Kristina Nungaray

Fall 2012 Midterm

Web Review

African American Women as a Double Minority

            When selecting previous web submissions to review, I chose to explore the African American woman’s status as a double minority. It seems to me that while it is a heavy cross to bear, it is a powerful role to have with implications. For example, in Song of Solomon, it was suggested by Guitar that a colored girl relies on the women in her family and community to “give her the strength life demanded of her – and the humor with which to live with it” (307). Therefore, while African American women serve as pillars of strength and guidance to subsequent generations, they can also be an integral source of change and empowerment. I chose to read web submissions on the double minority status of African American women to further explore the implications associated with this role.

Laura Moseley (Spring 2010)

            While exploring the African American woman’s status of double minority, Laura Moseley examines the “plight of inequality” present in African American literature, using Harriet Jacobs (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl), Pilate and First Corinthians (Song of Solomon), and I (Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise) as examples.

            What Ms. Moseley does differently in her essay is provide an examination of the African American double minority during slavery and post-slavery as she elaborates on a common pressure in both: the obligation to family.  This is a point of interest because it is typically the case that the interruption of maternal bond is a consequence of double minority status. However, Ms. Moseley provides examples in which Linda is fearful of her grandmother finding out her condition with Dr. Flint and her pregnancy because she did not want to disappoint her or cause her shame. She discusses the plight of First Corinthians in which she cannot see the man she loves, arguing that, “she is trapped in a house where she has no control over her life, this control is the result of an oppressive black man who just happens to be her father.” I agree with Ms. Moseley that it seems that familial obligation can serve as a form of oppression for a black woman, but I think that Ms. Moseley could have expanded on her argument. For example, she could discuss the duty that sometimes accompanies an African American female with familial obligation such as Guitar Bains’ grandmother who had no choice but to stay and watch her grandchildren in their mother’s absence or Ryna in the tale of Solomon and Ryna in which she was left to care for the children after his departure. It shows a trend in which men are free to leave while women have the duty to stay.

            Ms. Mosley also does a good job showing how an African American woman can be both the victim of oppression by a black male, and the victim of white racism. I agree that Corinthian’s job search after graduation is an illustration of white racism. Despite the setbacks of African American women, she uses the I in Maya Angelou’s poem as a guide to empowerment. I agree that such a poem shows how we can “derive empowerment of the past” in order to build a future of stronger more confident females.

Jennifer Jones (Fall 2007)

            Jennifer Jones specifically examines victimization of African America women citing similar examples to the previous post. However, Jennifer introduces two important concepts of African American women: the extreme consequences of victimization and women victimizing women. Drawing juxtaposition between Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, she provides an example of how systems of victimization have resulted in extreme consequences. Drawing a line from a time in which women were deprived of their maternal nature (i.e. Frederick Douglass’s relationship with his mother), she fast forwards to Walker’s novel and shows Shug Avery’s lack of maternal instinct. On the other side of the spectrum, she looks at Ruth’s obsessive maternal love in Song of Solomon. She argues that “there is no happy medium in African American literature.” While I feel like her argument is an important one, I do not feel like it is entirely correct. I think that the character of Pilate Dead in Song of Solomon proves that a happy medium can exist in African American literature, and necessarily so. In a novel where there are so many females struggling, Pilate serves as a woman who loves completely and fearlessly and lives a successful life despite her double minority status. I think this type of character created in literature serves the purpose to empower readers, and show that there can be a sense of balance in the lives of African American women.

            The concept of women victimizing women is one of interest as well, because it is not often that we think of women attacking women, but rather as guides for their peers and the next generation of women. She provides an example from The Color Purple in which when asked what to do with his troublesome wife, Celie tells her stepson to simply beat her. I feel like this is an interesting argument and one that is often not discussed. It could have been explored further. Ms. Jones’ main argument suggests that the victimization of women is singly the result of a history of slavery; however, discussion of how it continues to be perpetuated in African American literature should be explored as well.

