culture was undergoing a shift in domestic dynamics. In times of slavery, women generally led African American families and assumed the role as the adherent of the family, taking up domestic responsibilities. On the other hand, the males, slaves at the time, were emasculated by their obligations and treatment by white masters. Emancipation and Reconstruction brought change to these dynamics as African American men commenced working at paying jobs and women were abandoned at home. African American women were assimilated only on the most superficial of calibers into a subcategory of human existence defined by gender-predicated discrimination. (Chambliss) In accordance to this story, Delia was the bread victor fortifying herself and Sykes. Zora Neale Hurston’s 1926 “Sweat” demonstrates the vigor as wel...
Minrose Gwin‘s book, Black and White Women of the Old South, argues that history has problems with objectiveness. Her book brings to life interesting interpretations on the view of the women of the old south and chattel slavery in historical American fiction and autobiography. Gwin’s main arguments discussed how the white women of the south in no way wanted to display any kind of compassion for a fellow woman of African descent. Gwin described the "sisterhood" between black and white women as a "violent connection"(pg 4). Not only that, Gwin’s book discusses the idea that for most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, a black woman usually got subjected to displacement of sexual and mental frustration of white women. Gwin discusses how these black women, because of the sexual and mental abuse, felt looked down on more by whites and therefore reduced to even a lower level than that of white women‘s status of being a woman. .
...ution than what is seen. There is a hidden side of this sex industry that objectifies America’s youth. The pimps target vulnerable people that have been abused and then use violence, threats, lies, false promises, debt bondage, or other forms of control and manipulation to keep them victims. (Polaris) The Johns with their lust and perversions continues to feed the greed of the soul devouring sex industry. Both of which, often escape any punishment or consequences for their deeds. The prostitute is once again left alone to bare the blame, shame and pain of it all. “What other victim in society do we lock up?” (Sher, pg. 240) American sex trade is a part of our economic system that degrades and devours the mother’s of our country. The time is now to remove the scales from our eyes and raise up our swords against any who plot genocide by the killing of our girls.
“Line of Color, Sex, and Service: Sexual Coercion in the Early Republic” is a publication that discusses two women, Rachel Davis and Harriet Jacobs. This story explains the lives of both Rachel and Harriet and their relationship between their masters. Rachel, a young white girl around the age of fourteen was an indentured servant who belonged to William and Becky Cress. Harriet, on the other hand, was born an enslaved African American and became the slave of James and Mary Norcom. This publication gives various accounts of their masters mistreating them and how it was dealt with.
By comparing “A Little Taste Outside of Love” (2007) by Mickalene Thomas (1971-Present) and “A Black Woman” (1775) by an unknown French painter this paper will demonstrate that although blacks were once degraded through the sexualization of their bodies in art, their nudity is now used to convey empowerment in contemporary art.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, notions of freedom for Black slaves and White women were distinctively different than they are now. Slavery was a form of exploitation of black slaves, whom through enslavement, lost their humanity and freedom, and were subjected to dehumanizing conditions. African women and men were often mistreated through similar ways, especially when induced to labor, they would eventually become a genderless individual in the sight of the master. Despite being considered “genderless” for labor, female slaves suddenly became women who endured sexual violence. Although a white woman was superior to the slaves, she had little power over the household, and was restricted to perform additional actions without the consent of their husbands. The enslaved women’s notion to conceive freedom was different, yet similar to the way enslaved men and white women conceived freedom. Black women during slavery fought to resist oppression in order to gain their freedom by running away, rebel against the slaveholders, or by slowing down work. Although that didn’t guarantee them absolute freedom from slavery, it helped them preserve the autonomy and a bare minimum of their human rights that otherwise, would’ve been taken away from them. Black
Being confined through clothing, Kitty and Esme experienced a sheltered upbringing, constantly being told “you are the granddaughter of an advocate, not a saloon girl”. Velvet was prohibited as wanton for unmarried women, especially when crimson red, as it is a strong vibrant colour associated with sexuality in both colour and feel. O’Farrell cleverly includes this as the tactile imagery invites readers to imagine the texture and touch of the fabric, which is very sensual. Kitty, who was older, understands “you always had to wear a pair of gloves… especially coming from a family like ours,” as it was believed at the time that the gloves would prevent the skin to skin contact that could result in sexual arousal. Kitty was uneducated on sexual topics, expecting “the man to have all the knowledge and get on with it”. As a result, she is unable to comprehend Esme’s trauma with Jamie, becoming furious that “she has done it with him”, wondering how, “as she wasn’t even married yet”. This reveals to the reader both Kitty’s naivety and the impact rape had on young
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
This image is the author’s perspective on the treatment of “his people” in not only his hometown of Harlem, but also in his own homeland, the country in which he lives. The author’s dream of racial equality is portrayed as a “raisin in the sun,” which “stinks like rotten meat” (Hughes 506). Because Hughes presents such a blatantly honest and dark point of view such as this, it is apparent that the author’s goal is to ensure that the reader is compelled to face the issues and tragedies that are occurring in their country, compelled enough to take action. This method may have been quite effective in exposing the plight of African-Americans to Caucasians. It can be easily seen that Hughes chooses a non-violent and, almost passive method of evoking a change. While Hughes appears to be much less than proud of his homeland, it is apparent that he hopes for a future when he may feel equal to his fellow citizens, which is the basis of the “dream” that has been