THE AESTHETICS OF BLACKNESS AND FEMINIST SIGNIFICATION IN THE SELECTED NOVELS OF TONI MORRISON AND ALICE WALKER

Abstract

One of the dominant themes which continue to resonate in literature irrespective of region, culture or period is the perceived marginalization of the female gender. Many critics have observed that the level and perception of such a gender marginalization differs according to the socio- cultural milieu of a given area. As such, theories with the consciousness of cultural factors have continued to emerge as appropriate responses to gender politics. In African-American fictions, evidence of cultural practices which are believed to enforce women’s subservience abounded. The selected texts of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker provide an appropriate illustration of some practices which continue to subjugate the African-American women and promote male dominance. It is observable that certain socio-economic and class factors constitute the restrictive practices which contribute to the oppression of African-American woman. The primary aim of this study is to bring under critical focus the dominant influence of sexism in the Black aesthetics of African-American women writers. It also further contextualizes how African-American women have continued to perceive and react to their plight after many centuries of physical and spiritual estrangement from their African homeland.