Audre Lorde Hurston Double Consciousness Analysis

According to W.E.B. DuBois, “double consciousness” is the “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring ones soul by a tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (DuBois 5). In other words, it is the self that a person views themselves as, compared to the self that comes from the outside perspective, where the person viewing it believes more in the outside view. This idea connects to gender stereotypes, how women cannot see themselves as equal in society because they are often portrayed as being voiceless, lonely, or dependent on men. Despite such stereotypical views that separate women from men, Audre Lorde “challenges her feminist community to deliver a collective voice ale to attend

After the death of Joe Starks, as he dies not only from kidney failure but also from Janie annihilating his pride and masculinity, Janie feels a sense of freedom and happiness. This is evident in the story when Janie is not crying at her late husband’s funeral, “…nor did the things of death reach inside to disturb her calm…herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world” (Hurston 88). Janie feels a sense of empowerment because there is no man in her life to control her voice and movement. This is the beginning of her new life, feeling a sense of accomplishment of voicing against male’s social standards, since “sisterhood are perceived as impossible because they exclude those who do not inhabit the current center of feminism” (Norman 131). Brian Norman elicits that feminist power ends inequality. It takes practice and work to escape bias and “double-consciousness.” Janie becomes a feminist by speaking up to Joe Starks at the store in front of the townspeople, which breaks male’s social standards Now, the men in her town no longer have the “double-consciousness” lenses on Janie because society no longer perceives her as voiceless, lonely, or dependent on men. Janie made all the men see women in the same way Janie sees women as,

Tea Cake is much younger than Janie but is very respectable, less controlling, and promotes equality, unlike Joe Starks. This is evident in the story when Tea Cake offers Janie the opportunity to work with him in the field in exchange for his service cooking dinner at home. “‘After dis, you betta come git uh job uh work out dere...So Ah won’t be losin’ time comin’ home’…It got the whole field to playing off and on. Then Tea Cake would help get supper afterwards…Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to” (Hurston 133-134). Tea Cake represents the men in society that do not allow society’s standards to oppose women because they believe in equality. As a result, Janie even has more freedom just by being married to a man who believes in equality of both genders. She can mix the men at work, speak her mind, and have fun without being judged by her husband. In terms of gender stereotypes, the idea of “double-consciousness” does not exist in Tea Cake and Janie’s type of relationship because each sees nothing wrong in performing opposite gender roles. “To aspirational visions of national belonging…this move may jeopardize visions of full equality for all if they reside in the particular of identity” (Norman 117). Brian Norman’s idea supports Tea Cake’s vision of equality because he wants Janie to join him in