가학적 흑인 남성성의 구성과 그 대안의 모색—앨리스 워커의 <그레인지 코플랜드의 세 번째 인생> 연구 (A Sadistic Black Masculinity and the Search for Its Alternative in Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 21세기영어영문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 영어영문학21 / 32권 / 4호 / 51 ~ 70페이지
· 저자명 : 김선옥

초록

This paper aims to study how a sadistic black masculinity was constructed under white oppression and economical domination in the 1920s to 1960s American South and what alternative for it is explored in Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copland. Even after slavery was abolished, black people were forced to work for white landowners as sharecroppers, whose lives were not much different from that of slaves. In this situation, black men who were culturally and economically dominated by whites internalized a patriarchal white masculinity as ideal because white men owned land and had the ability to support their family as the head of household freely participating in economic and political activities. Walker keenly seizes on the distorted psychology of black men who try to prove their masculinity through domestic violence or sexual licence when they find it impossible to realize such an ideal or hegemonic masculinity in the white-dominated society. In this way, Walker indicates that the black masculinity characterized by sadistic violence toward their family leading to hatred and even murder is not black men’s essential trait but a social and cultural construct built under white oppression. However, Walker definitely opposes attributing black men’s violence and black communities’ problems to white domination alone and emphasizes individuals’ responsibility for black communities’ existence and future development. For this reason, Walker severely criticizes the sadistic black masculinity displayed through black men’s abuse and violence toward their family members, especially women. Also, she explores an alternative black masculinity developed in the harmony of androgyny and free from white-dominant ideology. In The Third Life of Grange Copeland, the main character shows the possibility of such a new black masculinity based on androgyny through his sexual and racial awakening after experiencing severe trials.

영어초록

This paper aims to study how a sadistic black masculinity was constructed under white oppression and economical domination in the 1920s to 1960s American South and what alternative for it is explored in Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copland. Even after slavery was abolished, black people were forced to work for white landowners as sharecroppers, whose lives were not much different from that of slaves. In this situation, black men who were culturally and economically dominated by whites internalized a patriarchal white masculinity as ideal because white men owned land and had the ability to support their family as the head of household freely participating in economic and political activities. Walker keenly seizes on the distorted psychology of black men who try to prove their masculinity through domestic violence or sexual licence when they find it impossible to realize such an ideal or hegemonic masculinity in the white-dominated society. In this way, Walker indicates that the black masculinity characterized by sadistic violence toward their family leading to hatred and even murder is not black men’s essential trait but a social and cultural construct built under white oppression. However, Walker definitely opposes attributing black men’s violence and black communities’ problems to white domination alone and emphasizes individuals’ responsibility for black communities’ existence and future development. For this reason, Walker severely criticizes the sadistic black masculinity displayed through black men’s abuse and violence toward their family members, especially women. Also, she explores an alternative black masculinity developed in the harmony of androgyny and free from white-dominant ideology. In The Third Life of Grange Copeland, the main character shows the possibility of such a new black masculinity based on androgyny through his sexual and racial awakening after experiencing severe trials.

참고자료

· 없음