Jennifer Huebenthal (Spring 2010)

            Jennifer Huebenthal surveys different texts to provide examples of the African American woman’s role as double minority while she examines the “struggle of a minority woman to live in a man’s world.” She discusses the difficulties that Harriet Jacob’s endured during slavery, such as the unwanted advances or her master, resentful mistress, and the risk of losing her children. While Ms. Huebenthal acknowledges the struggle of African American women, she places a greater emphasis on the end result of that struggle. She discusses Harriet Jacob’s difficult but eventual escape to freedom, Pilate’s fight for survival from birth, and reflects on Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise.

            I enjoyed her interpretation of Maya Angelou’s poem in which she argues that it “speaks of how valuable a woman is to society and how her value can be compared to the richest resources available to man.” This view doesn’t necessarily look at the African American woman’s struggle or her overcoming obstacles, but her worth. This is a very positive thing, because placing a high value on one’s self-worth can motivate that person to strive for something better, such as better treatment. I think it is important to acknowledge both the struggle of these women as well as their successes because it can serve as a form of empowerment for any racial minority as well as any woman, regardless of their race.

Essay

Finding Freedom: The Role of the African American Dream in Liberation

            The American Dream that is widely spoken of, and is often sought after by immigrants is one in which individuals typically strive for financial success. This success secures a better and brighter future for subsequent generations. The American Dream typically involves active participation. One chooses to strive for it. It also requires neglecting the past in order to move forward in the future, thus resulting in a concentration on an individual family rather than the community as a whole. Incidentally, the African American Dream (“The Dream”) strives for a different type of success in which there may be financial reward or social advancement, but most certainly freedom. One strong difference is the African American Dream’s emphasis on overcoming setbacks. Contrary to the American Dream, “The Dream” does not neglect the past, but rather accepts it and learns from it in order to move on. There is a greater emphasis on community, and the preservation of group dignity.

            Elements of the African American Dream are present in Martin Luther King Jr.’s ever famous “Dream Speech.” He declared to his community and to the White community alike that he, the Negro, was still not free, but rather “sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (Selections from Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech). In his speech, he spoke on the behalf of his community in order to gain freedom, opportunity, equal rights and justice. He discussed overcoming setbacks, when he said, “that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream” (Selections from Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech). This sentiment illustrates a key element of the African American Dream in which people overcome impediments in order to keep striving. He also urges nonviolence among his own community members, assuring them that acts of wrongdoing are not the way to achieve the dream. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream culminates in freedom for all, not just African Americans. The values that comprise “The Dream” serve as variables that are integral to the African American gaining freedom. In slave narratives, as the ones written by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, striving for the dream culminates in physical and literal freedom, For Milkman Dead in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, it does not result in freedom of a slave, but total mental liberation.

            The sentiments expressed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech were present long before he delivered his powerful message. In Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, he strives for “The Dream.” He constantly seeks to improve his situation. For example, after his mistress, Mrs. Auld, refused to continue to teach him how to read, he overcame the hindrance and continued to seek reading and writing instruction from young white boys. He intentionally dedicated himself to learning how to read because he realized that educating himself was a step from slavery to freedom because regarding his master, “That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me [Douglass] a great good” (20). Douglass not only taught himself how to read but dedicated himself to teaching other fellow slaves how to read and spreading word of the abolitionist movement. He did not embark on his quest for liberation alone, but rather shared it with his improvised family of fellow slaves in the hopes that they could all gain freedom. Characteristic of “The Dream,” Douglass also regards elements of the past in order to move forward. While it is not such a distant past, he often regards the heinous treatment of previous slaves, and the act of injustice towards his grandmother as an impetus to achieve “The Dream.” He planned to achieve freedom in conjunction with his fellow slaves and like Dr. King, Douglass was “not willing to cherish this determination alone” (45). Even when the group was caught, Douglass did not wish to abandon his fellow slaves, they were a group that “resolved to succeed or fail together” (49). He finally escapes slavery successfully and even upon writing his slave narrative admits that he had a lot of help, but chooses to protect the individual involved because he still looks after his group. His desire for freedom, dedications to his makeshift slave family, and the ability to rise up over physical and psychological blows, are all characteristic of “The Dream” and provides proof that striving for the dream can lead to a freedom quite literally. Once a free man, Douglass had trouble finding employment from the White man, an example of yet another setback, and proof that when pursuing “The Dream,” there is always something left to strive for.

