In Ernest J. Gaines novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, interracial relationships reflect historical legacies of racism and sexism. In the third book of the novel titled, “The Plantation”, the relationship between Mary Agnes a Creole teacher who arrives on the Samson plantation and Tee Bob, the son of the plantation owner is narrated. This paper argues that the relationship between Tee Bob and Mary Agnes is a product of sexual objectification, intergenerational racism and how both are a reflection of the legacy of slavery. Barbara Bush’s article “The Eye of the Beholder” presents an analysis of the European male perspective of black female sexuality. Bush’s ideas reminiscent when examining Mary Agnes’s role in relation to Tee Bob.
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Members believe Mary Agnes as a black woman plays a sexual role in relation to Tee Bob, a white male. Thus, Bush’s article helps to explore how misperceptions of black female sexuality developed and are reaffirmed by the community between the relationship of Mary Agnes and Tee Bob. Bush states that the European perspective of black female sexuality is destructive in the development of misperceptions of black womanhood (11). Misperceptions of the enslaved women as promiscuous and immoral developed from European traveller’s tales of Africa (Bush 12). Bush states biases were perpetuated by European men (12). Their observation reveal ignorance of African cultural heritage and the events that took place in enslaved villages. In return, inaccurate judgements speculated on aspects of the enslaved women’s lives in comparison to European culture (Bush 12). As a result, the black women represented forbidden sex, as her sexual …show more content…
Stevenson’s article “Gender Convention, Ideals, and Identity Among Antebellum Virginia Slave Women” describes black women’s resistance to European popular images. Stevenson’s article helps to explore the lengths of Mary Agnes’s resistance to inaccurate representations of black female sexuality. Not only does Stevenson present examples of enslaved women’s resistance to popular representations of them, but how those popular representations were disrupted to form new meanings and identities. One of the examples that Stevenson provides is of Fannie Berry, an ex-enslaved woman from Virginia. Berry speaks of a woman named “Mammy Lou” who “pivots on the potent symbols Berry appropriates for black “womanhood”- Mammy Lou’s quilt and “between her legs.” In the culture of Fannie’s owners, these images traditionally signified the passive domestic world females occupied (the quilt) and female sexual surrender (“between her legs”) (Bush 170). However, Mammy Lou uses her feminine resource to save a young slave from white patrollers (Bush 170). Not only does she resist popular images constructed of black womanhood, however constructs a black female oppositional identity which speaks to black female morality. Similarly, like Mammy Lou, Mary Agnes tries to become a self-reliant survivalist who’s aim is to progress forward in an era where racial and sexist discrimination are a product of the historical legacy of slavery. However, Mary Agnes’s efforts become futile.
Members believe Mary Agnes as a black woman plays a sexual role in relation to Tee Bob, a white male. Thus, Bush’s article helps to explore how misperceptions of black female sexuality developed and are reaffirmed by the community between the relationship of Mary Agnes and Tee Bob. Bush states that the European perspective of black female sexuality is destructive in the development of misperceptions of black womanhood (11). Misperceptions of the enslaved women as promiscuous and immoral developed from European traveller’s tales of Africa (Bush 12). Bush states biases were perpetuated by European men (12). Their observation reveal ignorance of African cultural heritage and the events that took place in enslaved villages. In return, inaccurate judgements speculated on aspects of the enslaved women’s lives in comparison to European culture (Bush 12). As a result, the black women represented forbidden sex, as her sexual …show more content…
Stevenson’s article “Gender Convention, Ideals, and Identity Among Antebellum Virginia Slave Women” describes black women’s resistance to European popular images. Stevenson’s article helps to explore the lengths of Mary Agnes’s resistance to inaccurate representations of black female sexuality. Not only does Stevenson present examples of enslaved women’s resistance to popular representations of them, but how those popular representations were disrupted to form new meanings and identities. One of the examples that Stevenson provides is of Fannie Berry, an ex-enslaved woman from Virginia. Berry speaks of a woman named “Mammy Lou” who “pivots on the potent symbols Berry appropriates for black “womanhood”- Mammy Lou’s quilt and “between her legs.” In the culture of Fannie’s owners, these images traditionally signified the passive domestic world females occupied (the quilt) and female sexual surrender (“between her legs”) (Bush 170). However, Mammy Lou uses her feminine resource to save a young slave from white patrollers (Bush 170). Not only does she resist popular images constructed of black womanhood, however constructs a black female oppositional identity which speaks to black female morality. Similarly, like Mammy Lou, Mary Agnes tries to become a self-reliant survivalist who’s aim is to progress forward in an era where racial and sexist discrimination are a product of the historical legacy of slavery. However, Mary Agnes’s efforts become futile.