Oppression of women in Chester Himes's The Real Cool Killers

Real Cool Killers: Evaluating the Status of Women Through Chester Himes

The world of Chester Himes is wrought with violence and turmoil. The story behind The Real Cool Killers is a murder mystery, where African-American cops rule over Harlem to catch a murderous pack of thugs. Still, there is a lot more beneath the surface here. Chester Himes also presents a social commentary on the status of women at the time. In this commentary, he signifies how women were still struggling against their male oppressors, and that even though there are some clear gains being made here, they are in many ways still being oppressed and treated like sex objects more than anything else throughout the novel.

The Real Cool Killers is a pulp fiction type of novel with a set of anti-hero African-American police officers solving a senseless murder on the streets of Harlem. The pair of police is Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed,; together they make a formidable force that always seems to get their man. This is one of many novels featuring the detectives, and in many ways gives a sense of honor and cunningness to these African-American anti-heroes. Still, these men are not the typical heroes that one might expect. They go beyond the anti-hero of the noir genre. Grave Digger Jones is scarred, making him a menacing figure in a world full of violence. Himes writes that "violence surged in him like blood" (Himes 2011). He is not one to be messed with, and neither is his partner. When a group of African-American Muslim teens is implicated in the death of white man, racism and hypocrisy comes out in full force. Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed set off to find the killers who committed a senseless act of gratuitous violence. In the end, the two detectives leave a wake of bodies in their path, hunting down the teenage killers like a pack of dogs.

The purpose of this review sits amidst the racism and oppression of the African-American women of the story, however. Women are seen as being oppressed by both characters black and white, signifying the universal oppression of women that has kept females from finding any sense of equality within American society. Race has its boundaries. But male chauvinism seems to transcend racial boundaries, and is present in one way or another in all societies, much at the disadvantage of the women both in the book and in the real world. Women are featured in a very dark light, with prostitution and ignorance seeming to make up how Himes characterizes most of them. Himes himself tends to echo a chauvinist tone throughout the novel. When he describes Richardson's injuries he writes "he would never look the same, however, and should his teenage whore ever see him again she wouldn't recognize him" (Himes 2011). There is also a sense that the African-American women seem to be even more objectified in the eyes of white men. For example, right before the white man gets killed, he is in the bar and an African-American woman is dancing for him in a way that signifies her as a sex object. Himes writes "the colored woman seemed to be dancing for his exclusive entertainment. A slight flush spread over his sallow face" (Homes 2011). This plays into the racism of the day as well. African-American women are exploited by white men, but also by African-American men. Women are sex objects whose fate is even more ominous because of their status as a sex object to both races.

Another clear example of women being oppressed as sex objects are seen in the cases of SUgartit and Sissie. Just in their nicknames, it is clear what their position could be within society if they are nit clearly corrected. Interestingly enough, Sugartit and Sissy are much more progressive in their status within society. They smoke without worry about how it will look to the men around them. Still, Sugartit is still in the grips of being seen as a sex object by the men around her. After the cops leave Granny's house, Sheik demands her to strip tease for him, which she does, much to the dismay of Sissie.

Sheik tells her "Come on, baby, strip" and she does (Himes 2011). Sugartit and Sissie are later the objects of a hostage situation, where Sheik threatens Sugartit in order to get the police off of his back. However, her family -- Coffin Ed -- comes to her rescue and saves her from being violated. In many ways, this is a savoir of an entire generation. Yet, it is at the hands of a man, and not Sugartit herself. Coffin Ed pulls her out of the situation, potentially ending her oppression; but, at the same time that is not necessarily genuine because it was initiated by a man and not on her own accord.

Women are also portrayed as having very little education which would raise them above this sex object status. For example, Granny had little education and little ways of providing for herself. At the age of around one hundred, she was born in the years if slavery, and so she herself could not even tell exactly how old she was. Even her name was given to her by her old slave mistress and represented the boll weevil. Yet, Granny seems to be one of the strongest women presented in the work. Her ignorance and lack of understanding thus forces her into a position where she could possibly continue to be oppressed. Granny had no savings when she died. She remained, in many ways the image of a woman who was unable to fend for herself. Even in her death, there was no money to giver her a "decent Christian burial," and with no life insurance or savings, it was up to the charity of her church to "defray the costs" (Himes 2011). She was often powerless to the authority figures around her, both male and white. When she was questioned by police, Himes recalls her reaction in a very sympathetic way, showing her submissiveness; "her old milky eyes held a terrified question she couldn't ask and her thin old body began to tremble" (Himes 2011). She has faith in her great grand son and her boarders, even though they clearly have trouble on their minds. She defends the young murderers living under her roof, even though she is completely ignorant of the crime they had committed. In this sense, her ignorance continues to place her at a disadvantage.