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A Bronzeville Mothers Analysis

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Society’s Role in the Perception of Gender Roles, Sexuality, and Race in A Bronzeville Mother… and Passing In A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi, Meanwhile A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon, Gwendolyn Brooks focuses on the theme of Southern patriarchy and racism, while Nella Larsen's Passing focuses on society’s perception of racial categorization. Just as Molly McKibbin identifies how society’s perception of gender roles and sexuality played a large role in the life of the protagonist in the poem, Johanna Wagner discusses the concept of repressed sexuality as exemplified through the two main characters of the novel. McKibbin goes on to remark how racism in the south at this time was so widespread “that it was not particularly shocking …show more content…

This colour symbolism is significant because it initiates a consciousness of a break in social norms which challenges society’s expectations. Brooks effectively uses line enjambment to demonstrate how the white woman’s composition is coming apart, which is exemplified through the structure of the poem. The red blood that she sees on her child’s face makes her think about how Emmett must have bled the same shade of red when her husband hurt him. She also sees blood when her husband kisses her, and it is at this point, “the white woman’s opinion about her role and her husband [changes]” (McKibbin 676). Although the woman has now come to an understanding of the injustices in her society, she feels helpless because “nothing could stop Mississippi” and she thinks there is nothing she can do with this new realization since the society she lives in still upholds conservative values (Brooks 328). McKibbin argues that this mentality demonstrates the woman’s connivance with the myth of Southern chivalry and; therefore, the stereotype of a helpless woman. Just as the woman adheres to the social norms in the poem, the characters in Passing have their own ideas of social norms. Although both women are half-white and half-black, they each choose to identify with one aspect of their ethnicity, while repressing the other. Nisetich states that the problem with “the concept of racial passing is that it necessitates placing people of mixed ancestry in one racial category over another” which both supports racial categorization, while undermining it (350). A main point Nisetich makes in her article is how “Clare [cannot] be described fairly and accurately as ‘passing’ at all” because she does not perceive herself to be black (350). Since Clare thinks of herself as white, she is not truly passing since

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Capitalization and Pronouns Gwendolyn Brooks employs the use of capitalization and pronouns in her poem “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon” as a way to demonstrate the tensions between white femininity and black masculinity in the south during the era directly preceding the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, the white man was afforded the ability to dominate over the word of white women and black men. Throughout this poem, Brooks portrays the complex dimensions that race and gender played in the murder of Emmett Till.

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1920’s society offered a prominent way for blacks that look white to exploit its barrier and pass in society. Visible within Nella Larsen’s Passing, access to the regular world exists only for those who fit the criteria of white skin and white husband. Through internal conflict and characterization, the novella reveals deception slowly devours the deceitful. In Passing, Clare and Irene both deceive people. They both engage in deceit by having the ability to pass when they are not of the proper race to do so.

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I will be taking a postmodern approach to the text and supplementing it with modernism and psychoanalytic theories before stating my final stance that postmodernism may be the most appropriate approach. This approach ensures that different perspectives are present in my analysis and ensures that it is not one-sided. The question that I hope to focus my argument on is “Does the postmodernist approach better emerge the idea of self from racism?” Rottenberg, Catherine. " Passing : Race, Identification, and Desire. " Criticism, vol. 45, no. 4, 2004, pp. 435-452.

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Nella Larson’s novel Passing, tells the story of two African American women Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry who embark on a journey to “reconnect” with one another. Although, similar in appearance, these two women were very different in the way they determined race. For women like Irene and Clare who were physically able to “pass” as white women, despite having African American heritage the typical connotation that race was distinguished by the color of one’s skin did not apply to them. As a result, many women like Irene and Clare would cross the racial lines. The character Clare Kendry was the perfect example of “passing.”

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This quotation relates to the novel Passing because it shows the friendship between two childhood friends who rekindle their friendship as grown adults. The novel Passing, written by Nella Larsen talks about two African American woman with different experiences. The relationship between the two African American woman who share two different lifestyles, but similar in different ways. Throughout the novel it is seen that both characters have many similarities and differences. Irene is a colored woman who is married with two children.

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Her final act towards the Misfit was not out of charity, but in attempt to save herself. Set in the South in the 1950s, the grandmother dutily satisfied the stereotypes that blossomed within her generation. She speaks of the older days, when children were more respectful, and good men were easier to find. However, she never expresses what defines a good man, which suggests her unsteady moral foundation. The grandmother also explicitly articulates the racism that was unfortunately common in the South, ironically prevalent in the religious and upper middle class circles like the ones she belonged to.

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1919 Words | 8 Pages

Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novella about the past experiences of African American women ‘passing’ as whites for equal opportunities. Larsen presents the day to day issues African American women face during their ‘passing’ journey through her characters of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. During the reading process, we progressively realize ‘passing’ in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s becomes difficult for both of these women physically and mentally as different kinds of challenges approach ahead. Although Larsen decides the novella to be told in a third person narrative, different thoughts and messages of Irene and Clare communicate broken ideas for the reader, causing the interpretation of the novella to vary from different perspectives.

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Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter.

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The discrimination against the white race begins with a gradual distinct treatment of the African Americans who appear to have a trace of the white race. Helene proves to have a more formal dialect as she asks for “the bathroom” (23) and the black woman cannot understand until Helene finally refers to it as “the toilet” (23). The difference in word choice distinct Helene from the African Americans in the Bottom. The fact that Helene also has fairer skin than the African Americans gives the black woman a reason to believe Helene has a trace of white. Therefore, when Helene approaches the black woman on the train, “[the woman fastens her eyes]…on the thick velvet, the fair skin, [and] the high tone voice” (23), as if surprised and shocked to see an African American women appear in such a manner.

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