            Harriet Jacob’s slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of the Slave Girl illustrates a similar pursuit of “The Dream.” It is important to mention that the act of writing and publishing such slave narratives are ways in which these liberated slaves are pursuing “The Dream.” Harriet Jacob’s writes her narrative with the desperate plea to “arouse women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South” (2). While she has been freed from her slavery shackles, she still wishes to leave no one behind. And similar to Dr. King, she wants freedom for all, not just herself. Slavery was no doubt a corrupt system; however, such a system did not stop Jacob’s grandmother from engaging in her midnight baking sessions in order to earn enough money to buy some of her children’s freedom. She was constantly striving for freedom, and if she could not be free, she at least had hopes that her children could be. Jacobs also had children. After several obstacles, Jacob’s escapes to a freedom of hiding out in a tiny cramped space plagued by bugs and little air, all in the hopes of reuniting with her children who could not be made aware of their mother’s presence. She eventually got what she strived so hard for, freedom. Her steadfastness and drive to overcome obstacle after brutal obstacle is characteristic of “The Dream” and allowed her physical liberation. Harriet Jacobs also illustrates that pursuit of “The Dream” is never quite complete because upon gaining freedom she asserts that, “The dream of my life is not yet realized” (31).

            Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon occurs after the slavery time period, but further explores how striving for “The Dream” can serve as a guide to total liberation, a type of freedom that extends beyond the physical. Morrison does this by utilizing the characters Macon Dead, and Guitar Bains as examples of the consequences from not following “The Dream.” For example, Macon Dead, although industrious and hard-working, places a greater emphasis on gaining material goods and monetary advantage than acknowledging and caring for his community. Rather he creates a divide between his family and their fellow African Americans. Being the property owner of several houses that are rented to community members, Macon has the power to help a fellow African American in need or forsake them. With an eye only on financial gain, he turns out Mrs. Bains, Guitar Bains’ grandmother, and all of her grandchildren, refusing to provide them leniency on their rent. It causes Mrs. Bains to wearily say, “A nigger is business is a terrible thing to see” (22). His drive for financial success results in a lack of compassion for his people and ultimately isolates him from his community. This is the antithesis of “The Dream” in which, collectively, the group looks out for each other. This inability to follow “The Dream” imprisons Macon Dead, and he is always is a state of desire and never satiated. This is different from “The Dream”’s notion of always having something to strive for. Macon is already more than stable and successful financially, but he constantly chooses to prioritize material over people and hungers for it in excess. He tries to pass these views down to his son Milkman, urging him to “Own things. And let the things you own own other things. Then you’ll own yourself and other people too” (55). The relationship that Macon describes between people and property is similar to slave-owners and slaves, and defies “The Dream,” which strives for equality for all. The consequence for this is misery. Macon lives a miserly, miserable life in which the only thing he has to strive for is even more financial success. Despite the fact that he has more than enough money, he pleads with his son to commit a crime and steal Pilate’s suspected gold, because in Macon’s anti-Dream prison, there can never be peace, because there can never be enough.

