Racism and Segregation Practice as Depicted in Both Novels

1. Racism and Segregation Practice as Depicted in Both Novels

In the American segregation era, Blacks looked for some ways to express their freedom and feelings. Right after the Civil Rights movement, though not being fully acknowledged by the society, the black men already have their place along with the white woman and the world of black society was dominated by the black men. Black women finally got the chance to speak through their role in literature and culture.

concepts as the base of the black feminist theoretical approaches. Some literatures written by black women focused on the physical and psychological black women ‘s oppression done by the Black men in the segregated society. These literatures written by the black women then gave difference on white feminism and black feminism, as they thought white and black woman had totally different woman issue.

The setting of the novel is also important for the portrayal analysis since the setting gives the precise timeline for relating with the real event about black woman in the society at the related year in the novel. The setting also gives the picture of what happened with Southern community, both black and white community. Thus it will be easier for the analysis to relate contextually. As I take the particular time of the early 20 th century image of ideal woman, the setting should be displayed as the proof that the setting of the novel really happened around that time. Ergo, there will not be any time gap for the analysis. The setting of both novels also affects the plausibility of the literary works and how it served as close-to-reality novel.

Although both novels were written after Woman Rights Movement, in 1982 and in 1964, both authors portray what happened way back when women —especially black women —were not able to freely write or to express what they felt. Takes place in the early 20 th century, both novels try to portray the life and identity of black woman characters, in the Deep South surrounded by sexist and racist community, but face different woman issues. It was the time when segregation still existed in United Although both novels were written after Woman Rights Movement, in 1982 and in 1964, both authors portray what happened way back when women —especially black women —were not able to freely write or to express what they felt. Takes place in the early 20 th century, both novels try to portray the life and identity of black woman characters, in the Deep South surrounded by sexist and racist community, but face different woman issues. It was the time when segregation still existed in United

The Color Purple takes place in rural Georgia and focuses on the life of black families and specifically on black women, though in some parts it addresses white families. The white family story is presented through Sofia ‘s story where she and her husband go to the city and meet the Mayor and his wife. Here it can be seen the stereotype the whites had towards black woman;

Sofia and the prizefighter and all the children got in the prizefighter car and went to town. Clam out on the street looking like somebody. Just then the mayor and his wife come by.

All these children, say the mayor ‘s wife, digging in her pocketbook. Cute as little buttons though, she say. She stop, put her hand on one of the children head. Say, and such strong with teef.

Sofia and the prizefighter don‘t say nothing. Wait for her to pass. Mayor wait too, stand back and tap his foot, watch her with a little smile. Now Millie, he say. Always going on over colored. Miss Millie finger the children some more, finally look at Sofia and the prizefighter. She look at the prizefighter car. She eye Sofia wristwatch. She say to Sofia, All your children so clean, she say, would you like to work for me, be my maid? (Walker, 1982, p. 91)

The story about the white family is revealed more when they employ Sofia as the servant on the mayor ‘s house as the compensation of freeing her from jail. Through Celie ‘s letter, it is said that ―Sofia would make a dog laugh, talking about those people she work for ‖ (Walker, 1982, p. 107) and this is how their life mixed with the life of the Whites.

blacks, since the blacks have their own part of town and community. As stated by Jones, ―…. To cite an extreme counter-example, we need only consider the black settlements on the Georgia and South Carolina Sea Islands... ‖ (1992, p. 337), black settlement was a common thing in the year between the two world wars and before the Civil Rights Movement. Most of the blacks worked liberally as farmer or shopkeeper, so it was unlikely for them to relate to the whites. This probably due to the fact that most black men were unwilling on working with the whites because they regarded most of the job options were menial job with low wages and respect; while it was okay and common thing for black women to work for the whites as servant or nanny. The reason why some black women worked was due to the poverty which made them have to work to support the family, ―but most of the jobs available to black women were in the most devalued field that of domestic service ‖ (Dumenil, 1995, p. 10).

The inclusion of the white society part in The Color Purple only shows the racism issue in the society; Well, say Sofia, I was so use to sitting up there next to her teaching her

how to drive, that I just naturally clammed into the front seat.

She stood outside on her side of car clearing her throat. Finally she say, Sofia, with a little laugh, This is the South. Yes ma ‘am, I say. She clear her throat, laugh some more. Look where you sitting, she say.

