How it Feels like to be Black and Country Lovers

How it Feels like to be Black and Country Lovers share the same concept, but are different in many ways. The two books share the same theme of racism. In addition to themes, the books also share the same figures of style. For instance, symbolism is prevalent in both texts. The use of metaphors and similes is also evident in both books. The authors of the book also use a similar setting. There is scenery of Blacks and Whites. The books also show suffering that Blacks suffered at the time in America. The books also revolve around widespread discrimination.

These two readings share a radical divide that involves a White woman telling a Black woman’s story in a country that objects to mixed races. These are stories about the struggles of Black women trying to identify their women hood in their growing experience.At the time, the society does not uphold the crucial role of women. Society assigned certain roles to women and others to men. Conditions were not better for the Black woman.

It is vital to note that these two reading use the same symbolism. In the Country Lovers, the author explains the book from the narrator’s point of view. In this way, the author achieves cultural differences and experiences that Black women have to go through every day. In the book, the Country Lovers, we see two friends growing up together but living two different lifestyles. However, this does not in any way limit their closeness and intimate relationship. Sadly, this changes as they grow older. The intimate relationship changes to betrayal.

These two books represent ethnicity and radical back grounds. It is also vital to note that the main characters in both readings are Black, female protagonists. The Black women, in the book, have to face and learn to live with discrimination and hardships, because of their color. However, in the book, Country Lovers, the theme intertwines into a theme of racial and love politics. In this way, the book reflects a time in history when racial congregation was rampant in African countries. Paulus and Thebedi fall in love after sharing their childhood lives together, but as they grow up, racial politics do not allow them to maintain the relationship. The narrator quotes, “This usefully coincides with the age of twelve or thirteen; so that by the time kids reach early adolescence, the Black children are making along with the bodily changes common to all, an easy transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their old playmates missus and baasie little master” (Clungston, 2010). This simply explains the type f relationship between the two friends.

Race and Ethnicity

Race and ethnicity in the books shows who the characters are and who they become if affected by the same. The key element in this case is identity within the social structures within society. These include employment, health, housing, social rights, marriage among many others. Race and ethnicity is, therefore, a categorization, which produces and identities the changing and dynamic social process in society. Therefore, race and ethnicity portrays biological and physical differences between people from different social backgrounds and color. It also refers to historical and cultural differences within society.

The authors of the two readings are exemplary women. They are among the greatest women in history who are self-proclaimed as a feminist. Most of their work relates to race and feminism. Their work does not only provoked heated exchanges at the time, but also take the theatre and literary world with a storm. They feel enraged against society limitations, which Whites imposed on Black women. According to creating minds, these women can be recognized as a ‘creative genius’. The crucial question is: are both readings fit in this creativity model? These readings fit into this model. The author’s kinesthetic, spatial and interpersonal skills and talents can be categorized as intelligence. Their work as writers and artists has brought them many awards and maintained a literary presence in the literary world.

The authors are among many women who write about race, ethnicity and How it Feels like to be Black in a system that does not recognize or support the same. Both books explain how women experienced violence, cruelty from White racists. In this way, the Black women’s anger grows, and independence strengthened the fighting spirit in them. We can see the authors’ anger towards women’s oppressive experiences in the two readings. Many scholars suggest that Black women should not rely on Black men, but should always rely on themselves in order to become whole and complete. This shows that the world cares about many women who become disinherited or dispossessed. According to the authors, women are warriors as well as a writer. They can fight their battles with the racist and feminism in their writing. Analysts have elucidated the environment and circumstances that influenced the author’s work in relation to ethnicity, race, feminism and work. All the pages of the authors work in the books are full of harsh battles and push backs. They all stress the fact that unique women are able to follow their goal to the end of the rainbow. The women’s experiences influence feminist attributes and work.  In the books Country Lovers, the character suffers from White feminists and racists that abstract her relationship with her childhood friend.

Many conditions entrap the authors. Their experiences and beliefs of the female world influenced, and gave them strength and will expose the Black woman’s fragility and collective experiences suffered by the same. In this case, the books explore this attributes through pain, love and passion. This clear shows that despite all the obstacles, a Black woman can still rise again regardless of how they are irreparable broken.

The same influences the authors understanding of how feminism and racism can break women down. This way the author appreciates and understand women’s struggle. The books have also been influenced by many other artists, their family, background and culture.

The struggle to articulate resolutions in their work influences the author’s use of unconventional English. In this case, they prefer using complex themes and unorthodox spelling, punctuation and capitalization in their work. They make the audience and readers believe that feminism has not only influenced other young writers, but has also helped Black women all over the world.

The author uses a familiar language and innovative language to develop the main or the principal thematic concerns. The thematic concerns were; racial and sexual anger, oppression and survival in a racist and a sexist society and the realities of being a Black female in America. In all their work, the authors disregard all the standard rules used in English language such as punctuations and grammar. They repeated this unique technique throughout the books. The other technique is that the author uses a speech pattern and dialect of Black English. This helps to enhance the entire body of work and ensure that there is a flow and coherence in the book.  This is evident in the book, How it Feels like to be Black’. In some of the author’s works, the author uses juxtapositions in order to exemplify the Black African struggles against cultural ideals and ideas

There is a limited separation between gender and race issues in all the authors work. This is because the authors try to elaborate the fact that they could not be on the same side with sexists and racists. The idea the author presents is that Black people, especially women and children constantly struggle and negotiate. They do this while trying to build their lives and identities in a society that devalues them because of the femaleness and their blackness.

