Ousting Women to the Periphery: A Study of Black Female Consciousness in the Plays of August Wilson
Abstract:
The African American women have been hardest hit by the systemic discrimination wielded by the American society against blacks. They suffered in multiple forms, such as, rape, economic backwardness, deprivation of voting rights for a very long period of time, and so on. The continual affliction of women on various fronts rendered them hapless but their indomitable spirit forged a new path for their wellbeing and independence. August Wilson (1945-2005) has written a cycle of ten plays wherein he has presented the decade-by-decade history of blacks in America. His plays are a specimen of the struggles of blacks to voice their angst against the oppression suffered by them in the twentieth century. The present paper aims to critique the plays of Wilson from a feminist perspective. He has been charged as incapable of portraying the black women characters in the multiple hues of womanhood. It aims to bring to the fore the potentially strong women characters who have been sparsely portrayed and ill-judged because of their sex. It seeks to unravel the prevalence of black feminist consciousness in the plays and how these potentially strong women characters have been ousted to the periphery both because of the dominance of men and the playwright.
Key words: feminist consciousness, subjugation, marginalization, denial, dented psyche.
Defining Black Female Consciousness
The black society engenders an inherent inclination towards articulating women within a certain predefined mould or framework. August Wilson (1945-2005) has taken up a humongous job of portraying black history of America in the twentieth century in his cycle of plays. Wilson admittedly portrays the lives of black men struggling to forge their ways through the rocky paths of white institutions and norms. Critics, readers and audiences alike feel that Wilson has ignored his female characters in his quest for locating the male space.
Black feminist consciousness is a “kind of awareness of one’s destiny as a black, female and poor in America” (Kashinath Ranveer 11). The black women in America are aware that they stand at the lowest pedestal in social hierarchy because they are triply jeopardized. As it is frequently mentioned by black feminist critics, such as Patricia Hills Collins, that black women are subjected to oppressions from multidimensional and intersectional sources such as, race, class and gender. These women take the brunt of both the black men and society. Their geniality is plumbed by black men by resorting to various devices in their relationships with women.
The other essential element of black feminist consciousness is self- definition. Amid these crippling conditions the black women venture to carve out a niche of their own and define their self. African Americans are largely guided by community and resort to its motherly haven. These women who are denied education and a proper means of redress situate their grievances “within their extended families and communities…. When these ideas found collective expression, Black women’s self-definitions enabled them to refashion African influenced conceptions of self and community” (Collins 10). Their lived experiences bring all black women on the same ground. The oppressions of black women post emancipation underwent minor changes. Now, the black women were not legally the slaves of whites but were tied to men who in the form of fathers, husbands and lovers damaged their vitals. The realization that most of the women struggle under the load of patriarchy and domesticity gives birth to a sisterhood common among the women in black communities.
Self-definition is an integral aspect to realize who one is in the wider framework. The black women have been subjugated for so long that it is essential for them to come out of the cocoon weaved by black patriarchy and white racism. Ranveer asserts that the “task of defining their own self will have to be done by themselves only” (19). In order to be fully conscious of their self the black women need to demolish the definitions of black womanhood etched by patriarchy, such as, mammy, matriarch, jezebel, hoochie, whore, sexual savage and so on. They need to be the soldiers of their own mission because as Audre Lorde believes that, “it is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others – for their use and to our own detriment.” (qtd. Ranveer 19). Thus, self-definition is essential on two fronts- to know who one is and what it means to be a black American woman and secondly, to blast the nomenclature of black femininity established by patriarchy (both black and white).
The other element of black female consciousness is the “significance of self- valuation and respect.” (Collins 119). In order to be fully conscious and independent black women must respect their own selves. Black feminist consciousness demands these women to take pride in their skin colour, their natural hair, their jobs, their desire to exercise freedom, their sexuality and all other attributes associated with their personalities. And lastly, self- reliance and independence are essential for women to stand on equal footing with men.