            In the novel, Guitar Bains also plays an antagonist that is not in the correct pursuit of “The Dream” Guitar is rebellious against authority, always spurned by the unjust. He is introduced in the novel as Milkman’s hero from bullies, best friend, and in the deepest sense like a brother. Eventually he becomes a member of The Day society and plays the role of vigilante. In Dr. King’s speech, he urges members of the African American community to remain free of wrongdoing, and that they “must not allow their [our] creative protest to degenerate into physical violence” (Selections from Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech). Although Morrison’s novel takes place at a time before Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Guitar’s transition from a boy who was once displaced from his house by Macon Dead to a violent vigilante, to a man who would target members of his own community, illustrates the need for a violent-free dream. Earlier in the novel, Guitar reminisces about killing a doe, and it made him feel terrible, saying, “A man shouldn’t do that” (85). After becoming part of the Days, Guitar becomes consumed with violence, much like Macon’s obsession with money. Every time an African American person is murdered by a White person, the Days exact revenge. Milkman finds this exact revenge problematic, as the Days kills innocent victims and do not hesitate to rape or kill children. In Dr. King’s Dream Speech, such acts of violence are certainly not justifiable as he urges his community to “rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force” (Selections from Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech). Morrison shows how this violence progresses into a slippery slope in which a black man can eventually attempt to murder his best friend. He operates under the assumption that he is doing it out of love for his people and warns Milkman early that “The cards are stacked against us and just trying to stay in the game, stay alive and stay in the game, makes us do funny things” (87). Guitar’s need for revenge is never satiated because African Americans continue to be murdered by White individuals and even groups. He places such a heavy emphasis on this group that he tries to kill Milkman for his supposed betrayal. Pursuit of “The Dream” is striving for freedom. However, Morrison shows that striving for freedom and equality through violence is not liberating at all, but rather another form of prison because violence has and always will continue to exist. Rather, it serves as a catalyst for Guitar, the man who was ashamed of killing a doe, to betray his community and kill members of his African American family.

            Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the concept of the Negro who “finds himself in exile in his own land” (Selections from Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech). Milkman Dead is a shining example of this. He is almost like an other rather than a member of the community. Milkman, Macon Dead’s only son, is born almost into a state of exile. For much of his life he is in a realm of in- between. He does not fully adopt nor agree with his father’s materialistic drive, and although he and Guitar are best friends, he is often the butt of Guitar’s jokes. He also begins to grow distant from Guitar once his violent tendencies become more secretive and more of an obsession. He becomes a prominent womanizer, but finds no satisfaction with such activity. For much of his life he is bored but restless at the same time. This is because Milkman strives for nothing. He does not strive for the American Dream nor “The Dream.” This apathy serves as a form of imprisonment to Milkman, who lives much of his life as a blank canvas with no story. One night while looking into the mirror, he notices that his face “lacked a coherence, a coming together of the features into a total self” (69).

            Pilate Dead is quite the opposite of her male counterparts. She places little emphasis on money, no emphasis on violence, and a great emphasis on love. From an infant she strives just to survive, and essentially births herself from her dead mother’s body. She also strives to survive alone after the death of her father. She lives her life with constant acknowledgement to her past. Her past literally guides her as her dead father remains by her side. She helps her fellow community members and loves unconditionally. For example, after seeing the pain in Ruth’s face, she provides Ruth with the steps to regain temporary intimacy with Macon and to become impregnated with and successfully have Milkman. After being betrayed by Milkman and Guitar, Pilate degrades herself to a position in which she is stereotypically and racially vulnerable in an attempt to get them out of jail. Her love is wide, unfailing, and cannot understand why anyone would not embrace members of their community. When Hagar was crying about Milkman’s disdain for her hair, she describes his affection wavy copper colored hair, hair that was not natural. Pilate comforts her saying, “How can he not love your hair? It’s the same hair that grow out of his own armpits” (315). It is true that Hagar and Milkman are related but Pilate’s argument extends to the entire African American community. She asks, “How can he love himself and hate your hair?” (315). Pilate lives her life in conjunction with the values set forth in “The Dream” and is therefore totally liberated.