I ‘m sitting where I always sit, I say. That ‘s the problem, she say. Have you ever seen a white person and a colored sitting side by side in a car, when one of ‘em wasn’t showing the other one how to drive it or clean it? (Walker, 1982, p. 109)

Although practically Sofia always shows her how to drive, when she have to drive herself, Sofia is no longer needed and she is thrown off in the back seat. This shows that Miss Millie is no longer comfortable of having black woman acquires control over her. She urgently shows that she is in charge. The blacks and the whites are never be in the equal position is shown too, by her giving more emphasize on this is South . It is as if saying that in South, blacks and whites sitting side by side in a car is such a ridiculous thing to encounter.

Not only racist remarks from the whites, the blacks also have some racist stereotype images towards the whites: Us dress Squeak like she a white woman, only her clothes patch. She

got on starch and iron dress, high heel shoes, with scuffs, and a old hat somebody give Shug. Us give her a old pocketbook look like a quilt and a little black bible. Us wash her hair and git all the grease out, then I put it up in two plaits that cross over her head. Us bathe her so clean she smell like a good clean floor. (Walker, 1982, p. 99)

The way white women dressed were different from the blacks. Most of black women only wore proper dress and a head rag which enabled them to do household works comfortably. The whites, in the opposite, tried to always look clean and fashionable. Although it looked uncomfortable, most white women would always dress like Squeak in public places.

Although in the early 20 th century, blacks already had their freedom, the practice of segregation and racism was still seen from the Southerners resulting on the lower standard of living amongst African-Americans, while in Northern United States

that the Southern part of United States is under-developed. The letter from Nettie to Celie describes Nettie ‘s experience when she travels to New York for the first time. Just like in Southern U.S., African-Americans have their own black community. She states that, ―And colored own a whole section of it, called Harlem. There are colored people in more fancy motor cars than I thought existed, and living in houses that are finer than any white person ‘s house down home ‖ (Walker, 1982, p. 139). The African-Americans live in Northern U.S. lead a better living and they have better chances on having high-positioned jobs as doctors or lawyers; ―…. Then we were examined by a doctor (colored!) and given medical supplies for …‖ (Walker, 1982, p. 140). The surprised tone Nettie has in her letter shows that this never occurs in the Deep South, her hometown. Most African- Americans in Deep South only work as farmer, or shopkeeper, or the best job might

be a preacher. However, segregation practice still applies in most of the town facility, as in: What can I tell you about New York —or even about the train that took

us there! We had to ride in the sit-down section of the train, but Celie, there are beds on trains! And a restaurant! And toilets! The beds come down out of the walls, over the tops of the seat, and are called berths. Only white people can ride in the beds and use the restaurant. And they have different toilets from colored. (Walker, 1982, p.139)

Although set in the era of Harlem Renaissance, it is not clearly stated about the flourishing of black cultures. This might be due to the fact that Harlem Although set in the era of Harlem Renaissance, it is not clearly stated about the flourishing of black cultures. This might be due to the fact that Harlem

It is slightly shown that black music is popular in the Deep South and Memphis from how Shug ‘s singing is enjoyed by the black men, from their tendency of going to pubs or bars and how they cherish Shug. However, Shug ‘s performance sometimes triggers bad remarks from black women who regard her as a slut, from how inappropriate she dresses and sings songs.

Although the blacks who live in the Deep South seem to lead a rough life without proper job, they do not look like poor people, since they and most of them have their own livestock to feed on. Despite the fact that the blacks are living in a poor condition, the depiction of how black families‘ life is not bad in both novels. Both novels take farmer households as the setting, ―since 80 percent of the black population still lived in the South, and most had remained farmworkers ‖ (Barkan, 1999, p. 33). They own their own family land and field to work, and they have the freedom of cultivating and harvesting the crops. They also have some livestock to Although the blacks who live in the Deep South seem to lead a rough life without proper job, they do not look like poor people, since they and most of them have their own livestock to feed on. Despite the fact that the blacks are living in a poor condition, the depiction of how black families‘ life is not bad in both novels. Both novels take farmer households as the setting, ―since 80 percent of the black population still lived in the South, and most had remained farmworkers ‖ (Barkan, 1999, p. 33). They own their own family land and field to work, and they have the freedom of cultivating and harvesting the crops. They also have some livestock to

houses and the fields. My and Harpo fields bring in more than anybody. … … I rather be out in the fields or fooling with the animals. Even chopping woods … (Walker, 1982, p. 63-66)

Although Margaret ‘s family is not rich, they still have some fields and animals, as stated in:

