Throughout history, many have been oppressed because of their race, religion and gender, resulting them to lose their rights and freedom. Despite the fact that freedom is natural rights of a human being, it has come to a point where the oppressed demands and fights for their freedom because the oppressor does not give freedom willingly. Although human rights have evolved over the years, humans still fail to learn from their mistakes, resulting in history to repeat itself. Through storytelling and novels, people show depictions of history to honour those who have died and to educate younger generations to prevent unfortunate events from occurring again. As a result of this, Lawrence Hill and Alice Walker display oppression through abuse, …show more content…
It is clear that Celie’s father commits several forms of violence against her when she quotes, “he [Pa] never had a kine word to say to me… First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around… When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never get used to it.” (Walker, 1-2). As a results of this, Celie finds herself in situations where she has trouble identifying with her sexual orientation as well as, becoming numb to sex after repeated sexual abuse. Moreover, not only is he physically violent with her by raping her, but later on in the novel, one discovers that he sells Celie’s children away- just like Aminata’s children- causing her to face emotional damage as well. Moreover, Celie’s father does not respect her as a human being, for the fact that he calls her ugly and does not say anything kind to her, but he also forces her to keep quiet about the way he is treating her, thus dehumanizing her. All in all, numerous forms of abuse have severely crippled Aminata and Celie, displaying oppression caused by men in their daily lives. Secondly, structural inequality depicts oppression through the control of authority in both books. During the time periods of the two books, 1802 in The Book of Negroes and 1910 in The Colour Purple, the unfortunate significance of slavery and racial discrimination was common. In particular, Aminata is abducted by Toubab (white men) and sold into the
Celie practically struggled for happiness her whole existence. Her father sold her to a man who had no intent of loving or caring for her. Celies’ husband whom she refers to as Mr. physically and verbally abused her. Mr. felt that the only way to keep a woman in check was to beat her and he did just that throughout the movie. Like any woman would though the abuse Celie lost herself and respect for herself. Living with Mr. was a life full of darkness and hatred. Life with her husband was no better life than life with her stepfather. It took years for Celie to become brave enough to fight back for what she accept as true and gain understanding of how to convey amusement and have little outlook on life. After years of abuse, Celie no longer was afraid of Mr. She no longer cared for her husband or the
Her pa hits and rapes her repeatedly. She writes, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink”(Walker 5). Celie then writes,“I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them” (5). This goes to show how her father beats her over the littlest things, no matter what they are. This trend in her life, has made her petrified of all men. She looks at women, finding refuge in them, simply because they are kind to her. Not only does Celie’s pa beat her, her new husband, Mr. _____ does too. “He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t beat them. He say, Celie git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood” (23). He doesn’t beat the children, who definitely need a whooping, but he’ll beat Celie simply because “she’s his wife. Plus she stubborn. All women good for”(23). This shows that there is no real reason for all the abuse. It’s all because the men view her as their property, not as another human being. All this abuse causes Celie to believe that she’ll never be truly loved, or be able to love. She believes this until Shug Avery comes
In her essay "How it Feels to Be Colored Me", Zora Neale Hurston offers the reader an inspiring and positive stance on how she views America's brutal past of racism. She describes herself not even realizing she was colored until she had turned thirteen years old (1). She was born innocent like every other child as we can see when she says "During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived here." (2). With the use of vivid metaphors and colloquial language she expresses her project as showing the reader that it is possible to overcome the highly negative psychological effects of racism. Knowing the circumstances she was born into as a black female, and knowing the circumstances she lived through to write this essay in 1928, is astonishing.
People are often tricked into believing that they have control. Every decision and choice is an illusion of the control they think they have in their lives. Some succeed in experiencing a sense of accomplishment; some still crave more control. Some try to rule over other people by beating them into submission or forcing them against their own will. They believe they possess a dominance over certain people, like women and minorities. In the past, culture has encouraged domestic abuse, discrimination, and unfair treatment upon women and minorities. Throughout The Color Purple by Alice Walker, the African American characters endure the hardships created by Southern culture, and they discover how love for each other unites them against their circumstances.
Laurence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes, uses first-person narrator to depict the whole life of Aminata Diallo, beginning with Bayo, a small village in West Africa, abducting from her family at eleven years old. She witnessed the death of her parents with her own eyes when she was stolen. She was then sent to America and began her slave life. She went through a lot: she lost her children and was informed that her husband was dead. At last she gained freedom again and became an abolitionist against the slave trade. This book uses slave narrative as its genre to present a powerful woman’s life. She was a slave, yes, but she was also an abolitionist. She always held hope in the heart, she resist her dehumanization.
Zora Neale Hurston is the speaker of this article, who is a colored girl growing up in a small Negro town in Florida named Eatonville. When she moved to Jacksonville, she realized what it was actually like being a colored girl in the outside world. Nevertheless, she was really proud of her ethnicity and disregarded all criticism.
