Capstone

A New Identity

In the mid 1900’s, the United States was in the midst of a cultural battle between the two dominant races in the country: African-American and Caucasian. The beliefs of many white people at this time were that of superiority. Two authors at this time, Alice Walker and James Baldwin, wrote stories of African Americans and the struggles they faced before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement. Walker wrote specifically of women and the added discrimination because of their race and gender as shown in Everyday Use. Baldwin, a man who left America in hope for freedom, wrote of what many would classify as a stereotypical African Americans during the Civil Rights in Sonny’s Blues. Both stories are of characters that have escaped the oppressed lifestyles their families still live in to forge a new identity for themselves. Once the Civil Rights Movement ended, many African Americans struggled with the idea of creating a new identity now that they were considered equal, or to continue living in the oppression. Baldwin and Walker both presented two characters that created a new identity in order to escape the oppression because they knew there was something more.
The Civil Rights Movement occurred throughout the fifties and sixties and was centered on ending discrimination of African Americans in the United States. At this time, schools were divided by race, restaurants refused service to those of color; African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus and were treated as though they were lesser human beings. This movement was most prominent in the south where slavery was most prevalent. Two well-known leaders at this time were Doctor Martin Luther King Junior (MLK) and Malcolm X. Perhaps the more well known of the two, Doctor Martin Luther King Junior; a man who practiced and encouraged passive resistance and stated: “We will not resort to violence. We will not degrade ourselves with hatred. Love will be returned for hate” (Lincoln 450). He led many large gatherings to inspire others to fight for their rights; perhaps the most famous was when he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. In this speech, he dreamt of a day when African Americans could vote, go to school, have any job and more importantly just treated like regular human beings. The approach Malcolm X took was more violent, “he expressed rage and anger of the ‘oppressed’ black masses in America” (Mamiya 167). Malcolm X came from a rough background and while in jail became a Black Muslim. As a Black Nationalist, he was a contributor to the ‘Black Power Movement’ as well as the development of Black Nationalist ideology. He believed that African Americans should fight for what they want to rise above the oppression that had categorized them. People often gathered to hear him speak and were characterized as those, “in search of a viable identity” (Terrill 8). Both men were quite influential before and after the civil rights movement and continue to influence the way many think of their rights today.
Alice Walker’s story Everyday Use is set at a time when the Civil Rights were at its peak. Through Mama’s perspective, an outlook on the life her eldest daughter Dee has chosen is presented. She is now a Black Muslim and her sister and mother do not understand her life. The battle of two lifestyles is portrayed as Mama tries to give off a dissatisfied attitude, but a sense of admiration shines through when she realizes that it was Dee’s determination that led her to make a new identity for her self, one free of oppression. Dee is described as a strong woman, “no is a word the world never learned to say to her…she was determined to stare down any disaster” (654). As a symbol of her new identity, Dee changes her name to Wangero Leewankia Kemanio because she no longer wants to be, “named after the people who oppress me” (Walker 657). Dee is a woman that chose to not let white people stand in her way and be defined by the color of her skin. This attitude parallels with Malcolm X in that they both believe you should act as if the oppression is not affecting them. One of the women interviewed by Liberato spoke that in order to not be defined by the oppression, African Americans had to maintain positive outlooks as well as downplay the impact of the segregation that took place (Liberato 234). By leaving the neighborhoods she once lived in, Dee took advantage of the freedom African Americans were given after the Civil Rights Movement and did not let anything keep her for the dreams she had for her life.
Some would argue that by leaving her family and changing her name, Dee became superficial and insensitive to the history of her family. Farrell describes her as “insensitive and selfish to a certain degree, she nevertheless offers a view of heritage and a strategy for contemporary African Americans to cope with an oppressive society” (179). As the story progresses, there are parts of Mama that show how she is opposite of Dee in that she is not a fighter, “I never had an education myself… in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now” (Walker 655). Towards the end though, Mama emerges to be more like Dee when she snatches the quilt from Dee to give to Maggie, “ironically, in acting against Dee’s wishes…Mama is truly behaving more like Dee, with her refusal to back down, her willingness to stand up for herself” (Farrell 184). Even with the loss of her heritage, the risks Dee took to find a new identity in herself rather than being defined by the history of her culture proved to be worthwhile. She has now become an independent woman that can stand alone not having to rely on excuses of why she has not made something of herself. This cannot be said for many that have been caught by the trap, including her mother and sister and let others dictate what they are able to do in life.
In Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, Sonny’s brother is much like Dee in that he left Harlem for a chance at a new life unlike Sonny who chose a life of drugs rather than making something of himself. Though the brother’s new identity seems more prominent, Sonny has also taken a new identity as a black musician. In a letter written to his brother, Sonny expressed sadness over where his decisions in life had left him, “I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb out of some deep, real deep and funky hole, and just saw the sun up there, outside. I got to get outside” (Baldwin 276). For many in Harlem, it was hard to forge a new identity because of the stigma that followed, “some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something of themselves behind” (Baldwin 278). This identity transformation is not as easy as many times it required a person leaving their family in hopes to one day return a new person. This is especially hard at a time when, “close family ties, religiosity, and communication strategies that accentuate the internal value of being black” were what kept the African Americans strong during the time of Civil Rights (Liberato 232). Because the man came from such a dark and depressed place, he needed to create something new of himself and his story is of, “a man’s need to find his identity, a boy’s growth to adulthood at a place, the Harlem ghetto, where it’s easier to remain a cunning child and at a time when black is not beautiful” (Murray 353). This new identity of being an Algebra teacher separated him from his family up until now when he goes back to see his brother. After the death of his daughter, he can now relate to Sonny as they both have gone through suffering. This common bond helps the narrator better understand the African American culture, which he has tried so hard to run from but is now able to embrace. In the end, Sonny’s new identity as a musician brings the two brothers together as the narrator sees how Sonny has left hi old life behind. The idea that he now accepts Sonny is solidified when he describes Sonny playing, “[his] fingers filled with the air of life, his life” (Baldwin 295). Though they both came from the same background, the journey of a new identity was different for each. In the end though, it is an understanding of Sonny’s identity that completes the narrator quest to find who he truly is and where he comes from.
In each of the stories a person has made a new identity for themselves. Though this was not easy at the time, each person knew they must leave their family in hopes for finding a new life free from oppression and triviality. In Everyday Use Dee left her family behind only to come back disappointed that her mother and sister had not changed at all. The same is true for Sonny’s Brother in Sonny’s Blues as his brother is now in jail for selling drugs. The comparison of these two lives shows the struggles of making a new identity as an African American aside from the discrimination. Before the Civil Rights Movement it was much easier for African Americans to succumb to the discrimination and not fight back for their rights. This lifestyle is not something every person wanted though which is why the movement began.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” An Introduction to Fiction. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and
Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 1999. 272-295.

Farrell, Susan. "Fight vs. Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker's “Everyday Use”."
Studies in Short Fiction 35.2 (Spring1998 1998): 179. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Trinity Western University Library, Langley, BC. 21 Mar. 2009 .

Liberato, Ana, Dana Fennell, and William Jeffries. "I Still Remember America: Senior African
Americans Talk About Segregation." Journal of African American Studies 12.3 (Sep. 2008): 229-242. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Trinity Western University Library, Langley, BC. 21 Mar. 2009 .
Lincoln, C. Eric. "KING, Martin Luther Jr." Encyclopedia Americana. 16th ed. 1994.
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Mamiya, Lawrence H. "Malcolm X." Encyclopedia Americana. 18th ed. 1994. 167.

Murray, Donald C. "James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues': Complicated and Simple."
Studies in Short Fiction 14.4 (Fall77 1977): 353. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Trinity Western University, Langley, BC. 21 Mar. 2009 .

Terrill, Robert. Malcolm X inventing radical judgment. East Lansing: Michigan State
UP, 2004.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed.
Robert DiYanni. New York: McGrawHill, 2002. 654-660.