Exposing the pain and celebrating the triumphs of the black female spirit: an analysis of Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble

Abstract

<p>An evaluation of the Black female spirit as present in Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973) must begin by exposing the adversities Black women have been forced to overcome in America; despite undying efforts to nourish their selfhood, they have battled a society that continuously uses race and gender as suppressers of their identity. Existing as a Black woman in the twentieth century involves dismantling the "double-negative stigma," a term used to describe the towering obstacles placed before the individual who is both Black and female. In addition, little nourishment has been given to those labeled powerless and unimportant, whereas our society has encouraged white males to embrace their race and gender as symbols of authority. Unfortunately, their maleness has meant a history of oppression for minority men and women. I believe the internal spirits of Black women have been devalued, ignored, and in the most horrible situations, annihilated.</p>