Essay on Whiteness in Danzy Senna’s Novel, Caucasia

Cosca points out many of the tactics used by whites to hold status in the novel Beloved. Knowledge and physical violence were both tools used to knock African Americans down to subhuman levels. Society had become so brainwashed in fact, that even white people with the best intentions were still dehumanizing to their black counterparts. Cosca points out Amy Denver’s character as the perfect example here. Although Amy was there to help Sethe, she subconsciously puts her down the entire time. This article also analyzes how the perspectives of multiple characters throughout the story and shows us how this gives power to the

The concept of altering an identity in order to fit in relates to the bell hooks article “Representing Whiteness in Black Imagination.” In this piece, hooks talks about the terror of whiteness that black people face in which they are afraid and decide to “wear the mask” to fit into society, (Hooks, 1992, p.341). When Birdie is at Nkrumah, she seems to be wearing this mask to fit in with the children at her school when she forces herself to learn slang and adopt a different attitude and dressing sense. The character of Birdie in the novel constantly changes

Characters, in Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, force the protagonist, Rachel, to choose between her white and black side. They only acknowledge her black side while only celebrating her white qualities. Consequently, Rachel feels the obligation to accept the roles that have been thrust upon her and ignores part of her race because of the commentary from her family and peers. Rachel adapting to the portrayal of her racial identity to appeal to the normalized opinions of her appearance, demonstrates her tendency to comply with the categorization people of color face throughout society. Ultimately, leading Rachel to pick and choose the parts of her racial identity that most please the people she is with.

Moving from a childlike bliss to an awakening of the world's prejudice, the author makes the words take on flesh. The story is made alive as she breathes life into a time that is unpleasant yet not void of hope. "The hush-hush magic time of frills and gifts and congratulations" disappeared when they were told the cold hard `truth' of their fate that some white man had already decided for them.

“What is racism? Racism is a projection of our own fears onto another person. What is sexism? It’s our own vulnerability of our potency and masculinity projected as our need to subjugate from another person…” Gary Ross’s breakdown of the age-defying constructions of race and sexism exemplify how fabricated standards can take a toll on the well-being of individuals. American novelist Toni Morrison is renowned for her publications illustrating how racial stigma can dent a character physically, mentally and emotionally. “Sweetness”, an excerpt from God Help the Child, one of Morrison’s more recent works, follows the narrative of a guilt-stricken mother who allowed society’s predetermined notions of race interfere with her parenting, as her daughter was undeniably black while she and her husband have negro roots but are lighter skinned or ‘high-yellow’. As the story develops, it is obvious that the narrator, Lula Ann’s mother feels some sort of resentment for mistreating her child and holding her back from experiencing a blissful childhood like other youngsters, but is too shameful to admit it. With time, tables turn and Lula Ann, Lula Mae’s daughter is able to regain her self-esteem, moves away, builds a career, and is preparing to settle down with a family of her own and change her miserable fate given to her by her parents. Morrison successfully translates the destructive effects of prioritizing racial constructs through varied elements including: characterization, point of

In Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, her racial identity varies based on her location. Towards the beginning of her life when Zora was in her own community she could be a lighthearted, carefree spirit. However, when she was forced to leave her community, Zora’s identity became linked to her race. In this essay I will demonstrate how Zora’s blackness is both a sanctuary and completely worthless.

After Clarence Jr. moved away, he met a young lady by the name of Little Birdie who thinks he is white. Little Birdie and her family adores Clarence Jr. because he is a well-educated “white” man. Over the years, Clarence Jr. becomes very paranoid about being discovered by some of his old friends. He wants to go and visit his sister and friends but he said that he “can’t go there with any comfort or pleasure…each year as [he] visit the place, their ways seem more strange and irksome to [him].” He feels ashamed about what he is doing because he can’t visit his sister without avoiding her friends in public place because of their complexions. Clarence Jr. said that he “can’t be

In “Snakes,” a short story written by Danielle Evans, a cruel and realistic world forms around a young black girl named Tara who is sent to stay with her grandmother for the summer. The story unfolds as the reader learns that the grandmother seems to be racially prejudiced, even towards her own granddaughter, Tara. During Tara’s stay at her grandmother’s house, she is accompanied by her cousin Allison who is white. The story centers around Tara’s attempts to remain a normal girl in the eyes of her grandmother, but struggles as her race seems to get in the way of her grandmother’s complete acceptance of her. Danielle Evans is helping the readers understand the difficulty of growing up in America as a minority. The characterization of characters in this story helps the readers understand the environment and setting of the story while implicating the major theme of race throughout the story. The story’s major theme of race follows the other story’s themes of race in Danielle Evans’ collection of short stories.