Thus, these are the constituents that build up or raise the consciousness of black women in America. The above definitions of black female consciousness will be employed to detail the prevalence of black feminist consciousness in the plays of Wilson. The paper will chiefly deal with five plays Gem of the Ocean (2003), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1986), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984), Fences (1985), and Two Trains Running (1990). The paper fundamentally aims to show how the women characters are ousted to the periphery and whether or not they attain black feminist consciousness. The possible ways through which the black women are ousted to the margin are numerous and the paper aims to elaborate the different points in detail.
Stereotyping and Othering
In the plays of August Wilson, we find men struggling to come to terms with life and its impingements. The men are the focal points of the plays and the women act as either fillers or attendants to the men in their pursuit of happiness. The most intriguing aspect of the plays is that the women are apparently not the victims of white male hatred but are in fact wronged by men of colour, i. e, black male patriarchy. In all the plays there is a pattern of patriarchal and misogynistic tendencies. The most common medium through which they relegate women to the periphery is by excluding them from the realm of political and intellectual discussions. The male characters don the spectacle of binaries through which they look upon women as the other and men as the subject. They have established a man’s world where women are only supposed to meet their needs. Sandra G. Shannon points out that “In each play a singular African American woman manages to wrestle free from prevailing social restraints or domestic concerns to, in some way, affirm a separate identity….” (151).
Women have been objectified as the other in every society but the point of difference between black women and other women is that they are objectified not only because of their sex but also because of their skin colour and partially because of their economic and social status. Collins believes that black women objectified as the other are “viewed as an object to be manipulated and controlled” (70). Putting the same notion in the play Ma Rainey one observes that though the play is entitled after Ma Rainey, the celebrated blues singer, she is relegated to a sporadic presence all through the play. This is how the author has ill-judged a woman character who has all the charms and vigour of acting out as a potent central character.
Ma Rainey remains absent through most of the action of the play but however briefly she appears on the stage she asserts her presence with an impressionable personality. The readers find her as a flamboyant woman who is not coy in showing off her antiques. Wilson describes her in the stage direction as, “Her manner is simple and direct, and she carries herself in a royal fashion.” (Ma Rainey 45). It is ironical that the person around whom the entire session is organized stands at the lowest bay. Sandra Adell adds that Ma, “continuously challenges the presumed authority of the white men and the black men who make up her immediate environment.” (55). She might be the secondary character in the play but she is the strongest female character of the entire cycle of plays.
She is a character who is fully aware of her socio-economic standing in the racist and sexist America and is proud of her achievements both as a woman and as an artist in a country where these two categories are exploited immensely and perpetually. The white band manager and the producer maintain an arm’s length from Ma owing to her assertion as a celebrated artist and an assertive black woman. She discloses the behavioral pattern of the recording capitalists as, “They don’t care nothing about me. All they want is my voice…they gonna treat me like I want to be treated no matter how much it hurt them. They back there now calling me all kinds of name…calling me everything but a child of god.” (Ma Rainey 79). She is dehumanized and abandoned once she signs the papers confirming her legally bound with the company. Shannon writes that “During these quiet times, Ma is able to reveal that she is just as vulnerable as any African American woman of her day who dares to step outside her traditional role and confront head-on the forces of racism and oppression” (153).
In the same play Dussie Mae appears in flesh and bones as a Jezebel or a “hoochie” whose main thrust is to survive the storm of racism and sexism. She is Ma’s implied love interest who is eyed by the over ambitious Levee. Mae lacks the vigour and aspiration of Ma to achieve something through her own hard work. This character reinforces the jezebel or the sapphire image which functions to, “relegate all Black women to the category of sexually aggressive women” (Collins 81). Wilson describes Mae as, “a young, dark-skinned woman whose greatest asset is the sensual energy which seems to flow from her. She is dressed in a fur jacket and a tight-fitting canary-yellow dress” (Ma Rainey 47). The description by Wilson is a caricature of black womanhood. He reinforces the stereotypical image of black women as whores who trade their sexuality in exchange of material goods. Wilson’s emphasis upon Mae’s sensuality reduces her from a woman capable of experiencing and expressing myriad other roles and functions. She appears as incapable of true love because she has her moment of vulnerability with Levee where she gives herself up to him but at the time of the conclusion of the play, she follows Ma to maintain the comfort and luxuries in her life intact.
