A Place Where The Soul Can Rest By Bell Hooks

Hooks argues the fear that the Others feel, that cultural, ethnic, and racial difference will

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

Slavery is a disappointing example of inhuman behavior, a dark past in our history books. Two stories demonstrate the cruelty of slavery while living on a plantation. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad and “The People Could Fly” give two different encounters on the topic of slavery. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad is a biography and “The People Could Fly” is a historical fiction. Both would make one wonder, what is there to live for when freedom does not exist in your life? The two different genres of books are able to give readers an understanding of how heart-wrenching and depressing life of a slave was. Both show the family of slaves taking care of one another. They show the fatherhood even though the slaves are going through harsh conditions, the way the story is told and what kind of story it is, and the secret language that the slaves have.

To engage a large audience, Staples appeals to readers with his use to two different points of views throughout the essay: societal views and black views. Staples tries to connect with the readers by giving examples of unconscious thoughts that run through the minds of most people when in the same situation as the “white women.” In his opening sentence, Staples calls the women a “victim.” In her own eyes, she herself was “victim” due to the influence of generalized stereotypes presented in our culture. She becomes quick to judge based on Staples appearance: his skin tone. Because of his color, his every action becomes nothing but threats and anxiety on the women. “She casted a back worried glance. To her, the youngish black- broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a

Bone Black is a memoir detailing a “girlhood” beset with racial segregation. bell hooks’ struggle for autonomy involves a struggle with racism, gender,

“Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination” written by American author, feminist and social activist, bell hooks, dissects the dichotomy of black and white culture in a westernized society. Hooks utilizes the term ‘whiteness’ throughout her piece as an acknowledgment of the domination, imperialism, colonialism, and racism that white people have asserted among black people. This discipline progressively has evolved from history; through slavery and forth, leaving an imprint in

Bell hooks’ “Keeping Close to Home” an excerpt from “Talking Back” published in 1989 is a significant piece of literature as it’s timeless views are still relevant to humanity today. Amongst the essay’s careful construction, strong opinions and clear perspectives evoke in the reader the urge to agree, ponder and question hooks’ thoughts to form their own response. The reader is informed of hooks’ experiences in her journey of life as a member of a proletarian society of a black community. It, along with compelling emotive language also enables the reader to see through her lenses into her intention of the text, which is the importance of staying rooted to one’s kin and community wherever one may travel

Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved breaks from the precedent of the traditional slave narrative. Not held back by the need to present a case for the abolition of slavery in a way that attacks the institution of slavery but not the instituters, Morrison is able to go beyond the horrifying facts of slavery and into the intense emotional consequences that it had on those who were enslaved (Marren, 2016). She reverses the format of the traditional slave narrative and enthralls readers by examining a crime committed by the oppressed, not the oppressor, peering deep into the traumatic lingering effects of slavery, even post-emancipation. Throughout her novel Morrison consistently uses song to affirm the humanity of her characters. The world that they live in constantly challenges and denies their personhood and worth, and song is a subtle yet constant tool that they use to defend their humanity and emphasize the horrific events that they have endured through.

hooks feels that in our culture a white life has more value then a black one; and therefore audiences are more willing to accept the worthlessness of  black life.  hooks goes on to state, " There is collective cultural agreement that black death is inevitable, meaningless, not worth much.  That there is nothing to mourn" (100).  Americans as a whole " do not take black life seriously" (hooks, 100).  Through her review of Crooklyn, hooks is able to reinstate her idea: white America sees blacks as worthless.

While bell hooks’, Bone Black, did contain many situations depicting racial injustices, I related more to the situations that focused on gender issues. For example, in chapter twenty-five, women are not allowed to enter the pulpit simply because of their gender. Similarly, double standards of gender are represented in chapter thirty-eight when hooks confronts the issue of sexuality. Boys and men are allowed to engage in sexual activities with pride and pleasure as an important moment in their life on the way to manhood (hooks 112). However, the girls are taught to fear sexual encounters as something being done to them, rather than something they equally enjoy and engage in. When hooks discovers a certain aspect of her sexuality that she

The two readings ‘Sweat’ by Zora Neale Hurtson and Alice Walker’s ‘In Search of our Mother’s Gardens’ are fundamentally different because one is a fictional short story while the other is an essay expressing the thoughts and ideas of the author on a particular subject. Both writings explore the themes of oppression, freedom and enlightenment. In her work, Alice Walker responds to Virginia Woolf’s statement that in order for a woman to write fiction she must have a room of her own and enough money to support herself. Her response argues that the famous statement does not apply to all women, particularly black women, who in the past lacked the same privileges as white women due to the circumstances of slavery and predominantly poor lifestyles.

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” Traumas are exactly like that. Sometimes it can be so poisonous that any decisions you make could be impacted with that trauma. However it is also positive in a sense that you can look back at it and learn from it. It is important for authors to recount past traumas in their work because the readers can get a better understanding and learn from them. Through the use of pathos, repetition, and rhetoric, these authors are able to clearly pass the ideas of how we all need to remember the institution of slavery as many still carry traumas and suffered great injustice from it.

In the Bell Hooks’ interview with Carrie Weems there is discussion regarding the nuances of the Black perspective portrayed in her work. In particular, there is focus on how Weems creates the Black female subject within the Kitchen Table series by showcasing a double perspective of not only race, but also gender to exhibit universal concerns in conjunction with those that are unique to African Americans. To accomplish this is said to difficult due to the fixation on race that tends to overshadow any other message conveyed due to perception of critics, who are mostly Caucasian (Hooks 421). To create the Black female subject is to create defiance towards established perceptions. In the interview, Hooks references the Kitchen Table series where

In Hook’s essay titled “Keeping Close to Home” she uses many of her own personal experiences to transition into analyzing society. A few personal experiences of Hook’s that caught my attention were how she discussed the barriers that were created by economic class differences between students. Coming from a working class family , when she attended college she felt a sense of inferiority to the other students. This inferiority made it difficult for her to discuss her financial situations or home life with any of her peers. Hook stated “I talked to no one about the sources of my shame, how it hurts to witness the contempt shown to the brown-skinned Filipina maids who cleaned our rooms, or later my concern about the $100 a month I paid for

This feeling of rage is manifested from the experience of an overabundance of racism blacks face in their everyday lives. She defends the idea that rage, when correctly directed, can be a starting point for good. It can be a promoter for change. This essay is based on her experience aboard an airline with a close friend and the injustice treatment they receive based on the color of their skin. Her friend had been publicly attacked and accused of taking a first class seat that wasn’t assigned to her, although she was actually sitting in the correct seat. In her essay she states a compelling point, “…I feel that the vast majority of black folks who are subjected daily to forms of racial harassment have accepted this as one of the social conditions of our life in white supremacist patriarchy that we cannot change. This acceptance is a form of complicity.” (hooks, pg 10). She speaks on the complicity of blacks facing oppression and inequality. Killing rage is the creation of fierce anger blacks are felt after repeated instances of everyday racism. It is in this rage that healing can be fueled through love and strength. The incentive for a positive change can also be found through this powerful rage. bell hooks offers an intriguing response to this inequality, she believes that it is necessary to have rage to resist and not be complicit. She states that black activists that want progressive change need to