Black Feminist Thought Literary Elements

Black Feminist Literature, Theory.

The setting of the book is US in late 20th century and it has been written in the context of the oppression of black women.

The narrator of the book is Patricia Collins and she has narrated the experiences of black women from her own point of view.

Solemn, Ironical, Sarcastic, Unveiling, Pensive, Awakening.

The protagonists in the book are the black female activists, who has contributed in unveiling the oppression of blacks at the hand of whites and the antagonists are the whites who exploited the black women on daily basis.

The major conflict in the book is between the black females and their society. They are given the subordinate status and are treated worse than animals.

As it's a theoretical book there is no climax or rising action.

The author has foreshadowed the movements lead by the black feminists.

The understatement in the book is the oppressive behavior towards black females and their intellectual efficiency. The author has understated that the black women are capable of everything and they can perform wonders in all fields of life.

There are allusions to oppression, black feminists, western feminism, exploitation of blacks, double colonization, self-definition, matrix of domination, music, art, literature and black female intellectuals.

The author has demonstrated the images of black women's oppression and their exploitation. The author has depicted how they are portrayed as sexless creatures or hyper sexual monsters. The book also conveys the images of black women as working for the whites and still getting humiliated by them. There are images of women participating in the social and economic matters. There are portrayals of meetings held without the interference of black women. The book has also conveyed the imagery of white females as enjoying the privileges of US society and propagating their thoughts and ideas while the black women are depicted as struggling for their due rights.

The paradox in the book is that although the feminist fight for the rights of women and raise their voices against their oppression but the western feminists silence the black women. Instead of solving their issues or providing them justice, the white feminist blame them for their exploitation.

There is a parallelism between the blackness and the whiteness. The whiteness is associated with civilization and respect while blackness demonstrates brutality and humiliation. The white females enjoy freedom of thought and expression while the black women are suppressed by the society in every possible way. They suffer the prejudice in schools, job places and everyday routine works.

An example of metonymy is 'Collin's experiences' which depict the experiences of all black females in one way or other. An example of synecdoche is 'white feminism', which represents the ignorance of the rights of black females.

Race, color, exploitation, blackness and whiteness have been personified by the author.