Kim Pereira believes that “Dussie Mae seems lost and out of her depth in this world of male musicians, longing for a meaningful relationship, with little to offer except her sexuality. With no identity of her own and dependent on Ma for everything, she is like a doll on display, dressed up to “look nice for (Ma)” (26). Pereira’s opinion of Mae’s character draws us to analyse the historical context within which these young black women survived. It takes us to the history of the Great Migration during which thousands of blacks migrated from the South to the North in search of better employment opportunities and life style. In their pursuit they were completely handicapped because they lacked necessary skills to accommodate themselves to the demands of industrial North since they were accustomed to agricultural work. Women also thronged towards the cities in pursuit of new and better avenues which rural South could not provide them. They wanted to cast aside the conservative and rigid norms of the South.
Dussie Mae appears to be a product of such an exodus. She and other women folks had to survive the difficulties of the alien and impinging North by resorting to their own wits and ways because they lacked the necessary skills for survival in the North. Falling in the same group are two other characters, Mattie Campbell and Molly Cunningham, from Joe Turner’s Come and Gone who have recently shifted to the North in search for newer possibilities. Mattie is forsaken in love and so is Molly, though they both view their situations differently.
Wilson describes Mattie as “as a young woman of twenty-six whose attractiveness is hidden under the weight and concerns of a dissatisfied life. She is a woman in an honest pursuit of love and companionship. She has suffered many defeats in her search, and though not always uncompromising, still believes in the possibility of love.” (Joe Turner 21). Wilson begins with a sympathetic description of Mattie which culminates in framing her within sexist stereotypes. Mattie falls in the stereotypical image of women as the “weaker sex” who need love and protection of men to make their lives worth living. From the above description, Mattie can be viewed as a simple woman who is sincerely in search of true love. The description also points out some underlying subtle truths about Mattie which has been ignored by critics and readers. She is a young woman who has lost “Two little babies…. because somebody cursed me not to have babies.” (Joe Turner 23). Thus, Mattie’s loss is twofold- loss of her dear children who could not survive even for two months and the loss of a husband and secondly rebuking herself for the death of her children and the disintegration of her family because she is accursed. As it can be perceived from Mattie’s whereabouts her husband was the only living person connected to her who is now lost in her struggles with fate. Wilson mentions that she is an attractive woman but her charm is lost because of the huge loses that she has incurred in her life.
She is “dissatisfied” with life because it appears that she has failed to attain self-definition and self-respect. The façade of “true love” rips apart the moment Jeremy touches the right chords of Mattie. She is ready to accommodate herself within the sexist mould of Jeremy who believes that “A woman like you need a man. Maybe you let me be your man. I got a nice way with women. That’s what they tell me”. (Joe Turner 25). Jeremy does not need to convince her much to invite him at her place. His belief reflects the conventional dominant patriarchal notion that a woman cannot survive without the help of a man. His assertion strengthens the conventional belief that the world is guided by patriarchal rules. Mattie reaffirms his belief by welcoming his sexual overtures because she is “not always uncompromising” (Joe Turner 25).
Her belief in the “possibility of love” is furthered in the form of Harold Loomis once Jeremy replaces her with Molly. Her advances towards Loomis strengthen the belief that Mattie is ready to accommodate herself to the needs of the men. Loomis’s interest in Mattie is also based on purely sexual lines.
Though casted in the stereotypical image of a dependent woman whose mainstay in society is based on her sex role, she is on the contrary prudent enough to gauge that Loomis needs more than what she can offer, “I ain’t enough for you. You’d use me up too fast.” Loomis takes her for granted and says, “I know you got Herald Loomis on your mind, can’t keep him apart from it. Come on and be with Herald Loomis”. Loomis’s desire for Mattie is described by Wilson as, “Inside he howls like a lost wolf pup whose hunger is deep.” (Joe Turner 77). The reference to a hungry wolf is connotative of the desire for flesh. Each of the two potential suitors does not deem it necessary to move beyond her external self. They see her merely as an opposite sex who can be exploited because of her vulnerability.
