Thursday, March 20, 2014

"Whitenized" Woman for Improved Realtions

"Dear God,
Us dress Squeak like she a white woman, only her clothes patch. She got on a starch and iron dress, high heel shoes with scuffs, and a old hat somebody give Shug. Us give her a old pocket book look like a quilt and a little black bible. Us wash her hair and git all the grease out, then I put it up in two plaits that cross over her head. Us bathe her so clean she smell like a good clean floor." (Walker 93)

A theme exemplified in this passage is how the white race is seen to be better than all other ones. Squeak is dressed up to be a white woman, showing the belief from Celie's family that it's easier to get what you want when you're white. Even if they don't realize it, they are revealing that they need to depend on their ability to get as "white" as possible to reach their goals.

 Even when Squeak gets cleaned up, she is compared to a floor, thus revealing that minorities are still below the white race. Squeak looks nicer than ever, but is nothing more than a floor. The bible also helps to represent the idea of white superiority because, at the time, Christianity was considered a European religion, and the racial minorities are conforming white people.

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