Ann Petry’s The Street In our society of today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women. Women, black women in particular, are placed into a society that marginalizes and controls many of the aspects of a black woman’s life. As a result, many black women do not see a source of opportunity, a way to escape the drudgery of their everyday existence. For example, if we were to ask black mother’s if they would change their situation if it became possible for them to do so, many would change, but others would say that it is not possible; This answer would be the result of living in a society that has conditioned black women to accept their lots in lives instead of fighting against the system of white and male dominated supremacy. In Ann Petry’s The Street, we are given a view of a black mother who is struggling to escape what the street symbolizes. In the end though, she becomes captive to the very thing she wishes to escape. Petry presents black motherhood, marriage and the black family as things that are marginalized according to the society in which they take place. The main image that Petry gives of the black mother is Lutie, though there are other images that are crucial in explaining this image. Lutie is a single black mother living on “the street.” Her world revolves around providing for her son, and trying to make sure that they ar... ... middle of paper ... ...courage to survive in the world. On the other hand, her portrayal of marriage and the black family appears to be negative. Marriage is seen as a convenient thing—as something that is expected, but not worth having when times get rough. At least this is what Lutie’s and Jim’s marriage became. The moral attributes that go along with marriage do not seem to be prevalent. As a result, because marriage and the black family are seen as the core of the black community, blacks become more divided and begin to work against themselves—reinforcing among themselves the white male supremacy. Instead of being oppressed by another race or community, blacks oppress themselves. Petry critiques these issues in the black community and makes them more applicable to our lives today. These issues still exist, but we fail to realize them because of our advancement in society today.
McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York, New York: Vintage Books. 2011.
Malcolm X stated that the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected person in America is the black woman. Black women have long suffered from racism in American history and also from sexism in the broader aspect of American society and even within the black community; black women are victims of intersection between anti-blackness and misogyny sometimes denoted to as "misogynoir". Often when the civil rights movement is being retold, the black woman is forgotten or reduced to a lesser role within the movement and represented as absent in the struggle, McGuire 's At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power does not make this same mistake.
Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the African-American as a special bond of love and loyalty to the mother figure. Just as the role of motherhood in African-American culture is magnified and elevated, so is the role of the wife. The literature reflects this by showing the African-American man struggling to make a living for himself and his family with his wife either being emotionally or physically submissive. Understanding the role of women in the African-American community starts by examining the roles of women in African-American literature. Because literature is a reflection of the community from which it comes, the portrayal of women in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain (1952) is consistent with the roles mentioned above.
He discusses LaJoe's parents, how they met and married and why they moved to Horner. He depicts LaJoe as an extremely kind-hearted yet tough woman who will do anything to help not only her own family, but all the neighborhood children as well. LaJoe feeds and cares for many of the neighborhood children. For this, she is rare and special in an environment of black mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts. She sticks by her children when most mothers would be ashamed and disown them.
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
The role of women in a black society is a major theme of this novel. Many women help demonstrate Hurston's ideas. Hurston uses Janie's grandmother, Nanny, to show one extreme of women in a black society, the women who follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Nanny is stuck in the past. She still believes in all the things that used to be, and wants to keep things the way they were, but also desires a better life for her granddaughter than she had. When Nanny catc...
To be labeled as a feminist is such a broad classification therefore it is divided into various subsections, one such subsection is known as hip hop feminism in which Ruth Nicole closely associates herself with throughout this essay I will thoroughly discuss this form of feminism. Ruth Nicole is a black woman that categorizes herself as a girl, by her definition a girl is far from independent. Black girlhood discusses the shared experiences of the ever-changing body, which has been marked as vibrant, Black, and female, along with memories and representations of being female. As a result, Ruth Nicole wrote Black Girlhood Celebration in order to share her personal and political motivations of working with black girls within the community. A conversation that is not often articulated about due to a language barrier. In which this discussion accurately details a means to work with black girls in such a way that does not control their body or pilfer black female individuality. Under those circumstances, Brown believes that black girls are being exploited for their physique through the use of music and instructed to conform to white norms constructed by society.
In Ann Petry’s The Street, Lutie Johnson is an amicable African American woman as she navigates through a hard life of poverty and motherhood. With regards to Black Feminist Theory, Petry’s illustration of the fictional Lutie Johnson hits hard on the concept that there is an intersectional oppression regarding race and gender, and how this oppression simultaneously assaults both womanhood and racial identity. Furthermore, several characters and the neighborhood that Lutie moves into symbolizes the multiple oppressions against Lutie. African American writers such as Paula Giddings and Patricia Collins discuss the history and application of Black Feminism, which directly correlates to what Petry prescribes to her readers in The Street.
