Sunday, May 8, 2011

Analysis #7 - Breaking the boundaries of Racial Divide





Americans have come a long way in their fight for the elimination of racial divide and human inequality.  Beginning with Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, he declared "All persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free." (Featured Documents 1)  And while this proclamation didn’t completely end slavery, it set the precedent for freedom in the minds of many for what was achievable.  But, change takes time.  Analagous to the struggles that women endure in a male dominated society, per Simone de Beauvoir’s, Second Sex, African-Americans have essentially been considered an “other” to the white race.  African-Americans have faced an uphill battle in their fight for their right of equality.  
During the Harlem Renaissance period, was it any wonder that African-Americans might wish to have a different skin color to improve their chances of gaining acceptance by whites in literature and music?  Langston Hughes, a pioneer during that time, was concerned about this longing in many of the black artists during the early 1920s.  He understood how desperately these artists wanted to be heard and sought the approval from a white audience.  “But he worries about the price paid for gaining the attention of whites.  The perils facing the black artist are so many – from self-loathing to currying the favor of whites to providing a safe window on the exotic world of the racial other – that success depends on an honesty and fearlessness that are almost too much to ask.” (1191)  Hughes was concerned for the African-American artist.  He hoped they would affirm their race and acknowledge the truth in racism, but his disappointment remained when a poet friend of his declared indirectly that he not only wanted to be a poet, but a white poet. (1192)

One hundred years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Dr. Martin Luther King broke the boundary of racial divide in 1963.  In the attached clip of King's famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King unites men and women of all races and shares his dream of combined brotherhood where one’s skin color is unimportant.  “I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  (King 1963)  In the time between, and after this great speech, enormous progress has been made in abolishing the racial divide between white and black Americans as attested to in 2009, when Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States; a man of mixed race. 




Featured Documents, The Emancipation Proclamation, page 1
Record Group 11
General Records of the United States, web, May 8, 2011
Langston Hughes 1902-1967, the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 1191-1192

Dr. Martin Luther King- I Have a Dream  Speech, 1963

Monday, May 2, 2011

Analysis #6 - Woman - Knowing Her Place in Society



Woman’s status as being second to man has remained constant since the beginning of time.  In the era of Aristotle, the belief that women were inferior to men was reinforced by his influence.  In his quotes, "A proper wife should be as obedient as a slave, and “The female is a female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities - a natural defectiveness," (Aristotle; 384-322 BCE -Fable 1), he perpetuated the continuum of keeping women in this subservient role through rhetoric.
In examining the New American Bible, there is no fallacy in the fact that a woman’s place has been second to men since its conception.  History states that God removed a rib from Adam to create woman.  “The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.  When he brought her to the man, the man said:  “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” (Genesis 4)  Therefore, being created from man has been a woman’s curse for centuries.  Simone de Beauvoir reinforces this ideology in her book, The Second Sex, by saying that humanity is male and that he defines woman relative to him as she is not an autonomous being. (de Beauvoir 3)
Have women reached a point of enlightenment in realizing that they can achieve the status bequeathed to men?  A shift began to occur with the Suffrage Movement and the Seneca Convention led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a radical Quaker Group on July 19, 1848.  The push for change helped the women to achieve a “greater proportion of social, civil and moral rights.” (Wikipedia/Seneca)
A second wave of feminism began after World War II and at the time when capitalism prevailed.  Women maintained the position as the suburban housewife thus fulfilling her role in a patriarchal society.  The media helped to influence this role by airing shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. (Wikipedia).  Unlike the first wave of feminism, this wave focused more on sexuality, family and the workplace. 
While great strides have been made for equality, “Women still make 77 cents for each dollar men make in the US.” (Gunelius)  Knowing this, women pull out all their tricks in an attempt to break the inequality by using their intelligence, femininity, body and looks.  But this is no easy task and often ends in self-destruction.  As Susan Bordo states, “Through the exacting and normalizing disciplines of diet, makeup and dress – central organizing principles of time and space in the day of many women – we are rendered less socially oriented and more centripetally focused on self-modification.  At the farthest extremes, the practices of femininity may lead us to utter demoralization, debilitation and death.” (2240) 
Even today, our media reinforces this subservient role through art.  As depicted in the attached clip, “Coming to America,” the potential princess is groomed, educated and trained to serve and meet the needs of Eddie Murphy’s character, the prince, thus supporting the anti-feminist’s view of a woman’s place in society.
While things have progressed somewhat over the centuries regarding women’s rights, achieving an equal status to men in our society is still improbable.   





Works cited:

New American Bible, Thomas Nelson Inc, 1988, Genesis, Chapter 2, vs 22-23, page 4

Fable, Jan. “The Woman’s Page”. http://www.forhealing.org/women.html  April 30, 2011

Gunelius, Susan, “Women Make 77 Cents for Each Dollar Men Make in the U.S.” –



Coming to America, Landis, John, 1988
Featuring: Murphy, Eddie, Hall, Arsenio, Jones, James Earl

Reflection #9 - Feminism

In taking a look at Feminism, we discussed Simone de Beauvoir and her book The Second Sex which focuses on women as "the other."  In exploring feminity, de Beauvoir asks the question, "What is Woman?"  She explores this meaning going beyond the basic gender issue and touching on the essence of femininity that women try to incarnate.  We understand through her writing that the man defines the woman and that she is not autonomous.  These two human beings are in a binary relationship and in trying to do away with the oppressor is not possible because they are interdependent on one another.

Susan Bordo explores the feminist discourse on the body.  She argues that woman try too hard with the daily rigors of beautifying themselves through fashion, diet, and makeup and in the end chasing this ideal of femininity only results in "demoralization, debilitation and death." (2241)

Foucault's The History of Sexuality was discussed and how he is concerned with the order of things in language.  His argument of discourse about sex has intensified since the eighteenth century.  He argued that sex has not been repressed - it has been controlled through discourse.  Foucault asks us to compare the priest to an analyst.  Whereas he hears confessions that divulge the smallest temptations and desires.