            The characters of Macon Dead and Guitar are pivotal in Milkman’s transition from restless youth to liberated man. In a sense they are both an obstacle that he must overcome, and consistent with “The Dream,” he needs to rise despite them. They show him what he doesn’t want to strive for, what isn’t important, and in the case of Guitar, his first real sense of heartbreak. The pressures placed upon Milkman from these two men, motivates him to go out on his own to find the gold that was left behind in the cave. On his journey he is fed pieces of his past and realizes he is hungry to know his ancestral past. He sheds material possessions (i.e. three piece suit, his watch, money) in order to gain his true identity. He sheds his devotion to Guitar on that trip as well, as Guitar tries to kill him. He faces his ancestral past, and learns from it. This is an important concept in “The Dream,” and Milkman uses his knowledge of the past to become a better man. He even stands up straight, where one of his legs had been shorter than the other before. He uses this new found love for his family and community to reminisce on his relationship with his mother and Pilate. He even regrets his treatment of Hagar, and keeps a lock of her hair. Pilate also serves as his guide. She teaches him how to love, and upon her death he comes to the realization that “without ever leaving the ground, she [Pilate] could fly” (336). After his transformation, and his adoption of standards consistent with “The Dream” and rejecting others that are not, Milkman becomes free, and finds a sense of peace. Even during the book’s final conflict there is a calmness and fearlessness as Milkman takes flight.

            Martin Luther King Jr. discussed a dream in which there would be freedom for all. The African American Dream is one in which there is a group identity that supports each other and promotes the betterment of their race as a whole. Making peace with the past, and learning from it, overcoming setbacks, and striving for a more just life for yourself as well as the entire community facilitates freedom. For slaves like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs it allows literal freedom from slavery. In Toni Morrison’s novel it allows a higher form of liberation for Milkman and Pilate, while bearing consequences on Guitar and Macon as they choose alternate dreams to follow. Dr. King spoke of freedom, and it is a type of freedom that cannot be attained without these characteristics in place. However, in reading these works, it is uplifting to know that when there is pursuit of “The Dream,” freedom often follows.

Research Plan

The Worry Doll: The Role of Folklore and Superstition in the Lives of Mexican-American Women [working title]

            Prior to taking this course, I was familiar with some texts written by Mexican-American authors but not many. I was even less familiar with African American literature, more specifically, slave narratives. Upon reading some of the assigned texts for the class I realized that folklore and superstitious beliefs play an integral role in the African American culture. For example, in Fredrick Douglass’s narrative, it was not until Sandy Jenkins provided Douglass with a special root that he was finally able to resist the blows from his master. In Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead’s journey is a loose parallel of the folktale of the flying Africans, in which his flight is not to escape back to Africa, but to escape the regimented thoughts and beliefs in order to adopt a different mindset about his African American community. Therefore, it also seems that folklore and superstition carries the power to transform.

            Mexican American culture is also rich with folklore and superstition. There are myths about ghosts, people coming back from the dead to leave messages for their loved ones (a lot like Pilate’s father in Song of Solomon), and the evil eye. Also numerous are the superstitious practices in Mexican American culture such as sleeping with a worry doll under one’s pillow or rubbing an egg on a child while praying away the curse of the evil eye. There exists the presence of this type of folklore and superstitions in several Mexican American texts. For example, in Sandra Cisneros’s novel Caramelo and the memoir by Alberto Alvaro Rios entitled Capirotada: A Nogales Memoir, the authors use certain superstitions and folktales as symbols that illustrate the power of community, shared cultural beliefs, and their power to transform.

            My research plan is to utilize elements of Mexican American folklore and superstition in order to write a short creative fiction piece that centers around three generations of women, at various moments in their lives. One predominant folktale that will guide this story is the Lechuza myth (an evil witch that can transform into an owl), and the superstition that will also be used symbolically for the three women is that of the Mexican worry dolls. Consistent with both African American and Mexican American literature, I want to capture both old (born in Mexico but immigrated to America) and young voices (born in America), and use folk tales and superstition as a guide for the discovery of self-identity and character transformation. In this short story, I hope to use these elements to create a character that illustrates the importance of looking to their ancestral past in order to have a complete future. My learning commentary will focus on the role of folklore and superstition in the Mexican American community, specifically how it can be used as a guide for transformation.