In Claudia Rankine’s piece “The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning”, she discusses how African American women, whom are mothers or are expecting, feel living in this country. Rankine asked one friend, “What’s it like being the mother of a black son”, and her response was, “The condition of black life is one of mourning”. This response shows that African Americans feel mourning all day everyday. They feel that there is no escape or way out, and just learn to live with constantly being aware of what is going on around you. These women worry on a regular basis not only about themselves, but the precious lives that they have brought into this world. Motherhood is supposed to be centered around happiness, joy, and just simply something that
The author expresses how black women are not the reason for black men’s experiences with racism, poverty, or oppression. That it is time to stop placing blame and taking responsibility for their own actions. Her feelings are that a plan should be made by black women and men to review these attacks on the communities and women in general. Mclune emphasizes that there is no excuse nor will she accept any excuses that black women should be degraded in this way. The author also welcomes the idea of refusing profit from this type of degradation with money and attention by those she refers to as thugs and self-proclaimed players. “As a black woman who views sexism as just as much the enemy of my people as racism, I can’t buy the apologies and excuses for
Feminist theory is a term that embraces a wide variety of approaches to the questions of a women’s place and power in culture and society. Two of the important practices in feminist critique are raising awareness of the ways in which women are oppressed, demonized, or marginalized, and discovering motifs of female awakenings. The Help is a story about how black females “helped” white women become “progressive” in the 1960’s. In my opinion, “The Help” I must admit that it exposes some of our deepest racial, gender, and class wounds as individuals and social groups, and that the story behind the story is a call to respect our wounds and mutual wounding so that healing may have a chance to begin and bring social injustice to an end. The relationship between Blacks and whites in this novel generally take on the tone of a kindly, God-fearing Jesus Christ-loving Black person, placidly letting blacks and whites work out their awkwardness regarding race and injustice. Eventually both the black and white women realize how similar they are after all, and come to the conclusion that racism is an action of the individual person, a conclusion mutually exclusive of racism as an institutionalized system that stands to demonize and oppress people based on the color of their skin and the location of their ancestry.
As the novel starts, Lutie is portrayed as a persistent and strong woman who can outdo whatever life throws at her. Although describing conditions of Harlem at the start of the novel is a way to get the attention of the reader and explain the plight of black women, Petry gains the sympathy of the readers. The characters in the novel do not have the luxury of free will and whatever conditions they are living in is a consequence of racism. She had applied for the nanny job only because the post did not have a “white only” label (Petry 31). This is clear indication that there were jobs for the white people and the blacks; however, it is most likely that the blacks are only wanted for mere jobs such as nannies or shining shoes, as Lutie’s son had
In the story, Like a Winding Sheet, author Ann Petry depicts a tale of a hard working man and his internal battle with anger, self-realization and the daily woes of being black in America. At the end of the story his wife, Mae Johnson, becomes the recipient of the anger Johnson has held so. close to him. Through symbolism, style, and mood, Petry allows the character to embrace the world around them, leaving me questioning the subject of violence, racial discrimination, and hate. Although Like a Winding Sheet is a short story, it bears witness to a generation of men, who during this time, had very little voice and power
In today’s advanced societies, many laws require men and women to be treated equally. However, in many aspects of life they are still in a subordinated position. Women often do not have equal wages as the men in the same areas; they are still referred to as the “more vulnerable” sex and are highly influenced by men. Choosing my Extended Essay topic I wanted to investigate novels that depict stories in which we can see how exposed women are to the will of men surrounding them. I believe that as being woman I can learn from the way these characters overcome their limitations and become independent, fully liberated from their barriers. When I first saw the movie “Precious” (based on Sapphire’s “Push”) I was shocked at how unprotected the heroine, Precious, is towards society. She is an African-American teenage girl who struggles with accepting herself and her past, but the cruel “unwritten laws” of her time constantly prevent her rise until she becomes the part of a community that will empower her to triumph over her barriers. “The Color Purple” is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker which tells the story of a black woman’s, Celie’s, striving for emancipation. (Whitted, 2004) These novels share a similar focus, the self-actualization of a multi-disadvantaged character who with the help of her surrounding will be able to triumph over her original status. In both “The Color Purple” and “Push”, the main characters are exposed to the desire of the men surrounding them, and are doubly vulnerable in society because not only are they women but they also belong to the African-American race, which embodies another barrier for them to emancipate in a world where the white race is still superior to, and more desired as theirs.
It is not until Celie is an adult that she finally feels content with her life and understands her capacity to be a completely autonomous woman. The concept of racial and gender equality has expanded greatly throughout the twentieth century, both in society and in literature. These changes influence Walker's writing, allowing her to create a novel that chronicles the development of a discriminated black woman. Her main character, Celie, progresses from oppression to self-sufficiency, thereby symbolizing the racial and gender advancements our country has achieved.