The denigration of black womanhood reaches its culmination when Mattie surrenders to the needs of both the men and finally at the end of the play runs behind Herald Loomis to participate in his journey of self- discovery. She does not bother about her own self-actualization; she clings to the subordinate role of the other in the life of Loomis, i.e., socially defined gender role. Perhaps she accompanies him in his journey because she “never found no place for me to fit. Seem like all I do is start over. It ain’t like nothing to find no starting place in the world. You just start from where you find yourself.” (Joe Turner 76). Loomis is her starting point in the pursuit of a stable life.
In Joe Turner Molly Cunningham is also casted within a stereotypical image where she is projected as an assertive and dominant girl. She falls into the category of “the historical jezebel and her modern “hoochie” counterpart” (Collins 83). Like Mattie she is also twenty-six years old but she is remarkably different from the other. Wilson describes her as, “the kind of woman that “could break in on a dollar anywhere she goes””. She carries a small cardboard suitcase, and wears a colorful dress of the fashion of the day” (Joe Turner 47). At the outset Wilson places her in the mould of a woman who survives through her sexuality. “She could break in on a dollar anywhere she goes” posits that she has been living by exploiting her physicality. In the description of most of the women characters Wilson emphasizes upon their clothes; thus, limiting their personality to an exterior framework. This external description of the women characters mars the readers’ subjectivity to gauge beyond the objectified self of the character. Whether it is Ma Rainey, Dussie Mae or Molly Cunningham, all of them, are inscribed within the external framework.
Molly has her moments of triumph where she sets the example of herself as the “new woman”. She is ready to step out of the cult of true womanhood. She confidently asserts her independence and does not want to lead the stereotypical life of domesticity which is ascribed to women. She does not “trust none of these men…. Molly don’t pay them no mind. One’s as good as the other if you ask me.” (Joe Turner 62). She moves a step further in asserting her individuality when she proclaims that “Molly Cunningham ain’t gonna be tied down with no babies” (Joe Turner 63). She out rightly rejects the stereotype of black self-sacrificing mother who is ready to curb all her desires and aspirations to supplant the needs of her children. Instead, she decides not to have babies because she does not want to be “tied down”. This reflects the suppressed pain of Molly who does not want to confront the dejection that she has suffered at the hands of her lovers. Her psyche is dented because she has seen her mother as the victim of domesticity. She wants to remain independent and not be “tied down” to any relationship whatsoever.
Molly’s character reaches a crescendo where she establishes herself as an emblem of female independence but the moment, she reaches that point she falls flat to the ground because at that very moment she is ready to be “tied down” with Jeremy, a playboy. This sudden reversal in the decision of Molly leaves the female readers stupefied because amongst so many docile and silenced women Molly was the only hope of change.
Molly and Mattie in Joe Turner, Risa in Two Trains, Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey, and Rose in Fences perform the gender roles because like other black women “they were afraid of being alone, of not having male companions. The fear of being alone, or of being unloved, had caused women of all races to passively accept sexism and sexist oppression” (Ain’t I 183). Jeremy and Loomis are products of “sexist socialization (which) teaches them to see women as objects with no human value or worth. This anti-woman attitude is endemic to patriarchy.” (Ain’t I 101).
Aunt Ester is the character who appears in four of the ten plays by Wilson but her presence in the play Gem of the Ocean is significant. Harry J. Elam, Jr. describes her as, “she might also be Wilson’s most feminist construction, for through her behind-the-scenes presence, through her invisibility before her appearance in Gem, Aunt Ester finds and expresses voice and power.” (The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson 77). Aunt Ester resides like a matriarch at 1839 Wylie Avenue and functions as the “other mother” of her folks. She incessantly and bravely challenges the racism of America. She is as old as slavery is in America. Ester like Ma Rainey is a woman with multiple shades of personality. She is assertive, loving, motherly and at times dictatorial but “She empowers the other characters…to find the force of god within themselves” (Cambridge Companion 77). Aunt’s continual chiding and reprimanding of Black Mary was a device to force her to realize the worth of herself. And finally, “Through a form of tough love, Aunt Ester has moved Black Mary, too, towards self-empowerment.” (Cambridge Companion 86).
