ASSIGNMENT
Read Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf
QUESTIONS
What are different types of oppression you see in the text?
What types of internalized oppression do you see in the text?
Internalized Oppression:
External oppression becomes internalized oppression when we come to believe and act as if the oppressor's beliefs system and values reflect reality. "Self-hate" and "internalized racism" are other ways of saying internalized oppression.
What are different types of oppression you see in the text?
ReplyDelete- The text is dominated by the oppression of males to females. There are the scenes where the men spew worthless apologies to the women and then continue their behavior as if it were a natural occurrence and part of the routine. The women must live knowing that the men that they see in the local shops and that they invite into their homes can hurt them and be a threat. There is nothing more oppressive then being a victim in one’s own home. There is a poem that explains how the men have taken everything from the women. They might not even know they have it, but the men have stolen the dignity, happiness, and self-confidence from the women. Also, they are imprisoned by fear that there is no hope and that nothing can be done. It is hard to make a case against husbands, friends, and other people who receive kindness and who are loved. The recurring theme of music is also a powerful indicator of the oppression in that music is a way of escaping the moment and dancing, being confident and open. Instead of being open to men and needing men however, they are being open to themselves and dancing for the love of music and for the love of the feelings it brings. The music is a means to the freedom that is otherwise unattainable.
What types of internalized oppression do you see in the text?
- The sorts of internalized oppression is seen in the scenes where the women express that they feel needed and that they should still follow the men in their lives that are routinely abusing them. The story at the end of the play is especially like this, when the man fools the woman into letting her children near him because of the illusion and desires she has to believe in him. She is a strong woman, but the thoughts of internalized oppression are so deeply ingrained that she thought for a second that there was a way to live past the abuse and have a functional family with the abusive man. There is also the unforgettable tale of the woman who takes men in and then kicks them out as a way of getting back and proving herself, but in reality this only emphasizes her own self-loathing and that she must be debased in order to try to make a stand. She cries herself to sleep because in her attempts to be strong and overcome the gender inequalities she falls under them. The internalized oppression is that though she is attempting to demonstrate power she is failing and bringing herself back into the mindset that she can not and should not succeed.
There were all types of oppression in the text, but the most prominent was definitely the cruelty of male dominance. The poems addressed women being eyed as whores, beaten, raped, and mentally hurt by men. In “i used to live in the world,” she speaks of being scared on her way home, having to walk close to the curb and hoping some young guy doesn’t think she’s pretty. In another, more mental, example, the women speak of wanting to love and be loved back, but this isn’t the case in most of the situations. The line that really caught me was “I want to be loved and have the audacity to say ‘where are you.’” This just really shows how small women feel or seem compared to men, not even able to ask where the man is while the women are being cheated on all the time. In “don’t walk away with my stuff,” she speaks of how people try to walk away with parts of her, without even realizing it, diminishing her.
ReplyDeleteThe poems also deal with a lot of internalized oppression. For example, in “latent rapists,” they talk about how rape is only legitimate if the man is a complete stranger, when all the while they are being betrayed by people they trust and possibly even taken advantage of in their own homes. This is justified because they have internalized the idea that being raped by people they may have talked to before could have just been them leading them on. The oppression is also internalized when Blue is pregnant, gets an abortion, but is ashamed. She didn’t tell anyone, so no one was there for her. Again, in “I used to live in the world,” she says that she “can’t be nice to nobody… …nice is a rip off,” as if it is almost her fault that she is in this situation. She is in Harlem, and no longer has any rights. She can’t feel like a woman anymore. There is also some racial oppression in the poems, as they talk about pretending to be white, but the gender issue hit me the hardest. These poems hit hard about internalized oppression right from the first poem when it was stated that she was dead, and that she long forgot what her voice sounded like.
1. What are different types of oppression you see in the text?
ReplyDeleteOne type of oppression stems from the society. The society pressures the women to conform to certain standards. For example, the society looks down upon the girl who had not lost her virginity by her graduation. The girl feels self-conscious and has to act in a promiscuous way to convince those around her that she has been with men. The society imposes a standard that dictates that the girl should have lost her virginity by now. This pressures women to fulfill these standards or at least pretend that they have. If they do not, they feel like outcasts.
Another type of oppression comes from the men around them. These men take them out to dinner, smile, and act like friends, but once behind closed doors, they begin to assault and rape the women. Perhaps the worst part is that the women are “betrayed by men who know [them].” When the men impregnate the women, the men often state that the baby is not theirs. This causes complications for the women. She has to take care of the baby with little money and no support while the men they are with are spending money on other women. The men also abuse the women by beating them whenever they feel the woman has done something unacceptable.
Once the women have children, they have to protect them from the abusive men. As in the last monologue, the woman might choose not to marry the man since he abuses her, but the man may threaten to hurt the children if she does not marry him. As usual, the woman is forced to succumb to the wishes of the man.
Another type of oppression comes from the whites. As schools were integrated, black students and families had to deal with the anger and hatred from the whites. The Lady in Brown escaped from this oppression with Toussaint L’Ouverture and dreamed of Haiti where the black people ruled. For her, the integration of schools was problematic because she suffered at the hands of her white classmates.
There is another type of oppression that comes from the society. The society associates being black with negative sentiments. The women talk about how society is not proud of being black and is trying to erase the identities of the black women. Society views being blacks as almost being a slave or being useless, but the women recognize their worth and are able to muster enough self-esteem to tell society that they are proud, not ashamed of their identity. They are proud of their “callused feet” and “quick language.” The women eventually embrace, and not shun, their unique identities.
