What women want : independence through embracing the inner spirit in Gloria Naylor's Bailey 's Cafe
File(s)
Date
2011-04Author
Okusko, Jaimie
Advisor(s)
Crawford, Norlisha
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This thesis project explores the objectification of black feminized characters in
Gloria Naylor's Bailey's Cafe, and the ways that they resist negative representations to
gain agency.
Naylor's novel gives a complex picture of the historically limited choices of
identity that black women have faced. Each character depicts a different approach to the
black female body and its domination by patriarchal society. Moreover, through her novel
Naylor investigates many different traditions in which individuals come to understand the
power of their inner spirit and how they use their understanding of that spirituality to find
peace of mind, pride, and beauty. It is important to explore Naylor's novel because in
U.S. society men are allowed more freedom of expression, sexually, than women. When
women attempt to express that they enjoy sex and find fulfillment in their sexual
identities, in a fashion similar to many men, they are viewed as promiscuous and deemed
unfit, rather than applauded and encouraged.
My interest in this subject began through my studies in Gender in Literature and
Feminist Criticisms classes. To pursue this project the fields of feminism, blues music,
African-American culture, sexuality, and gender were researched through a number of
avenues including books, journals, newspapers, scholarly criticisms, and a review of
graduate class lectures.
Through redefining and adapting their own Christian spirituality, however, they
begin to live rich, if unconventional, lives on their own terms. In Bailey's Cafe inner
spirituality comes in many forms including, but not limited to sexuality, gender
definition, self love, and self acceptance. Furthermore, by redefining that which society
has deemed unfit and embracing their inner spirituality, Naylor's characters have gained
individuality and independence.
Subject
African Americans in literature
Women, Black, in literature
African American women in literature
American fiction- 20th century
Gender identity in literature
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/54092Description
A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts-English