BEYOND RACE AND GENDER: A STUDY OF STRUCTURAL INTERSECTIONALITY IN TONI MORRISON’S SONG OF SOLOMON
Main Article Content
Abstract
The terror and oppression inflicted upon Black women during slavery and its aftermath are well-documented historical facts. This study aims to identify the different types of oppression faced by Black women in the novel Song of Solomon and the impact these experiences had on their lives. To achieve these objectives, the study uses Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory in the analysis. This qualitative study employs textual analysis through close reading. The primary data source is Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. The analysis shows that Black women face oppression through racism, violence, abandonment, sexism, and gender subordination. The effects of this oppression include depression, despair, trauma, solitude, underemployment, social marginalization, and even suicide. Black women’s oppressions are caused by a mix of factors, including race, skin color, gender, and disability. The perpetrators of this oppression are not only White people but also Black men around them. In summary, the subjugation of Black women in the Song of Solomon can be interpreted as a manifestation of structural intersectionality.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Allawi, T. Y. (2023). Struggle for Existence in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Al-Adab Journal, 145(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31973/aj.v2i145.4184
Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2009). Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon New Edition. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Carey, G. (Ed.). (1999). Cliffs Notes on Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Cliffs Notes Inc.
Crenshaw, K. W. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. The Public Nature of Private Violence: Women and the Discovery of Abuse, 43(6), 93–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (3rd ed.). New York: New York University Press.
Désiré, K. Y. (2016). Black Feminism in the Family Circle: A Reading of Toni Morrison’s Sula. IOSR Journal of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 21(10), 11–18. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.9790/0837-2110051118
Dias, A. T. (2023). “When you know your name, you should hang on to it”: The Power of Names in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Via Panoramica: Revista de Estudos Anglo-Americanos, 12(1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.21747/2182-9934/via12_1a3
Gillespie, C. (2008). Critical Companion to Toni Morrison: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work. New York: Facts On File.
Hammoudi, Z. S., & Rasheed, L. A. (2021). Historiographic Metafiction Technique: A Postmodern Study of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Multicultural Education, 7(2), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4488259
Hathaway, H. (2019). Rewriting Race, Gender, and Religion in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Paradise. Religions, 10(345), 1–13. https://doi.org/doi:10.3390/rel10060345
Kinga, L. (2014). Ghosts In English and Irish Literature (Master’s Thesis, Universitatea Sapiența Din Cluj-Napoca). Master’s Thesis, Universitatea Sapiența Din Cluj-Napoca. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/11943020/Ghosts_in_English_and_Irish_Literature
Kumar, T. (2023). A journey of self-discovery and survival: A critique of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977). Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 4(4), 527–534. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.58256/a52qba20
Kurnia, Nandy Intan, Nurgiyantoro, Burhan, and Purbani, W. (2024). The Battle of Domination Between Adults and Children in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literatures, 16(1), 199–215. https://doi.org/Doi: https://doi.org/ 10.47012/jjmll.16.1.11
Lykke, N. (2010). Feminist Studies: A Guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writing. New York: Routledge.
Morrison, T. (2004). Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage Books.
Mozdastan, S., Mirhadi, A., & Sharif, N. (2014). Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon: A Paragon of Trauma Fiction. International Journal of Women’s Research, 3(1), 79–91. Retrieved from https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_54606_2026a7347be0beda88d978d3bd25ebad.pdf
Muhlisin, M., Syamsurrijal, S., & Abdussamad, Z. (2021). Gender-Based Oppression in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, 13(1), 42–50. Retrieved from https://journal.unnes.ac.id/journals/rainbow/article/view/1959
O’Reilly, A. (2004). Toni Morrison and Motherhood: A Politics of Heart. New York: State University of New York Press.
Rajeswari, R., & Jothimani, M. (2019). Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon Delineated Brutality and Genesiology. Shanlax International Journal of English, 7(1), 33–40. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/ zenodo.3451758
Ravi, G., & Sheshagiri, L. N. (2019). Agony of Women in Song of Solomon. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 8(11), 1371–1378. Retrieved from https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v8i11/ART20202913.pdf
Rest, R. (2018). The Forgotten Women of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon (Skidmore College). Skidmore College. Retrieved from https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/eng_stu_schol/7
Roynon, T. (2013). The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison. New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from www.cambridge.org/9780521177221
Soro, A. (2007). Living Together: African Community-Based Values in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Science Sociales et Humaines, 009(2), 295–303. Retrieved from http://greenstone.lecames.org/collect/revu/import/B09/B-009-02-295-303.pdf
Vallier, É. (2017). African American Womanhood: A Study of Women’s Life Writings (1861-1910s). Transatlantica, (2), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.4000/transatlantica.10220
Zheng, C. (2023). On Feminism in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Studies in Literature and Language, 27(1), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.3968/13086