The first reading, How it Feels like to be Black, demonstrates the author’s anger to the fact that White patriarchy mandate confines and limits Black women. According to the author, it is clear that most if not all Black women suffer from a White sexist and racist culture that is all around them. The author uses her chronicle frustration, abuse and oppression history to drive her point’s home. She admires and praises all the Black women who have a self love for the femaleness and blackness. She also admires Black women who have suffered emotional pain, physical pain, rejection and loneliness, but have risen up above the despair. In this way, she adopts the Black women theme in relation to having the will power to overcome and adapt to life in spite of all the pain and misfortunes in their lives.

According to the author, all her books are a combination of intellectual work and fiction. She uses this theme to present other women’s experiences such as optimism and joy. Her prose and poetry depicts a unique journey that women take in order to develop selfhood and fight against alternating and conflicting emotions. This simply means that her works favors fragments, presents fleeting images, sustains complete thoughts, embraces circularity and rejects linearity. Patricia Smith’s works thematically and stylistically question the relationships between self and the body. In this way, the author experiments through women experiences, knowledge, and language, to bring out an intricate genre blending.

Many critics have praised the author’s works. This is because of the honesty, passion, musicality, mastery of words and originality. The critics have also recognized the author’s feminism, use of innovative language, political stance and other musicality aspects. However, other reviews have suggested that the author’s works have numerous punctuation and spelling mistakes or distracting. In answer to these questions, the author suggests that her readings and other works convey a sense of music, movement and dance.

The business of making sense of life was Nadine Gordima’s first step as a part of American literature, which reflects on the human literature genre. The characteristics of the African American literature are that; it contains oral poetry, which is a popular class of the cultural literature. It is easy to understand and is also touching. The other characteristic is prose. Prose is simply the slave narrative that tries to describe the sufferings of the slaves.

The author uses three genres. These are novels poems and plays. She used a genre of fiction and invented a new genre which she called a choreopoem genre. In the play, three pieces, the genre used by the author was an experimental theatre piece. It was about a woman’s dream, memories and experiences. The authors present this in a consciousness style and through style and themes. This reading explores the lives of two childhood friends who turn into enemies because of race and ethnicity. In the books, the author uses a three pieces and full length piece genre. The story is about two friends who have chosen two different paths because of ethnicity. However, both friends have to cope and deal with insecurities, frustrations and pain.

In the play, Daughters geography II, A, the author uses two act genres. The play bases on a woman’s experience on the planet. It touches on the aspects in the new world as compared to the slavery ages or times (Nelson, 421). It also explores many nationalists and feminist issues that arise from emotional and ethnic content. In the book, dreamed dwellings, the genre used by the author is a performance and installation piece. In the book, for colored girls, we see the use of a choreopoem genre. This book explores many different facets, color symbolism, dance, utilization of poetry and a Black woman’s psyche. In this book, the author presents Black women as all human and as humans who have to go through the business of surviving even when they get down repeatedly. In the books, the author uses a theatre piece and a full length piece genre and a full length and a choreopeoam genre. In the book, the author also uses an adaptation genre.

 It is vital to note that racialism is a theme that determines the human capacity and traits towards ethnicity. In this way, ethnic affiliation of one group broadly explains images and experiences of a larger group in society. The author invents a prose narrative to deal with a few characters in the book with an aim of uniting. He concentrates on the effects of discrimination, racism and ethnicity. In the Country Lovers, the author maintains a Black girl’s character in dealing with the same. Thebedi cannot talk openly nor have a relationship with Paulus who is a different ethnicity and they eventually become enemies. These are unfair restrictions that the society imposes on women, just because they are Blacks. In this case, race classifies people living within the same community or society on the basis of language, color and other characteristics. Therefore, ethnicity race and How it Feels like to be Black are concepts and themes that have considerable importance in society. The authors clearly show that minorities have an essential role in society. In this case, minorities should be treated the same as the majorities in the community or society.

 Ethnic and racial dilemma is evident in both readings. This means that both authors write about ethnic and racial dilemma through time, feeling, opinions and expression. These attributes give the characters life and dilemma through literature. In this case, the reader identifies with the experiences of women. The ethnic and racial dilemma represented in these readings is literature which shows a sense of reality in the community and society. Both readings also show the peoples involvement in different situations, which outweigh the overall outcomes in the book. However, these are crucial reflections of the Black women dilemma within the communities and society. In this case, women are able to identify and look for a solution to the same.

Conclusion

The authors of the two books share the same sentiments. They focus their attention on the role of the Black woman. They explore the victimization of Black women and expose their emotional lives and experiences. She also explores the obstacles faces by the same in a racist and feminist society. She suggests that other times women may be defeated, but other times they may conquer. According to the author, defeat does not mean giving up, but is a new lease to conquer all the negativity in their lives. The author suggests that it is phenomenal for women to celebrate the positive attributes in their lives and reconstruct their lives.