Violence against Women in Literature
At this point in the semester, we've just started our fourth book of the class. We have a large enough frame of reference by now to go in depth and compare the books to each other, and I discovered something troubling while attempting to do just that.
I find it interesting that three out of the four books we've read have involved the rape or violation of black women to some extent. Bessie from Native Son, Janie and her mother and grandmother, and most recently Sethe from Beloved all share a similar history of abuse. Only Invisible Man didn't continue this pattern, but it has a distinct lack of female characters in general and especially well-developed ones. Its only significant female characters are Mary, a mother figure, and an unnamed woman who the narrator sleeps with. Even though Invisible Man doesn't mention abuse, it still has issues with its depiction of women (especially objectification).
Out of the books we've read, the ones that give their female characters the most agency are understandably the ones by female authors. Janie and Sethe are more than just passive victims who are acted upon, taking control of their lives and proving themselves to be capable and multifaceted people. This is a big improvement from how Wright or Ellison write their female characters, since those characters tended to be rather one-sided.
Still, it puzzled me how Hurston condemns domestic abuse in Janie's first two marriages yet refuses to take a side on it when it comes to Tea Cake. When Logan tries to force Janie to take on his share of manual labor as well as cooking and cleaning for him, she runs away. When Jody slaps Janie, their relationship is irreversibly damaged. But when Tea Cake gets jealous and hits Janie, all the townsfolk around them react with envy and admiration. Hurston normalizes domestic abuse towards the end of the book, never addressing the beating again or its consequences on Janie. She passes judgement on her characters in multiple other places in the book, like when she calls attention to the rampant issue of colorism, yet acts strangely impartial when addressing Tea Cake's violence. I'm not sure what she's trying to accomplish here.
Why do so many important works of African-American literature involve violence against women, even some written by female authors? I understand how it can be empowering to write about these topics, and stories like this do need to be told, but I'm surprised at how often abuse comes up.
Is it because all of the works we've read have been set in the past, where domestic violence and violence against women were more normalized? Rape is still a widespread problem today, of course, but I didn't expect it to be an almost universal theme in the books we've read up to this point. I'm wondering what this says about American society's treatment of women, and specifically how black women are portrayed in literature.
I find it interesting that three out of the four books we've read have involved the rape or violation of black women to some extent. Bessie from Native Son, Janie and her mother and grandmother, and most recently Sethe from Beloved all share a similar history of abuse. Only Invisible Man didn't continue this pattern, but it has a distinct lack of female characters in general and especially well-developed ones. Its only significant female characters are Mary, a mother figure, and an unnamed woman who the narrator sleeps with. Even though Invisible Man doesn't mention abuse, it still has issues with its depiction of women (especially objectification).
Out of the books we've read, the ones that give their female characters the most agency are understandably the ones by female authors. Janie and Sethe are more than just passive victims who are acted upon, taking control of their lives and proving themselves to be capable and multifaceted people. This is a big improvement from how Wright or Ellison write their female characters, since those characters tended to be rather one-sided.
Still, it puzzled me how Hurston condemns domestic abuse in Janie's first two marriages yet refuses to take a side on it when it comes to Tea Cake. When Logan tries to force Janie to take on his share of manual labor as well as cooking and cleaning for him, she runs away. When Jody slaps Janie, their relationship is irreversibly damaged. But when Tea Cake gets jealous and hits Janie, all the townsfolk around them react with envy and admiration. Hurston normalizes domestic abuse towards the end of the book, never addressing the beating again or its consequences on Janie. She passes judgement on her characters in multiple other places in the book, like when she calls attention to the rampant issue of colorism, yet acts strangely impartial when addressing Tea Cake's violence. I'm not sure what she's trying to accomplish here.
Why do so many important works of African-American literature involve violence against women, even some written by female authors? I understand how it can be empowering to write about these topics, and stories like this do need to be told, but I'm surprised at how often abuse comes up.
Is it because all of the works we've read have been set in the past, where domestic violence and violence against women were more normalized? Rape is still a widespread problem today, of course, but I didn't expect it to be an almost universal theme in the books we've read up to this point. I'm wondering what this says about American society's treatment of women, and specifically how black women are portrayed in literature.
Of course, these aren't the only narratives presenting strong and empowering perspectives of black women. But I feel like considering the era these were written/set in, domestic violence is a huge and staggering reality that needs to be talked about. We read a poem by Toi Dercotte called "On the Turning up of Unidentified Black Female Bodies" today in 4th period and discussed how little the media is willing to protest the horrific murders of black women whereas "the siren's wail never stops" when white women are killed. That's not to say that discussing domestic violence is a necessity (which is a debate very similar and connected to the protest novel debate), but I think these books are very important in doing so among other reasons.
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