ASSIGNMENT
Read Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf
E-Book for this reading
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.
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ReplyDeleteCaila: Response #1
ReplyDeleteI've only read the first half of Shange's play so far, but I wanted to start a conversation on the poem, Latent Rapists (pp. 36). This poem really speaks to the internalized oppression of women. Not necessarily just women of color, but an entire gender.And not necessarily by men, but by women too.
Latent Rapists, a poem which operates as a conversation between the multiracial cast of women, exemplifies the ways in which women oppress each other. Beginning with Lady in Blue stating, "a friend is hard to press charges against", followed by Lady in Red responding with, "if you know him you must have wanted it." Here, the other women try and cast blame on the rape victim, implying she put herself in the position to get raped. I find this poem interesting because it illustrates how women oppress each other because they've been influenced by ideas most likely produced and distributed by men.
"a rapist is always to be a stranger/to be legitimate/someone you never saw/a man wit obvious problems/ pin-ups attached to the insides of his lapels/ticket stubs from porno flicks in his pockets"
Above,this excerpt discusses how women have been taught to identify rapists. But this image of "the obvious rapist" has been drawn by the male dominated entertainment industry, which women watch, internalize and project. The poem goes onto state, "& we are left wit the scars/ bein betrayed by men who know us/& expect/ like the stranger we always thot waz comin/that we will submit"(pp.38-39).
Women expected a stranger because even though statistics prove perpetrators of rape are usually not strangers, images created mostly by men have promoted this idea of the strange, obvious rapist. The landing of this excerpt,is really powerful as well. Later its said, "the nature of rape has changed," describing how a woman can meet a rapist in common circles of friends. But did the nature change? Or did these women only just open there eyes and in turn, free themselves from the internal oppression which blinded them?
What did you guys think of this poem?
After reading Ntozake Shange's play, the types of oppression most prominent were racial and gendered. The struggle against racial superiority is interwoven throughout the play, and lady in brown describes an affinity for and inspiration by the work of Toussaint L'ouverture "who refused to be a slave [...] & didnt low no white man to tell him nothin" (26). The prominence of sexual oppression is clearly evidenced in the text when the ladies in blue, red and purple enter a discussion on rape. The women explain how rapists come in the form of friends, not just strangers. Ending the piece, on pages 16-21, the lady in red tells us that "we cd even have em over for dinner & get raped in our own houses by invitation a friend". There is also the incident of inter-marital abuse toward the end of the play when lady in red tells the story of crystal and her physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive husband, beau willie, who is manipulative and violent (55-60). Where racial oppression was evident in the text, the femaleness often articulated with non-whiteness creating an intensified and intersectional oppression. The text underscores the difficult position of the "Colored Girls" who Shange creates -- as women of color. Lady in yellow, on page 45, states that "bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma".
ReplyDeleteAs much as externalized oppression is proved in the text, the issue of internalized oppression is also brought up. Faced with sorrow, lady in orange confides that she "had convinced [her]self [that] colored girls had no right to sorrow]". [She] lived and loved that way & kept sorrow on the curb". She acknowledges the lack of privilege allowed to women of color and has legitimized her lack of privilege by believing herself that she should be in sorrow, accepting the sorrow.
I also want to talk about a scene of female oppression. More specifically, the intense internalized oppression on pages 16-17 where these women respond to the question of rape. Lady in Red says “if you know him/ you must have wanted it,” and lady in blue goes on “are you sure / you didn’t suggest” (17). These women respond to sexual oppression and rape by internalizing these problems and questioning whether they were the fault of the woman raped instead of the men who raped them. This is such a strong sentiment, and seeing this response makes me want to shout that they should never blame themselves for the systematic mistreatment of women. But it is such a deep internal conflict that I know my words wouldn’t do any good.
ReplyDeleteThis is also a response to Ria’s post because we are talking about the same subject matter. I’m glad Ria discusses not only the oppression, internal and external, that these characters face, but how it informs the process of becoming a colored woman. Each woman’s identity is a process in itself instead of a single, unchanging entity. Reading Ria’s post made me realize this and also the significance of how each woman is identified by a color. They are each individuals in the same circumstances attempting to form a collective and separate identity. They are colored women finding a place as a color in a rainbow; and while I can’t describe that process with justice to the text, I think it is remarkable and beautiful.
Ahhhhhh instead of leaving a comment I accidentally made my own post and I made it a response instead of specifically addressing oppression. ..
ReplyDeleteHowever, what I wrote about is the same scene that Will wrote about and it is definitely an example of internalized oppression brought forth by the externalized oppression of women in society.
(The rest of my response is in a post on its own :( sorry!)
In response to Will's post addressing internalized oppression.. Your reading of lady in red and lady in blue's lines on page 17 is a bit different than I interpreted them, which I think is kind of interesting. I interpreted their lines as expected reactions/responses to a woman's accusations of sexual assault against a friend. For me, the lines served as examples of how difficult it is to press charges against someone you know.
ReplyDeleteTJ -
ReplyDeleteThe different types of oppression I see in the text are obviously rejection and the abuse of the term "love." Violent themes of rape, forced impregnation, and the subject of abandoning of infants and life through abortion is depicted within the text severely. Also, it is crucial to notice that the subject of racisim, against color is present within the narrative. The oppression of a young black girl evolving into her womanhood in America is revealed through the poems.
Types of internalized oppression I find in this text are how the young black girls are raped (assaulted by male) and they are lead to talk openly about sex and rape among themselves. They take in how they forcedly lost their virginities to men who raped them. The women openly accept what has happened to them and yet still express sorrow in having to accept them through each of their poems. Also, the issue of abortion and how she has no one to comfort with since she told no one about it is a form of internalized oppression as she accepts what has happened to her without trying to confront her problems.