“We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry”: Domesticity and its inherent Patriarchy
The above quoted line from John Webster’s The White Devil (1612) can be used to describe how domesticity and patriarchy work together to mar the ingenuity of women. In every society woman are “tied down” to the role of a care taker. This element of stereotyping women as good wives and home makers is also employed by Wilson in his plays. In the very first play of the cycle, Gem of the Ocean, Black Mary performs domestic chores all through the play. She is cooking, washing, or looking after the needs of Aunt Ester. Earlier when she lived with her brother, Caesar, she would perform the duties for his bakery and home. This means that at every place that she has lived she remains in the background performing supporting roles.
Bertha, the boarding house keeper in Joe Turner, is also seen performing domestic chores all through the play. She acts as a housekeeper, laundry woman, agony aunt and mediator to siphon Seth’s impulsive behavior. She is clearly not perceived as anything more than that. She is reduced to the role of a provider performing the ascribed gender roles. Kim Marra reiterates that, “Bertha is virtually a fixture in this room of the house, six of the nine scenes begin with her at or heading for the stove area to cook or clean up.” (135). She thus limits herself to the four walls of her kitchen not bothering to explore the different facets of life.
Rose in the play, Fences, stands as an emblematic character that lives within the four walls of her house without bothering about her own individuality. She is married to Troy Maxson who furnishes sexist notions all along the play. He perceives her as merely someone who should provide warmth and nourishment to his family. Troy along with his friend Bono celebrates Friday night every week over drinks. Thus in this ritualistic celebration only these men partake in, i.e., they have a male space in which the woman is the other. When she tries to participate in their conversations, Troy jilts her away by asserting that, “go on back in the house and let me and Bono finish what we were talking about. This is men talk. I got some talk for you later. You know what kind of talk I mean. You go on and powder it up.” (Fences 6). His rejection of Rose from the male space hints at two potent elements of black patriarchy- first, that women and men have two different worlds in which women are the other and second that the world that men and women share is built only along sexual lines. His speech reflects that he objectifies Rose as a sex object who has certain sex roles to perform like serving his family and friends and his carnal impulses. Wilson describes her, “Though she doesn’t drink, her presence is an integral part of the Friday night rituals.” This explicitly reveals that Wilson deems her as an integral part of boozing because “She alternates between the porch and the kitchen, where supper preparations are under way.” (Fences 5).
Rose silently and sometimes cheerfully performs the roles defined by black patriarchy for her. She has a reason behind performing these gender roles which can be traced in the historical evolution of black women in America. bell hooks trace the reasons for this in slavery. She believes that black female slaves have suffered the most under slavery. They performed both the domestic and arduous field work along with this they were perpetually under the threat of sexual exploitation. They were debarred from getting married and their lovers and children were vehemently and persistently snatched away from them. This insecurity of familial ties, a secure family and house and a protector and provider in the form of a black husband or lover compelled black women to accept the dictates of patriarchy (Ain’t I a Woman 183-184). This is affirmed by Wilson in his description of Rose, “her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him: a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration.” (Fences 7).
