Resistance in “The Bluest Eye” and

It has been said that historically, black women have been absent from much feminist theory, both in feminist literature and black literature. (Watkins, pp165) Two writers that are working to change this “HIStory”, are Toni Morrison and Melissa Lucashenko. These writers’ are both black and are both female. They write to include the “other”. That is, they empower the previously marginalised black woman. We will look into how this is achieved further on in the article. In short, this article discusses how the characters of Morrison’s, “The Bluest Eye”, and Lucashenko’s “Steam Pigs” are marginalised and disempowered by the totalising structures of race, gender and class. It then continues to critique the ways in which the characters resist to such forces. Firstly, it must be said that although “The Bluest Eye” is set in America in the 1940’s and is written by an American author, and “Steam Pigs” is placed in Australia in the late 1990’s and is by an Australian author, there are many themes found within the two texts that are universal and timeless. The first being issues of race. In “The Bluest Eye”, Morrison identifies racism on two levels. Firstly white to black racism, but more importa

Lucashenko shows further resistance to racial boundaries through the use of traditional language. There"tms enough white wankers out there who are more than happy to see blacks as the downtrodden sufferers""cos . The final significant resistance is found in Sue"tms relationship with Kerry and Rachel. Lucashenko empowers her protagonist, Sue Wilson in the following ways. Such control is created in the prostitutes; China, Poland and Marie. They cling to whatever they can; this includes violence and hatred, especially self-hatred. 104) It is an example of black to black racism. She lives and works in a "Working Man"tms World"tm (Muller, lecture) and is fairly successful. A further indicator of the class issue is the prevalence of violence and domestic abuse. I had only one desire: to dismember it. They deny their heritage by changing their appearance to more similar images of the white bourgeois society, but they are not happy. Whilst they are seen as sexual objects and treated as such, they do not enjoy the act of love- making and will not succumb to the passion. Sue has attained a high level in Tae Kwon Doe and as a result is confident in the way she looks and holds herself, that is, as confident as a seventeen year old can be in her situation. He belonged to the former group: he wore white shirts and blue trousers; his hair was cut as close to his scalp as possible to avoid any suggestion of wool, the part was etched into his hair by the barber.