The Dehumanization Of Diouana's Illiteracy In The Film Black Girl

The film Black Girl furthers the concept that Diouana’s illiteracy plays into her dehumanization by performing as a catalyst to her silence and objectification. Diouana depends on her employers to read the letters that her family sends to her and to write a response for her. The Black Girl includes a scene where Diouana and her master and mistress sit at a table to read a letter that Diouana’s mother sends, demanding Diouana to send money back to her. Her master assumes that Diouana wants to write a response to her mother. In this scene, Diouana becomes visibly upset that her voice is silenced by her inability to read her mother’s letters or to write a response, but her master neglects to pay attention to Diouana and instead begins writing a response to Diouana’s mother without asking for Diouana’s input. …show more content…
Diouana’s master chooses not to acknowledge that Diouana is capable of having emotions or thoughts as he writes the letter without her input. Diouana’s illiteracy silences her, but her master furthers her silence by beginning the letter to her mother before listening to what Diouana wants to say. Diouana’s silencing further dehumanizes her because she is now just a thing with no voice. Diouana is only able to express her emotions silently once she is out of her employers' sights. In the presence of her employers, Diouana is now an object who is unable to show emotion or express thoughts which is a continuation of the dehumanizing treatment that Madame initiates when she just picks Diouana out of a crowd. And since Diouana is now treated like an object by her employers, her inner monologue serves as the only device that explicitly tells the audience Diouana’s thoughts and