The fence that Troy builds around his house is like a cage within which Rose lives her life. Troy perceives her as “sing(ing)” when indeed she is “cry(ing)”. Since the male characters perceive only the external aspect of women, Troy, too, cannot realize the predicament of Rose. His failure to prove his manhood in a racist America converts him into a venomous person. bell hooks study the psychological reasons behind the victim’s syndrome with which black men suffer. She believes that, “most black males are being encouraged through their uncritical acceptance of patriarchy to live in the past, to be stuck in time. More often than not they are stuck in the place of rage.” (We Real Cool 56). Troy is stuck in his “place of rage”. He wreaks his aggression upon his wife and family because the gender role play of a provider has wreaked a toll on his relationship with them. hooks further explores,
Taught to believe the world is against them, that they are doomed to be victims; they assume the posture of victimizer. First embracing the ideals of patriarchal masculinity that make domination acceptable, they then draw upon misogyny and sexism to experience their first use of violence, psychological or physical, to control another human being” (We Real Cool 57)
Troy’s infidelity crumbles down the “doll house” of Rose and she becomes fully conscious of her standing as a black woman in a sexist racist country. Like Nora in A Doll’s House (1879), Rose also undergoes an epiphany when she realizes that the love and warmth that she was brewing up regularly was a façade which narrowed down her personal growth. She admits to Cory that she was herself responsible for being treated like a cow,
I married your daddy and settled down to cooking his supper and keeping clean sheets on the bed. When your daddy walked through the house, he was so big he filled it up. That was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me. …. I wanted a house that I could sing in. And that’s what your daddy gave me. I didn’t know to keep up his strength I had to give up little pieces of mine. I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldn’t hardly tell which was which anymore. It was my choice. It was my life and I didn’t have to live it like that. But that’s what life offered me in the way of being a woman and I took it. I grabbed hold of it with both hands. (Fences 98)
Thus, Rose’s realization at the end of the play links her with women of every society who give up “little pieces” of their own lives to have home and hearth. hooks perceive that “Fences poignantly portrays negative contradictions within black masculinity in a white supremacist social context. However, patriarchy is not critiqued, even though tragic expressions of conventional masculinity are evoked, sexist values are re-inscribed via the black woman’s redemption message as the play ends.” (Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics 18). Shannon believes that the moment Rose realizes of Troy’s infidelity and his fatherhood “she rises to a level of human consciousness that allows her to tend to the needs of a motherless child while in no uncertain terms letting her husband feel the full extent of her fury.” (155). Her consciousness is raised the moment she mirrors the realities of her life; the lies that she had been living with for around eighteen years. She evolves from a long-suffering heroine into a fiercely independent woman.
Risa in Two Trains slashes her legs to stop men from objectifying her. Her actions might appear erratic but she is a strong woman who is ready to hurt herself to prove that she is more than her sex. Elam Jr. believes that “Risa literally “deconstructs” herself as a woman. She defies traditional expectations and exists outside cultural codes of femininity” (May All Your Fences Have Gates 166) by slashing her legs multiple times. Stephen Bottoms describes Risa as, “the most vulnerable character in the play, though also in an odd way the strongest…. Throughout the play, it is clear that men tend to regard women, and Risa in particular, as second-class citizens- insofar as they regard them at all.” (155-156).
Risa’s acceptance of Sterling proves that even she is a lonely woman who needs someone to provide her with warmth. Elam Jr. rightly points out that, “she ultimately succumbs to Sterling’s advances. Thus, her revolt against male hegemony is unfulfilled and even contradicted by the dramatic action” (May All 168). Thus, like many other female characters Risa is also channeled into a stereotypical mould.
Wilson’s redemption for not providing enough space for his female characters lies in the fact that he knows it and appears helpless in understanding the psyche of women. Elam Jr, quotes Wilson accepting and explaining the above charge:
It probably has to do with the fact that I’m a man. I do create some women characters and try to be honest in their creation, but it’s hard to put myself in their space…. For instance, Risa in Two Trains Running- I felt I was right in having her refuse to be defined by her genitals, and I felt this was a blow for self- definition by having her define herself as other than a body by cutting her legs. But I couldn’t go beyond that into making some heavier interior psychology of it. Not that I didn’t want to, I guess, but I don’t know it. (qtd. Wilson The Past as Present in the Plays of August Wilson 89)
Conclusion
Thus, Wilson’s women stand out as complex characters even if they are not provided with the requisite space in the action of the plays. They assertively present their identities as powerful characters who succumb to patriarchy to maintain tranquility and warmth in their lives. The female characters are framed within single monolithic moulds where they are either suffering or selfishly plying with men to survive the difficulties of life. These women are deprived of subjectivity and space by the playwright within which they could explore and reveal more about their personalities. It is undeniable that all the female characters have defined themselves in ways more than one. Thus, Wilson’s dream cycle might be replete with the struggles of black men but the women characters do create a space for their selves. Here they assert their subjectivity which is the distinguishing feature of women. However, disappointed the men may be the black female characters always keep the ray of hope burning brightly in the different plays.
Works Cited