2. What types of internalized oppression do you see in the text?
One type of internalized oppression is that the women seek reassurance or acceptance from the men. They are not satisfied with knowing that they look beautiful; they need to be acknowledged by the men around them. This oppression is perhaps created by their own insecurity. They seek to be considered beautiful because they themselves do not believe they are beautiful. All they see are the big thighs and dark skin. When the women view themselves in such a light, they seek to improve their self-esteem by getting the men to recognize them. When the men do recognize them, the women feel more confident and better about themselves. The problem is that the women themselves do not realize that they are in fact beautiful; they need outside recognition. Internally, they lack self-esteem.
Another type of internalized oppression is the shame a woman feels from being pregnant, especially after she is raped. She is ashamed of all the people looking at her, yet she does not have any sort of refuge. She simply has to suffer. These sufferings are internalized and not voiced out, which only aggravates the problem. The women end up feeling more embarrassed of themselves and this damages any self-esteem they have. Once the self-esteem is gone, the women are ruled by society’s standards and do not view themselves as worthy unless the society says they are.
Claire,
ReplyDeleteI really like your statement: “There is nothing more oppressive then being a victim in one’s own home.” This really stuck with me because you are completely right, one’s home is supposed to be a safe haven. The women not only have no one they can really depend on, but they don’t even have a place to go where they can relax. Every single space in their life is a place where they can be oppressed. The men are present in every aspect of their life, taunting and harassing them. There is no escape and I simply can’t imagine how much they suffer.
@Jeyshree
ReplyDeleteI found your response to the internalized oppression in the text really interesting, because I didn't really pick it up until I read your comment. They've really internalized the male dominant oppression when you say that they need a man's approval/acknowledgement in order to feel beautiful. Suddenly, being beautiful isn't enough without a guy saying so. In turn, this all becomes part of their low self esteem, as you mentioned, and that is a clear example of internalized oppression.
What are different types of oppression you see in the text?
ReplyDeleteThe play as a whole seems to be a tale narrating the trials and tribulations of women — black women — living in a male's world, in which they are second class citizens in broader society because of their race and within the African American community due to their sex. While these women are most definitely oppressed by the dark shade of their skin, it's the "dark phrases of womanhood" — of an eternal womanhood that's imposed on them from the start ("of never having been a girl") — that are really the kicker.
Being a woman chases these, well, women throughout their lives no matter what color they are, whether they are brown, red, blue, yellow , green, orange or purple. In every stage of their lives, women are abused. Whether as children being expendably used as leverage against their mothers or being coerced into marriage or sex or simply caring about men who feel that by virtue of their sex they should be spoiled by women, they are objectified and used as instruments to beef up the egos of their oppressed brothers — oppressed by their color and socioeconomic class — rather than being embraced as sisters. As what they actually are.
What types of internalized oppression do you see in the text?
There are a couple that especially emerge in my mind. The first is that of color. For black women, the idea that they should sleep with men, should have and enjoy sex, that they must have and enjoy sex from a young age, is a form of internalized racism — the idea of jungle fever (that black people are promiscuous and can't be trusted with each other). This is made manifest by the fact that date and marriage rape are unacknowledged by law enforcement officials when they happen to black women: "if you've been seen in pulic wit him/danced one dance/kissed him good-bye lightly/wit closed mouth/pressin charges will be as hard/as keepin yr legs closed/while five fools try to run a train on you."
Well, if you danced with him, you must have given him permission to fuck you, in fact that's his right — is an argument way too common. It's an internalized form of oppression because it has shifted from being discussed as an injustice to an accepted, albeit anger-inducing, fact.
The second main form of internalized oppression I spotted was more closely linked to gender. The idea that sex and beauty are the way to gain agency and gain favors/respect/love from men is so internalized that it's celebrated. Because beauty is the only thing they can use to assert their sex, they have to celebrate that — which is totally understandable. I don't think it's so much an expression of low self esteem of last resort and survival: if nothing else about me will be respected then, dammit, I'm going to shove my face and my hips in the direction of every man who dares think he can resist.
Tammy,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your thoughts about how the women feel like being raped is their fault and that they are to blame. Not having anyone to talk to and be ashamed of something that is not only not their fault, but also the result of their misfortune is an unbearable thought. Especially how this has soured the women into being scared to be nice. I feel like the point you brought up about felling dead and forgetting what a voice sounded like is the prefect way to summarize all the forms of oppression that were seen in the text. This also relates to the poem you discussed about people walking away with their stuff. The issues have been so covered up that they are no longer even seen.
1.
ReplyDeleteThe main oppression that I saw in this book was between the males to the females. There are many scenes where it seemed like the men were the ones hurting women and women had to be careful of men. The poems talk about women being beated, abused, and scared. There was even a poem in the text that explains how men have taken everything away from women. It did mention that the men may not even know that they are oppressors of women, but ultimately the text was implying that women had been robbed from the self-confidence and happiness. Another thing I saw, that most already mentioned as well, was that there was an oppression of fear. Women were imprisoned emotionally because they believe that there is nothing that can be done and that there is not help that they could seek in order to get away from their situations.
2.
One internalized oppression that I noticed that Jeyshree already mentioned is womens seek for the acceptance in their men. That women are not happy with themselves unless they have a man to validate them. They are only beautiful if a man tells them so, or they are only worth something unless they are worth something to a man. That whole internalized oppression you see a lot in this text. Also this concept contributes to the internalized racial oppression that goes on with the women because they start to believe in the stereotypes that they are nothing but big thighs and dark skin. Women attempt to become better for the men because they think they are not good enough.
@ Aina
ReplyDeleteI like everyone's comments but I think you gave the most detailed answer to the question. All your points were easy to follow and understand like when you brought in the actual quote from the book to give us a better understanding of what you were discussing really helped me grasped what you were saying. So I enjoyed reading your response and thats really all I have to say.