Engelsk Almen
Translated title
An Analysis of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi Durrow
Author
Jensen, Birgitte Østergård
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2021
Submitted on
2021-01-11
Pages
49
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan sexisme og racisme krydser hinanden og former livet for sorte piger og kvinder, som de fremstilles i Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye (1970) og Heidi W. Durrows The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (2010). Gennem en intersektionel, komparativ nærlæsning stilles spørgsmålene: Hvilken rolle spiller race i hver roman? Hvordan påvirker racisme og kønsundertrykkelse karakterernes identitet, muligheder og kønsroller, og med hvilke konsekvenser? Analysen trækker på feministisk teori (Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir), sort feministisk tænkning (bell hooks), W.E.B. Du Bois’ begreb om dobbelt bevidsthed, social identitetsteori (Henri Tajfel), Benedict Andersons forestillede fællesskaber samt kritik af skønhedsidealer. Der rettes særlig opmærksomhed mod klasseposition, hvide æstetikker i skolen, intraraciale hierarkier og seksualitetens brug og misbrug. De fund, der fremgår af uddraget, peger på, at begge tekster skildrer kristendom og religiøs autoritet som redskaber, der kan forstærke kvinders underordning, og at racialiserede skønhedsidealer og sociale strukturer begrænser sorte pigers selvforståelse. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at vedvarende overlap mellem racediskrimination og kønsundertrykkelse kræver fælles indsats på tværs af klasser samt materiel ligestilling og respekt, hvis undertrykkelserne skal ophæves. Overordnet læses romanerne som skabende empati og indsigt i, hvordan race, klasse, køn og religion sammen former sorte kvinders erfaringer.
This thesis examines how sexism and racism intersect to shape the lives of Black girls and women as represented in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Heidi W. Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (2010). Through an intersectional, comparative close reading, it asks: What role does race play in each novel? How do racism and gender repression affect characters’ identities, opportunities, and gender roles, and with what consequences? The analysis draws on feminist theory (Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir), Black feminist thought (bell hooks), W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness, social identity theory (Henri Tajfel), Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities, and critiques of beauty standards. Attention is given to class position, white aesthetics in schooling, intraracial hierarchies, and the uses and abuses of sexuality. The findings reported in the excerpt indicate that both texts depict Christianity and religious authority as instruments that can reinforce women’s subordination, and that racialized beauty ideals and social structures constrain Black girls’ self-understanding. The thesis argues that persistent overlaps between racial discrimination and gender oppression call for collective engagement across class, as well as material equality and respect, if such repressions are to be dismantled. Overall, the novels are read as creating empathy and insight into how race, class, gender, and religion jointly shape Black female experience.
[This summary has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project (PDF)]
Keywords
Documents