Stereotypes Regarding Black Women - Literature review Example

College Question 6 Stereotypes regarding black women Black women in the United s are also known as the African American and are in high populations all over the world. Black women since the earlier centuries have faced diverse challenges regarding their skin color and this is have passed on through centuries and decades. The African American community in the United States is however growing from the stereotypes that are ingrained in peoples mind and the acceptance of the blacks is slowly taking place as racism is eroded. Nonetheless, the racism among people of the same race is taking tall as people find ways to be superior to the others of their own. Black women continue to face more challenges than the black men. The stereotypes regarding the black women are mostly negative and they give the black woman in any community a difficult time to prove the people wrong. In Larsen’s book passing gives a clear indication of how the stereotypes of black women has caused some to denounce their own culture and adapt to the lifestyle of the white people. The two main characters in the book, Claire and Irene face the same negative stereotypes but one chooses to run away from the Black community while the other strongly faces all the stereotypes and works hard to conquer and prove people wrong. The main stereotypes that the black women encountered and continue to face are on oppression in different levels of their daily lives. The oppression is because of their race and their standard of living in which is widely known to be poor. The other stereotype is that black women are promiscuous and they appear to make money by gold digging rich men from the white community. The aspect of gender inequality is evidently seen as the black men regardless of the same origin as their black women fail to face any oppression as compared to what the women go through. Larsen’s book Passing establishes various themes that are as a result of the black women stereotypes. Claire is one of the widely discussed characters in the story and the theme of betrayal is surfaced whereby she decides to leave her own culture and live a new life which happens to be a lie. Claire is married to white gentleman who marries her with no slight idea of her African American origin. The problem of denouncing ones’ race is widely spread all over the globe and the victims of oppression are mainly the people that practice this form of betrayal by living differently and forgetting their culture. Claire decides to marry a white man so as to run away from the oppression of the black women and the negative stereotypes that they always keep up with. The life of Claire assumes the character of a gold digger as she gets married to a rich white man to evade poverty in which most black women go through. Evidently this stereotype is partially not true as Claire’s friend from childhood Irene is a rich woman married to a black man. Irene owns a Harlem organization where she hosts events and takes care of organizing events for people. She is independent and rich despite having a husband, Brian. Another problem in the story of Claire and Irene is that of desperate recognition throughout their daily living. The aspect of wanting recognition is observed when the two friends have their first encounter after a long time in their marriages. The life of Claire is attractive to Irene especially because she is light skinned though still an African American woman. The life among the white people gives Irene a crave for recognition as she thinks Claire has everything she needs to be recognized in whatever she chooses to do whether socially or politically. The African Americans are divided into two, the light skinned and the dark skinned. Claire is light skinned and this gives her more acceptances by the white community. Recognition is quite incredible for those who have it as they can succeed and gain attention. Black women fail to have any form of recognition in all their endeavors and this gave Irene a glimpse of what she is missing out on especially with her success in her business. She envies the life of Claire who is light skinned and has to live a lie to get the appreciation from the white community and part of the black community. However, the life of Claire is not as amusing as it seems to Irene as she also views the life of her friend as a success which she wishes to have. Irene is a black woman who is successful and lives with no fear of embracing her own culture despite the challenges. Racism in the United States of America gives the black community a hard time to acquire the recognition they deserve. They work twice or thrice as hard as the white people to get the fame and success they ought to have (Harris 37). The isolation of the black women from the rest of the white women and the light skinned African American women escalates as their stereotypes remain in all societies. The isolation is due to the fact that dark skinned black women face the highest number of divorce cases in the U.S and they consequently face poverty as they are cut off from the support their husbands offered earlier on. The divorced black women become single at an early age as compared to the white women and this is one of the reasons for their isolation. The married black women also face isolation even after their successes as they are claimed to be bossy around their husbands and manipulate them to work extra for their needs. Despite the fact that Irene is successful and happily married she continues to lack appreciation from the black community and the white people. The stereotype about the manipulative nature of black women is proved wrong by Irene and her character traits in the story. The success of Irene is nonetheless invisible to her community due to the stereotypes facing the black people. The opinions and thoughts of the white people and some of the black people have huge impacts in the lives of black women especially the dark skinned black women. Black women suffer from anger management issues as they are believed to have fierce attitudes especially when dealing with issues beyond their control. When provoked, black women easily get upset and this is a trait that is deep rooted in most dark skinned African Americans as opposed to the light skinned ones like Claire. The tone projected by most black women when angry is quite argumentative hence one of the reasons they remain isolated, abandoned and sometimes face jail terms. They are said to be irrationally angry and a wide number of people who visit counseling are from the black community mostly women. Irene is provoked by the fact that Claire allegedly wants to have an affair with her husband. Irene feels angry by the fact that the light skin of Claire receives more attention by men as the light skinned women are perceived as more attractive and beautiful than the dark skinned black women. A state of tension and jealousy evokes between the two friends and Irene feels insecure though she refuses to accept that her friend and husband would betray her trust (Nelly 150). Most black women suffer from broken marriages due to their black husbands that disappoint their trust and cheat on their wives. The stereotype of black women being left by their husbands as a result of other parties in their relationships is vehement in the U.S. The problem that arises in the book Passing is that of lack of trust in pure African American relationships and consequently resulting to broken marriages and divorces. Claire breaks the trust of her friend Claire though there is no clear evidence that she had an affair with Brian, Irene’s husband. The problem gives Irene the thought of giving Claire a chance to relate to their black culture and works hard to win Claire’s interest in her own culture so that she can realize the pain she puts her through by having a secret affair with her husband Brian. The problem gives an indication of how people lose their beliefs and hurt their own that chose to remain true to their beliefs and culture. Irene is deeply damaged by the actions of her husband and Claire and this is an indication of what the black woman goes through in her life as much as she tries to avoid all the possible chances of being defeated by the stereotypes of them remaining divorced and single. Irene had made the decision to fight the stereotypes but without the support of the husband and Claire her efforts are futile. Black women are fragile emotionally as indicated in Perry’s journal. The aspect of revenge is surfaced when Claire dies after she is pushed through a window by Bellow. Irene fails to stop Bellow from pushing Claire outside the window due to the pain of betrayal that she continues to endure. (Nelly 176) The story clearly portrays how black women use their emotions to conduct revenge without limits. In conclusion, the books gives racism a new side as this is an issue between two black women where one is light skinned and the other is dark skinned. The black community to some is believed to have a curse though their efforts to conquer the stereotypes bear no fruits. Racism is therefore real even among people of the same race as the very minor factors are cause huge disparities. Work cited Larsen, Nella. Passing. New York: Penguin Books, 1997. Print. Harris-Perry, Melissa V. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. Print. Read More