…. She had work to do; it was midsummer and the tomato plants needed her time. It was a pretty poor woman who couldn‘t grow enough tomatoes to line her pantry shelves for the winter. (Grau, 1964, p. 84)

…. …. She went to the barn. It was jammed with animals, but she found an empty feeding trough and climbed in. … (Grau, 1964, p. 96)

From the field and livestock they can provide constant food and needs for the family. The main family of the blacks in The Color Purple and The Keepers of the House do not look for another job to support the family, meaning the crops and livestock serve them enough. Although in most black family when children are mature enough, some of them will go look for another job, like Mr. ____ describes his children who go away from the house to look for their own fortune:

…. Bub come with me for two weeks, stole all the money, laid up on the porch drunk. My girls so far off into mens and religion they can ‘t hardly talk.

Everytime they open they mouth some kind of plea come out. Near bout to broke my sorry heart. (Walker, 1982, p. 280)

Also presented by Margaret ‘s black family member in The Keepers of the House:

…. There was Grover Kent too—she remembered him as the boy who‘d bummed his way over to Port Gibson and joined up with a circus there. ….

widowed daughter. He ‘d broken his hip working at a gin in Memphis two years before … (Grau, 1964, p. 104)

The condition before the Great Depression is explored more in The Keepers of the House which tells how bad the economic condition in South. At that time short before the Great Depression, people ditch their homes in South, most of them are blacks, to look for better living in North. Just as told by Abigail in The Keepers of the House :

In those depression times there was a lot of moving about. My grandfather said that there were streams of people on the main roads, in little trucks with all their furniture and bedding piled around them, traveling. They were moving into towns, looking for work, they were moving out of towns looking for places to settle. And with all that going on, some children lost their families. Maybe they died (there was a bad winter in ‘36 when a lot of people died, whole housefuls); and maybe they just moved on and forgot to take all the children. And sometimes they didn‘t forget, they intended to lose them. It was that sort of time.

Those left-over children became the drifters. They went about in little bands, like stray dogs, two and three and four … (Grau, 1964, p. 158)

Most of the poor black family went to the North and left their children to be drifters, who were found as the result of the Great Migration, happened in the 1930s.

If The Color Purple focuses on the life of the black community in rural Georgia, the setting of The Keepers of the House focuses on the white society, and most of the blacks involved are the servants of the white family in Madison City, like Oliver —―Oliver Brandon was short and stocky and middle-aged. Chucklehead Negro, people called him ‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 51) or the nanny of the Banisters—―They would come out with their nurse, a great fat black woman who kept a bottle of gin hidden in If The Color Purple focuses on the life of the black community in rural Georgia, the setting of The Keepers of the House focuses on the white society, and most of the blacks involved are the servants of the white family in Madison City, like Oliver —―Oliver Brandon was short and stocky and middle-aged. Chucklehead Negro, people called him ‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 51) or the nanny of the Banisters—―They would come out with their nurse, a great fat black woman who kept a bottle of gin hidden in

The woman, heavy-bellied with child, answered her politely, while she stared at the unfamiliar face. ―From New Church,‖ Margaret said, and watched the expression harden. Indian blood wasn‘t a good thing, and the New Church people had always kept pretty much to themselves.

… Those people had a bad name among Wade County Negroes. As a

matter of fact, they didn‘t usually come down this way—and that made it all the stranger, this girl ‘s coming to work for him. (Grau, 1964, p. 121-126)

Similar to The Color Purple, in The Keepers of the House segregation is still seen very thick in the society, even thicker than Alice Walker ‘s description through Celie or Nettie. Abigail, being a Southern woman, says that Southerners know how to differentiate Negro ‘s blood, thus although Margaret‘s children are white-skinned, the Southerners know they are Negroes: ―In the South, most people could tell Robert was

a Negro. In the North, he would have been white ‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 143). Hence, Margaret ‘s children suffer from the same treatment with the other black kids.

Through Abigail ‘s experience when she was a kid, it was known that the society really put up segregation on their community, for example school for Negroes, medical treatment, and Negroes hospital wing. Although Margaret ‘s children are not Through Abigail ‘s experience when she was a kid, it was known that the society really put up segregation on their community, for example school for Negroes, medical treatment, and Negroes hospital wing. Although Margaret ‘s children are not

sick and William Howland forced a white doctor to treat him, the first thing came into the white doctor was his career as a doctor. At that time, it is such a scandalous issue that a white doctor has to treat a black kid:

