Female Life Passages in Rebecca

female life passages in Rebecca Walkers Black, White, & Jewish

The purpose of the present paper is to discuss Rebecca Walker's book "Black, White and Jewish, the coming age of a shifting self." The main theme that we will de analyzing is represented by female life passages such as the chronological one from infancy to maturity, the passage from one cultural environment to the other, bisexuality and the white hegemony.

Right from the beginning and just as the title suggests it we might consider the book a Bildungsroman, in the sense that it deals with many life passages which one can not avoid in order to reach a state of maturity and balance with the self. The three adjectives which she uses in the title are three important coordinates which shape her identity. One of her parents was Jewish, the other one was black. Therefore she considers herself as black, white and Jewish at the same time. The fact that the book is autobiographic and therefore benefits from strong insight makes a strong impression about the reader who trusts the narrator completely.

The title is striking and draws the attention to the fact that the contemporary society is almost obsessed with race. Despite being known that people are all alike, despite of their colour or religion and that race is rather a social construct, people are still put into categories and based upon criteria which have nothing to do with their "self." The problematic status of the woman under discussion derives from the fact that she is not only black and Jewish through her origins, but also white. Therefore all the representatives of the cultures which we can find behind the black, white or Jewish label would be rejecting themselves if they failed to accept her.

One of the passage that she describes is the one of age. At the beginning we see through her curious eyes as a child and in the end we are given insight to the perspective of a mature person. Race is always the main source of conflict although as she grows older it creates a constantly rising pressure. When in the "white" cultural environment she has to deal with the doubts of people who distrust and blame her black origins. When in the "black" cultural environment she is blamed that she is not black enough. In addition, the Jewish part of her family seems to believe that she does not belong to them, having a hard time to understand her and to perceive her true identity: "I wear a mask of belonging because this is what I am supposed to do" (Walker,2000).

While the chronological passage is important so is the one which takes place when her parents divorce. From that point on she will have to lead a sort of a double life, moving constantly from a parent to another, from a geographical region to another. This impacts her identity in a strong manner. Moving from the east coast to the west one every two years she comes in close contact with values coming from different cultural environments.

It is interesting to notice how the passage from a white-based home to a black based one shape her sense of identity. The pressure that these environment put on her make her feel out of place but she can not satisfy the needs and demands of the people who surround her. We see her feel out of place, stressed because she can not feel something else than an outsider. Instead of focusing on herself, in the early years she focuses on the pressures of the environment, constantly failing to satisfy them: "behind the mask lurks a far more mutilating truth: I am not fit, there is something wrong with me." (Walker, 2000)

A very deep point that Walker makes regards the mechanism through which social roles are constructed. She argues that not only gender will play a decisive role in the figure of the social persona that one will construct for himself, but also race. People expect something from a white girl and something completely different from a black one. It is generally thought that a white girl can become a successful ballerina, while a black one can not because of the manner in which her body is shaped according to "black" rules of genetics. This is not only stupid, but highly unjust as well.

Reading between the lines we understand a further conclusion of the author, that according to which even in the contemporary society an attitude based upon race blindness is impossible. Her story demonstrates the weight that race can have upon the construction of the social identity especially in the case of a woman with black origins. From a certain point-of-view she represents her life as being under the sign of tragedy.

Facts and fiction are mixed in a manner which will cause a strong emotional response in the reader. Despite the fact that she could have made a point about the unfairness of the situation, presenting herself as a successful person using with high efficacy the resources obtained from being born in an mixed race family, she chooses to position herself as a tragic mulatto.

The fact that as a child she had to change her environment every two years and alternate between the black and the white family allow the readers to have access to the double life of the same individual. It is as if for two years the character leads the life of a white person and for another two the life of a black one. If this can be confusing for the reader, the author implies that for the actual person living it, it becomes tragic.

Oscillating between these two identities she suggests that her role would be the one of a translator between races: "being black and white is better than being just one thing" (Walker,2000). There is supposed to be an overt opposition between the black and the white. She is perceived not as a reunion of the two, a harmonious balance between the two. On the contrary she seems to be a sort of incarnation of conflict. Everywhere she goes people want to see what she is not. The drama of the character derives from the fact that she must be not what who she wants to be, but rather what the others expect her to be.

Her goal would be to help people and society in general reach a state of reciprocal understanding which allows for colour-blindness in the approach to everyday life. This seems to be impossible and the source of the problem is the character herself. In order to be able to go beyond race one must be able to relate to people as if it did not matter. Unfortunately the character does not succeed in doing that. The manner in which she behaves demonstrates that the social pressures connected with the race issues are too strong and that a mulatto is most likely to snap than impose herself in front of the others.

The dramatic dimension derives also from the failure of the colour-blindness ideology. But this failure is not to be blamed entirely upon society. The character could trust herself and try to impose her values upon the others, regardless of the part of the family or society where she finds herself at. What she actually does is try to please everybody, losing all sense of identity under the pressure and remaining in a disastrous state of "in-between.

The problem is supported by the physical appearance. Her body is what causes people to react to the different races which are to be found in her origins. One of the reasons for which she undergoes a constant passage from feeling black to feeling white to not knowing who she is, is the reaction of intolerance which she encounters everywhere she goes. Through this the author suggests that society puts such pressure upon the people coming from mixed families that it is impossible for them to act as a bridge between cultures and "races."

Another important passage is the sexual one. The character is bisexual. Just like she can not decide who she is from a racial point-of-view, because of the shifting manner in which she lives, she is also incapable of deciding for a single sexuality for herself. from this point-of-view we can judge her self as being in a continuous passage.

Once again we will be allowed to deal with two perspectives. One regards the sexual white woman while the other is concerned with the sexuality of the black one. The fact that the character is bisexual makes the things even more complicated. Straight would be coupled with whiteness and the white superiority. But since is attracted to women, could that be blamed on her black origins which suggest carnality and uncontrollable sensuality? Or is it that we have to blame it on the decay of the white race through the contamination of the blood? While these questions might sound absurd, what Walker tries to tell us is that factual reality will influence people's lives dramatically based upon the colour of their skin.

The fact that she gives up on the name that recalls her Jewish origins is considered to be a proof of her own anti-Semitism. It is very obvious that it is right from within the family that she receives the greatest pressure. This is the only clear act which she makes in order to better define her identity. She declares that she does not feel Jewish and this is how she motivates her act. This was also the easiest if not the only choice that she could do. Otherwise the colour of her skin remained what it was, constantly reminding her and everyone else about her mixed origins.