Generational Trauma and Temporal Collapse Influence on Black Gothic

 Sha’Terrica Evans

Ms. Harris

African American Literature 

3 December 2021


What’s Black Gothic

         Throughout the semester, the class has been exploring the meaning of the genre "Black Gothic" through the instructor’s interpretation of the subject. The instructor’s definition of Black Gothic is a depiction of spectral consequences caused by racial capitalism for those (black people) daring to participate in economic advancement at racialized other’s cost. Although I agree that the elements that she has brought up with her definition of Black Gothic are very much a contributing factor to the subject/definition of Black Gothic. Furthermore, generational trauma and temporal collapse seem to be the roots of all the components she does talk about in her definition. Regarding the number of books the class read in relation to the topic of Black Gothic throughout the semester, it has given more than enough reason to believe that these elements do have the position to be root factors in the genre. Henceforth, my definition of Black Gothic is the combination of temporal collapse and generational trauma experienced by multiple generations of black people inflicted by racialized systems and trauma suffered by black people trying to get out of or advance in these systems.


            The novel Beloved especially deals with these core topics of generational trauma and temporal collapse through the ghost of Beloved. Beloved is the literal embodiment of temporal collapse as well as generational trauma combined into one entity. She represents slavery and the traumas associated with it for all of the ex slave characters, including the main character, Sethe. Sethe’s past or past trauma (slavery and killing Beloved) has caught up with her with a vengeance. Given how the haunting is described, "124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. " ( Morrison 1) The very foundation of the country in which Sethe and her family reside is built upon a deep trauma (slavery and racial prejudices that proceeded the event) that affects her family as well as future generations to come, therefore making it the root of their family’s and other ex-slave families’ generational trauma. From this deep-rooted trauma, systems were built upon it to disadvantage black people for generations. This creates an ever-lasting lived experience of constant temporal collapse for the rest of Sethe and her descendants' lives due to these systems. As demonstrated in Native Son, which takes place in a different time period, in the 1920s, these systems being built upon the foundation of slavery create a perpetual limbo of the combined forces of generational trauma and temporal collapse.




         Native Son explores the systems that have disadvantaged black people for generations through the protagonist, Bigger. The specific laws that took place during this novel’s time period created a space where environmental racism, redlining, racial capitalism, etc. could occur consistently unchecked, so much so that black people couldn't realistically recover from these injustices for the next couple of centuries. This created a sort of temporal collapse/generational trauma hybrid type of limbo that can still be felt today. Bigger lives in an extremely impoverished area of Chicago. He has no way of escaping his circumstances because he is fundamentally blocked or put into a box by racial systems that stem from slavery (generational trauma). For instance, his employer, Mr. Dalton, is the owner of the buildings in his neighborhood. Mr. Dalton markets himself as a philanthropist for black people's improvement. However, that's called into question when he’s asked, "Isn’t it true that you refuse to rent houses to Negroes if those houses are in other sections of the city? (Wright 303)" Mr. Dalton answers positively and his reason why is, "Well, it’s an old custom." (Wright 303) Thus, these themes of temporal collapse and generational trauma play a role in the actions he commits within the novel.



       In conclusion, my definition of what’s Black Gothic is more of an add-on to the instructor's definition since it is apparent that the literature genre is composed of the specific components the instructor mentions in her definition. As one can see, the themes of the pool collapse and generational trauma are the building blocks upon which the instructor’s definition of Black Gothic is built. Having seen these themes be a very core aspect of the stories the class has read throughout the semester. With Native Son and Beloved as prime examples of this concept.



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