Black Gothic & Lack of Father Figures

Jordan Ashley


ENGL 2016


Mrs. Harris


December 3rd



  Black Gothic & Lack of Father Figures 

      Throughout this course the main way I could grab onto the Black Gothic is by relating my life to what we read and applying the situations from the stories to my own life. Me not having a father in my house led me to notice that in all the stories we read pertaining to the Black Gothic, did not have a strong Black father or father figure in them. I’d say that having a black father figure in the house is quite important and not having one can be detrimental to everyone in it. Since the man of the household is supposed to protect and take care of the family, it falls on his shoulders to be there when there is peril. Whether there is a problem inside the house or outside of it, the man is the protector. And looking into each of the stories we’ve read over the semester, it can be said a lot of problems arise from either the man not being there at all or him not taking on the role and responsibilities that have been bestowed upon him. Without one or the other, the load can become too much, and the emotions and stress can cause a parent or both to displace aggression or lack emotional support for their child or children. The lack of a father figure or presence of one has a different effect on the household and family. 


    In the story, Native Son the main character Bigger was forced into the role of being the “man of the house” to help his mother and siblings out. It could be said or inferred that the choices that he made could’ve been sourced back to him yearning for a father that wasn’t there. He didn’t know how to be a man but was forced to become one even though he had no one to look up to or model himself after. Emotions and feelings he’d never felt before plus being in a place he’d never felt as his home could have caused irrational choices. Deciding to act out towards his friends and try to rob stores instead of doing what was asked of him. Maybe having his father there and having the choice to get a job for his own sake would make him have a different view of it. His father could’ve been there to teach him life lessons on what to do and what not to do in certain situations. You can see the similarities between the stories we have read and reality when the father is absent from the home, young men will usually become followers instead of leaders. For instance, “Not long after their father’s death, the boys started skipping school and missing curfew. Typical teenager behavior turned into serious crime…”  


     In Beloved we could see how not having a man whose intentions are to add peace and stability can be detrimental to everyone and even his self. It’s seen when instead of trying to find a peaceful way of getting rid of the ghost, Paul D just thought to have Sethe to himself. Also, in the story it could be said that if Sethe had the protection of a man or husband she wouldn’t have been forced to make such a drastic choice when it came to protecting her children. Even if she still made that choice, her having someone to confide in in anyway could have helped her cope and allow herself to speak about and remember the child. 

 

    Although it might be a single parent household it does fall onto the child to break the cycle and change the narrative of their and their children’s life. The Black Gothic might show it in a colorful way or in a more detrimental way but its real life for us and it does need to change and it still does affect the children of today and tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    Cite

 

https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/lessons-reporting-how-absent-fathers-are-hurting-african-american-boys


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

/məˌsäjəˈnwär/ By Ki DaeJanae’

Image
Misogynoir Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against black women. “Misogynoir shows how sexism and racism manifest in black women’s lives to create intersecting forms of oppression” Moya Bailey first coined the term “misogynoir,” she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. While trying to understand “What Is the Black Gothic” it was triggering and almost unbearable reading about the mistreatment and oppression of black women. Not only are black woman oppressed by slavery, the afterlife of slavery, racial capitalism, and other systemic oppressors. We are also oppressed by our black male counterparts. Stories like Native Son , Beloved , and Sing Unburied Sing are fictional stories but mirror the existence of everyday black women.  Today’s black women are oppressed in an almost futuristic way with technology, especially in media and digital spaces. The ...
Read more

Rememory

 Khailya Jones Ms. Harris ENGL 2016-44378 December 3, 2021  Rememory  Southern gothic is a genre in literature that encompasses horror elements such as supernatural, disturbing characters, grotesque history, etc. with the purpose to explore social issues. Black gothic is what a person defines as the southern horror genre in art and literature with the element of race included and confined what is horror to the Black community. The plethora of authors from the past and present who use such a broad genre and trope bring stories to life. I will be discussing how re-memory ties into Black Gothic and include detail of its influences on the characters in the texts we have read.  Rememory is one concept present as reliving an important or traumatic vivid event that one does or does not have to directly experience. In Beloved, it is the result of enslavement and portrayed through personal and collective memory. The reader encounters this through Sethe and Paul D. who are in ...
Read more

How is Capitalism is present day Slavery?

  India Williams 1 December 2021 J. Harris ENG 2016 Blog Post How Capitalism plays a major role in The Black Gothic? In this blog post, there will be plenty of bashing of white people, I want it to be clear it is not from a personal vendetta, my facts will be solely based on proven historical events and communal experiences black people share in this country. It is logical for capitalism to be the longest-standing assault on people of color in America, it contributes to The Black Gothic as a, if not the reason most black people live the nightmare of the uncertainty of their financial future today. Capitalism started in America as slavery, it can be considered twenty-first-century slavery even. Slavery is nothing new, it is a tale as old as time, when power-seeking people feel they are better than others they oppress their “lesser” peers, henceforth the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and in America’s case slavery. Capitalism is a key focus in the black gothic because it inst...
Read more