Development of black feminine identity in two postmodern American plays through appraisal framework: comparative study
Abstract
African American women’s suffering in a racial and patriarchal society has often been raised in works of drama. Black women’s quest to search their identity has been considered an essential issue in Postmodern American literature. It has already attracted the consciousness of both critics and writers because it is highly concerned with the agony of the most repressed group in any society. ‘Beneatha’ and ‘Hester’; the two black female plays' protagonists, are a part of this tradition. The aim of this paper is to make comprehensive discourse analysis of the main plays’ protagonists and their antagonists in each play who impacted to form their identity, in order to figure out: first, black women’s oppression within the scope of each literary work. Second, to discover whether the status of African American woman identity is progressed and developed in the passage of time by comparing the results of the two plays which have been written at different times. This study is utilized Martin and White, 2005 Appraisal Theory to accomplish the paper’s objectives. The classification of attitudinal propositions in each play has been examined under the Attitude system with its three subcategories: judgement, affect, and appreciation. It has concluded that women with African origin have been doubled repressed, victimized, and marginalized in the scope of the two selected plays for this study because of their race as well as gender. Analysis process presented also that there was no progress and development within the black woman’s identity throughout the passage of time.
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References
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