African-American Authors Have Been Essential to Elucidation

African-American authors have been essential to elucidation of the race and gender issues that face Blacks living in America. In particular, Black female authors have confronted the woes of societal stereotypes and idiosyncrasies that reflect life in America for people of color. The intention of this discussion is to examine how women writers analyze the race, class, and gender discrimination that black women have often faced. We will examine the works The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison.

Alice Walker

First let's examine The Color Purple which was published in 1982 and subsequently became an academy award nominated screenplay. There are several aspects of the novel that explore race, class and gender. The novel is narrated by a character named Celie. The primary theme of this novel has to do with plight of Celie and explores the manner in which women are treated by the men that are supposed to love them.

During Celie's life she was raped by her step father and physically abused by her husband. Walker illustrates how such abuse can have a damaging effect on the human mind. The abuse that Celie endures has an impact on the way that she views herself and the way she believes a man should treat a woman

In this novel Celie thought that she was powerless because she was an uneducated woman that was dependent upon her husband. This is a notion that has existed from the beginning of time and Walker illustrates how this ideology can cost a woman her dignity. Ultimately, with the help of Shug, Celie begins to understand her worth and leaves her abusive husband.

Walker's novel also explores gender roles. Celie was relegated to performing all of the domestic chores and tending the children and she was also forced to tend the fields.

On the other hand, her husband simply "ruled" the home and Celie was forced to do whatever he said. Walker also represents women in the novel that are strong and independent like Shug and Sophia. Shug and Sophia would not allow men to abuse them and they understood their value as women. The strength of these two women also aid Celie in liberating herself from the bondage of an abusive husband.

In addition to the gender issues that Walker explores in The Color Purple she also explores the issue of class. The setting of The Color Purple takes place in the segregated south during a time when few Blacks were educated. The lack of education that Celie has is made evident when she states, "I don't know where England at. Don't know where Africa at either." (Walker) Obviously Celie had very little education, could not read very well and had never traveled very far from her home.

The issue of race in The Color Purple is much more subtle than the issues of class and gender. The main incident in the novel that deals with race is when Sophia gets in an argument with the mayors wife. Sophia is offended when the mayor's wife asks her children if they want to be her maids. The mayor is angered at the way that Sophia is speaking to his wife and hits Sophia. When Sophia hits him back she is carted off to jail and is forced to leave her children. Sophia was a black woman who hit a white man and the racist police almost beat Sophia to death because of her actions.

Indeed, instead of focusing so much on race in this novel Walker chooses to concentrate on the dynamics of a black family living in the south. In doing this she uncovers notions of class and gender within that community. Uncovering these notions has made Walker a literary legend and aided people in understanding the plight of an uneducated abused woman.

Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye also explores the internal conflicts of a young black woman named Pecola Breedlove. The narrator of this short novel is also a black woman named Claudia Mateer. The novel focuses on the way black girls view themselves in a predominantly white society.

Morrison story begins in the fall of 1939. One critic notes that choosing 1939 as the beginning of the novel is very important to understanding the underlying current of the story. The critic writes,

Autumn of 1939, as the starting point for the novel's events, is a significant choice. The European part of World War II had just begun full force, and Morrison is implicitly using the Nazi regime as a distant background to the novel's events. Americans of 1939 treasure blonde hair and blue eyes in both dolls and little girls, but these features are also reflections of the Aryan ideal. Additionally, the cup that bears Shirley Temple's image is blue and white, both racially marked colors for the eyes and skin of the Aryan ideal. By drawing this connection, Morrison imbues the American standard of beauty with connotations of violence and genocide."(ClassicNote on "The Bluest Eye")

Pecola tended to believe that only girls with blonde hair and blue eyes were beautiful and that her black skin was ugly. Pecola even prayed that God would give her blue eyes -- she felt that having blue eyes would make people love her more. Much of her discontent was due to the fact that she had been taken away from her family because of an abusive father. Like Celie, Pecola was also raped and impregnated with her father's child. Morrison and Walker illustrate the impact of an abusive father on the mind of a young woman. In Pecola's case self loathing became her vice and eventually drove her to lunacy.

Morrison also demonstrates the impact that good parenting has on the mind of a young woman with the character Claudia. Claudia's family was relatively "normal" compared to Pecola's family.

Claudia despised the notion that only white girls were beautiful. Claudia even went so far as to destroy white baby dolls because she felt that they were being idolized.

Pecola's obsession with her appearance is a conflict that many black women feel even in the year 2003. Black women often seek to "assimilate" to the White standards of beauty. Black women frequently straighten their hair, wear contacts that make their eyes lighter and some go so far as to bleach their skin to make it look white. Our society still esteems the blonde haired-- blue eyed --thin girl-- as the classic American beauty. This is a sad state of affairs because America is such a diverse country that there shouldn't be just one standard of beauty.