The early 1900s was a very challenging time for Negroes especially young women who developed issues in regards to their identities. Their concerns stemmed from their skin colors. Either they were fair skinned due mixed heritage or just dark skinned. Young African American women experienced issues with racial identity which caused them to be in a constant struggle that prohibits them from loving themselves and the skin they are in. The purpose of this paper is to examine those issues in the context of selected creative literature. I will be discussing the various aspects of them and to aid in my analysis, I will be utilizing the works of Nella Larsen from The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Jessie Bennett Redmond Fauset,

Danzy Senna opens her family’s secrets up to readers about her childhood and family history in Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History (2009) Book reviewer Erin Kaplan claims “the book’s title has multiple meanings, but mostly broadly it speaks to the uncertainty of black family history…”(par.7). Danzy Senna an author of five books that was educated at Stanford University and was born in 1970. Her book Caucasia was named a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. The relationship she has with her father has been rocky ever since she could remember. Danzy wanted to understand why; why did her father treat his family this way? What created this behavior? I am familiar with this act of curiosity and forgiveness; no matter how many

Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s arguments from “Racial Formations” are about how race is socially constructed and is shown in Caucasia by Danzy Senna. Michael Omi and Howard Winant believe that race is socially constructed in society; therefore, the meaning of race varies within different cultures and societies. According to Omi and Winant, influences such as, media, school, politics, history, family and economy create society’s structure of race. In Caucasia, media, family and school are forces that create race by stating how one should conform to social norms for different racial groups.

Within their communities, many character are discriminated against because of the way they look and act. In her search for work, Willie realizes that she cannot even be associated with her husband because the color of her skin prevents him from being able to get work. When they search for work, “They no longer [walk] together on the sidewalk...they never [touch]. She never [calls] his name anymore” (208). Willie often describes Robert as looking like a white man, in fact, others might even seen their marriage as shameful. Willie, who wants to become a singer, is also told that she is “Too dark...Jazzing’s only for the light girls” (209). Willie’s unequal treatment reveals an implicit bias against dark-skinned individuals in the musical industry, particularly from a socioeconomic standpoint. Similarly, Marjorie is mocked by the other black girls at her high school because of the way she speaks, and is told that “[She sounds] like a white girl. White girl. White girl” (269). Marjorie is surrounded by a culture where “white girl” is an insult because it makes her different. In a larger sense, the expectations of what it means to be “black” contribute to cultural rifts within the black community and a sense that there is a “correct” way to be

Racial identity is an important concept that everyone must deal with in their life. It is an individual’s sense of having their identity be defined by belonging to a race and or ethnic group. How strong the identity is depending on how much the individual has processed and internalized the sociological, political, and other factors within the group. In some instances, people do not identify with their race and they will “pass” as another. Nella Larsen, an African American writer and prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance movement, she explores the consequences of “passing”. Larsen’s Passing is a novel that challenges the concept of ethnicity, race and gender while revolutionizing the idea of what we describe as identity. The novel explores the issue of race through vivid plotting that depicts a mentally touching story of affecting boundaries in the early American society. The novel also explores the effects of racial construction on a person through multiple levels. Through Larsen’s characterization and setting she is able to bring out the social construction of race in an enjoyable and educated format in which race, class distinction and identity themes are intertwined. Larsen herself often struggles with identity, as she grew up being raised by an all-white household after her father, a black West Indian, disappeared from her life. Larsen depicts the theme of racial identity by using two women characters, both of which are attractive, and are “light” enough to be able

At the beginning of the novel, the audience meets Jadine Childs, a Black model and an orphan who intends to marry a White man, leaving Paris for Isle de Chevailers to visit her Aunt and Uncle. Her departure is spurred by an encounter with a recent African immigrant (the Woman in the Yellow Dress). Who, to Jadine, represents the authentic African cultural identity. The encounter awakens Jadine’s identity crisis and results in a journey to find herself a cultural identity or at least a semblance of belonging in the world she creates for herself. As it stands, she feels like a “race traitor.” She wants to marry a white man, lives in Paris, but it’s her upbringing has led her to this point: an orphan that belongs to no one and a Black woman raised in a White world. She acculturated to this world because she recognized that the people with power in her realm were those who were White, and those White people had specific mannerisms. She adopted these mannerism to help her move through society. Her white boyfriend represents just how much she has acculturated and assimilated into white society. At the same time, however, white society is what she relates to the

Paradise, a novel written by Toni Morrison, delves into the issue of racial segregation and hierarchies. When a closer look is taken at her novel, through microanalysis, it can be seen that she takes the time to use specific techniques such as dialogue. She does this through distinction between author and focalizer, kinship and family and identification to Ruby. On page 210, Morrison’s use of dialogue can be examined to mean more than what one initially would believe. This paragraph is almost completely dialogue and it is where Morrison analyzes the relationship between the 8-rock families of Ruby and Africa. These techniques, when observed microanalytically, explore the root of racial gaps.