In The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, DuBois argues his point-of-view on racial tensions in the south during and after Reconstruction. DuBois was a key figure African-American historian and civil rights activist in his time leading and defending his fellows African-Americans. One of DuBois’s themes ranges on race relations developed after Reconstruction in the south. DuBois elaborates on the overwhelming divide between the white population and the black population in his chapter about race relations. DuBois lists how blacks have been crippled economically, socially, and politically by disfranchisement and the Jim Crow laws after reconstruction.
Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs are both prominent influential authors of the Reform Era. Both writers, who spring forth from similar backgrounds and unimaginable situations, place a spotlight on the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the lives of the African American slaves. After reading and analyzing both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; readers discover the horrifying truths that belong to the past in connection to slavery.
“Slavery.” The name comes about so many times in history. However, I did not truly comprehend the full extent of the term until I viewed the movie The Book of Negroes. What did I expect, based off of the title? I expected a historical documentary on slavery and the effects it had on military, politics, and economics. Instead a got a film about a girl who had to endure slavery from age eleven, when she was captured and her parents were killed before her own innocent eyes.
The Book of Negroes and A Boy Called Nam are two influential pieces of Canadian literature. Published in 2007, Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes is a historic fiction while A Boy Called Nam, written in 1984 by Leo Heaps, is based on a true story. The Book of Negroes chronicles the fictional life of Aminata Diallo from the time she is kidnapped from her West African village and sent to colonial America as a slave to her eventual journey to freedom. Conversely, A Boy Called Nam is about a ten-year-old Vietnamese refugee, his survival of the shipwrecking of his refugee boat, which kills everyone else on board, and his new life in Canada. To better understand the two literary works, a reader must examine the authors’ life in addition to the text.
Mary Churchill Terrell, a college educated African American, daughter of former slaves, and activist. Terrell, also known for great accomplishments such as being the first African American woman of Washington DC 's board of education, the first president of the national association of colored women, and her most memorable work, the delivery of her speech at the Washington 's women club, "What it means to be colored in the capital of the US." This speech is so iconic and memorable because Terrell speaks on the oppression that blacks dealt with during the time the Jim Crow law 's from a personal perspective, and also because she is a woman who at the time was considered the bottom of the social ladder. Her mission for this speech is admirable, she presents the realities a colored experience in Washington DC otherwise known as "the colored man 's paradise" she accomplished this with a strong use of diction, and a mixture of multiple rhetorical tools to address the problems of unrecognized racism.
The abuse that Celie suffers for so many years has changed her, making her into a submissive young woman who can’t stand up for herself, even when she is not at fault; “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church.
Celie and the women surrounding her struggle for bondage. Celie finds a bond with many females. Walker introduces the hint of Celie's sexual attraction to women in church. Afraid of men because of the cruel treatment by her father, Celie turns more and more towards the company of women, who represent love, warmth, and feelings of solidarity to her. Celie affirms her sexual identity in her relationship with Shug Avery. For now, it is manifested merely as what men cannot offer.
Celie is able to accept her past and establish a clear vision of herself and fulfillment through the acts of love. She meets other women who tell her that she should stand up for herself and fight, but Celie feels that it’s better to survive than to fight and risk not surviving. However, there are certain triggers that lead Celie to stand up. Like a true fighter, Celie proves herself to be willing to stand up for the people she loves. Even as a downtrodden victim of her Pa, Celie sacrifices herself and offers herself to her father so that he keeps his hands off of Nettie. As mentioned in this quote, where Pa is sexually abiding Celie, “First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. ” (Walker, 4). Celie has the potential by putting her efforts into other people, but not realizing she is able to stand up for herself the same ways he does for Nettie. Relating it back to the novel, “Beloved”, Sethe does the same representation when she is trying to save Beloved even though the idea is bizarre of her killing her own child, but she only does it so that she would not have to suffer the way Sethe did. Celie is introduced with Shug Avery a blues singer, who she was first found “rude”, but as the story moves along, Shug Avery becomes the reason Celie learns to love herself. Because Celie is finally opening herself up by loving someone, Celie becomes more lovable. Through Shug’s love, Celie begins to realize her own self-worth, from the minute when Shug Avery wrote a song for Celie, as said in this quote: “This song I'm bout to sing us call Miss. Celie's song.”(Walker, 73).By the end of the novel, Celie loves more
Because Celie seeks to protect her younger sister Nettie from being degraded by Pa, Pa frequently targets Celie to be the subject of his physical and sexual abuse. Pa constantly rapes Celie and eventually impregnates her twice. Pa also physically abuses Celie. In one letter, Celie references an incident where Pa punches her because she accidently winks at a boy in her church (12). On top of the physical and sexual abuse that Celie suffers from, Pa also verbally abuses her. He frequently tells Celie that she its ugly and unwanted. Eventually, Celie internalizes these words and begins to think view herself as though she is ugly and unwanted, so she believes that the things that happen to her must be normal. All of the abuse that Celie suffers from at the hands of Pa causes her to characterize all men as violent and