Harry Armstrong just shook his head, unbelieving. ―God damn it, Will, you get me out on a night like this for a nigger kid? ‖ … ―When people find out I treated a nigger kid, what kind of practice do

you reckon I have left? ‖ … ―Staying all night to treat a nigger kid—ain‘t a patient I got will stand

for that. ‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 147-148)

Even about 20 or 25 years after that night, the practice of segregation in some town facilities like in hospital still exists; ―There was even a special order for that: third floor, second floor, fourth floor, fifth and sixth, then the Negro wing … Finally the Negro wing, all floors ‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 243). Aside from segregation practice, Abigail realizes that she somehow is a racist, as this was how she lives in a segregated society. She realizes this through her statement:

I had done what most white people around her did —knew a Negro and dealt with him for years, and never found out his name. Never got curious about who he was, and what he was called. As if Negroes didn‘t need identities …. (Grau, 1964, p. 233)

The recurring stereotyped image of black as a tragic mulatto is also portrayed in here, not only from Margaret who feels that she does not fit with her own kin

Margaret should be full aware of this because she experiences it herself, but at least she still lives with her families from her mother. Her children suffer from the treatment from the Negro kids who do not want to play with them. The Negro kids play with the white kids in town, but they never play with Abigail or Margaret ‘s children.

…. Of course there were plenty of other children living on the place, Negro children from the tenant and the cropper cabins scattered around the farm.

We didn‘t seem to play with them. I don‘t know why. Most times we didn‘t even see them; now and then we found them in the middle of a game, but they simply moved off. They wouldn‘t play—no matter we wanted to—they pulled away from us. They wouldn‘t have us, and after a while we stopped trying and forgot that they had ever been there. I never quite knew why. In town they played with white children. Maybe it was Margaret ‘s children, the half-bloods, that they didn‘t want. They understood about me, even if they didn‘t like me, but they didn‘t know about them. (TKH, 1964, p. 155)

Interracial marriage is one main problem in The Keepers of the House and became the underlying reason why Abigail is attacked by the people of Madison City. At that time, interracial marriage was prohibited in some Southern countries and apparently it was also forbidden in Madison City. As White male had Black mistress was a common thing from the slavery era, it was then not acceptable after the banishing of slavery. However, the uniting of Black woman and White man —without officially marrying —is not forbidden, as the townspeople know that Margaret‘s children were hers and Will ‘s: ―She was his wife, only she wasn‘t. She kept house for him and the law said they couldn‘t marry, couldn‘t ever. Their children took their mother ‘s name, so though they were Howlands they all had the last name Interracial marriage is one main problem in The Keepers of the House and became the underlying reason why Abigail is attacked by the people of Madison City. At that time, interracial marriage was prohibited in some Southern countries and apparently it was also forbidden in Madison City. As White male had Black mistress was a common thing from the slavery era, it was then not acceptable after the banishing of slavery. However, the uniting of Black woman and White man —without officially marrying —is not forbidden, as the townspeople know that Margaret‘s children were hers and Will ‘s: ―She was his wife, only she wasn‘t. She kept house for him and the law said they couldn‘t marry, couldn‘t ever. Their children took their mother ‘s name, so though they were Howlands they all had the last name

Different from The Color Purple which shows the blacks economic condition not at the most unfortunate condition, The Keepers of the House shows bad condition of being a Negro. Margaret ‘s children have to give up their identity as a Negro to live fully as a white in the North. Their mother realizes this since it is Margaret ‘s idea to send them to the North, just to make sure that they have better chance on living. Ergo, they will have a better future if people know and treat them as whites. As stated by William to his granddaughter, Abigail:

… ―You know what it‘s like for a nigger here. And those kids, they fall right in the middle, they ain ‘t white and they ain‘t black….‖ …

―There‘s hardly a living for the people we got here now,‖ he said. ―And they ‘re bright kids, they got a way to go.‖ He found one, knocked it free with the side of his hammer, and twisted it clear of the fence. ―Since I got no place here, I ‘m sending ‗em where they got room.‖ …

―What does Margaret think with all her kids gone?‖ He was looking at me levelly, the bright blue eyes light and clear. ―Our

kids, ‖ he said quietly. It was the first time he had ever said that. It was as if my mother ‘s death had made things more open to him.

―Matter of fact,‖ he said, ―it was Margaret‘s idea.‖ (Grau, 1964, p. 174- 175)

Most of black people in the novels do not have respective jobs like the whites have. Mostly they are farmer and/or servants. In South, blacks still have no good Most of black people in the novels do not have respective jobs like the whites have. Mostly they are farmer and/or servants. In South, blacks still have no good