Mass-mediated experience always involves selective construction and representation, since what is seen is the result of the actions and decisions of professionals as to what is significant and how it should be presented. Thus, national or cultural trauma always engages a ‘meaning struggle,’ a grappling with an event that involves identifying the ‘nature of the pain, the nature of the victim and the attribution of responsibility’ . . . this is the ‘trauma process,’ when the collective experience of massive disruption, and social crises, becomes a crisis of meaning and identity. (3)
For Black Americans, this crises of meaning becomes a multifaceted dilemma because not only does this trauma affect their formations of self as Americans, but as …show more content…
One such problematic image is the mammy figure. Alma Jean Bilingslea-Brown discusses "Aunt Jemima," one of the most notorious mammy figures, and notes that Aunt Jemima was seen as the "quintessential mammy, the overweight, heavy-busted, strong, and religious black woman who cooks, cleans, and nurtures," and notes how she became "the representation of the white-identified, black female servant. Good-natured, loyal, and trust-worthy, the Jemima image was first popularized at the 1983 Columbia Exposition in Chicago to market self-rising flour. From the success of that endeavor, the image proliferated and served a specific twofold function. The first was to valorize and reinforce the quality of submission. The second was to displace the fearsome, physical aspects of being female—those relating to domesticity and nurturing, especially breast-feeding—onto the black woman" (25). Furthermore, Brown relates this back to how blacks perceived her noting that "Jemima, like Topsey, Uncle Remus, and Sambo, was a folk type transformed into a derogatory stereotype. Such images were perceived not only as degrading, but as having the function of imposing definitions of inferiority and …show more content…
While Dana is working at an auto parts store, she says that she "had a habit of showing up every day and of being able to count, so the supervisor decided that zombie or not, [she] should check others. He was right. People came in after a hard night of drinking and counted five united per clearly marked, fifty-unit container" (53). Here, Dana, who doesn't enjoy her work, still performs the duties of checking the work of those around her, even though she has no stake in whether or not they do the job well. She performs this duty willingly, correcting the mistakes of those around her. Her unofficial job as mirrors Sarah's role in the house. During Dana's fourth trip back, she realizes that Rufus's mother has left the house to go live in Baltimore with her relatives after two bad miscarriages. Dana notes the way the house is run
For Black Americans, this crises of meaning becomes a multifaceted dilemma because not only does this trauma affect their formations of self as Americans, but as …show more content…
One such problematic image is the mammy figure. Alma Jean Bilingslea-Brown discusses "Aunt Jemima," one of the most notorious mammy figures, and notes that Aunt Jemima was seen as the "quintessential mammy, the overweight, heavy-busted, strong, and religious black woman who cooks, cleans, and nurtures," and notes how she became "the representation of the white-identified, black female servant. Good-natured, loyal, and trust-worthy, the Jemima image was first popularized at the 1983 Columbia Exposition in Chicago to market self-rising flour. From the success of that endeavor, the image proliferated and served a specific twofold function. The first was to valorize and reinforce the quality of submission. The second was to displace the fearsome, physical aspects of being female—those relating to domesticity and nurturing, especially breast-feeding—onto the black woman" (25). Furthermore, Brown relates this back to how blacks perceived her noting that "Jemima, like Topsey, Uncle Remus, and Sambo, was a folk type transformed into a derogatory stereotype. Such images were perceived not only as degrading, but as having the function of imposing definitions of inferiority and …show more content…
While Dana is working at an auto parts store, she says that she "had a habit of showing up every day and of being able to count, so the supervisor decided that zombie or not, [she] should check others. He was right. People came in after a hard night of drinking and counted five united per clearly marked, fifty-unit container" (53). Here, Dana, who doesn't enjoy her work, still performs the duties of checking the work of those around her, even though she has no stake in whether or not they do the job well. She performs this duty willingly, correcting the mistakes of those around her. Her unofficial job as mirrors Sarah's role in the house. During Dana's fourth trip back, she realizes that Rufus's mother has left the house to go live in Baltimore with her relatives after two bad miscarriages. Dana notes the way the house is run